squeaking, and with its eyes just open. She sat up in the grass, ran into the
road and back again several times, and at last stopped within a foot of the little
one; for a second she hesitated, and then like a flash darted to her babe, seized
it by the neck, and carried it with wonderful speed into a wall at the side of the
road.
Mr. Douglas English has kindly sent me the following interesting communication
on the subject of Weasels in confinement:
‘ I have kept all the British Mustelidae in confinement at one time or another,
but the Weasel is the only species which I have had the opportunity of observing
from an early stage of its existence.
‘ In the middle of May 1904 I secured a litter of five Weasel-kittens during
the threshing of an oat-stack. They were found about half-way down the stack,
well furred all over, but quite helpless and incapable of supporting their own
weight. Their eyes were closed, but apparently sensitive to a bright light, and in
three or four days were completely opened. I considered it would be impracticable
to rear the whole number, and accordingly gave two away the same evening. One
of these was evidently the weakling, and died the following day. The other, being
skilfully looked after, reached maturity, and, owing to incessant handling and a
very liberal diet, became comparatively tame. He was allowed at times to roam
loose in a sitting-room, was easily handled, and displayed no particular objection
to being recaptured and put back in his cage.
‘ The three remaining kittens I fed for four days on cow’s milk, at first
holding a drop or two in the hollow of the hand and putting their noses in it, then,
when they had got accustomed to their new diet, using a milk-soaked rag. They
were fed to repletion as often as was practicable—every two hours in the daytime
—and I should record their indebtedness to my cousin, Miss M. Jekyll, to whose
unremitting attention they certainly owed their lives.
‘ Their note at this time was a high whimper, and could be exactly imitated
by rubbing the moistened finger on a pane of glass.
‘ On the fourth day I shot a sparrow, pulled it to pieces, and gave it to
them while warm. They took readily to this, and there was no further difficulty
in feeding them. By the time I had had them a fortnight their whimper ceased,
and they developed the power of hissing. About this time, too, they could
manage a dead mouse or bird for themselves, but it was three weeks before they
would tackle anything alive.
‘ It was noticeable that their “ hissing ” was always under cover. The “ yap ”
(its sequel) was always accompanied by an extremely swift lunge and recover of
the head, forelegs, and body.
‘ I had subsequently the opportunity of noting that the Weasel under cover
who suspects mischief arches his back and gathers his four feet beneath him.
He may or may not “ hiss.” His “ yap” (the ultimatum) is accompanied by a
lunge and recover from the hind legs as a base, which can only be compared
with that of an expert fencer.
‘ It is impossible to disregard the serpentine character of these tactics. Personally
I could never face the attack without flinching from its suddenness,
unexpectedness, and vehemence, and, judging from a human standpoint, its value,
both as an aggressive and as a protective measure, is easily understandable.
‘ Apart from this muscular adaptation for quick forward movement the anterior
portion of a Weasel’s body admits of an extraordinary amount of lateral “ play.
‘ A favourite exercise of my Weasels, when fully grown, was to swing the
portion of themselves anterior to the pelvis from side to side through something
like a right angle at the rate, which I timed on several occasions, of about 150
strokes a minute. The motion can best be conceived by swinging the hand, held
vertically, from the wrist at about this rate, imagining the Weasel’s hind legs to
be fixed at the wrist, while his neck, body, and fore legs correspond to the hand.
‘ Another example of this body flexibility was noticeable when a pair, as was
by no means infrequent, had some disagreement to settle. Before one got a grip
it was impossible to follow the inextricable confusion of their bodies. I never saw
the throat-grip, which was presumably intended; but on more than one occasion
I saw one fasten on the other’s nose. The victim’s procedure was always the
same. He flung his hind quarters off the ground and described a complete
revolution, his vertebral column being the horizontal axis. The aggressor, of
necessity, followed suit, so that the pair of combatants formed an animated spiral,
the revolution of one body being a shade in front of that of the other. I have
counted twenty-three of such revolutions, which leads to the consideration of the
Weasel’s tenacity of grip.
I It was a favourite amusement of mine to give my pair (I released number
three when full-grown) a long thin strip of raw meat. The first who secured the
meat would promptly bolt with i t ; the second would pursue the trailing end.
When the tug-of-war was fairly established I would insert a stout wire under the
middle of the meat and lift the pair of them off the ground. No amount of
shaking would dislodge them, and finally the meat itself would yield.
VOL. II.