NATURALISTS CABINET. 



The disappointed weasel. 



berate themselves, threw a carpet over them, and 

 thus took two females and their young. 



There are few persons unacquainted with the 

 various mimicries and capricious feats of activity 

 exhibited by these animals in a state of domestic 

 tameness : but it is generally in company with 

 other quadrupeds of a more simple disposition 

 that their tricks and superior instincts are shewn. 

 They seem to take a delight in teazing them ; 

 and Dr. Goldsmith observes, that he has seen 

 one of them for hours together amusing itself 

 with imposing upon the gravity of a cat. Eras- 

 mus relates that a large monkey, one day divert- 

 ing itself in a garden where some tame rabbits 

 were kept, played several pranks among them, 

 while the rabbits scarcely knew what to make of 

 their new acquaintance: in the mean time, a 

 weasel, that came for a very different purpose 

 than that of entertainment, was seen peering 

 about the place in which the rabbits were fed, 

 and endeavouring to make its way, by removing a 

 board that closed their hutch. The monkey, for 

 some time, remained a calm spectator of the ene- 

 my's efforts, but when he had at length sur- 

 mounted the difficulty and removed the board, 

 the monkey stept in, and fastened it again in its 

 place; while the disappointed weasel was com- 

 pelled to retire, being too much fatigued to renew 

 its operations. 



We shall conclude our account of these singu- 

 lar animals with reciting the particulars of a bat- 



