Hamilton (1933:316-321) writes of a freshly born _M. f. noveboracensis_ that it ". . . was pink and much wrinkled. The wetness . . . did not entirely obscure a few sparse, rather long, white hairs . . . over its back and head. It had the pronounced and extraordinarily long neck of the adult." At one day of age the average weight of six individuals in the litter was 3.1 grams, which is 3 per cent of the weight of the adult female and 1-1/2 per cent of the weight of an adult male. At two weeks of age "The silky white hair . . . obscures the general flesh color of the skin, evident a week earlier. The hair on the back of the head and neck, also over the shoulders, is slightly longer than that of the back . . ." but there is no crest or mane or pompadour at this or any other age such as characterizes the juvenal ermine. When 21 days old one young male "hurried from the nest chamber and commenced to eat some meat." At three and a half weeks "They are all eating small pieces of meat. . . . The canine teeth have made their appearance in both the upper and lower jaw, but just a hint of the incisors show. Some of the cheek teeth are through, as the meat appears to be thoroughly masticated by the little ones." On the 36th and 37th days the eyes opened. Sanderson (1949:415) found that a litter of seven young of _Mustela frenata longicauda_, from Manitoba, raised in captivity, "reached the peak of their growth" at approximately ten weeks of age.
Several nests have been found. In Manitoba, Sanderson (1949:412) excavated a burrow at the mouth of which he had trapped the adult female and in which he found eight young approximately five weeks old. The "burrow was about three inches in diameter, with two chambers at a depth of twelve inches. One of these was empty, the other contained the young. The two surface-openings were but two feet apart and the entire burrow was no more than three feet long. . . . The meager nest material consisted entirely of finely chopped grass. There was no mouse hair present, no accumulation of fecal material, and no storehouse containing food."
Charles O. Handley has written me that on January 25, 1929, on the Sinkola Plantation, Thomas County, Georgia, he investigated the living quarters of a family of five weasels, four of which had been shot five days before by a hunter. According to the hunter each of the four which had been killed was approximately two-thirds the size of one which escaped into a hole in the ground. Handley found that the weasels had been using as headquarters a burrow in the trunk of an old uprooted oak as well as a nearby gopher burrow. The burrow in the oak was approximately ten feet long and had been excavated in the rotten wood. In a distance of fifty feet along the gopher tunnel there were several used openings with pathways leading away from each. On February 6, Handley, with the help of a friend, trapped a large male weasel near this place.