156 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



1^ inches; width, \^ of an inch; length from nose to root of tail, 7f to 

 8| inches ; length of tail, not including the hairs at the tip, 4 inches; 

 including the hairs, 5^ to og- inches; length of the hind foot, 1 to 1^ 

 inches. 



P. novthoracensis, (De Kay.) — Ermine, Common Weasel. [PI. I., fig. 1.] 



This species is probably the most common we have ; it is literally the 

 " Common Weasel." Its habits are about the same as those of the other 

 species ; having the activity of the others, together with greater strength, 

 its powers of destruction are much greater, as many a poultry-man can 

 bear witness to ; its courage is also great. I have often seen it face a 

 dog, and even give him battle. It has an enemy in every sportsman, 

 because of its bad habit of stealing on a roosting covey of quails, or a 

 brood of partridges or woodcocks, and slaughtering every one possible ; 

 it often enters the burrow of the rabbit, and generally makes a clean 

 sweep of old and young. In seizing its prey, it throws its little body 

 over and around it, usually biting it at the junction of the head and spine 

 or through the skull into the brain. An instance that fell under my 

 notice will go to show the destructive propensities of this animal. A 

 farmer living in Dorchester had a fine flock of nineteen fowls ; the hen- 

 house was built on a side of a hill, the back being dug into the hill, and 

 walled up ; this was a mistake — no hen-house should have any stone wall 

 of any kind about it, it but affords comfortable homes for rats and other 

 vermin, and has no recommendation, not even that of economy. It was 

 his habit at sundown, or a little later, to close a small door in the side of 

 the hennery, to keep out vermin. One evening, about an hour and a 

 half after he closed the hen-house, a hen was heard squalling, and on 

 going to the hennery to find out the cause, every hen in the lot was found 

 dead, each with a bloody spot at the nape of the neck, or a little wound 

 just over the eye. Search was made for the assassin, but the artful little 

 villain was safe behind the stone wall. The hens were removed, a steel 

 trap, baited with one of their heads set, and the scamp was found the 

 next morning caught by one of his feet ; he was kept several weeks in a 

 box, but could not be tamed ; he eat greedily of birds, mice and raw 

 meat, but i)ined and died of confinement. 



The nature of this animal is eminently blood-thirsty ; it will continue 

 killing as long as it has any thing to kill ; although its appetite might 

 have been satisfied abundantly with the first hen in the above instance, 

 its instinct prompted it to kill the whole. The great number of rats and 

 mice which it destroys, entitle it to some consideration, but the fact that 

 it visits the poultry-yard " with unlawful intent," is enough for the 

 farmer, who pursues him to the bitter end. The tracks of this animal 

 in the snow are easily recognized, his run (a succession of leaps) causing 



