RARE AND UNFAMILIAR ANIMALS 305 



and white head. It attains a length of sixteen or seventeen inches 

 excluding the tail, but the female is some few inches less. 



Like its relatives, the Stoat, Marten and Weasel, the Polecat is a 

 ferocious animal ; it is a great enemy of Rabbits and other kinds of 

 mammals, a splendid swimmer and a lover of fish. Its powers of 

 hunting and killing are remarkable, and one beast has been known 

 to account for a large number of Rabbits as the result of a single 

 visit to a favourite warren. When it was commoner in our own land 

 than it is to-day, poultry-keepers suffered a great deal from its 

 ravages, as it has a lust for killing and is to be regarded as one of 

 those wild hunters which have the habit of slaying far more food 

 than they can possibly eat. 



As a means of protection it is not only a ferocious beast to 

 encounter, but can at will emit a most distasteful odour calculated 

 to repel any one excepting the gamekeeper, who thinks lightly of 

 such things. The fur, too, is saturated with this unpleasant smell, 

 but when the skin is prepared for commercial purposes the odour 

 is got rid of. 



ZORILLA, OR CAPE POLECAT.— The Zorilla (Fig. 250) is another 

 evil-smelling animal. It is not at all unlike a small member of the 

 Skunks, both in colour and general appearance, but belongs to a 

 genus of its own. The teeth are different in size from those of the 

 Skunk, and more nearly resemble those possessed by the true 

 Polecat. 



A comparison of Figs. 249 and 250 will, failing observation of 

 the living animals, reveal a great similarity, as both kinds of beasts 

 have short limbs, and the shape of the body is also akin. The 

 long bushy tail of the Zorilla is well displayed in the illustration, as 

 also the light and dark markings upon the back and sides of the 

 body, and on the top part of the head. The distribution of this 

 animal is "from the Cape to Senegal," but in Northern Africa and 

 Asia Minor a further species is found of close relationship. 



A lover of rocky situations, the Zorilla also frequents bushes 

 and trees, and is nocturnal in habits. It preys upon various kinds 

 of small mammals, also birds and their eggs, as well as frogs and 

 lizards. 



This African animal cannot climb like the true Polecat, neither 

 does it exhibit such a preference for water. It can swim, but does 

 not possess the same powers as the species last under notice. The 

 Cape Polecat is tamed and used in the same way as the Ferret, but 



