140 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

Weasels, We come next to the family of the Mustelidz

Otters and which includes Weasels, Otters and Badgers, which

Badgers. we take as the heads of the three sub-families
into which it is divided. The first of these includes the
Pine Marten, occasionally found in Ireland and Scotland but more
commonly in different parts of Europe; the Sable, which belongs
to northern Europe and Asia; the American Sable, which
supplies the English market with hundreds of thousands of
skins annually; the Ermine or Stoat, still to be found in
Great-Britain and familiar in the northern parts of Europe,
Africa and America; the Weasel which has much the same
locale as the Ermine; the Ferret which hails from Africa and
which is cultivated in England for its use in the destruction
of vermin; and the Glutton (Gulo Juscus) which is found
principally in North America. The Polecat is also a member
of this family. It is about seventeen inches long and in form
resembles the weasel. Its colour is deep chocolate. It
generally lives in the neighbourhood of houses on hares,
rabbits, and birds. When pinched for food it will also
catch and eat fish. It is remarkable for an insufferably
fetid odour.

The Weasel. The weasel though thought by some to be
incapable of domestication has, like most other animals who
have had the chance, shown itselt amenable to kindly treat-
ment. Mdlle. de Laistre possessed one which she kept in
her chamber, dispelling its strong odours by perfumes. This
weasel displayed towards her extravagant evidence of affection.
“Tf the servant sets it at liberty before I am up in the
morning,” she writes, “after a thousand gambols, it comes into
my bed, and reposes in my hand or on my bosom. If I
am up before it is let out, it will fly to me in rapture, and
spend half an hour in caressing me. The curiosity of this
little pet is unbounded, for it is impossible to open a drawer
or box, without its roving through every part of it; if even
a piece of paper or a book is looked at, it will also examine