THE POLECAT. 353 
fur of the under portions are of a much lighter tint, because the brown hairs are shorter 
and fewer in number, and permit the soft yellow fur to appear. The outer skin, with 
its covering of fur, is of some value, and is used for the purpose of clothing as well as of 
the manufacture of brushes. Indeed, it is sometimes fraudulently employed in imitation 
of the true sable, and is sold under that title. 
The Polecat does not restrict itself to terrestrial game, but also wages war against the 
inhabitants of rivers and ponds. Frogs, toads, newts, and fish are among the number 
of the creatures that fall victims to its rapacity. It has been known to take great 
numbers of frogs and toads, and to lay them up as a living store of food in a corner of 
its habitation, and to guard against their escape by a bite upon the brain of each victim, 
which produced a kind of perpetual drowsiness, and prohibited them from any active 
exertion. Large stores of eels have also been found in the larder e a Polecat,—a 
remarkable circumstance, when we consider the slippery agility of the eel, and its powers 
of swimining when immersed in its 
native element. Even the formid- 
ably defended nests of the wild bees 
are said to yield up their honeyed 
stores to the fearless attack of this 
rapacious creature. 
As to rabbits, hares, and other 
small animals, the Polecat seems 
to catch and devour them almost 
at will. The hares it can capture 
either by stealing upon them as 
they lie asleep in their “forms,” or 
by patiently tracking them through 
their meanderings, and hunting 
them down fairly by scent. The 
rabbits flee in vain for safety into 
their subterranean strongholds, for 
the Polecat is quite at home in 
such localities, and can traverse a 
burrow with greater agility than 
the rabbits themselves. Even the 
rats that are found so plentifully 
about the water-side are occasionally pursued into their holes, and there captured. 
Pheasants, partridges, and all kinds of game are a favourite prey with the Polecat, 
which secures them by a happy admixture of agility and craft. So very destructive are 
these animals, that a single family is quite sufficient to depreciate the value of a 
warren or a covert to no small extent. 
Although so injurious to the property of the farmer, the Polecat is not without its 
use. It certainly commits sad havoc among game, and if it can obtain admittance into 
a poultry-house, is sure to scatter destruction around it. But it is quite as deadly an 
enemy to the rats as to the poultry, although its rat-killmg performances do not attract 
so much attention as its evil conduct towards game and poultry. In some parts of the 
world, the Polecat is taken under the protection of the farmers, who have an idea 
that the animal is penetrated with a sense of hospitality, and will do no damage to 
the property of the man whose farm-buildings afford it a shelter. It is true that the hen- 
roosts are frequently depopulated, but this mischance is laid on the shoulders of a Polecat 
which is the guest of some distant farmer, and which is not bound by any ties of 
gratitude. 
The Polecat is a tolerably prolific animal, producing four or five young at a litter. 
The locality which the mother selects for the nursery of her future family is generally 
at the bottom of a burrow, which is scooped in light and dry soil, defended if possible by 
the roots of trees. In this subterranean abode a warm nest is constructed, composed of 
various dried leaves and of moss, laid with singular smoothness. The young Polecats 
Ng AA 
POLECAT.—Putorius faiidus. 
