196 The Mammals of Colorado 
Distribution. — The Long-tailed Weasel is found on the great plains 
from North Latitude 54° south to Kansas and Colorado, and also 
ranging to some extent at least west of the Rocky Mountains. In 
Colorado it is quite widely distributed apparently, though we have 
not very many records at present; it has been taken at Greeley, 
Lay, Littleton, and Wray. 
Habits. — All the weasels are similar in appearance and 
habits; slender-bodied, bloodthirsty animals, destructive 
to animal life within their capacity to kill, and often killing 
for the mere lust of blood. The larger species kill animals 
as large as rabbits, and birds as large as grouse, and domestic 
poultry, though anything from a mouse up is meat for them. 
The slender body enables the creature to enter very small 
holes and reach the owners, and to investigate thoroughly 
every nook and crevice among fallen logs, or in rock slides. 
The breeding season is in the early summer, and large litters 
are the rule, six to eight or more. The families stay together 
until the young are quite good-sized, when they begin to 
shift for themselves. A weasel about a house or cabin makes 
the best of mousers, soon ridding the place of these pests. 
A weasel is a savage, bold little animal, and often, when 
met, does not seem disposed to give the right of way to a man, 
stopping and looking about, before reluctantly turning to one 
side. The white winter coat of our species furnishes an 
inferior quality of ermine. 
Putorius arizonensis (of or from Arizona). 
Mountain Weasel. 
Putorius arizonensis Meams, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., iii., 
No. 2, pp. 234-235 (1891). 
Type locality. — San Francisco Forest, Arizona (a few miles south 
of Flagstaff). 
Measurements. — Of male: Total length, 15.75; tail vert., 5.9; 
hindfoot, 1.65. Female : total length, 14.0 ; tail vert., 5.1 ; hind foot, 
1.6. 
Description. — Summer pelage (from a specimen taken at 
Sapinero, Gunnison County, Colorado, May 20th): Upper parts 
