DESTEUCTIOX OF GAAIE BY STOATS. 285 



couple of leverets, unmutilated ; furthei- on two young 

 partridges, also entire, and a pheasant's egg, unbroken ; 

 beyond these were found the heads of two other 

 leverets, in a state of putrefaction ; and at the extremity 

 of the hole the little marauder was lying dead. It 

 might have been thought that this extraordinary accu- 

 mulation was the result of a provident disposition in 

 the animal ; but the putrid state of the detached heads 

 of the two leverets seems to confirm the common state- 

 ment of naturalists, that the weasel tribe seldom de- 

 vour their prey till it begins to putrefy. The female 

 stoat brings forth about five young ones in April or 

 ^lay. Mr. Blythe says that, in confinement, the stoat 

 has been known to breed with the ferret and domes- 

 ticated polecat. 



There is hardly any animal which, for its size, is so 

 much to be dreaded by the creatures on which it preys 

 as the common Aveasel. Although its diminutive pro- 

 portions render a single weasel an insignificant opponent 

 to man or dog, yet it can wage a sharp battle even with 

 such powerful foes, and refuses to yield except at the 

 last necessity. The proportions of the weasel are 

 extremely small, the male being rather larger than the 

 opposite sex. In total length a full grown male does 

 not much exceed ten inches, of which the tail occupies 

 more than a fifth, while the female is rather more than 

 an inch shorter than her mate. The colour of the fur is 

 a bright reddish brown on the upper parts of the body, 

 and the under portions are of a pure white, the line of 

 demarcation being tolerably well defined ; this contrast 

 of red and -white renders it an extremely pretty animal. 

 The tail is of a uniform tint with the body, and is not 



