22 The Field Naturalist's Quarterly Feb. 



English specimens which have much in common, and would 

 arrange them according to their size, and consequently to 

 a certain extent, but only to a certain extent, according to 

 their prey. 



First I should place the Polecat, whose name apparently 

 was originally the Polish Cat (Mitstela putorius), the Putois of 

 Buffon, the Stinker par excellence. His measurement is i foot 

 5 inches. He differs from the others in coat, which is very 

 dark brown above, somewhat yellow beneath ; he has a 

 certain amount of white about his head, especially in the 

 nozzle. He is a very fierce and bold beast. I have had 

 two. The first was a very fine fellow, and lived with a 

 ferret. (I may remark in passing that I think Sir Izaak was 

 wrong in speaking of the Ferret as indigenous. I believe it 

 to be of southern origin, as its inability to stand cold seems 

 to imply.) I tried the Polecat as a ratter : if he could get 

 down the hole he was very efficacious, but if he could not he 

 became angry, and I can see him now pursuing the gardener 

 round the greenhouse. The polecat is the most destructive 

 of the clan, and will do much mischief if he can get into 

 a chicken-run or among game. Bell describes him as the 

 Fitchet Weasel, with the second name Foulimart, or foul 

 Marten, which is probably sound, for his size and colour 

 would lead many to think that he was a Marten rather than 

 a Weasel. Talking the other day to my mother, who is over 

 eighty, about the fashion in furs, she said that every one who 

 could afford it, when she was young, wore a tippet of Marten, 

 though there was an inferior fur called Fitch, which I think 

 must have been Polecat. 



That brings us to the Stoat or Stout (Mustela erminea), 

 which for trade purposes is known as Ermine. Its average 

 length is about 10 inches. It is easily recognisable. In its 

 summer coat it is reddish-brown above, white below, with a 

 black tail. In northern countries it goes almost snow-white 

 in winter, though there is at times a dash of yellow about it. 

 The arrangement of its skin, with the tail hung in the middle, 

 gives us the ermine of heraldry, and the fur which of late 

 has been particularly fashionable. This change into white 

 depends very much on temperature, and in the south of 

 England it is rare. Taking records, as I could gather in the 



