GO 



COMMON BRITISH ANIMALS 



Ferrets. 



Ferrets, as has been stated above, are a domesti- 

 cated form of polecat. Under domestication the 

 colour of the coat has varied and the animals are 

 feebler and less alert, but an occasional cross with a 

 wild polecat improves the intelligence and the stamina 



Fig. 18.— The Ferret. (Photo, from life by H. C. Wood.) 



of the breed. Ferrets are employed to kill both 

 rabbits and rats, and were so used, according to 

 Prof. Mahaffy, by Strabo B.C. 30 to a.d. 25. The 

 south west of Europe as far as Marseilles and Corsica 

 and the Balearic Isles were infested with a plague 

 of rabbits, which ate the trees and crops. Strabo 

 advised the domestication of the "African Weasel^' 

 which was muzzled and sent into the holes, bringing 



