FIFTH WEEK] January 35 



shadow, you will find that the black tip of the tail catches 

 your eye and holds it in spite of yourself, so that at a little 

 distance it is very difficult to follow the outline of the 

 rest of the animal. Cover the tip of the tail with snow 

 and you can see the rest of the weasel itself much more 

 clearly; but as long as the black point is in sight, you see 

 that, and that only. 



" If a hawk or owl, or any other of the larger hunters 

 of the woodland, were to give chase to a weasel and en- 

 deavour to pounce upon it, it would in all probability be 

 the black tip of the tail it would see and strike at, while 

 the weasel, darting ahead, would escape. It may, more- 

 over, serve as a guide, enabling the young weasels to follow 

 their parents more readily through grass and brambles. 



" One would suppose that this beautiful white fur of 

 winter, literally as white as the snow, might prove a dis- 

 advantage at times by making its owner conspicuous when 

 the ground is bare in winter, as it frequently is even in 

 the North; yet though weasels are about more or less by 

 day, you will seldom catch so much as a glimpse of one 

 at such times, though you may hear their sharp chirrup 

 close at hand. Though bold and fearless, they have the 

 power of vanishing instantly, and the slightest alarm sends 

 them to cover. I have seen one standing within reach 

 of my hand in the sunshine on the exposed root of a tree, 

 and while I was staring at it, it vanished like the flame of 

 a candle blown out, without leaving me the slightest clue 

 as to the direction it had taken. All the weasels I have 

 ever seen, either in the woods or open meadows, disappeared 

 in a similar manner." 



