54 IN THE ACADIAN LAND. 



creeping things, makes Jacques say in "As 

 You Like It": 



" I can suck melancholy out of a song as a weasel sucks 

 eggs." 



And again in " Henry V " : 



" For once the eagle England being in prey, 

 To her unguarded nest the weasel Scot 

 Conies sneaking, and so sucks her princely eggs." 



It is a rare find to come across a nest- full of 

 young weasels ; the mother seeks out a place in 

 a hollow log, or beneath stones or trees, and 

 there gives birth to four or five young, and this 

 occurs early in the season. They have been 

 found when the mother was white in winter 

 dress. She is a bold defender of her young to 

 the utmost. In some localities more than one 

 litter is born in a season. Such rapid multipli- 

 cation of a creature like this ought to make 

 them very abundant, but they are not. It is a 

 very interesting question, what keeps them 

 in check ? So many young in a litter indicates 

 a special danger, but I hardly know an enemy 

 but mankind, and but few are destroyed with 

 us by traps or guns. They are strong, hardy, 

 acute animals favored by changing colors, and 

 food enough and to spare, and yet not one iu 



