THE WEAZEL. 



THE usual colour of this active little creature is pale 

 reddish brown on the back, sides, and legs ; the throat 

 and belly are white. It has long whiskers, like a cat, 

 and its teeth are very sharp. It is well known to all 

 engaged in agriculture, in almost every part of Great 

 Britain, from its great antipathy to rats and mice. In 

 barns and granaries it is very useful ; and it can pursue 

 its prey through a wheat-rick, to which its power of 

 scent, as well as its great agility, fully adapt it. With 

 its head raised a little above the ground, it follows the 

 track of a rat or a mouse after it has disappeared. Three 

 bushels of mice are said to have been killed out of one 

 rick ; and the value of the weazel in preventing and 

 checking the depredations of creatures so numerous and 

 injurious to the farmer, has often been proved. 



This animal does not easily give up the pursuit of its 

 prey. A man of much observation, who had set a com- 

 mon trap, finding that a mole was taken, took the trap 

 from the ground, and allowed the mole to be suspended 



