MAMMALS dispute, even with man, the possession of any animal he may have killed. See the Zoologist of 1890, p. 380, where some very curious experiences with this animal are described. 17. Weasel. Putorius nivalis, Linn. Bell — Mustek vulgaris. Locally, Whitethroat (male) ; Mousehunt or Mousehunter (female). Like the stoat, this useful and elegant little animal is systematically destroyed by game- keepers,and its numbers have been sadly reduced. In some parts of the county it has become the rarer animal of the two ; and in places where not bng ago it was fairly common, one may now keep a sharp look-out for a year or more with- out seeing a single individual ; besides which the old rough banks and wide bushy hedges which formerly provided it with both shelter and productive hunting groimds have disap- peared. From its diminutive size and flexible snake-like form, the weasel can follow a mouse into its hole, or thread its way among the sheaves in a wheat stack with the greatest ease ; and with the exception perhaps of the barn owl is the most valuable and efficient mouser we possess. Its value in keeping down mice, voles, and even rats and moles is well known and appreciated by many farmers, who would feign protect and encourage it if possible. Repeated observations have shown that while such prey is to be had, the weasel does very little harm among game or young cHickens ; certainly far less that the rats it helps to keep down.' A curious habit of this little animal came under the notice of Mr. A. M. Rope of Leiston. Driving over Westle- ton ' Walks,' he noticed on a bare sandy spot of ground a strange-looking object moving along in a peculiar undulating manner. It was some 2 feet in length and very narrow ; and he at first took it for a snake. A nearer approach showed it to be a female weasel, with a litter of young ones following close behind her in single file. The dam carried her head and neck high above the ground. When she saw that she was observed, she took one of the cubs in her mouth and bore it oflF to some place of safety, returning very soon Jbr another, which she served the same ; and there is little doubt that had she been watched longer she would not have rested until every one of the cubs had been removed and placed out of danger. A family of young weasels following closely behind their mother in one long unbroken line has also been noticed near Orford. A weasel was once seen by the ^ See Zoologist, 1894., p. 422, twelve lines from bottom. writer swimming across the river Aide, not far from Langham bridge, and carrying in its mouth a young one, almost if not quite as large as itself. Not one of our few remain- ing wild animals is more graceful and agile in all its movements or more entertaining to watch than the weasel. It is a great pity that in the war of extermination waged against so many of our interesting native animals, this useful and beautiful little creature at least should not be spared. 18. Badger. Meles meles, Linn. Bell — Meles taxus. Except as an occasional wanderer from a distance the badger can no longer, I fear, be included in a list of Suffolk mammals. From time to time however a specimen still turns up here and there. A few may have been introduced for the purpose of making earths for foxes, while some of the more recent ex- amples may possibly have escaped from con- finement, and perhaps in rare instances have bred in the county. Formerly however they must have been common in many parts of Suffolk. At the time the Messrs. Paget wrote (1834) these animals had already been exterminated in the Yarmouth district, though stated by them to have been common thirty years earlier, especially about Bradwell and Browston. In some parts of the county badgers appear to have lingered till nearly half a century later. In the winter of 1 846-7 one was killed at Cavenham, and another supposed at the time to exist in that neigh- bourhood, as recorded by Professor A. Newton {Zool. 1849, p. 2379). Mr. F. S. Griffiths of Dedham, in a communication to the East Anglian Miscellany of 9 March 1 90 1, writes as follows : ' Some fifteen or sixteen years ago a fine female badger was taken alive — not shot — by Mr. Robert Partridge of Stratford St. Mary, while cutting grass. It was after- wards sold, I think, to Mr. H. N. Dunnett, but soon died. Dissection proved it to con- tain, I think, three young ones. It was sup- posed to have been an escaped specimen ; but I have heard from two very old inhabitants of Stratford St. Mary . . . that in their youth they frequently undertook to dig badgers out in the Commons and Bush Hills, two pre- served woods near the meadows spoken of.' About Ubbeston there were a few badgers during the first quarter of the last century, Ubbeston Wood being then unpreserved. Mr. S. Levett, in the East Anglian Miscellany of 9 March 1901, states that he has seen one which had been caught on the Stratton Hall estate in 1852; and that another has since 223
