THE SMALL WEASEL. 
101 
summer pelage and a shade paler in colour. It is light yellowish brown 
on the head, neck, and the whole of the upper surface ; this colour pre- 
vails on the outer portions of the fore-legs to near the feet, the outer sur- 
face of the hind-legs, the rump, and the whole of the tail, which is not 
tipped with black as in the ermine. The white on the under surface com- 
mences on the upper lips and extends along the neck, inner surface of 
the legs, rises high up along the sides, including the outer and inner 
surfaces of the feet. The moustaches are white and black, the former 
colour predominating. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Length from point of nose to root of tail, 
Head and neck, . . . , 
Tail (vertebree), . . . , 
“ including fur, . . - . 
Inches. 
7 
3 
2 
21 
HABITS. 
From the form and structure of this species, we might naturally pre- 
sume that it possesses all the habits of the ermine. It feeds on insects, 
eggs of birds, and mice, but from its diminutive size we are led to sup- 
pose that it is not mischievous in the poultry house, and would scarcely 
venture to attack a full-grown Norway rat. 
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 
The specimens from which our descriptions were made, were obtained 
in the State of New-York, one at the Catskills, and the other at Long 
Island. If it should prove to be the species we once had in captivity, it 
exists also in the northern part of New-York, where we captured it. 
Richardson asserts that it exists as far to the North as the Saskatchewan 
river, and Captain Bayfield obtained specimens at Lake Superior. 
GENERAL REMARKS. 
Sir John Richardson states that this species, like the ermine, becomes 
white in winter in the fur countries. We are disposed to believe that 
this is not the case in the latitude of New-York. This fact, however, 
is no evidence that the species in those widely separated localities 
are different. The ermine in the northern part of Virginia seldom un- 
dergoes a perfect change, and in Carolina remains brown throughout the 
whole year. Sir John Richardson states (p. 45) that the specimens pre- 
sented to the Zoological Society by Capt. Bayfield, agreed in all respects 
