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| Weasels having dinner. |
The Weasel is the smallest, commonest, and most dangerous member of its family. Its length, including the tail, is less than a foot. It is a great hunter, attacking even as large an animal as the hare. Weasels often hunt in couples, or bands, and when thus engaged, they become so absorbed that they can be easily approached. On one occasion a man noticed a rabbit rush across a meadow-path, evidently in terror of something following it, when suddenly a weasel appeared so close that it almost ran over the foot of the watcher. At about fifty yards the weasel caught up with the rabbit, leaped upon its neck and in a ; second or two it was dead. The man now came up, and the weasel sat upon its haunches and looked impudently at him. It seemed very loath to be driven from its prey, and the instant it was left alone it speedily dragged the rabbit under a bush. This last fact shows the strength of the weasel, for a rabbit weighs two or three times what a weasel does.
This little creature seems to have a knowledge of human ways, for the manner in which it will approach a man seems very rash; but on second thought one sees that they have a great deal of shrewdness. Owing to the weasel's fondness for young birds and eggs, the farmers kill it whenever they get a chance. But, on the other hand, the weasel proves very useful in destroying vermin, and the good it does exceeds its evil deeds. In summer the weasel hunts in the long hay and growing corn for rats and mice, but in winter it visits the barns, where they have gone for warmth and shelter.
Where the weasel is most dreaded is in the game preserve, for it is so cunning that it is next to impossible to shoot it down. The usual way of killing the weasel in the woods is by the steel trap. They love to frequent the storm ditches, probably because they can move along the bottom of them and approach the game without being seen. So the game-keeper leaves a baited trap right in the path, and after many provoking failures, Master. Weasel gets caught. Now a weasel fights hard for its life, and it plays a number of tricks, such as shamming death.
On one occasion a keeper came across a weasel which was, as he thought, lying dead in a trap, and to make sure he struck it several times with the butt of his gun. He loosened the spring of the trap, and taking the body out, threw it to one side, and walked away without giving the matter a second thought. Half an hour later, when he passed that way again, he noticed that the weasel had gone, and wondered who could have taken it. However about six weeks later he caught another weasel which looked remarkably like the first. He served it as he had served the one before, and threw it on the ground. This time he did not leave, but hid be- hind a bush. As nothing happened for some time he was just on the point of going home when he saw the weasel move, then sit up, sneeze, and calmly begin to put its fur in order, and then trot leisurely off. The blows that the keeper had struck it would have crushed many a larger animal.
Again a little weasel was caught by its front foot in a trap, and in its frantic struggle to get away it tore its foot off altogether. Although so badly maimed, that three-legged weasel became the scourge of the woods. Every day a partridge's nest was destroyed or a pheasant dragged down, and do what they could, the keepers failed to trap the little beast. When the snow came they saw its curious three-foot prints everywhere, but never a sight of the weasel. At last, nearly eighteen months later, it was found fighting with a tame cat that had run wild, over a dead rabbit. A charge of shot laid both the fighters out, but the damage had been done by that time. For a year and a half that weasel had defied every scheme to catch it. There is an old saying which runs, "Never leave a weasel till you have nailed it to the barn door."
This little creature seems to have a knowledge of human ways, for the manner in which it will approach a man seems very rash; but on second thought one sees that they have a great deal of shrewdness. Owing to the weasel's fondness for young birds and eggs, the farmers kill it whenever they get a chance. But, on the other hand, the weasel proves very useful in destroying vermin, and the good it does exceeds its evil deeds. In summer the weasel hunts in the long hay and growing corn for rats and mice, but in winter it visits the barns, where they have gone for warmth and shelter.
Where the weasel is most dreaded is in the game preserve, for it is so cunning that it is next to impossible to shoot it down. The usual way of killing the weasel in the woods is by the steel trap. They love to frequent the storm ditches, probably because they can move along the bottom of them and approach the game without being seen. So the game-keeper leaves a baited trap right in the path, and after many provoking failures, Master. Weasel gets caught. Now a weasel fights hard for its life, and it plays a number of tricks, such as shamming death.
On one occasion a keeper came across a weasel which was, as he thought, lying dead in a trap, and to make sure he struck it several times with the butt of his gun. He loosened the spring of the trap, and taking the body out, threw it to one side, and walked away without giving the matter a second thought. Half an hour later, when he passed that way again, he noticed that the weasel had gone, and wondered who could have taken it. However about six weeks later he caught another weasel which looked remarkably like the first. He served it as he had served the one before, and threw it on the ground. This time he did not leave, but hid be- hind a bush. As nothing happened for some time he was just on the point of going home when he saw the weasel move, then sit up, sneeze, and calmly begin to put its fur in order, and then trot leisurely off. The blows that the keeper had struck it would have crushed many a larger animal.
Again a little weasel was caught by its front foot in a trap, and in its frantic struggle to get away it tore its foot off altogether. Although so badly maimed, that three-legged weasel became the scourge of the woods. Every day a partridge's nest was destroyed or a pheasant dragged down, and do what they could, the keepers failed to trap the little beast. When the snow came they saw its curious three-foot prints everywhere, but never a sight of the weasel. At last, nearly eighteen months later, it was found fighting with a tame cat that had run wild, over a dead rabbit. A charge of shot laid both the fighters out, but the damage had been done by that time. For a year and a half that weasel had defied every scheme to catch it. There is an old saying which runs, "Never leave a weasel till you have nailed it to the barn door."
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| Kids can learn to draw a weasel step-by-step, 1, 2, and 3. |
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