378 
COMMON WEASEL. 
' and manner expressive of delight. This, and a 
thousand other preferences, shew that his attach- 
ment to me is real. When he sees me dressed for 
going out, he will not leave me, and it is not with- 
out some trouble that I can disengage myself from 
him ; lie then hides himself behind a cabinet near 
the door, and jumps upon me as I pass, with so 
much celerity that I often can scarcely perceive 
him. 
“ He seems to resemble a squirrel in vivacity, 
agility, voice, and his manner of murmuring. 
During the summer, he squeaks and runs about 
all night long ; but since the commencement of 
the cold weather, I have not observed this. Some- 
times, when the sun shines while he is playing on 
the bed, he turns and tumbles about, and murmurs 
for a while. 
From his delight in drinking -milk out of my 
hand, into which I pour a very little at a time, and 
his custom of sipping the little drops and edges of 
the fluid, it seems probable that he drinks dew in 
the same manner. He very seldom drinks water, 
and then only for want of milk; and with great 
caution, seeming only to refresh his tongue once 
or twice, and to be even afraid of that fluid. Dur- 
ing the hot weather, it rained a good deal. I 
presented to him some rain water in a dish, and en- 
deavoured to make him go into it, but could not 
succeed. I then wetted a piece of linen cloth in 
it, and put it near him ; when he rolled upon it 
with extreme delight. 
One singularity in this charming animal, is his 
curiosity ; it being impossible to open a drawer or 
a box, or even to look at a papei% but he will ex- 
amine it also. If he gets into any place where I 
am afraid of permitting him to stay, I take a paper 
or a book, and look attentively at it ; when he im- 
mediately runs upon my hand, and surveys with an 
