352 THE POLECAT. 
closely allied. The colour of its fur is generally of a greyish-brown, the grey tint 
being found chiefly on its back, head, neck, and shoulders, and the legs, tail, and 
back of the neck marked with a much darker brown. 
Its habitation is usually made in burrows, which it excavates on the banks ‘of 
rivers, choosing that aqueous locality on account of He nature of its food, which 
consists of fish and various qui adrupeds which live near the water. Hunting the 
Wood-shock is a diversion which is greatly in wae ae is especially followed by 
the younger portions of the community, who find in this water-living, earth-burrowing, 
sharp-toothed animal, a creature which affords plenty of sport to themselves and their 
dogs, while it is not a sufficiently powerful antagonist to cause any great danger to its 
foes, if it should be driven to despair and assume the offensive, instead of “yielding 
in sullen silence. 
The Potscat has earned for itself a most unenviable fame, having been long 
celebrated as one of the most noxious pests to which the farmyard is liable. Slightly 
smaller than the marten, and not quite so powerful, it is found to be a more deadly 
enemy to rabbits, game, and poultry, than any other animal of its size. 
It is wonderfully bold when engaved wpon its marauding expeditions, and maintains 
an impertinently audacious air even when it is intercepted in the act of destruction. Not 
only does it make victims of the smaller poultry, such as ducks and chickens, but attacks 
geese, turkeys, and other larger birds with perfect readiness. This ferocious little creature 
has a terrible habit of destroying the life of every animal that may be in the same 
chamber with itself, and if it should gain admission into a henhouse will kill every one 
of the inhabitants, although it may not be able to eat the twentieth part of its victims. 
It seems to be very fond of sucking the blood of the animals which it destroys, and 
appears to commence its repast by eating the brains. If several victims should come in 
its way, it will kill them all, suck their blood, and eat the brains, leaving the remainder 
of the body untouched. 
There is a beautifully merciful provision in this apparently cruel habit of the Pole- 
cat, by which the creatures that are doomed to fall under its teeth and claws are spared 
from much suffering. The first bite which a Polecat delivers is generally sufficiently 
powerful to drive the long canine teeth into the brain, and to cause instantaneous 
insensibility, if not instantaneous death. Its habit of drawing the blood from the veins 
is another preservative against suffering, for the wounded animal is thus deprived of life 
while its senses are deadened by the injury to the brain, and the possibility of a lingering 
death prohibited. Nearly all the members of the Weasel tribe are remarkable for this 
development of a sanguinary nature, but in none of them is it more conspicuous than in 
the Polecat. 
This animal is not only famous for its bloodthirsty disposition, but for the horrid 
odour which exhales from its body, and which seems to be partially under the control of 
the owner. When the Polecat is wounded or annoyed in any way, this disgusting odour 
becomes almost unbearable, and has the property of adhering for a long “time to any 
substance with which it may come in contact. This odour is produced by a secretion 
which is found in a small pouch near the tail. The stoat and the weasel are more than 
sufficiently tainted with this powerfully rank odour, but in the Polecat it is msufferably 
fetid. From this circumstance the Polecat is termed the Foul-marten, or Foumart. 
Sometimes it is called the Fulimart, which is evidently a mere variation of the same 
word. It is also called the Fitchet, a name which is well known to artists as being the 
title of the animal from whose fur their best brushes are produced. 
The hairs from which the brushes are manufactured are those long, sharp, and 
glistening hairs which protrude through the soft coating of woolly fur that hes next the 
skin and serves to preserve the animal from the effects of cold and moisture. The colour 
of these longer hairs is a rich shining brown, of a very dark hue, and that of the inner fur 
is a pale yellow. It follows, therefore: that the colour of the fur differs according to the 
comparative length of the two kinds of hair; that on the back being of a dark brown, 
because the long brown hairs are more numerously and closely set together ; ; while the 
