THE WEASEL TRIBE. 83 



tei t'eit musk. Both the marten and the pine marten, aa well as a 

 number of other animals, have interior vesicles which contain a 

 Btron{];-scented substance like that which the civet furnishes. 



The Sable, long famous for its costly fur, which is thought 

 worthy to adorn the coronation robes of a monarch, inhabits 

 Siberia. The chase after these animals is attended with ireadful 

 hardships and great danger. Sometimes a sable will not be seen 

 for days ; sometimes the bait of the trap is eaten by other animals, 

 such as gluttons, etc. ; sometimes the hunter's provisions fail ; he 

 spends days and nights in the midst of snow, surrounded by inter- 

 minable pine forests, and exposed to the piercing blasts of the 

 tempest. Many hunters lose their lives in these terrible solitudes, 

 overwhelmed by snow-storms, or famished with hunger. 



The Polecat is larger than the weasel, the ermine, or the 

 ferret, being one foot five inches long ; whereas, the weasel is but 

 Fix inches, the ermine nine, and the ferret eleven inches. It so 

 much resembles the ferret in form, that some have been of opinion 

 they were one and the same animal. The polecat is particularly 

 destructive among pigeons, when it gets into a dove-house; with- 

 out making so much noise as the weasel, it does a great deal more 

 mischief; it dispatches each with a single wound in the head ; 

 and, after killing a great number, and satisfying itself with their 

 blood, it then begins to think of carrying them home. This it 

 carefully performs, going and returning, and bringing them one 

 by one to its hole ; but if it should happen that the opening by 

 which it got into the dove-house be not large enough for the body 

 of the pigeon to get through, this mischievous creature contents 

 itself with carrying away the heads, and makes a most delicious 

 feast upon the brains. 



The Otter, which forms a somewhat erratic genus of the 

 weasel family, is aquatic in its habits, and has legs short in pro 

 portion to the size of its body ; but they are strong, broad, and 

 muscular: the joints have this peculiarity — they are articulateil 

 BO loosely, that the animal has the power of turning them quite back 

 with great ease, and bringing them on a line with the body, so as 

 to perform the oflSce of fins. As the animal is amphibious, the 



