MUSTEK A. 
414 
Baikal. In its haunts, manners, and food, it has a great 
refanblance to the fable ; but it does not extend fo far 
north. 
30. Mu del a erminea, the ermine and float. There are 
two varieties--, a. M. erminea ssftiva, the fummer ermine, 
or float; having the body tinged or fpotted with red ; / 3 . 
M. erminea hyberna, the winter or proper ermine, which 
is entirely white: but in both varieties the tail is black at 
the tip ; this, therefore, is the fpecific character. This 
animal refembles the weafel in general appearance, but is 
■confiderably larger; the body, exclufive of the tail, mea- 
furing ten inches, and the tail five and a half: the tip of 
the tail is alio conftantly black, whatever may be the gra¬ 
dation or call of colour on the body; for the float, in the 
northern regions, becomes milk-white during the winter, 
in which ftate it is commonly called the ei'mine. It is- 
fometimes found of this colour in our own country ; and 
Mr. Pennant fays, that in 1780 he faw, in his own grounds, 
two in the ftate of the molt perfect and beautiful ermines. 
They are met with alfo in Newfoundland and Canada : 
their fkins are a great article of commerce in Norway and 
Siberia. In the latter country, they are found in plenty, 
in birch forefts ; but there are none in thofe of fir or pine. 
Their Ikins bring on the fpot from two to three pounds 
per hundred. In Norway they are taken in traps, baited 
with flelh ; in Siberia, they are either fhot with blunt ar¬ 
rows, or taken in a trap made of two flat ftones, propped by 
a flick, to which is faftened a baited firing, which, on theleaft 
touch of the animal, falls down and kills it. Pontoppi- 
■dan in his Hiftory of Norway fays, that the furs of Nor¬ 
way and Lapland are better than thofe of Ruflia, which 
fooner turn yellow ; and for this reafon the former are in 
greater requeft, even at Peterfburgh. 
The ermine catches mice like the cat; and, when prac¬ 
ticable, carries off his prey. * He is particularly fond of 
eggs; and, when the fea is calm, he l'wims over to the 
iflands which are near the coaft of Norway, where there 
are vaft quantities of fea-fowls. It is alleged, that, when 
the female brings forth in an ifland, (lie conducts her 
young to the continent upon a piece of u'ood, piloting 
them with her nofe. This animal, though fmall, kills 
thofe of a much larger fize, as the rein-deer and bear; 
he jumps into one olktheir ears when they are afleep, and 
adheres fo faft by his teeth and claws, that thole creatures 
cannot difengage him. He likewife furprifes eagles and 
heath-cocks, by fixing on them, and never quitting them, 
even when they mount in the air, till the lofs of blood 
brings them to the ground. Thefe, however, are Pon- 
toppidan’s ftories, which are generally to be received with 
fome grains of allowance. The ermine differs from the 
common weafel in this particular ; that it does notenter 
houfes, but confines itfelf to the fields. The ermine is 
fliown at fig. 7. and the rtoat, or fpotted ermine, at fig. 8. 
31. Muftela vulgaris, the common weafel: body pale 
reddifh-brown, beneath white ; tail fimilar in colour to 
the body. The common weafel is one of the fmalleft fpe- 
cies in this numerous tribe of quadrupeds. Its general 
length is about feven inches, exclufive of the tail, wdiich 
meafures near two inches and a half. Its colour is a pale 
reddilh or yellowifh-brown, and beneath it is entirely 
white; but below the corners of the mouth, on each fide, 
is a brown fpot: the ears are fmall and rounded, and the 
eyes are black. See fig. 9. 
This little animal is poflefled of a confiderable degree 
of elegance in its afpeCt, and its motions are light and 
eafy ; but it has the fame unpleafant fmell with the float, 
and fome other fpecies. It is an inhabitant of the cavities 
under the roots of trees, as well as of banks near rivulets, 
&c. from which it occafionally {allies forth in quell of 
birds, field-mice, &c. It even attacks young rabbits, 
and other animals of far fuperior fize to itfelf; but its 
chief prey, at lead in this country, feems to be the field- 
moule, of which it deflroys great multitudes. From the 
extreme flexibility of its body, and its w-onderful activity, 
it readily alcends the fides of walls, and by this means 
purfues its prey into the mod diftant retirements; and fo 
a frequent inhabitant of barns and granaries. The wea¬ 
fel produces four or five young at a time ; preparing for 
them a bed of mofs, t grafs, &c. An inftance is given by 
M. de Buffon, of a weafel’s neft being found in the car- 
cafe of a wolf, which had been hung up near a wood : 
the neft was made in the cavity of the thorax. The 
count, in his firlt defeription of the weafel, affirmed that 
it was a perfectly untameable animal; but he afterwards 
received very authentic accounts of weafels which had 
been fo completely tamed as to exhibit every mark of at¬ 
tachment to their benefactors, and to be as familiar as a 
cat or a lap-dog. An account of this kind is given by 
one of his correfpondents in the 7th fupplemental volume 
of his Natural Hiftory, which amply confirms the truth 
of this ; and, among other curious particulars, it is ob-, 
ferved, that, when afleep, the mufcles of this little ani¬ 
mal are in a ftate of extreme flaccidity, fo that it may be 
taken up by the head, and fwung backwards and forwards, 
in the manner of a pendulum, feveral times before it 
wakes. Mademoifelle de Laiftre, in a letter on this fub- 
jeft, gives a very pleafing account of the education and 
manners of a weafel which file took under her protection. 
She affirms, that, far from having any predilection for 
meat in a ftate of putrefaction, it, on the contrary, always 
delighted moft in that which was perfectly freffi. For the 
two or three firlt days it was fed with warm milk ; and 
afterwards with veal, beef, or mutton. It frequently ate 
from her hand, and feemed to be more delighted with 
this manner of feeding than any other. It was very fond 
of milk : “ If I pour (fays M. de Laiftre) fome milk into 
my hand, it will drink a good deal ; but, if I have not 
this complaifance, it will fcarcely drink a drop. When 
it is latisfied, it generally goes to deep : my chamber is 
the place of its relidence, and I have found, a method of 
difpelling its ftrong fmell by perfumes: by day it fleeps 
in a quilt, into which it gets by an unfown place on the 
edge, which it has difeovered. By night it is kept in a 
wired box or cage, which it always enters with reluCtance, 
and leaves with pleafure. If it be fet at liberty before 
my time of rifing, after a thoufand little playful tricks, 
it gets into bed, and goes to fleep in my hand or on my 
bofom. If I am up firft, it fpends a full half hour in 
careffing me, playing with my fingers like a little dog, 
jumping on my head, on my neck, running round my 
arms and body, with a lightnefs and elegance which I 
never beheld in any other animal. If I prelent my hands, 
at the diftance of three feet, it jumps into them without 
ever miffing. It iliows a great deal of finefie and cun¬ 
ning in order to compafs its ends; and feems to difobey 
certain prohibitions merely through frolic. During all 
its aClions it feems felicitous to divert and to be noticed ; 
looking, at every jump and at every turn, in order to fee 
whether you oblerve it or no ; and, if no notice be taken 
of its gambols, it ceafes them immediately, and betakes 
itfelf to fleep ; and, even when moft afleep, if you wake 
it, it inftantly refumes its gaiety, and frolics about in as 
fprightly a manner as before. It never (hows anv ill-hu¬ 
mour, unlels when confined, or teazed too much, in 
which cafe it exprefles its difpleafure by a fort of murmur, 
very different from that which it utters when pleafed. 
In the midftof twenty people this little animal diftin- 
guifties my voice, leeks me out, and fprings over every 
body to come at me. His play with me is the moft lively 
and careffing; with his two little paws he pats me on the 
chin with an air and a manner expreffive of delight: this, 
and a thoufand other preferences, (how that his attach¬ 
ment to me is real. When he fees me drefled for going 
out, he will not leave me, and it is not without fome troti- 
ble that I can difengage myfelf from him : he then hides 
himfelf behind a cabinet near the door, and jumps upon 
me, as I pafs, with fo much celerity that I frequently 
can fcarcely fee him. He feems to refemble a fquirrel in 
vivacity, agility, voice, and manner of murmuring. During 
the fummer, he fqueaks and runs about all night long ; 
but. 
