46 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 
DIMENSIONS 
Of an old female killed at Carlton House. 
Inches. Lines. Inches. Lines, 
Length of the head and body . 9 0 Height of the ear. . 0 2 
a head . we I 8 From tip of the nose to the anterior point 
33 tail (v i) : . 2 0 of the orbit ° * 0 6 
os 5 including hair 2 10 
The Weasels of the fur countries become white in winter like the Ermine, and 
are not distinguished from them by the traders. 
Rese 2. Mustera (Purorius) erminea. (Lin. Gmel.) 
The Ermine, or Stoat. 
Mustela erminea. Lin. GMELIN.,, i. p. 98. 
Stoat-weasel. PENNANT, Arciic Zool., i., p. 75. 
Mustela erminea. Parry’s First Voy., Suppl. clxxxv. Franx1in’s First Journey, p. 652. Parry’s Second 
Voy., App. p. 294. Liyon’s Private Journal, pp. 82—107. 
Seegoos and Shacooshew. Cree Inprans. Terreeya. EsquimMaux. 
This well-known and very handsome little animal is a common inhabitant of 
America, from its most northern limits to the middle districts of the United States ; 
and many specimens, both in the brown winter and white summer fur, were 
brought home by the late expeditions of discovery. It is a bold animal, and often 
domesticates itself in the habitations of the fur traders, where it may be heard 
the livelong night pursuing the white-footed mouse (AZus leucopus). Captain 
Lyon mentions his having seen an ermine hunt the footsteps of mice, like a hound 
after a fox, and he also describes their mode of burrowing in the snow. “TI 
now observed,” says he, “ a curious kind of burrow, made by the ermines, which 
was pushed up in the same manner as the tracks of moles through the earth in 
England. These passages run in a serpentine direction, and near the hole or 
dwelling-place the circles are multiplied, as if to render the approach more 
intricate.”’ The same lively writer relates the manners of a captive ermine as 
follows :—‘‘ He was a fierce little fellow, and the instant he obtained day-light in 
his new dwelling, he flew at the bars, and shook them with the greatest fury, 
‘* 
