FERRETING 83 



Frederick 11. of Germany in 1245, amongst the 

 animals used for hunting.^ 



So long ago as 1390 in Richard 11. 's time a statute 

 was passed prohibiting anyone from keeping or using 

 greyhounds and^;^^/j' who had not lands or tenements 

 of the annual value of 405. Both \\\Qfychew and the 

 fyret are mentioned in 'Thystorye of Reynard the 

 Foxe,' as printed by Caxton in 1481,'-^ and in the ' Book 

 of St. Albans ' in i486. In the ' Household Book 

 of Lord William Howard of Naworth,' several entries 

 occur which clearly indicate the employment of ferrets 

 and nets for taking rabbits in Cumberland in 1621.^ 



Many writers have asserted that the ferret is a 

 native of Africa, but the statement lacks confirmation 

 from the fact that the animal has not been met with 

 in a wild state in any part of that continent, where, 

 however, other kinds of weasels exist. The better 

 opinion is that the ferret is merely a domesticated 

 variety of the polecat, with which it is frequently 

 crossed for the purpose of improving the breed. 

 There are positively no cranial, dental, or other struc- 



• De arte Venandi, ed. Schneider, 1788, tome i. p. 3. 



2 Ed. Percy Society, p. 109. 



'^ This volume is of much interest not only to antiquaries but 

 also to sportsmen from the numerous allusions which it contains 

 to blackgame, roedeer, woodcock, wild -fowl, salmon, &c. It 

 was printed for the Surtees Society in 1878. 



G 2 



