PUTORIUS VULGARIS. 
55 
They are said to be nocturnal inhabits, but those that I have seen, 
and their number is not small, all seemed very much at home in 
broad daylight. I have often surprised them in the woods and fields, 
and have observed that on such occasions they usually make for some 
convenient covert and, when within reach of its shelter, immediately 
turn about to view the stranger, who is now an object of curiosity 
rather than of alarm. Once, while sitting quietly on the end of an 
old log, in the woods, I noticed one of these pretty little Weasels 
coming obliquely toward me, in a series of leisurely leaps, stopping 
every now and then to look about. Perceiving me he stood bolt up- 
right, his head bent at right angles to his slender body, and eyed me 
for a moment without moving a muscle; he then betook himself to 
the roots of the nearest tree, and under the quasi-protection of this 
open retreat, commenced a more deliberate survey of my peculiarities. 
Many times did he advance toward me, and as many back up to the 
tree again, with his head elevated, and constantly sniffing the air in 
my direction. He finally gathered sufficient courage to cross over 
to the log upon which I was sitting, and under the shelter of its 
shadow scrutinized me still more closely. 
The Least Weasel is so small and slender that it can easily enter 
the burrows of alarge proportion of the animals that constitute its prey. 
When they take to the open fields and outrun their pursuer, he is 
not discouraged, but follows their tracks by the scent, like a hound, 
and overtakes them in their securest retreats;, thus are his ill-fated 
victims attacked in their own homes, and thus are they deprived of any 
haven to which they may fly to escape from the eager pursuit of this 
indefatigable and inexorable little beast. 
I have never found the nest of the Weasel, and therefore transcribe 
the following account of its breeding habits from the pen of Thomas 
Bell : “ The female Weasel brings forth four, or more frequently five 
young, and is said to have two or three litters in a year. The nest is 
composed of dry leaves and herbage, and is warm and dry, being 
usually placed in a hole in a bank, in a dry ditch, or in a hollow tree. 
