CHAPTER II. 



THE WEASEL KIND. 



In treating of a carnivorous and predacious family of 

 animals like the present in its relation to agriculture, it will 

 be necessary to consider the animal food of its various 

 members, and whether that food consists of creatures of 

 some value to the agriculturist, or, on the contrary, of 

 animals in themselves injurious to his interests. A side 

 issue, the effect of the Weasel kind upon ground game, also 

 arises, and might confuse the matter, inasmuch as, when the 

 farming tenant is not the shooting tenant, ground game 

 would be animals injurious to his interest/' but often 

 exactly the contrary when he himself has the shooting 

 rights. 



Time was when almost all parts of England could boast of 

 the possession of five species of this family in fair abundance. 

 But at the present day one of them, the Alarten, or Marten 

 Cat, is almost extinct ; two others, the Otter and the Pole- 

 cat, or Fitchet Weasel, are becoming yearly more rare ; and 

 the Stoat, or Ermine Weasel, and the common Weasel are 

 now the only two species which may be said to still exist in 

 any numbers generally over the kingdom. 



THE OTTER {Ultra vidgaris). 



As the Otter differs in many respects in structure and 

 habits from the rest of the family, it will be well to consider 



