THE BRITISH MAMMALS : THEIR GENERA AND SPECIES. 63 



because the snow is not sufficiently frequent or lasting to render it 

 necessary. But as the species is not found out of Ireland, it is 

 impossible to say. 



The Weasel is much the smallest of the four species, the head 

 and body rarely measuring over eight inches, and the short, round, 

 pointed tail not exceeding two inches and a half. The head is three 

 times as long as it is high, the length being about an inch and three- 

 quarters. The Weasel is duller in appearance than the Stoat, owing 

 to the white being confined to the throat and abdomen, the rich 

 cinnamon brown of the back extending all over the sides. In the 

 extreme north the Weasel turns white like the Stoat ; but with us, 

 even in the North of Scotland, it does not get beyond the spotted 

 stage. When it does turn white, it always retains the reddish 

 brown tip to the tail. The Weasel hunts by day and night ; in fact, 

 it is proverbially difficult to catch one asleep, and when awake he is 

 always on the alert. Arching his long, supple body as he runs, he 

 will systematically work across every portion of a field or hillside in 

 pursuit of his prey, and will climb and swim, and leap into the air 

 almost a yard from the ground rather than lose it. He chiefly feeds 

 on rats, mice, and voles, and where they are found he is found ; 

 when they fail, or perhaps, by way of a change but never for long 

 he takes to small birds, the depredations amongst game, ground 

 game, and poultry, for which he often gets credit, being in most 

 cases chargeable to the Stoat. The female is an inch or more 

 smaller than the male. The nest is a pile of dried leaves, herbage, 

 and moss, in a hole in the ground or a hollow tree. There are six 

 or fewer young at a time, and two or three litters a year. The 

 female will carry her young, one at a time, in her mouth out of 

 danger, as will the male, so that mother and father have been 

 observed removing the family in three journeys together in this 

 fashion. No animal makes a better fight for its young than the 

 Weasel. It ranges round the northern hemisphere, and though 

 fairly common north and south of the Tweed, is unknown in 

 Ireland, where its name has been given to the native Stoat, an alias 

 productive of even more confusion than in England, where there is 

 less excuse owing to both species existing in the same localities. 



Rhlnolophus. Plate i. CHIROPTERA . 



1. ferrvm-eqvinum, GREATER HORSE-SHOE BAT. Head and body ex- 



ceeding two inches ; no gap between upper canines 

 and premolars, second lower premolar external to 

 line of teeth. 



2. hipposidems, LESSER HORSE-SHOE BAT. Head and body less 



than two inches ; a gap between upper canines and 

 premolars, second lower premolar in the angle 

 between the other teeth. 



These Horse-shoe Bats are so-called from the outgrowth round 

 the nostrils, known as the nose-leaf, which is in three portions, of 

 which the outermost is in the form of a small horse-shoe. They 

 haye no tra^us or inner earlet, though they have an anti-tragus x or 



