THE WEASEL. 



HOW TO KNO^X^ THE WILD ANIMALS 



By DOUGLAS ENGLISH, B.A., F.R.P.S. 



Author of "Wee Tim'rous Beasties," " Beasties Courageous," etc. 



THE STOAT AND WEASEL 



"With Photographs by the Author 



THE subiects of my next two articles, 

 the Pjritish Weasels, are animals 

 belonging to an entirely different 

 order, and displaying entirely different 

 characteristics to those we have already 

 considered. The Order Carnivora em- 

 braces, on the one hand, some of the most 

 bloodthirsty and untameable animals 

 known, on the other, the comi)letely 

 domesticated dog and the semi-domesti- 

 cated cat. It is not a little curious that 

 primeval man should have gone to this 

 order for his choice of home com])ani()ns. 

 One would have thought that he woukl 



have turned more naturally to the apes. 

 He may have done so and found the pro- 

 pinquity too embarrassing. Be this as it 

 may, there seems little doubt that the 

 domestication of the dog was due to man's 

 discovery that an intelligent hunting car- 

 nivore was well worth its keep ; while 

 the later adoption of pussy into a some- 

 what elastic home-circle may have had 

 its origin in the rescue from the pack of 

 some helpless kitten, whose prettiness 

 led to its being retained as a plaything 

 for the children, and whose mouse-killing 

 instinct was quickly appreciated in an 



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