The second tribe of Carnivora walks upon its toes, and is, consequently,
called Digitigrada; it is chiefly composed of a number of smaller
animals, which are very interesting from many of their habits, very
precious from the valuable fur which they afford, and in many instances
are so destructive, that they go under the common name of Vermin. A
numerous genus bears the appellation of Vermiform, because their bodies
are long, and their legs are short, which formation enables them to
slide through small apertures in worm-fashion, twisting themselves
through the winding passages, with their bodies touching the ground.
They destroy much game, and, except when trained to kill rats and
rabbits, are objects of persecution and dislike. Among them are weasels,
polecats, ferrets, martens, skunks, and others. The ermine and sable are
included with the martens; and the three first send forth a disagreeable
odour. They, however, are not to be compared in this respect to the
skunk, which of all creatures is one of the most disagreeable, in
consequence of its foetid gland, which secretes the offensive liquor
sent forth when the animal is frightened or irritated. Nothing will
obliterate this odour, no other scent overcomes it; no burying in the
earth, no washing will avail; even time does not cure, and an article of
dress put by for years, is still unwearable.
It is to weasels and otters that I shall confine myself in this work,
for about their intellectual powers do we know most. The first is a very
courageous beast, not fearing to attack animals much larger than
himself--even man. A labouring peasant at Glencairn, in Dumfrieshire,
was attacked by six of them, who rushed upon him when he was at work in
a field. Being frightened at such a furious onset, he fled, but they
pursued him, although he dealt some back-handed strokes with a large
horsewhip. He was on the point of being seized by the throat, when he
fortunately perceived the fallen branch of a tree. He snatched it up,
and making a stand against his enemies, he killed three, and put the
others to flight. Another instance is reported by Captain Brown, in his
Popular Natural history, where the affray commenced by a person striking
a weasel, which squeaked aloud. This roused a whole colony, consisting
of fifteen, who flew at him and bit him severely. A gentleman came to
his aid, and with his assistance, several of the assailants were killed,
the others ran into the fissures of a neighbouring rock.
There are instances of weasels having been tamed; but it is very
difficult to make any impression on their affections, although they are
very sagacious, and sagacious animals are more easily influenced than
others. The weasel and the stoat are so often mistaken for each other,
that it will be well to point out the constant difference in each. The
stoat is brown above, dirty white underneath; his tail is longer and
more bushy than that of the weasel, and always black at the tip. The
weasel is red above, and pure white underneath, and the tail is red and
uniform, being deprived of the bushy tip. Mr. Bell, from whose pages I
have taken these characters, defends weasels from the accusation of
devouring poultry, game, hares, rabbits, and various small birds. He
says, that when driven by hunger, they may occasionally eat such things;
but that their general food consists of mice and rats of every
description, the field and water vole, and moles; and that they ought
rather to be encouraged than exterminated, because they destroy so much
vermin. They generally approach with the utmost caution and shyness, and
when once they have seized their prey, they never let go their hold;
they aim at the neck, below the ear, or drive their teeth through the
back of the head: they hound and spring, and climb trees with the
greatest facility, and seem never to tire of hunting, whether they are
hungry or not. Mr. St. John saw one in a stubble field, in which
several corn buntings were flying about, or alighting on a thistle. The
animal disappeared at the foot of this thistle, and the above gentleman
thought he had slunk into a hole, but feeling sure by his manner he
intended some mischief, he stayed to watch his movements. As soon as one
of the birds settled on the thistle, something sprang up as quick as
lightning, and then disappeared with the bird; it was the weasel, who
had thus successfully concealed himself. The same gentleman chased a
weasel into a hollow tree, who carried something in her mouth. He
applied smoke to the hole, and out she came again, carrying the same
burden. She ran towards a stone-wall, but was met by a terrier, who
killed her, catching her with the greater facility in consequence of her
obstinacy in carrying away what Mr. St. John still thought was her prey.
On picking it up, however, he found that it was a young weasel, unable
to run, which its mother was endeavouring to carry to a place of safety,
her former hole in an adjoining field having been ploughed over. Another
proof of the weasel's affection for her young, was witnessed by a
labourer, who, while standing on a foot-path close to the hedge side,
perceived a weasel with one of her young ones in her mouth. He kicked
her, and she, dropping it, retreated into a hedge. He then stood over
the young one with a stick in his hand, not intending to kill it, but
merely to see how its mother would proceed. She soon peeped from her
covert, and made several feints to get at her charge, but was obliged to
run into the hedge again, intimidated by the stick which the man
flourished about. At last she summoned up all her resolution, and in
spite of everything, after a great deal of dodging to avoid the stick,
succeeded in obtaining the object of her solicitude, and bore it off
between the legs of her tormentor.
Weasels sometimes fall a prey to hawks; and I transcribe the following
account from the pages of Mr. Bell. "As a gentleman of the name of
Pinder, was riding over his grounds, he saw, at a short distance from
him, a kite pounce on some object on the ground, and rise with it in his
talons. In a few moments, however, the kite began to show signs of great
uneasiness, rising rapidly in the air, or as quickly falling, and
wheeling irregularly round, whilst he was evidently endeavouring to free
some obnoxious thing from him with his feet. After a short but sharp
contest, the kite fell suddenly to the earth, not far from Mr. Pinder.
He instantly rode up to the spot, when a weasel ran away from the kite,
apparently unhurt, leaving the bird dead, with a hole eaten through the
skin under the wing, and the large blood vessels of the part torn
through."
The nest composed by weasels, in which they will bring forth four or
five young ones, two or three times a year, is of dry leaves and
herbage, is placed in a hole, in a bank, a dry ditch, or a hollow tree,
and if a dog come near it, the mother flies at him, and fastens on his
lips with great tenacity.