THE MUSTELENA, OR WEASELS. 



Weasel. 



Polecat. 



Stout, or Ermine, in its summer dress. 



Common Weasel. 



The Polecat is very common in most parts of Europe. It is dreadfully destructive to the poultry, and 

 destroys both old and young. Winter is the usual time for its appearance in the farm-yard, as in the 

 summer it obtains its food with less risk among the rabbit warrens. 



The Stoat, or Ermine, is found in the northern parts of the Old World and the New. It is less than the 

 Polecat, but its habits are scarcely less predacious. Hares and rabbits fall easy victims to their little enemy, 

 who dispatches them with a single bite, penetrating the brain. During the winter, the Stoat becomes 

 partially white, in extreme northern countries wholly so, except the tip of the tail, which remains black, 

 tn this state it is called the Ermine, and is killed in great numbers for the sake of its beautiful and 

 valuable fur. 



The Common Weasel is the least of this fribe, and is found in most parts of Europe and America. It 

 wages unrelenting war on rats and mice, and in an incredibly short space of time extirpates them from a 

 barn or stack. It hunts by scent, like dogs, and tracks the unfortunate rat with the most deadly certainty. 

 On this account some farmers encourage it on their premises, but they generality destroy it. It is a most 

 courageous little animal, and will even attack men, who have found it by no means a despicable antagonist, 

 as it invariably dashes at the throat, where a bite from its long sharp teeth would be very dangerous, and 

 might produce death. 



