The recorded actions of several kinds of animals which are too small to
be dangerous to the weasel suggest that they recognize that the weasel
is a danger to them. Borell and Ellis (1934:21) mention that a weasel
in Nevada caused a great disturbance among the chipmunks. Long
(1938:250) heard pikas give evidence of terror by a peculiar cry when a
weasel was in a rock slide occupied by the pikas. Seton (1929 (2):629)
writes "On June 14, 1915, as I prowled around the south side of the
lake on my homeland at Greenwich, Conn., my attention was called to a
pair of song sparrows and a male towhee that were noisily mobbing a
Weasel, twittering around and darting at him, as though they knew full
well his evil ways. The weasel paid little heed, but soon dived from
sight in a stone wall."
No account has been found of an American weasel or ermine rolling,
tumbling and frolicking in a manner that aroused the curiosity of birds
to a degree which permitted the weasel to come within leaping distance
of the birds. Accounts of such behavior are on record for the English
stoat (ermine).
Food and Hunting
Weasels are active both in the daytime and at night. Whether the time
of activity varies with the season, with the locality, with the sex or
with other conditions, I do not know. Adult, live, free-living,
actively moving weasels that I recall having seen all were observed in
the daytime: two were in Alameda County, California, two were in White
Pine County, Nevada, one was in Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska, and one
was in Laramie County, Wyoming. I recall ten adults, from the same
three states, and one from Washington State, that got into my traps;
two of these certainly got in the traps in the night; one certainly got
in the trap in the daytime; the other eight were found in traps which
may have caught the weasels either in the night or in the daytime.
Soper (1946:136) in speaking of _M. f. longicauda_ north of the
International Boundary in Canada remarks that it has the "habit to some
extent of hunting at all times of day." Criddle and Criddle (1925:144)
in writing of _Mustela frenata longicauda_ in Manitoba record that "The
shrill cry of a rabbit [_Lepus americanus_] in the dark is nearly
always due to the weasel's attack. Indeed, we have often watched the
latter at work during the twilight hours. First would come the almost
noiseless run of the small rabbit with its characteristic dodging and
this would be followed by the appearance of the agile foe which, at
times, would leap high over obstacles and at others move swiftly
beneath them. Then there would follow intermittent cries of the rabbit
as the weasel secured a temporary hold of its quarry, for be it noted
that this hunter apparently bites anywhere to begin with and it is
probable that the blood made to flow acts as an aid to tracking as well
as weakening the prey. Several similar close encounters might occur
before the rabbit would be finally overcome, but weasels are very
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