THE COMMON WEASEL. 91 



to the tip of the tail ; but the female, which in Surrey and 

 Hampshire, is called a cane or kine, is only nine inches in length ; 

 both, however, are much longer than they are high. The upper 

 part of the body, the sides, and tail are of a chesnut brown ; and 

 the belly and throat are pure white. The eyes are small and 

 black, the whiskers long, and the tail pointed. From the fact 

 that the weasel is sometimes found entirely white, Linnaeus 

 named it M. nivalis. 



A gland beneath the tail emits a very strong fetid smell, 

 which is more offensive in summer than in winter, and still 

 more so when the animal is molested. It hisses when thwarted 

 or alarmed, and squeaks when hurt. 



The deserted gallery, or burrow of a field mouse, is the 

 favourite summer residence of the weasel 5 and it usually chooses 

 one in a bank, over-grown with the roots of bushes, and having 

 two openings, so that if one is besieged, it can make its exit at 

 the other. In winter it chiefly resides in barns and farm houses. 



The weasel is remarkably active and vigilant : hence the 

 proverb, " You'll never catch a weasel asleep." It has ordinarily 

 a creeping pace ; but when in pursuit of prey, it will run, 

 spring several feet from the ground, ascend a wall, or swim 

 across the water. Dr. Kidd, of Godalming, observes that " it 

 runs very awkwardly on level ground ; the great length and 

 slenderness of body, and the shortness of the legs, being very 

 much against speed 3 but in climbing trees, or threading the 

 long and narrow galleries of field mice, this seeming disproportion 

 is of the greatest use to it. I have seen it coursing along the 

 boughs of a tree, winding itself round, above, or below, just as 

 suited its purpose, with all the ease and agility of a squirrel. 

 I have watched it enter a wheat-rick at the bottom, and in less 

 than a minute have seen it peeping from under the thatch, 

 having travelled there, most probably, through some of the 

 numerous galleries which had been made in the rick either by 

 rats or mice."* 



At the approach of evening, the weasel comes forth in search 

 * Mag. Nat. Hist. (1833), vol. vi. p. 196; abridged. 



