2i$ HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 



Animals of the WEASEL Kind. 



rj ^HESE little, active, and enterprizing animals are 

 jf_ particularly diftinguifhed from other carnivorous 

 kinds, by the length and flendernefs of their bodies, 

 which are admirably adapted to their manner of living, 

 and methods of talcing trueir prey. They are fo fmall 

 and flexible, as to wind like worms into very fmall cre- 

 vices and openings, whither they eafily follow the little 

 animals that ferve them for food. 



All the animals of this kind are furnifhed with fmall 

 glands, placed near the anus, from which an uj&uous 

 matter continually exudes : The effluvia of it is extreme- 

 ly ofFenfive in the Polecat, Ferret, Weafel, &c. ; but in 

 the Civet Cat, Martin, and Pine Weafel, it is an agree- 

 able perfume. — They are all equally marked for rapine 

 and cruelty: They fubfifl only by theft, and find their 

 chief protection in their minutenefs. They are all, from 

 the fhortnefs of their legs, flow in purfuit ; and make up 

 that deficiency by patience, affiduity, and cunning. 



As their prey is precarious, they can live a long time 

 without food. When they fall in with plenty, they im- 

 mediately kill every thing within their reach, before they 

 begin to fatisfy their appetite ; and always fuck the blood 

 of every animal they kill, before they eat its flefli. 



Thefe are the principal peculiarities common to this 

 kind ; all the fpecies of which have fo ftriking a refem- 

 blance to each other, that having feen one, we may form 

 a very jufl idea of the refb. — The moft obvious difference 

 confifts in their fize. We mall therefore begin with the 

 fmalleft of this numerous clafs, and proceed gradually 

 upwards to the Jargeft. 



