Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1907-10-31
ABOUT THE WEASEL.

ABDUL TIE WLAOEL.
AS you walk along a country lane
you may often see little animal
with very long body and very short
legs running across the road few
yards in front of you. 1t Is bright
reddish brown in color on its head
and back and sides, and pure white
underneath, and from the tip of its
nose to the end Of its stumpy little
tail 1t is about ten inches in length.
This animal is a weasel, and l
should like to tell you, first of all,
why its body is so long and slender
while its legs are so short. The
reason is that it is creature of prey,
and that very often it has to follow
its victims along narrow, winding
burrows. Now, If 1t had a stout body
and loLg legs it would not be able TO
do this. A greyhound cannot walk
down a rabbit hole, can he? That
is because his body Is much too big,
and his legs are much too long. But
a terrier can walk down 1t quite
easily, because he has small body
and short legs. And so the weasel,
you see, which has body not much
stouter than that of small snake,
and very short little legs, indeed.
can wind it's way along the burrow of
a rat or mole, and spring upon the
animal at the end.
Weasels destroy great many rats
in this way, and mice, too, although,
of course, they cannot follow these
into their holes; so that, although
they are the enemies of the game
keeper because they are so fond Of
young hares and cartridges. they
are very goods friends to the farmer.
But sometimes they do a great deal
of mischief even in the farmyard; for
II weasel can find his way into the
henhouses he will always do so, and
will kill perhaps half dozen fowls
one after the other. You may some
times see him trotting along by the
side Of the hedgerow, too, and every
now and then stopping for moment
or two and peering eagerly into the
thick herbage that grows at the bot
tom. Then you nay be quite sure
that he is looking for birds nests.
And If he finds one with eggs in 1t,
he will take them out and suck them
one after the other, while if there are
unfledged birds he will either eat
them at once or carry them off to his
hungry little ones at home.
But a weasel does not always sue
coed in finding nest, even when he
is quite close to it; and I should like
to tell you about little scene which
l once saw, and in which weasel
was quite taken in by the birds to
whom the nest belonged.
was walking down Helvellyn one
warm summers day, and when I was
about half way down heard a loud
chattering and screaming just above
me. I looked up, and there | saw
a pair of stonechats and weasel,
which had evidently come too close to
their nest. So the birds were trying
to lead him away; and this is how
they did it. First of all, the cock
sat down on a stone about a yard
in front of the weasel and began to
flap his wings and chatter and
scream. The weasel at once darted
at him, but just as the bird was on
the point of being seized he flew
away. Then the hen sat down on
another stone about yard further
on and began to flap her wings and
began to chatter and scream In Just
the same way. Then the weasel
darted at her, and she flew away,
The cock, however, was watching,
and almost at the same moment he
came back and settled on third
stone, about :. yard further on still,
and began to LAP his wings and
chatter and scream once more, and
again the weasel darted at him. And
so the two clever little birds took
turn and turn about, and led the
weasel for quite two hundred yards
up the steep mountain side, till they
thought that he was safe distance
from the nest. Then they left him
r1d flew away together.
Wasn't 1t a splendid way Of getting
rid of him?-Rev. Theodore Wood,
H. the London Tribune.