ANIMALS OF 0^■TARIO. 95 



Genus PUTORIUS. 



(45) Putorius noveboracensis. 



(Ermine, Stoat.) 

 Common and generally distributed. Turns white in winter,' when its 

 fur becomes the Ermine of commerce. A fierce and bloodthirsty little 

 animal, but of great economic value because it kills large numbers of rats, 

 field mice and other destructive vermin ; occasionally it makes a raid upon 

 the hen-roost, but this does not occur very often, and on the whole the 

 good it does far outbalances the evil. 



(46) Putorius cigonani. 



(Small Brown Weasel.) 

 Common throughout the Province. White in winter. In its habits 

 resembling the last. Smaller and less powerful. It is decidedly a farm- 

 er's friend, as a check upon the increase of field mice and rats. 



Family CANID^. (The Dons.) 



Digitigrade carnivora with blunt non-retractile claws. Muzzle eloii-- 

 gated in our wild species. 



Genus VULPES. 



(47) Vulpes pennsylvanicus. 



(Red Fox.) 



Common wherever it can find sufficient cover. A very variable species. 

 Two well-known varieties are the Black or Silver Grey and the Cross Fox. 

 These intergrade in all degrees and the extremes of each variety have been 

 found in one litter. 



Though the Fox is generally looked upon as injurious to the farmer 

 by reason of its occasional raids upon the poultry yard, it should be re- 

 membered that its favorite and chief food is field mice ; of these it destroys 

 great numbers and is one of nature's great checks upon their undue 

 increase. 



Genus CANIS. 



(48) Canis nubilus. 



(Wolf, Timber Wolf.) 

 -^ Very variable in colour, becoming almost white in the far north. 

 Extinct in the older settled parts of the Province, but sometimes suf- 

 ficiently common to be injurious in the northern counties. We sometimes 

 see in the newspapers accounts of attacks upon travellers made by these 

 animals. These are pure fiction. That the European wolf when pressed 

 by hunger will sometimes attack a man is no doubt true, but so far there 

 is no authentic case known where a wolf attacked a man in this country. 

 They are verv shv and cunning. No more difficult animal to shoot or trap 

 exists in our woods. 



