[Pl. 44.]][F 68.
Weasel's Hole.
In woodland bank, containing nest and young.
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[Pl. 45.]][F 69.
Polecat at Bay.
Defying a human intruder.
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A local race of smaller size, with some variation in the colouring, is found in Ireland, and some systematic naturalists, eager to swell our short list of native mammals, have dignified it with a separate species name—Mustela hibernicus. In Ireland it is known as the Weasel, but no specimens or skins of the true Weasel (Mustela nivalis) have ever been received from that country. Another local race in the Isle of Jura on the west coast of Scotland is similarly given species rank.