134 



The Living Animals of the World 



Photos by A. S. Rudland d> Sons. 



COMMON STOAT. 



Iii summer coat. In winter coat. 



These photographs show the stoat (or ermine, as it is often called) in its summer and winter coats. This animal gives us the well-known ermino fur. 



It has the same passion for killing for killing's sake shared by the ferret. If a stoat finds a 

 rabbit's nest, for instance, it always murders all the young ones. These creatures sometimes 

 contrive to hunt in packs, or to migrate in society. They are very fond of their young, which 

 they lay up in old crows' nests, holes in banks, or straw-stacks. They have often been seen 

 to carry them out of danger in their mouths. The length of the head and body is lOf inches, 

 and of the tail 6| inches. The young are usually from five to eight in number, and are born 

 in April or May. They soon move into the long standing-grass, and remain there till it is cut. 

 After that they move to the woods and covers, and great numbers are trapped. If not, they 

 attack the young pheasants, and do great damage. They can climb well, and are known, as 

 is the polecat, to ascend trees and kill birds on their nests. They also suck eggs. Forty-two 

 pheasants' eggs were taken by Mr. de Winton from one stoat's hole. 



THE GLUTTON, OR WOLVERINE. 



This largest and most destructive of all the Weasel Tribe is found all round the 

 northern edge of the Arctic Circle, from Norway to Hudson Bay. It is a large heavy 

 animal, with a short head, sharp claws, long thick fur, and a clumsy gait. Its tusks 

 are very long and sharp; and its appetite, if not so insatiable as the old travellers were 

 told, is sharp enough to keep it always hunting. It follows the fur-trappers in the 



woods, and, being very cunning, 

 breaks in at the back of their 

 fall-traps, and robs the baits 

 or the prey caught. When Lord 

 Milton and Dr. Cheadle made 

 the North-west Passage by 

 land, they lost nearly all their 

 furs in this way. Once, having 

 trapped a valuable silver fox, 

 the only one caught by them, 

 they found nothing but shreds 

 of fur left by the glutton. As 

 the marten-hunters' line of 

 traps is perhaps fifty or sixty 

 miles long, the loss and 

 damage caused by the glutton 

 is most mortifying. This 



Photo ly A. s. Rudiand & sons animal can only be caught in 



steel traps, and that with great 



GLUTTON. 



A cunning, destructive animal, which follows the trappers and robs them of the animals taken 



in the traps. 



difficulty. 



