28 ZOOLOGY. • 



4. The Stoat, or Ermine {Putorius erminea). Body 

 twelve inches, tail about three and a half inches long ; 

 slender ; the body is scarcely broader than the head ; 

 tail longer than in the next species; summer fur, 

 cinnamon brown above, white below ; tail, cinnamon 

 brown with black tip ; winter fur quite white, but 

 the end of the tail remains black. Mostly in fields, 

 in the neighbourhood of plantations or woods ; always 

 abundant among sandhills,<owing to the rabbits living 

 there. The stoat usually follows its prey at night, 

 stealing upon mice, rats, rabbits, hares, and song-birds ; 

 it is also sometimes very destructive in dove-cots 

 and hen-houses. It must, however, be stated that the 

 stoat is on the whole more useful than harmful. 



5. The Weasel (Putorius vulgaris). Smaller than 

 the stoat ; head larger and thicker than the extremely 

 slender, almost snake-like, trunk; legs short. The 

 weasel is a very sharp little animal, and can easily 

 pass along mouse-holes. Summer and winter coats 

 alike — back brown, belly white. Its food chiefly 

 consists of field-voles, also of rats and water-rats, 

 young hares and rabbits, birds building near the 

 ground, and also their eggs, which the weasel, by 

 holding under its chin, manages to carry to its home ; 

 occasionally also lizards, blindworms, snakes, and 

 frogs. The weasel does some damage in fowl-houses 

 and dove-cots, and is also destructive to game. 

 This, however, does not outweigh its very great use, 

 since it is above all an untiring vole-catcher. When 

 in any region the field-voles have multiplied exces- 

 sively, an immigration of weasels takes place from 

 surrounding parts. In years when there is a plague 

 of voles the usual breeding time in spring is followed 

 by another later on. A very large number of weasels 

 may be found in a vole-infected district, and they 

 thin out the mischievous rodents in a surprising 

 manner. Nor are the weasels less useful in summer 

 than in winter. They even follow under the snow 



