Quadrupeds, 69 



The following notes on the weasel are interesting. 



" The weasel climbs trees with great facility, and surprises birds on the nest, sucks 

 the eggs, or carries off the young. It has been asserted that it attacks and destroys 

 snakes : this, however, I believe to be entirely erroneous. I have tried the experiment 

 by placing a weasel and a common snake together in a large cage, in which the for- 

 mer had the opportunity of retiring into a small box in which it was accustomed to 

 sleep. The mutual fear of the two animals kept them at a respectful distance from 

 each other; the snake, however, exhibiting quite as much disposition to be the assail- 

 ant, as its more formidable companion. At length the weasel gave the snake an oc- 

 casional slight bite on the side or on the nose, without materially injuring it, and evi- 

 dently without any instinctive desire to feed upon it ; and at length, after they had 

 remained two or three hours together, in the latter part of which they appeared almost 

 indifferent to each other's presence, I took the poor snake away and killed it. 



" Far diflferent was this weasel's conduct when a mouse was introduced into the 

 cage : it instantly issued from its little box, and, in a moment, one single bite on the 

 head pierced the brain, and laid the mouse dead without a struggle or a cry. I have 

 observed that when the weasel seizes a small animal, at the instant that the fatal bite 

 is inflicted, it throws its long lithe body over its prey, so as to secure it should the first 

 bite fail : an accident, however, which I have never observed to occur when a mouse 

 has been the victim. The power which the weasel has of bending the head at right 

 angles with the long and flexible, though powerful neck, gives it great advantage in 

 this mode of seizing and killing its smaller prey. It also frequently assumes this po- 

 sition when raising itself on the hinder legs to look around." — p. 143. 



" It is, however, sometimes itself the prey of hawks ; but the following fact shows 

 that violence and rapine, even when accompanied by superior strength, are not always 

 a match for the ingenuity of an inferior enemy. As a gentleman of the name of Fin- 

 der, then residing at Bloxworth in Dorsetshire, was riding over his grounds, he saw, 

 at a short distance from him, a kite pounce on some object on the ground, and rise 

 with it in his talons. In a few moments, however, the kite began to show signs of 

 great uneasiness, rising rapidly in the air, or as quickly falling, and wheeling irregu- 

 larly round, whilst it was evidently endeavouring to force some obnoxious thing from 

 it with its feet. After a short but sharp contest, the kite fell suddenly to the earth, not 

 far from where Mr. Finder was intently watching the manoeuvre. He instantly rode 

 up to the spot, when a weasel ran away from the kite, apparently unhurt, leaving the 

 bird dead, with a hole eaten through the skin under the wing, and the large blood-ves- 

 sels of the part torn through." — p. 145. 



The question of the identity of the common and pine marten is dis- 

 cussed at some length, but without any satisfactory result : both the 

 supposed species are figured. 



T'he wild cat [Fells catus) is the only example of its family. It is 

 one of those animals which appear on the eve of total extermination ; 

 the supposed specimens of this creature which so often ornament the 

 doors of our barns being invariably wanderers from some neighbour- 

 ing cottage or farm-house : none the less deserving of their fate, for 

 having once lived a decent and orderly life. 



The fox is the only example of the dog tribe now wild in Britain. 



