3: 



\ ERTEl'.RATES; MAMMALS. 



where it pursues and captures hares, birds, and squir- 

 rels, swiftly following the latter even among the tree- 

 tops. Its retreats, especially in winter, are hollow 

 trees, and it is often seen by the hunter sitting with 

 the head just out of its hole. If shot while in this 

 position, it falls back into the hole and is lost ; so the 

 hunter, knowing its habits, walks slowly around the 

 tree ; the sable comes out to gratify its curiosity by a 

 look at the hunter, and is then shot and falls to the 

 ground. More than a hundred thousand skins of this 

 animal have been collected in northern North America 

 in a single year. 



True Weasels vary from five inches to a foot in length, 

 and are generally brown in summer and white in win- 

 ter, the tail tipped with black. There are half a dozen 

 kinds in North America. The fur known as ermine 

 is furnished by the Weasels, the most valuable coming 

 from Siberia. Weasels are generalh- bold, courageous, 

 and extremely bloodthirsty, eager]}- attacking animals 

 much larger than themselves. The}- destroy rats and 

 birds, and commit great havoc among poultry, a single 

 individual having been known to kill fifty chickens in 

 one night and the evening of the following day, and 

 to kill sex'eral chickens in a coop near which a man 



was standing. 



Minks are about a foot and 

 a half long to the tail, and are 

 dark brown or black. They, 

 are found about ponds and 

 streams, and their fur is very- 

 beautiful, and is often sold 

 under the name of American 

 Fig. 49 — Mink. sable. 



