FERRET. 
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taken m traps baited with flesh. In Norway they 
are either shot with blunt arrows, or taken in traps 
made of two flat stones, one being propped w ith a 
stick, to which is fastened a baited string, and 
when the animals attempt to pull this away, the 
stone drops and crushes them to death. 
This animal is sometimes found white in Great 
Britain, and is then called a white weasel. Its 
furs, however, among us are of no value, having 
neither the thickness, the closeness, nor the white- 
ness of those which come from Siberia. The fur 
of the ermine, in every country, changes by time ; 
for as much of its beautiful whiteness is given it 
by certain arts known to the furriers, so its natural 
colour returns, and its former whiteness can never 
be restored again. 
Ferret. 
The ferret is a kind of domestic in Europe, 
though said to be originally brought from Africa 
into Spain, which being a country abounding in 
rabbits, required an animal of this kind more 
than any other ; however this be, it is not to be 
found at present among us, except in its domestic 
state ; and it is chiefly kept tame for the purposes 
of the warren. 
The ferret is about one foot long, being nearly 
four inches longer than the weasel. It resembles 
that animal in the slenderness of its body, and the 
shortness of its legs ; but its nose is sharper, and 
its body more slender in proportion to its length. 
The ferret is commonly of a cream colour ; but 
they are also found of all the colours of the weasel 
kind ; white, blackish, brown, and parti-coloured. 
Those that are of the w hitish kind, have their eyes 
red, as is almost general with all animals entirely 
of that colour. But its principal distinction frora 
