WEASEL (Putorius noveboracensis), a fur bearing mammal (q.v.), typical of the family Mustelide. The body is elongated and slender, the head long, the legs short, the muzzle rounded and the tail short and slender. The feet have each five toes and are digitigrade and unwebbed. There are 34 teeth and the sectorial or flesh-tooth lacks an internal tubercle. The anal glands are developed and secrete a strong smelling substance. The weasel attains a length of from 12 to 15 inches, of which the tail makes nearly one-third. The male is larger than the female. Above, the color is brown; below, white or pale yellow, the terminal one-third of the tail black. In winter the fur becomes more or less white, but this change is complete only in the north and does not affect the black of the tail; in this white phase the animal is called an ermine (q v.). The common weasel, in one or other of its varieties, inhabits the entire eastern United States, westward to Minnesota, south tc., North Carolina and north to Canada; and is replaced in most other parts of North America by more or less closely related species and in Eurasia by others, of which the Siberian ermine is its nearest ally Owing to its retiring and nocturnal habits h is unknown to most people. It is plentiful even in the vicinity of large cities, where it renders efficient service in the destruc tion of vermin.
The European weasel (P. volgerit) is slightly smaller than its American relative, red dish brown in color, but whitish underneath.
(See POLECAT ) . The weasel is a highly courage ous animal, and makes war on rats, mice, hares and rabbits, birds and many other small animals. During the summer it devours insects, but ap pears never to partake of a vegetable diet. In stances are on record in which these animals have attacked horses and cows, and they some times exhibit an utter indifference to the prox imity of man. They are especially fond of eggs, and rob hen-roosts and the nest of every wild bird which they find. Their mode of killing their prey is characteristic—since they usually fasten on to the neck of their victim, and hold firmly on while they suck the blood; next they eat the brains and only then the flesh. Like most of their near relatives they often kill much more than they requite for food. They hunt by scent and are tireless in pursuit. Few ani mals are so active, and the slimness of their bodies enables them to explore every hole and hiding-place of their prey. Weasels live in holes under stone walls, rocks and trees, in bar rows captured by force from ground-squirrels and woodchucks, in hollow stumps, etc. A nest of dried leaves and grasses is constructed and about five young are born in a litter. Consult Cones, (Fur-baring Animals' (Washington 1V7); Merriam, (Synopsis of the Weasels of North America) (Washington 18%).