70 ANIMALS OF THE 



destroys the young, catches sparrows, and all 

 kind of small birds ; and, if it has brought forth 

 its young, hunts with still greater boldness and 

 avidity. In summer, it ventures farther from 

 the house ; and particularly goes into those places 

 where the rat, its chiefest prey, goes before it. 

 Accordingly it is found in the lower grounds, 

 by the side of waters, near mills, and often is 

 seen to hide its young in the hollow of a tree. 



The female takes every precaution to make an 

 easy bed for her little ones : she lines the bottom 

 of her hole with grass, hay, leaves, and moss, and 

 generally brings forth from three to five at a time. 

 All animals of this, as well as those of the dog 

 kind, bring forth their young with closed eyes ; 

 but they very soon acquire strength sufficient to 

 follow the dam in her excursions, and assist in her 

 projects of petty rapine. The weasel, like all 

 others of its kind, does not run on equably, but 

 moves by bounding ; and when it climbs a tree, 

 by a single spring it gets a good way from the 

 ground. It jumps in the same manner upon its 

 prey ; and, having an extremely limber body, 

 evades the attempts of much stronger animals to 

 seize it. 



This animal, like all of its kind, has a very 

 strong smell ; and that of the weasel is peculiarly 

 fetid. This scent is very distinguishable in those 

 creatures when they void their excrement ; for 

 the glands which furnish this fetid substance, 

 which is of the consistence of suet, open directly 

 into the orifice of the anus, and taint the excre- 

 ment with the strong effluvia. The weasel smells 



