I am sorry to say that there is no
kindness nor gentleness in him towards any save his own family.
Outside of that he hasn't a friend in the world, not one."
"Hasn't he any enemies?" asked Peter Rabbit.
"Oh, yes," replied Old Mother Nature. "Reddy Fox, Old Man Coyote,
Hooty the Owl and various members of the Hawk family have to be
watched for by him. But they do not worry him much. You see he
moves so quickly, dodging out of sight in a flash, that whoever
catches him must be quick indeed. Then, too, he is almost always
close to good cover. He delights in old stone walls, stone piles,
brush-grown fences, piles of rubbish and barns and old buildings,
the places that Mice delight in. In such places there is always
a hole to dart into in time of danger. He hunts whenever he feels
like it, be it day or night, and often covers considerable ground,
though nothing to compare with his big, brown, water-loving cousin,
Billy Mink. It is because of his wonderful ability to disappear
in an instant that he is called Shadow.
"Shadow is known as the Common Weasel, Short-tailed Weasel, Brown
Weasel, Bonaparte Weasel and Ermine, and is found all over the
forested parts of the northern part of the country. A little
farther south in the East is a cousin very much like him called the
New York Weasel. On the Great Plains of the West is a larger cousin
with a longer tail called the Long-tailed Weasel, Large Ermine, or
Yellow-bellied Weasel.
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