CHAPTER XXIX. GROUND VERMIN. 



THE WEASEL. 



mustela, the smallest and most common of the 

 JL weasel tribe, is, owing to its approximation in figure 

 and habits to the larger and more destructive stoat, the 

 cause of considerable confusion in the natural history of 

 both, although the difference in colour and size should serve 

 to distinguish without doubt the one from the other, even 

 were there no other distinctive points between them. The 

 weasel is of a very red-brown on the upper and outer 

 parts of its body, and pure white upon the under and 

 inner parts, while the tail is of the same red-brown colour 

 as the body and perfectly uniform. The stoat, on the 

 other hand, is dull red-brown above and a dirty-yellowish 

 white beneath, and the tail is black at the extremity, and 

 longer and more bushy than that of the weasel, while the 

 latter animal is about half the size of the stoat ; their 

 habits, too, vary to a considerable extent, as we shall pre- 

 sently see. Upon the question whether the weasel should 

 be treated in the same manner as the fitch or stoat, much 

 has been written and said, some asserting that the useful 



