QUADRUPEDS. 15 



where few other creatures can enter ; then their swiftness of mo- 

 tion and keen bite soon render the escape of their victims impos- 

 sible. 



Still it must be acknowledged that there are many situations in 

 which the services of this little animal may bo esteemed a positive 

 good ; for such is the fecundity of many of the depredators on the 

 grain, that notning short of the destruction of the whole crop 

 would ensue, were it not that the weasel is continually thinning 

 their ranks and killing greater numbers than are required for its 

 mere subsistence. 



The disposition which makes this weasel so useful under ordi- 

 nary circumstances, forbids an attempt to increase its usefulness by 

 domestication, for the purpose of freeing our houses from mice, &c. 

 Notwithstanding it might be so far tamed as to take up its resi- 

 dence about our dwellings, it would be exceedingly dangerous to 

 expose the lives of the inmates to the blood-thirstiness of this 

 quadruped, which is rendered doubly dangerous from the circum- 

 stance of seeking its prey during the hours devoted by man to 

 sleep. 



The weasel is found in greater abundance on barren grounds or 

 open plains than in the woods, which in all probability is owing to 

 the greater number of mice that frequent the former situations. 



While pursuing their prey, weasels are said to resemble little 

 hounds running upon a trail ; their tails are carried horizon- 

 tally, while with eager haste and most agile movements they fol- 

 low their prey by the scent. Except when in their summer -dress, 

 it is very difficult to distinguish their actions, as in winter their 

 pure white pelage is so nearly the color of the snow, as to rendei 

 it almost impossible to see them. When the weasel is hunted and 

 closely pursued, like other species of this genus, it has the faculty 

 of ejecting from a peculiar glandular apparatus, a fluid of a pow- 

 erful musky odor ; this, though it may serve to retard the pursuit 

 of some of its enemies, is too harmless a resource to save the 

 weasel from the hands of man. 



There is but little probability of taming the weasel unless it be 

 captured very young, and even then the period of its mildness 

 would pass away with its early youth. When caught in a trap 

 and subsequently kept in a cage, it exhibits every sign of the most 

 unappeasable disposition to kill or injure every being it is able to 

 master. Various attempts have been made to domesticate the 

 weasel, but all without success, and frequently the restlessness and 



