THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD 



COMMON STOAT 



In summer coat In winter coat 



TAese photographs show the stoat (or ermine, as it is often called) in its summer and winter coats. This animal gi-ves us the 'well-known ermine 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 10^ 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 travelers were told, is sharp enough to keep it always 

 4 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 Northwest 

 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 

 ""GLUTTON mortifying. This animal can 



A cunning, destructi-ve animal, -which follows the trappers and robs them of the animus taken on ty t> e Caught in Steel traps, and 



in the traps that with great difficulty. 



