MAMMALS OF MARYLAND 



149 



LONG-TAILED WEASEL 



Mustela frenata noveboracensis (Emmons) 



Putorius Noveboracensis Emmons, a report on the quadrupeds of 

 Massachusetts, p. 45, 1840. 

 Type locality. — Williamstown, Berkshire County, Mass. 



General distribution. — From Wisconsin east through Michigan, southwestern 

 Ontario, southern Quebec, and southeastern Maine, south through the eastern 

 United States to North Carolina, western South Carolina, northern Georgia, 

 and Alabama, west to the Mississippi and St. Croix Rivers. 



Distribution in Maryland. — Occurs in all sections of the State. 



Distinguishing characteristics. — A large weasel, similar in colora- 

 tion and general appearance to the ermine, but larger and with a longer 

 tail. It is generally believed that except in the coldest portions of the 

 Allegheny Mountain section, most Maryland long-tailed weasels re- 

 main in brown pelage the year round, and the majority of winter- 

 killed specimens from Maryland that I have examined are in brown 

 pelage. There is, however, one male from Gaithersburg, Montgomery 

 County, and another from Patuxent, Prince Georges County, in the 

 National collections that are entirely white except for the customary 

 black tail tip. 



Male long-tailed weasels are strikingly larger than females. So 

 pronounced is this secondary sexual trait that some early writers 



Figure 49. — Distribution of Mustela frenata noveboracensis. 



