NATURAL HISTORY. 67 



scarcely less predacious. Hares and rabbits fall easy victims 

 to their little enemy, who despatches them with a single bite, 

 penetrating the brain. During the winter, the stoat becomes 

 partially white, in northern countries wholly so, except the 

 tip of the tail, which remains black. In this state it is called 

 the Ermine, and is killed in great numbers for the sake of 

 its beautiful and valuable fur. 



MUSTELA. (Lat. a Weasel.) 



Vulgaris (Lat. common), the Weasel. 



The WEASEL is the least of this tribe. It is excessively 

 useful to farmers, as it wages unrelenting war on rats and 

 mice, and in an incredibly short space of time extirpates 

 them from a barn or a stack. It hunts by scent like dogs, and 

 tracks the unfortunate rat with the most deadly certainty. 

 On this account some farmers encourage it on their premises, 

 but the generality destroy it, and nail its body on the barn 

 door, forgetting that although it does sometimes abstract a 

 chicken or an egg, yet it will not touch them as long as it 

 can find rats or mice. It is a most courageous little animal, 

 and will even attack men, who have found it by no means a 

 despicable antagonist, as it invariably dashes at the throat, 

 where a bite from its long sharp teeth would be very 

 dangerous. 



THE HONEY RATEL. 



The RATEL is a native of South Africa, and lives principally 

 on the combs and honey of the wild bee, although it is very 

 probable that much of its subsistence is derived from flesh 

 and roots. It is said to be guided to the bee's nest by a bird 



