Martin.— Against Introduction of Beasts of Prey. 181 
6. Being fearless and bloodthirsty above all other beasts in proportion 
to their size, there will be no inconsiderable danger of their killing lambs, 
calves, and other domestic animals, and even human beings, as the following 
instances from Wood's ** Natural History” show :—Two martens killed in one 
night fourteen lambs out of a flock of twenty-one, and the next night killed 
the other seven. The marten is in proportion to its size one of the most 
bloodthirsty of beasts, though less so than the true weasels.* The marten 
is 18 inches long, the stoat 10 inches, the weasel 8 inches. Of the mun- 
goos I am not certain, but the Egyptian ichneumon, which is very similar, 
is 18 inches long. The length of the tail is excluded in each case. 
Two gentlemen who were riding together having halted, one dismounted, 
leaving his companion to hold his horse. Presently a weasel came out of 
the hedge and fastened on to the fetlock of one of the horses, retaining its 
hold until it was killed. 
A strong man was in one instance so beset by weasels, that he had no 
time to kill them, but could only pluck them off and throw them to the 
ground, so that he would soon have been killed but for a horseman who 
came to the rescue with his whip. 
In another case a colony of weasels attacked (without any provocation) 
various persons that were passing by their home. 
A gentleman happening to see a couple of stoats by the road side picked 
up a stone and threw it at them, knocking one over, on which the other 
instantly calling out to its companions a number immediately came out of 
the hedge and attacked him; he, fortunately having a woollen comforter on, 
protected his throat with it and his hands, and ran for his house, a distance 
of nearly four miles, several stoats being taken off him when he reached 
home. 
The ichneumons and weasels invariably direct their attacks at the throat 
or the back of the head, according to the nature of the animal attacked, so 
that a single bite is fatal, an attack by a weasel or stoat being the more 
dangerous, as they (and perhaps the mungoos also) aid one another at call ; 
they possess too no inconsiderable strength for their size, as evidenced by a 
weasel leaping at and bringing down a partridge from a covey flying above 
two feet from the ground. The weasels are also very irritable, and are apt 
to take offence where none is intended, so that children would be liable to 
their attacks, the more so as the true weasels (Putorius) are fond of living 
in stone heaps and outbuildings. 
It is well known that the ferret will attack infants, and shows extreme 
ferocity if interfered with in such cases, an instance of which is given in 
Wood's ** Natural History." Some sheepfarmers perhaps hope that these 
* Ene, Brit., Art, Marten, 
