HABITS OF THE WEASEL. 8 
under portions are of a pure white, the line of demarcation being tolerably 
well defined, but not very sharply cut. 
It is a terrible foe to many of the smaller rodents, such as rats and mice, 
and performs a really good service to the farmer by destroying many of these 
farmyard pests. It follows them wherever they may be, and mercilessly 
destroys them, whether they have taken up their summer abode in the hedge- 
rows and river-banks, or whether they have retired to winter quarters among 
the barns and ricks. Many farmers are in the habit of destroying the 
Weasels, which they look upon as “vermin,” but it is now generally thought 
that, although the Weasel may be guilty of destroying a chicken or duckling 
now and then, it may yet plead its great services in the destruction of mice 
as acause of acquittal. The Weasel is specially dreaded by rats and mice, 
because there is no hole through which either of these animals can pass 
which will not quite as readily suffer the passage of the Weasel; and as the 
Weasel is most determined and pertinacious in pursuit, it seldom happens 
that rats or mice escape when their little foe has set itself fairly on their 
track. 
The Weasel has been seen to catch and to kill a bunting by creeping 
quietly towards a thistle on which the bird was perching, and then to leap 
suddenly upon it before it could use its wings. When it seizes an animal 
that is likely to make its escape, the Weasel flings its body over that of its 
victim, as if to prevent it from struggling. In single combat with a large 
and powerful rat, the Weasel has but little hope of success unless it should 
be able to attack from behind, as the long chisel-edged teeth of the rat are 
terrible weapons against so small an animal as the Weasel. The modes of 
attack employed by the two animals are of a different character, the rat 
making a succession of single bites, while the Weasel is accustomed to fasten 
its teeth on the head or neck of its opponent, and there to retain its hold 
until it has drained the blood of its victim. The fore-legs of the Weasel are 
of very great service in such a contest, for when it has fixed its teeth, it 
embraces its opponent firmly in its fore-limbs, and rolling over on its side, 
holds its antagonist in its unyielding grasp, which is never relaxed as long 
as a spark of life is left. 
Like the polecat and others of the same group of animals, the Weasel is 
most destructive in its nature, killing many more animals than it can devour, 
simply for the mere pleasure of killing. It is curious to notice how the 
savage mind, whether it belongs to. man or beast, actually revels in destruc- 
tion, is maddened to absolute frenzy by the sight of blood, and is urged by 
a kind of fiery delirium to kill and to pour out the vital fluid. Soldiers in the 
heat of action have often declared that everything which they saw was charged 
with a blood-red hue, but that the details of the conflict had entirely passed 
from theirminds, A single Weasel, urged by some such destructive spirit, has 
been known to make its way into a cage full of freshly-caught song-birds, 
and to destroy every single bird. The little assassin was -discovered lying 
quite at its ease in a corner of the cage, surrounded with the dead bodies of 
its victims. 
To persons who have had but little experience in the habits of wild 
animals, it is generally a matter of some surprise that the celebrated Ermine 
fur, which is in such general favour, should be produced by one of those very 
animals which we are popularly accustomed to rank among “vermin,” and 
to exterminate in every possible way. Yet so it is. The highly-prized 
Ermine and the much-detested Stoat are, in fact, one and the same animal, 
the difference in the colour of their coats being solely caused by the larger 
or smaller proportion of heat to which they have been subjected. 
In the summer-time, the fur of the Stoat—by which name the animal will 
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