ORDER CARNASSIER. 291 



The Siberian Weasel, or Chorok, is described by Dr. Pallas. 

 It resembles the Polecat in size, form, and proportions, but 

 differs in its colour, which is of an uniform bright yellow, 

 with the face brown and the nostrils white. Its name indi- 

 cates its country, where it is an inhabitant of the moun- 

 tainous forests. It is said to eat vegetables as well as flesh. 

 The Water Polecat, called also the Smaller Otter, the 

 Mink or Norek, is found on the banks of rivers, in the north 

 and east of Europe, from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea, 

 as well as in America. In autumn it frequents the rivers and 

 lakes, and in spring the torrents. It feeds principally on 

 Fish, Frogs, Crawfish, and Aquatic Insects. It has the feet 

 semipalmate; but its teeth correspond with those of the 

 Polecat tribe rather than with the Otters, and its tail is 

 round ; whence it may, with propriety, be named the Water 

 Polecat. Its general colour is brown, but the jaws are 

 white ; it emits a scent of musk. 



Pallas thinks this is the Minx of America. It is named 

 Tutucuri by the Zealanders ; Ncers by the Prussians ; and 

 the skin is called nioenk by the furriers. It is very like the 

 Sable, and is sometimes fraudulently sold for it, although 

 it is by some highly prized, and very much esteemed. 



The Cape Polecat, or Zorillo. (The Zorille of Buffon. Vi- 

 verra Zorilla, Gm.) Buffon, Gmelin, and others, describe 

 this animal under the name of Viverra Zorilla, or Zorille, 

 a name by which the Spanish Americans distinguish the 

 Mephitic Weasels, and which means a little Fox. The 

 errors of so useful and fascinating a writer as Buffon must 

 necessarily be difficult of eradication ; and this transferring 

 of the proper name of one species to another has induced 

 much confusion on the subject of the Mephitic Weasels. 

 The specific character of the teeth, in which this animal 

 agrees with the Polecat tribe, and the absence of that super- 

 latively noxious stink, which is emitted by the Mephitic 

 Weasels, properly speaking, separate it from the latter 



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