Buffon's Natural History. Volume 06 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &cBuffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
History
Buffon's Natural History. Volume 06 (of 10): Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c
Buffon, Georges Louis Leclerc, comte de
Natural history
We have little to add, with respect to this animal, to those
observations we made in treating of the weasel. I kept one for more
than a twelvemonth, which to the last remained wild and also retained
its noisome odour. It is a pretty little animal, and but for the
last circumstance, an agreeable one; it has lively eyes, a pleasing
countenance, and so rapid in its motions that it is impossible for the
eye to follow them. It was always fed with eggs and flesh, but the
latter he would not eat until it became putrid. It disliked honey, and
having kept it three days without any other food, it died after eating
a very little. The skin of this animal is very valuable; it is far
more beautiful than that of the white rabbit; but it very soon changes
somewhat yellow; though indeed the ermines of these climates have
always a yellow shade.
Ermines abound in the north, particularly in Norway, Russia, and
Lapland; where, as every where else, they are red in summer, and white
in winter. They feed upon a species of rats and other small animals,
very numerous in Norway and Lapland, and of which we shall hereafter
treat. They are scarce in temperate, and never found in warm climates.
The animal of the Cape, which Kolbe calls by that name, and whose
flesh he says is wholesome and well-tasted, is not an ermine, but a
different species. The weasels of Cayenne, mentioned by M. Barrere, and
the grey ermines of Tartary and the North of China, mentioned by some
travellers, are also animals different from our weasels and ermines.
SUPPLEMENT.
It is remarked by Pontoppidan that, in Norway, the ermines live among
the fragments of rocks; that he catches mice, is very fond of eggs,
and that when the weather is calm, he will swim across the sea to the
neighbouring islands for the sake of sea fowls which are there in great
numbers. He says it is asserted that when the female brings forth upon
an island, she will bring her young to the continent upon a piece
of wood, directing it with her snout; that this animal though very
small, will kill bears and rein-deer, which it does by surprising them
when asleep and fastening to their ears, where he holds so fast that
they cannot disengage him; he also springs upon the backs of eagles
and heath-cocks, and will suffer them to take him up in the air, from
whence by sucking their blood he soon forces them to descend.
THE GRISON.
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