The Potter journal and news item. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1872-1874, 1873-08-13
sits 4 YEAR

lacerated in the most shocking man
uer, while about her swarmed more
than q score of weascls. DO YOU
suppose they had observed the child
passing day by day and deliberately
banded together to attack her?
Weasels live principally upon
mice; the red-backed mouse, the
hamster mouse and the common
house mouse-also the brown rat.
They will eat bird's-egos and often
rob the nests of those building in
the highest trees. Not unfrequently
they surprise the birds themselves.
Unless pressed by hunger they rare
! ly eat the flesh of their victims, but
content themselves with the blood,
which they suck instantly upon kill
ing, and the brain, which they gnaw
through the skull to get
The enemies of the weasel are
chiefly the hawk and the owl. that
stoop and clutching them in their
talons squeeze the life out Of them
without giving them an opportunity
of using their sharp teeth. Unless
seized firmly, they will soon bring
down their captor by tearing and
biting into its vitals from under its
wing. Now and then one is snapped
up by some passing fox; Reynard
lays all tribes under contribution.
Occasionally, too, raccoon may
pick off one; which recalls to mind
a little rencontre | once saw between
a raccoon and a weasel.
1t was a dark and cloudy day in
September. A raccoon would scarce
ly be travelling on a bright day. /
had gone out into the woods to Shoot
gray squirrels and was standing 1T
the root Of tail rock maple, look
ing up into the top after one that
was hiding there, when a great rust
hing OF the fallen leaves and a snap
ping Of twigs caught my ear. 1t
seemed to be in the underground
which skirted the stream below and
as | looked, large raccoon burst
into sight, running almost directly
toward me, AS he ran, he kept
pouncing and graphing at something
which | soon perceived to be q wc;;-
sci.
A great beech-stub was standing
near. The weasel. lodging and doub-
my, rUI uue SUB sf1Iu coming
to the stub, whipped into a hole out
Of sight. cautiously raised my gun
to secure the raccoon. which. wholly
unconscious Of my presence, was
clawing at the hole; but ere | could
raise the hammer the weasel popped
its head out Of another hole three or
four feet higher up. then dropped
upon the napc Of the raccoon's neck.
! heard its sharp teeth grit as win
a low snarl the raccoon darted back,
swapping il vain at his willy little
adversary that bit at the roots OF his
skull. Their evolutions had placed
the trunk Of another tree between us.
/ stepped out, when the raccoon
catching sight Of me, scuttled away
among the bushes, the weasel still
clinging to him. / went to the stub
and tearing away the punky wood
at the butt uncovered, as expected,
a nest Of young weasels. But before
| had fairly looked them over, a
slight rustic from behind warned me
to step aside The brave little moth
er had returned unscathed, to her IL
ny family, ready to do battle again
in their defence.
In the spring, when changing from
white to brown, or late in the fail
when again turning white, the color
of the weasel is often very prettily
mottled; and very apt way of
showing these changes is to stuff
three specimens-a white one, a
brown and a variegated. Ranged
side by side, they illustrate the sub
ject better than any description can.
Now and then a weasel will volun.
tarily leave the woods and come to
the outstanding barns after the mice.
Sometimes it will even enter the
farmhouse. 1t is a wonderful nous
er, far more expert than a cat, it will
rid a house Of rats and mice in an
incredibly short time-also Of the
chickens, duckGngs, pet canary, etc.
No chink or knot-hole seems too
small for it to penetrate and it viii
60 up smoothly plastered wall like
a fly. 1t used to be q common thing
when a farmhouse was ovcrrun with
mice, to catch a weasel and turn him
loose in the chambers. For the next
day or two there would be q dreanlul
massacre of the vermin. Sometimes
where there were rats, it would be
impossible to sleep, for their dying
squeals.
If any of the boys desire to wit
ness some of these encounters, they
can catch a weasel and turn him in
to tight, unused room; then en-
trap mice and rats and turn them in,
The writer, with several other boys,
tried some experiments Of this kind
a few years ago. We found that a
chipmunk or red squirrel was no
match for our weasel. With a large
rat there was sure to be a pretty
sharp fight. But our best match