f the purest white,
with the exception of the pretty black tip on its tail.

It was first placed by its owner in a large room, where it soon made
itself completely at home. It would run up the curtains like a mouse,
twist itself into the smallest corners, and at length, one day, when it
had been invisible for several hours, it was discovered snugly curled up
in an unused stove funnel, its beautiful coat smeared with rust and
soot.

When its cage was ready, the ermine, after being placed in it, developed
an extraordinary temper. It would dash about, climbing on the wire, and
uttering a loud hissing cry, as if protesting against confinement. When
it went to sleep, it would curl up in a ring, twisting its little tail
around its nose. It was fed with milk, which it drank eagerly, with
hens' eggs, the contents of which it sucked, and with small birds, which
it ate, leaving nothing but the feathers.

A large brown rat was one day put into the cage alive. At first the
ermine curled in a corner, and allowed the rat to drink its milk, and
range about the floor. But the daring rat approached too near the lord
of the domain. With one quick spring the ermine was on the back of its
antagonist, its long teeth buried in its throat. A terrible battle
ensued, the rat several times freeing itself from the ermine, which
returned again and again, until at length the rat was stretched lifeless
and bleeding on the floor of the cage. The ermine then devoured it,
leaving nothing but the head, skin, and tail, thus thoroughly disproving
the assertion that the whole weasel family only suck the blood of their
victims.

[Illustration: FIGHT BETWEEN AN ERMINE AND A BROWN RAT.]

In our illustration the ermine is represented in deadly contest with a
large brown rat (_Mus decumanus_), called the Norway rat in England,
although the species is said to be unknown in the country after which it
is named. This rat is supposed to have been brought into Europe from
Asia early in the eighteenth century, and about one hundred years ago it
made its way to America. The Germans call it the migratory rat, because,
starting from its native place in the far East, it has made itself at
home in nearly every country. It is one of the boldest and most
destructive of its tribe, and a dreadful nuisance wherever it goes.

"FOR MAMMA'S SAKE."

A STORY OF NED AND HIS DOG.

BY MARY D. BRINE.

There was no mistake about it. Ned and his mother were very poor, a