FeB., 1912. Mammats oF ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN— Cory. 369 
delight in killing, and hunger plays but little part in their war of 
extermination. Probably no other mammal, with the possible excep- 
tion of man, is so wanton in taking life and habitually destroying, for 
the mere lust of killing, far more than it can possibly eat. 
Audubon and Bachman inform us that they have known “‘forty well 
grown fowls to have been killed in one night by a single Ermine;’’* 
Dr. Merriam states he has lost fifteen doves in a single night killed by 
one Weasel, and I personally know of several instances where farmers 
have lost a dozen or more chickens in a night from the depredations of 
these animals. Where they can secure food with little effort they rarely 
eat the flesh of their victims; but merely suck the blood and eat the 
brains of the first few which they kill and the rest of the bodies are left 
untouched. 
Despite the fact that Weasels are undesirable neighbors in the 
vicinity of poultry yards, it should be borne in mind that their natural 
food consists largely of Mice and Rats, and by their destruction of 
great numbers of these pests they probably save the farmer more than 
the value of the poultry which they occasionally kill. Robert Kenni- 
cott, who has given us so much valuable information concerning the 
habits of our mammals, says: ‘‘Fortunately, however, this animal, 
even when abundant, does not enter the farm-yard so frequently as 
might be expected, appearing to prefer a free life in the woods to easy 
but dangerous feasts on domestic fowls. It is generally less apt than 
the mink to make excursions about the abodes of man. I have observed 
for several years the presence of a number of these weasels in a grove 
near a farm-yard well stocked with poultry, which they never appeared 
to enter, though repeatedly visited by minks and skunks. Indeed, I 
am inclined to think that, notwithstanding their occasional predatory 
inroads, they should not be killed when living permanently about 
meadows or cultivated fields, at a distance from the poultry; for they 
are not less destructive to many of the farmer’s enemies in the fields. 
Meadow-mice are certainly the greatest pests among mammals of 
Northern Illinois; and of these the weasel destroys great numbers. I 
am informed that, upon the appearance of a weasel in the field, the army 
of mice of all kinds begins a precipitate retreat. A gentleman of 
Wisconsin related to me that, while following a plough, in spring, he 
noticed a weasel with a mouse in its mouth, running past him. It 
entered a hollow log. He determined to watch further, if possible, the 
animal’s movements, and presently saw it come out again, hunt about 
the roots of some stumps, dead trees, and log-heaps, and then enter a 
hole, from which a mouse ran out. But the weasel had caught one 
* Quadrupeds of N. Amer., II, 1851, p. 58. 
