List of the Fauna of the County. 167 



chased for some distance, appear to resign themselves to 

 their fate without further efforts to escape ; whether they are 

 paralysed by fear or exhaustion, or both, I am not sure, but 

 they certainly sit still and allow the little hunter to attack 

 them without attempting to defend themselves except by 

 screams. In winter, in this country, I have often observed 

 the change to white to have occurred, but more frequently 

 the change is not complete, some red marks still remaining 

 on the head or shoulders. The number of young is about 

 four or five, and more playful little creatures than a family 

 of young stoats it would be difficult to find. 



MusTELA puTORius. Tlic Polecat. — This destructive animal, 

 both to poultry and game, is becoming very rare in Essex, in 

 many districts being quite extinct, even in spots where a few 

 years since I remember it as being pretty frequently met 

 with. There is very little difference in appearance between 

 the dark ferret and the polecat, and the probability is that 

 the ferret is simply a domesticated polecat, but domesticated 

 in a warmer climate than ours ; and this, no doubt, accounts 

 for the greater susceptibility to cold in the domesticated 

 animal. A part of this tenderness is doubtless due to the 

 warmer conditions under which ferrets are reared ; for I 

 always found my ferrets, which were reared in an open pig- 

 stye, were not the shivering creatures one usually sees, and 

 I often observed them tumbling and rolling in the snow 

 apparently without discomfort. The food of the polecat is 

 as varied as is that of the other members of this family, and 

 also includes fish, frogs, and other reptiles, according to some 

 authorities. 



Martes foina. Common Marten. — This very graceful 

 creature is now I fear extinct in Essex,^ but as it is exclu- 

 sively nocturnal it may have escaped notice. In its habits it 

 differs from the other members of this family, they almost 

 universally confining their hunting manoeuvres to the ground ; 

 but the marten climbs trees with more than the agility of the 



^ [The last recorded Essex specimen of the Marten was killed in 

 Epping Forest in 1858. See ' Transactions," i. 95. — Ed.] 



