By permission of Percy Leigh Pemberton, Esq.
POLECAT.
In England this animal in becoming very scarce.
The Weasel.
The smallest, fiercest, and commonest of its race, the little Weasel is by no means the least formidable to other animals of the carnivora of England. It is cinnamon-coloured, with a white throat and belly, and climbs as neatly as a cat, running up vertical boughs with almost greater facility. A weasel in a high hedge will run the whole length of the fence, from twig to twig, without descending; it threads the galleries of the field-mice, sucks the eggs of small birds in their nests, and attacks rats, mice, rabbits, and even such large birds as grouse without fear or hesitation. During a great plague of field-voles in the Lowlands of Scotland in the years 1890 and 1891 the weasels increased enormously. A shepherd took the trouble to follow a weasel down a hollow drain in the vole-infested hillside; he found the bodies of no less than thirteen field-mice, which the weasel had amused itself by killing. In winter weasels hunt the corn-stacks for mice, and often make a home among the sheaves. One was seen chasing a vole by Mr. Trevor-Battye, who picked up the vole, which the weasel was just about to jump up for, when he threw it into the hedge. There the weasel pounced on it and carried it off!
The main food of the weasel is the field-mouse and small voles. Weasels are very devoted to their young; they will pick them up and carry them off as a cat does a kitten, if the nest is in danger. Their hunting shows great marks of cunning. One was seen in a field in which a number of corn-buntings were flying about, alighting on thistles. The weasel went and hid under one of the tallest thistles, on which a bunting soon alighted; an instant after it sprang up and caught and killed the bird.
Photo by A. S. Rudland & Sons.
HIMALAYAN WEASEL.
Weasels are still common in England. They are fierce, and absolutely fearless when in pursuit of game.