330 



ANIMALS OF 



the cocks or the old hens, but immediately 

 aims at the young ones. It does not eat its 

 prey on the place, but, after killing it by a 

 single bite near the head, and with a wound 

 so small that the place can scarcely be per- 

 ceived, it carries it off to its young, or its re- 

 treat. It also breaks and sucks the eggs, and 

 sometimes kills the hen, that attempts to de- 

 fend them. It is remarkably active; and, in 

 a confined place, scarce any animal can es- 

 cape it. It will run up the sides of walls with 

 such facility, that no place is secure from it ; 

 and its body is so small, that there is scarce 

 any hole but what it can wind through. Du- 

 ring the summer, its excursions are more ex- 

 tensive; but in winter, it chiefly confines it- 

 self in barns and farm-yards, where it remains 

 till spring, and where it brings forth its young. 

 All this season it makes war upon the rats and 

 mice, with still greater success than the cat ; 

 for being more active and slender, it pursues 

 them into their holes, and, after a short resist- 

 ance, destroys them. It creeps also into pi- 

 geon-holes, destroys the young, catches spar- 

 rows, and all kinds of small birds; and, if it 

 has brought forth its young, hunts with still 

 greater boldness and avidity. In summer, it 

 ventures farther from the house; and parti- 

 cularly goes into those places where the rat, 

 its chiefest prey, goes before it. Accordingly, 

 it is found in the lower grounds, by the side 

 of waters, near mills, and often is seen to hide 

 its young in the hollow of a tree. 



The female takes every precaution to make 

 an easy bed for her little ones : she lines the 

 bottom of her hole with grass, hay, leaves, 

 and moss, and generally brings forth from 

 three to five at a time. All animals of this, 

 as well as those of the dog kind, bring forth 

 their young with closed eyes : but they very 

 soon acquire strength sufficient to follow the 

 dam in her excursions, and assist in her pro- 

 jects of petty rapine. The weasel, like all 

 others of its kind, does not run on equably, 

 but moves by bounding; and when it climbs 

 a tree, by a single spring it gets a good way 

 from the ground. It jumps in the same man- 

 ner upon its prey; and, having an extremely 

 limber body, evades the attempts of much 

 stronger animals to seize it. 



This animal, like all of its kind, has a very 

 strong smell; and that of the weasel is pecu- 



liarly foetid. This scent is very distinguish- 

 able in those creatures, when they void their 

 excrement; for the glands which furnished 

 this fetid substance, which is of the consist- 

 ence of suet, open directly into the orifice of 

 the anus, and taint the excrement with the 

 strong effluvia. The weasel smells more 

 strongly in summer than in winter; and more 

 abo/ninably when irritated or pursued, than 

 when at its ease. It always preys in silence, 

 and never has a cry except when struck, and 

 then it has a rough kind of squeaking, which 

 at once expresses resentment and pain. Its 

 appetite for animal food never forsakes it; 

 and it seems even to take a pleasure in the 

 vicinity of putrefaction. Mr. Buffbn tells us 

 of one of them being found, with three young 

 ones, in the carcass of a wolf that was grown 

 putrid, and that had been hung up, by the 

 hind legs, as a terror to others. Into this hor- 

 rid retreat the weasel thought proper to re- 

 tire to bring forth her young; she had furnish- 

 ed the cavity with hay, grass, and leaves; and 

 the young were just brought forth when they 

 were discovered by a peasant passing that 

 way. 



THE ERMINE, OR STOAT 



NEXT to the weasel in size, and perfectly 

 alike in figure, is the ermine. The difference 

 between this and the former animal is so very 

 small, that many, and among the rest Linnaeus, 

 who gives but one description of both, have 

 confounded the two kinds together. How- 

 ever, their differences are sufficient to induce 

 later naturalists [o suppose the two kinds dis- 

 tinct ; and as their lights seem preferable, we 

 choose to follow their descriptions." 



The stoat, or ermine, differs from the wea- 

 sel in size, being usually nine inches long; 

 whereas the former is not much above six. 

 The tail of the ermine is always tipped with 

 black, and is longer in proportion to the body, 

 and furnished with hair. The edges of the 

 ears and the ends of the toes in this animal 

 are of a yellowish white; and although it is 

 of the same colour with the weasel, being of 

 a lightish brown, and though both this animal, 



a Button. British Zoology. 



