WEASELS. 53 



fer the brains and next the blood. When neither 

 of these dainties are to be had they will take 

 the next best. Young birds in their nests, mice 

 and rats and insects, all are appreciated. Squir- 

 rels fall victims to their rapacity, especially the 

 striped squirrel, for he dives into a hole, and 

 there his pursuer will finish him. He can also 

 climb a tree, and swim a stream. When he is in 

 especial good luck, and kills several mice and birds 

 within a small space, he drags them together, 

 perhaps to better guard them, perhaps to make 

 a better showing and please his pride. When 

 his larder is full, and he has a bit to spare, he 

 buries it out of sight a very common and wide- 

 spread instinct. Sometimes a mousing hawk 

 or owl seizes a weasel in his claws, and flies 

 away to make a meal of him ; unless he has 

 been careful about securing his head and neck, 

 he will get even by eating into the vitals of 

 his captor and bring him to the ground in a 

 death struggle, while he gets off with a few 

 scratches and lives to feast on the brains of his 

 big enemy. If revenge is sweet, then the little 

 fellow has his morsel well sauced with it. 



Among the delicacies of weasels, one must 

 not forget to mention eggs of birds and fowl. 

 Shakespeare, who was once a countiy boy, and 

 knew all the beasts and birds and plants and 



