BEARS. WEESEL. ' 



me, that they are of a dun brown color j and feed chiefly on fifh, or 

 berries. They are far from rejedling animal food. Even mankind 

 become their prey, when prefTed by hunger ; and they will hunt the 

 natives in fuch cafes by fcent, and prowl out of their ufual trafts for 

 that purpofe. At thofe times, or when wounded, they are exceed-s- 

 ingly fierce*. It is faid that they give chace to the Argali with great 

 addrefs : they know that they have no chance of taking them by fpeed ; 

 the Bears therefore climb up the rugged mountains, and gain the 

 heights above the fpots where the wild Sheep feed. They with their 

 paws fling down pieces of rock upon the herd, and, if they happen to 

 maim any, defcend and make a repafl: on the lamed animal f. When 

 the Bears find plenty of food, they will not attack the human kind : 

 yet if they find a Kamtjchadale afleep on the ground, they will through 

 wantonnefs bite him feverely, and fometimes tear a piece of flelh away. 

 People thus injured are called dranki, or the jlayed\. — P. 



Place between the Common Wee/el and the Stoat, this fpecies, newly 75' 



difcovered by Mr. Helenius, ProfeflTor at y^bo, in Sweden. 



Muftela nivalis. — Fennorurn Nirpa Lumiko, Lumitirka^ Nov. ASi. Acad. Reg, 

 S'cient. Sue-c. vi. I.783'. p. 212. — Lapfon. Seibblh. — RuJJis Lafka. 



W. With large canine teeth : body in fummer grey, with a tiniflure 

 of rufous : tail of the fame color : belly white. Length from the tip of 

 the nofe to the bafe of the tail fix inches and a half: tail an inch and 

 a half. Shape of the Stoat. 



Inhabits the north of Finland and La-pland. Lives during the fummer 

 in the forefls ; in winter frequents villages and houfes. Feeds on mice, 

 fmall birds, their eggs and young; eats alfo frogs. Is itfelf the prey of 

 rapacious birds, and of the Ermine or Stoat. In winter changes to 

 white, the whilkers, and a few hairs in the tail, excepted. Has not the 



• Captain King, in Cook's Voyage, III. 305. 



\ Same 306. | Hill. Kamtfchatka, III, 386,. 



fcecrd 



iZ 



