124 Lloyd's natural historV. 



pursuing it even into the water. Among grass or herbage it 

 frequently raises itself on its hind-legs to look around, and in 

 a place of security will sometimes allow a person to make a 

 near approach to it. . . . When its nest is plundered, it 

 defends itself against all assailants, springs upon the Dogs, and 

 even attempts to vent its fury upon their masters. It produces 

 five or six young ones, and is said to litter two or three times 

 in the year." The extreme playfulness and activity of a litter 

 of young Weasels is well described by Bell. 



" To the extreme boldness of the Weasel on occasion," writes 

 Mr. Trevor-Battye, " the following fact bears witness. In Sep- 

 tember, 1892, at about one o'clock in the afternoon, when 

 walking along a high road in Kent, a Weasel ran across the 

 road in front, and disappeared in a hole. In a moment it re- 

 appeared, and began quartering the ground with that undu- 

 lating rapidity characteristic of this creature. It was quite 

 regardless of my presence, and presently disappeared again. 

 I moved down the bank, and noticing a movement at the 

 mouth of a little hole, put my hand quickly down and caught 

 a large Field- Vole. As I picked it up, the Weasel followed my 

 hand, and would I am sure have jumped at it for the Vole : but, 

 without thinking, I stupidly threw down the Vole, which the 

 creature seized instantaneously, and carried off into the hedge." 



That the Weasel will take to the water when in pursuit of 

 its prey is mentioned in Macgillivray's account, but it does not 

 appear that it will voluntarily swim for any long distance. An 

 instance is, however, recorded by the Rev. H. A. Macpherson, 

 of one of these little animals being taken while swimming across 

 Ulleswater, at a point where the lake is three-quarters of a mile 

 in width. 



Occasionally, though very rarely, the Weasel is stated to 

 turn white in winter, the tail then retaining its reddish hue, 

 although becoming paler than ordinary. 



