A Prolific Weasel. 121 



yellowish tinge, the dam only distinguishable from her 

 progeny by having her eyes open, and being a little 

 larger than they. Not much, however, as even then the 

 young ones were well grown. To see them crawl about 

 the box, climbing over and pushing under one another, 

 writhing and wriggling in knots and bunches, while 

 giving utterance to querulous yelps, as so many puppies, 

 was a sight quaintly curious. To me, however, the most 

 interesting part of it was the fact of there being eleven 

 of them at a birth ; the usual number rarely exceeding 

 seven, and the highest I had before heard of nine. So 

 I determined to keep a watch over this wonderful brood, 

 and see what would come of it ; as I could hardly believe 

 it possible for a ferret mother, Weasel though she were, 

 to suckle eleven young with only eight teats, and raise 

 them to full ferrethood. She did it, however nursed 

 and reared the whole " kit " of them till full-grown, with 

 not a weakling among them ! They are distributed now, 

 disposed of to different people ; and the prolific dam is 

 dead, though she died not from having been so pro- 

 ductive. Her death was brought about by exposure to 

 cold, after the young had been taken away from her. 

 The owner still retains three of them a " hob " and 

 two " gills " having sold the other eight for half -a 

 crown apiece. The "hob/' now trained both to rabbiting 

 and ratting, was brought to my barn some days ago to 

 clear it of infesting rats, which he did in good style, 

 killing several, among them an old buck, which measured 

 eighteen inches from snout to tip of tail. But neither 

 did the ferret come off unscathed, as evinced by several 

 scratches on its muzzle, made by the teeth of Mus rattus. 

 The owner of this remarkable family of domesticated 

 weasels has made known to me a fact I was not hitherto, 



