The painting I've seen of Queen Elizaeth the first with a 'weasel-like'
creature crawling down her left side looks much more like a ferret than
an ermine.  Ferrets are quite a bit larger and stockier than Ermine -
just a winter coated weasel btw.
 
bill and diane killian
zen and the art of ferrets
[Posted in FML issue 1247]