Class I. COMMON WEESEL. 113 



It does not eat its prey on the place, but after 

 killing it, by one bite near the head, carries it 

 off to its young, or its retreat. The weesel also 

 preys upon moles, as appears by its being some- 

 times caught in the mole-traps. It is a remark- 

 ably active animal, and will run up the sides of 

 walls with such facility, that scarcely any place 

 is secure from it ; and its body is so small, that 

 there is scarcely any hole but what is pervious 

 to it. This species is much more domestic than 

 the others ; frequenting out-houses, barns, and 

 granaries, where, to make as it were some atone- 

 ment for its depredations among our tame fowl, 

 it soon clears its haunts from rats and mice, ' " 

 being infinitely more an enemy to them than 

 the cat itself. It brings five or six young at a 

 time : its skin and excrements are most intole- 

 rably foetid. 



This animal is * confounded by LimicEus with 

 the Stoat or Ermine. He seems unacquainted 

 with our weesel in its brown color ; but describes 

 it in the white state under the title of Snomus^ 

 or Mustela nivalis. ■\ I have met with it so cir- 

 cumstanced, in the isle of Hay. 



* This error is corrected in Gmelins edition of the Systema 

 NatuTCB of the illustrious Swede. Ed. 



"t" Simillima Ermineo sed dimidio minor, caudce apice pilis 

 ■ullis vix nigris . Fuun. Suec.1>io. 18. 



VOL. I. I 



