CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 5. CARNIVORA. 



311 



ERMINE-WEASELS. 



more frequent occurrence than that species ; and for one weasel I have seen at least five or six 

 ermines. It frequents stony places and thickets, among which it finds a secure retreat, as its 

 agility enables it to outstrip even a dog in a short race, and the slimness of its body allows it 

 to enter a very small aperture. Patches of furze, in particular, afford it perfect security, and it 

 sometimes takes possession of a rabbit's burrow. It preys on game and other birds, from the 

 grouse and ptarmigan downward, sometimes attacks poultry or sucks their eggs, and is a deter- 

 mined enemy to rats and moles. Young rabbits and hares frequently become victims to its 

 rapacity, and even full-grown individuals are sometimes destroyed by it. Although in general 

 it does not appear to hunt by scent, yet it has been seen to trace its prey like a dog, following 

 its track with certainty. Its motions are elegant, and its appearance extremely animated. It 

 moves by leaping or bounding, and is capable of running with great speed, although it seldom 

 trusts itself beyond the immediate vicinity of cover. Under the excitement of pursuit, how- 

 ever, its courage is surprising, for it will attack, seize by the throat, and cling to a grouse, hare, 

 or other animal strong enough to carry it off, and it does not hesitate, on occasion, to betake 

 itself to the water. Sometimes, when met with in a thicket or stony place, it will stand and 

 gaze upon the intruder, as if conscious of security ; and, although its boldness has been exaggera- 

 ted in the popular stories which have made their way into books of natural history, it cannot be 

 denied that, in proportion to its size, it is at least as courageous as the tiger or the lion." 



Mr. Bell was informed by the Rev. F. W. Hope that the latter, while shooting in Shropshire, 

 «as attracted by the loud shrill scream of a hare which he thought had been just caught in a 

 poacher's snare. He ran toward the spot, and there saw a hare limping off, apparently in great 

 distress, with something attached to the side of the throat. This proved to be a stoat, and 

 the stricken hare made its way into the brushwood with its enemy still holding on. In Eng- 

 land it takes advantage of the galleries of the mole for its winter retreat, »as well as the rabbit- 

 burrow. 



Captain Lyon, in the polar regions of America, saw the ermine hunting the footsteps of mice 

 as a hound would- hunt a fox, and observed their burrows in the snow, which were pushed up in 



