164 BRITISH MAMMALS 



the scent is lost, the weasel retraces its steps, and darts about in 

 every direction till it has picked up the trail. Like the stoats, 

 weasels climb easily and swim well, and will frequently pursue their 

 prey across water. They are sometimes to be met with near 

 corn-ricks ; and the farmer who would slay them then would 

 indeed be a crass fool ; for the weasel will wind its way in and out 

 of the burrows made by mice, and almost, if not entirely, rid . the 

 rick of these pests. Weasels are not of quite so much use against 

 rats, because the rat is a strong beast, and has a habit of com- 

 bining against beasts of prey when attacked in its own quarters. 

 They are more gregarious than stoats and polecats. Parties of 

 four, five, or even eight may often be seen hunting together. 

 Possibly they represent the father and mother weasel and the 

 grown or half-grown young, but apparently they work with the same 

 idea of co-operation as exists in a pack of wild dogs. The distri- 

 bution of the weasel in the British Islands includes most parts of 

 England and Scotland. It is not found in Ireland, but outside 

 Great Britain it ranges over nearly the whole of Europe, North 

 and Central Asia, and North America. Its fossil remains in 

 Britain do not go back so far as those of the stoat, the marten, or 

 the polecat, and it is probably a creature of later development 

 and greater specialisation. Hitherto the only remains certainly 

 attributable to the weasel have been found in Devonshire and 

 Yorkshire cave deposits. The name "weasel" is of Teutonic 

 origin, and is a diminutive. It is possibly derived from the root 

 wiz (compare wizen), to shrink or dry up, on account of the 

 way in which the weasel squeezes through small openings. The 

 female weasel, which is so much smaller than the male, is some- 

 times taken to be a different beast, and is called cane^ or kine. 



