38 THE BRITISH NATURE BOOK 



It breeds twice a year, the young being born in April and July, generally 

 four in number, blind but not naked. They are, in their infancy, some of the 

 most playful of all Nature's children, ten times more sportive than kittens. 



The weasel's habits of hunting and killing resemble the stoat's, but it 

 chooses smaller victims, especially mice. Lucky the farmer who finds one 

 near his ricks, for the weasel can enter all the mouse tunnels, and will prac- 

 tically wipe all the mice out. Occasionally weasels may be seen hunting in 

 companies of four or five. 



8. The Wild Cat (Felis catus). Though once common in Britain, this 

 carnivore is almost extinct to-day, being found only in the North of Scotland. 

 It is about 2 feet in length, and has a handsome, bushy tail with dark bands 

 and tip. The whiskers are white, the eyes yellow ; the general colour like a 

 domestic tabby, but lighter and yellower. It lives in forests, often making its 

 nest in a hollow in a tree, or even in the old nest of hawk or crow. It breeds 

 twice a year, and there is little doubt that the common domestic species has 

 descended from the Wild Cat in past generations. It is very savage, and 

 attacks not only rabbits, hares, and birds, but even lambs. 



Pinnipedia The Marine Carnivores. 



As previously mentioned, this order includes Sea-lions, Walruses, and 

 Seals the " fin-footed " mammals. Of these, only the seals can now be 

 found round Great Britain, and these are, I fear, in danger of extinction, 

 through the brainless folly of the so-called " sportsmen," who, when one is 

 seen, attempt to shoot or capture it. 



i. The Common Seal (Phoca vitulina] is found round the coasts of Ireland, 

 North and West Wales, North, East, and West Scotland, and the northern 

 islands. At one time it was common all round the coasts, in the sense 

 that it was abundant, but to-day it is practically never seen in our eastern or 

 southern waters. 



The general character of the seal is fairly well known. The Common Seal 

 measures, in the male, 5 feet long, the female being smaller. The young seals, 

 born generally in June, are pretty creatures, covered at first with a coat of 

 thick, soft fur almost white ; but this is shed shortly after birth. The ordinary 

 colour of the hair is a dirty nondescript white, with a touch of lemon in it, 

 but with all sorts of odd-shaped spots and patches of a dark stony colour 

 worked over it. There is no doubt that this coloration is protective, 

 resembling the broken lights and shadows on a pebbly or rock-strewn beach. 

 Young seals can swim a few hours after birth ; but on land all, young and 

 old alike, can make but slow progress, though they manage to travel con- 

 siderable distances at night. The short, webbed fore-feet, armed with stout 

 claws, have to serve ashore as hands and feet, since the two back limbs are 

 useless as legs, being always turned back and incapable of forward movement 

 for walking purposes. Seals can haul themselves forward out of water by 



