The Way of a Weasel 



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tion of the total number of birds in a locality, 

 in spite of the fact that a few species are less- 

 ened or extinguished. But man's operations 

 also tend to increase the total of small mam- 

 mals, such as rabbits, gophers, squirrels, and 

 mice, upon all of which the weasel preys with 

 avidity, and none of which can wholly escape 

 him, for he can race the swiftest of them with 

 success, can pursue the squirrels to the topmost 

 tree-boughs, though he dare not follow them 

 in lofty jumping, and can chase into their ut- 

 most burrows those creatures that seek safety 

 in holes or by digging. Of mice he kills hun- 

 dreds in the course of a year, no doubt, and 

 thus repays the husbandman for the chickens 

 and ducks he steals, and he will clear a barn 

 of rats in a short time. The chipmunk is a 

 tidbit he is extremely fond of, and probably 

 more of these pretty ground-squirrels fall be- 

 neath his teeth than in any other single way. 



Of what, indeed, is this bold little carnivore 

 afraid? for fear may honorably quicken the 

 beating of a heart where cowardice finds no 

 residence. 



$ 9 



