The weasel, when it fights with a snake, first eats wild rue, the
smell of which is noxious to the snake. The dragon, when it eats
fruit, swallows endive-juice; it has been seen in the act. Dogs,
when they suffer from worms, eat the standing corn. Storks, and all
other birds, when they get a wound fighting, apply marjoram to the
place injured.
Many have seen the locust, when fighting with the snake get a
tight hold of the snake by the neck. The weasel has a clever way of
getting the better of birds; it tears their throats open, as wolves do
with sheep. Weasels fight desperately with mice-catching snakes, as
they both prey on the same animal.
In regard to the instinct of hedgehogs, it has been observed
in many places that, when the wind is shifting from north to south,
and from south to north, they shift the outlook of their
earth-holes, and those that are kept in domestication shift over
from one wall to the other. The story goes that a man in Byzantium got
into high repute for foretelling a change of weather, all owing to his
having noticed this habit of the hedgehog.
The polecat or marten is about as large as the smaller breed of
Maltese dogs.
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