Audubon’s “tawny weasel” was of no use as a ferret, but the species referred to as the ermine or stoat were excellent rabbit ferrets.
Using ferrets to catch rabbits is an old European tradition. It did have some following in the United States, but now it has been outlawed virtually everywhere.
However, there were at least a few attempts to adapt ferreting to American mustelids.
The following account comes from John James Audubon’s The Quadrupeds of North America, Volume 3 (1854):
We find from our notes, that in the State of New York in the winter of 1808, we kept a Weasel, which we suppose may have been this species [“The Tawny Weasel”], in confinement, together with several young ermines. The latter all became white in winter, but the former underwent no change in colour, remaining brown. On another occasion a specimen of a brown Weasel was brought to us in the month of December. At that season the ermines are invariably white. We cannot after the lapse of so many years say with certainty whether these specimens of Weasels that were brown in winter were those of the smaller, Putorius pusillus, or the present species ; although we believe from our recollection of the size they were the latter. We therefore feel almost warranted in saying that this species docs not change colour in winter.
We were in the habit of substituting our American Weasels for the European ferrets, in driving out the gray rabbit (Lepus sylvaticus) from the holes to which that species usually resorts in the northern States, when pursued by dogs… Whilst the ermines seemed to relish this amusement vastly, the brown Weasel refused to enter the holes, and we concluded that the latter was the least courageous animal (pg. 235-236).
From Audubon’s description of the “tawny weasel” describes it as being much more robust than a European weasel [the least weasel] and that it has a black-tipped tail. The black-tipped tail and the description of it being distinct from but similar to a stoat or ermine strongly suggests that this “tawny weasel” was what we call a long-tailed weasel. Further, all North American stoats or ermines turn white in the winter. Not all long-tailed weasels do.
The ones in my area actually do, but the ones that Audubon was encountered in the lower part of New York State did not.
I’ve never heard of anyone using anything other than a ferret to ferret, but the use of North American mustelids for this purpose is pretty interesting.
Ferreting with the long-tailed weasels was evidently a failure, but using ermines/stoats to do so was not.
I wonder why stoats/ermines never became as domesticated as ferrets are.
I don’t know how hard they are breed in captivity, but if they were easy to handle, there must be some good reason why they were never domesticated.
In North America, rabbits go to ground only when pressed by an enemy or when the cold weather drives them into holes or pipes.
European rabbits dig extensive warrens, but American cottontails do not.
This could go a long way to explaining why European ferrets were so successful as domestic animals.
We didn’t have the need to make our own ferrets out of our own mustelids– except on a very limited basis.
I kept ferrets as a boy as did many of my friends. Obviously as our rabbits live in burrows they were quite easy to extract this way. But it was hard work and could take hours; each hole connected to the warren had to be located and netted over before a ferret was placed down the hole. We hoped the ferret would drive all the rabbits out into the nets there to be held and despatched, but too often the ferret would catch a rabbit down the hole and sit there eating the blighter. One trick then was to send down another ferret to stir things up and send both out.
Some more expert breeders would attempt crosses with a polecat (fron Wales to the west) and the result would be called a polecat ferret. Not really that novel as ferrets are actually domesticated polecats anyway (originating from the steppes of eastern europe I think) The thing is ferrets could administer a painful bit but the nicest ones were delightful pets; males a bit smelly so not many kept. I borrowed someone else’s male (or dog ferret). We actually kept our ferrets down our shirts around our waists on th e way to the fields and the ferrets used to go asleep there.
The thing is the ferret was quite fully domesticated so its genome must have contained a gene for tameness like any domesticated animal. These were albinos so maybe that is why they never did a runner when let out say on the lawn at home, being I suppose a bit short sighted. Our ferrets kept us in protein during the second world war and cheaply as we were not very rich, I think the short sight caused them to bite occasionally when they were surprised by a hand near their face so we had to get used to proper handling technique. We were only aged six to ten so we were quite heros with our mums especially those with fathers serving in the forces and away from home.
The other lagomorph in Britain is the brown hare, bigger than any rabbit and I wonder if they are most closly related to what you call rabbits but we might call hares. Correction we do also have the mountain hare of the Scottish highlands which goes white in winter. We didn’t see those in southern England.
Hares were caught by gypsies using long dogs and snares. Of course snaring was also a method used for rabbits. One boy had a small terrier in case a rabbit squeezed out of the net.
European brown hares have been introduced to the United States, and all our jackrabbits are hares. My state has snowshoe hares that turn white in the winter.
The brown hare is actually destroying the genetic integrity of the Irish hare, which might be a distinct species.
I could be wong but I think he Irish hare is partly related to the mountain hare, not sure though – homework for me on that,
It’s been traditionally considered a subspecies of mountain hare, but there is some genetic research that does suggest it is unique:
http://www.doeni.gov.uk/niea/imontgomeryr_dconference2.pdf
More work needs to be done of course.
Thank you very much, retrieverman, for posting that hare research I’m learning a lot via you.
Interesting the latin name of the Irish race – “timidus”. That would not be a name I would have given to the brown hares I met the other day out walking. There were two of them running – well like hares, or as we used to say – “haring it” towards us along an edge of woodland path on the prime minister’s Chequers estate. My shih tzu stood still as the first hare reached her, it being slightly larger than zuki and a lot longer legged. The two animals stood literally nose to nose for a few seconds (I wish I’d had my camera) and then the hare turned suddenly and “hared it” back exactly the way it had come. And then another hare did exactly the same, and so suddenly that zuki made no reaction except to remain transfixed. Only as the second hare disappeared into the middle distance did zuki decide to emit an unconvincing bark. She’s so brave – not!
Not all that easy to differentiate between the two lowland hares. It would be interesting to get a DNA on the two, maybe? The hares are so funny in their movements – less cuddly but having more obvious personality than our european rabbits (originally from the Iberian peninsula and introduced to England by the Norrmans in the eleventh century – and kept in enclosed warrens. Tempting to think the surname Warrener is probably a legacy of that era. The Normans of course were the part vikings part celts who were the last succesful invaders of these offshore islands back in 1066. You may be part Norman yourself, rerieverman…
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