3 6 



THE WEASEL. 



can wage a sharp battle even with such powerful foes, and refuses to yield except at 

 the last necessity. 



The proportions of the Weasel are extremely small, the male being rather larger than 

 the opposite sex. In total length, a full-grown male does not much exceed ten inches, 

 of which the tail occupies more than a fifth, while the female is rather more than an 

 inch shorter than her mate. The color of its fur is a bright reddish-brown on the 

 upper parts of the body, and the under portions are of a pure white, the line of demar- 

 cation being tolerably well defined, but not very sharply cut. This contrast of red 

 and white renders it an exceedingly pretty little animal. The tail is of a uniform tint 

 with the body, and is not furnished with the tuft of jetty hairs that forms so con- 

 spicuous a decoration of the stoat. 



The audacity of this little creature is really remarkable. It seems to hold every being 

 except itself in the most sovereign contempt, and, to all appearance, is as ready to match 

 itself against a man as against a mouse. Indeed, it carries its arrogant little pretensions 

 so far, that, if elephants were inhabitants of this country, the Weasel would be quite 

 willing to dispute the path with them. I remember being entirely baffled by the imper- 

 tinence of one of these animals, although I was provided with a gun. While I was walk- 

 ing along a path that skirted a corn-field, a stir took place among some dried leaves by 

 the hedge-side, and out ran something small and red along the bottom of the hedge. 

 I instantly fired, but without success, at the moving object, which turned out to be a 

 Weasel. The little creature, instead of running away, or appearing alarmed at the re- 

 port and the shot, which tore up the ground around it, coolly ran into the middle 

 of the path, and sitting up on . its hind legs, with its paws crossed over its nose, 

 leisurely contemplated me for a moment or two, and then quietly retired into the 

 hedge. 



It is a terrible foe to many of the smaller rodents, such as rats and mice, and per- 

 forms a really good service to the farmer by destroying many of these farmyard pests. 

 It follows them wherever they may be, and mercilessly destroys them, whether they have 

 taken up their summer abode in the hedgerows and river-banks, or whether they have 

 retired to winter-quarters among the barns and ricks. Many farmers are in the habit 

 of destroying the Weasels, which they look upon as " vermin," but it is now generally 

 thought that although the Weasel must plead guilty to the crime of destroying a chicken 

 or duckling now and then, it may yet plead its great services in the destruction of mice 

 as a cause of acquittal. The Weasel is specially dreaded by rats and mice, because 

 there is no hole through which either of these animals can pass which will not quite 

 as readily suffer the passage of the Weasel ; and as the Weasel is most determined and 

 pertinacious in pursuit, it seldom happens that rats or mice escape when their little 

 foe has set itself fairly on their track. 



Not only does the Weasel pursue its prey through the ramifications of the burrows, 

 but it possesses in a very large degree the faculty of hunting by scent, and is capable 

 of following its prey through all its windings, even though it should not come within 

 sight until the termination of the chase. It will even cross water in the chase of its 

 prey. When it has at last reached its victim, it leaps upon the devoted creature, and 

 endeavors to fix its teeth in the back of the neck, where it retains its deadly hold in 

 spite of every struggle on the part of the wounded animal. If the attack be rightly 

 made, and the animal be a small one, it can drive its teeth into the brain, and cause 

 instantaneous insensibility. The gamekeeper has some reason for his dislike to the 

 Weasel, as it is very fond of eggs and young birds of all kinds, and is too prone to rob 

 the nests of eggs or young. It is said that an egg which has been broken by a Wea- 

 sel can always be recognized by the peculiar mode which the little creature employs 

 for the purpose. Instead of breaking the egg to pieces, or biting a large hole in the 

 shell, the Weasel contents itself with making quite a small aperture at one end, 

 through which it abstracts the liquid contents. 



So determined a poacher is the Weasel that it has been seen to capture even full-grown 

 birds. A Weasel has been seen to leap from the ground into the midst of a covey of 

 partridges, just as they were rising on the wing, and to bring one of them to the earth. 

 When the spectator of this curious occurrence reached the spot, he found the Weasel in 



