THE WEASEL FAMILY i6i 



the tail in a full-grown male. The fejnale is an inch shorter. 

 The tail is about 4 in. in length, and has a black tip. The 

 coloration is pretty much the same as in the common stoat, but 

 it undergoes no winter change. In all respects as regards habits 

 Vutorius hibemicus differs very little from Putorius ermineus. 



Putorius vulgaris. The Weasel 



This pretty little beast is the smallest existing Carnivore. 

 The adult female Weasel is only 7 in. in length from the tip of the 

 snout to the base of the tail, and her stumpy little rough-haired 

 tail measures another 2 in. A well-grown male weasel may be 

 slightly over 8 in. in the length of the head and body, and his 

 tail may run to 2^ in. The measurement of the fine specimen 

 from which the author's drawing was made (sent to him from 

 Salsey Forest, Northamptonshire) measured along the head and 

 body nearly 8|^ in. The elongated character of the body reaches 

 its most exaggerated development in this little creature, the most 

 snake-like in form of any mammal. The body is not only long 

 and slender, but also arched over the back. The head is small 

 and flattened, the ears very short and rounded. The neck is 

 proportionately longer than in the stoat. The limbs are very 

 short, digitigrade, and the toes are almost concealed by the long, 

 coarse hair which covers the feet. The eyes are small and black. 

 From the muzzle and the brows there are the usual long vibrissae 

 observable in most of the Carnivores. The colour of the upper 

 part of the head, neck, and body, the tail, the outer surface of 

 the limbs, and the feet is a light reddish-brown, very similar 

 to the colour of the stoat. The short tail is reddish-brown 

 throughout its length, and has no black tuft. From the upper 

 lips and cheeks to the verge of the ear, and all over the under 

 surface of the body and inside of the limbs, the hair is white, 

 generally pure white, sometimes grayish or buff-tinted. The 

 weasel does not usually, like the stoat, turn completely white in 

 the winter in the northern parts of England and Scotland. 

 Occasionally specimens from the Highlands of Scotland have 

 been secured in which nearly the whole of the body was white. 



