POLECAT, STOAT, WEASEL, HEDGEHOG. 115 



cunning of the cat, he is not likely to meet 

 with just the creatures we have mentioned in a 

 summer's clay ? Or will they say, yes, he will 

 inevitably meet with them, but he will only 

 admire them, and perhaps play with them a 

 little ? and then continue his lawful occupation 

 of limiting and destroying rats. 



But look at his first cousin the ferret. 

 Bear him on bread and milk, and never let 

 him see a live creature until he is a year old. 

 Tlien let him find his way one night into a coop 

 where there are twenty fowls, and will one be 

 alive in the morning ? 



We should think any humane person would 

 be sorry to see one of these creatures on his 

 grounds, and would be glad to hear it had been 

 destroyed. 



The hedgehog is the last wild beast on our 

 list — the ' hypocritical hedgehog,' as Mr. Knox 

 calls him, and ' the most insatiable of all 

 ovivorous .British quadrupeds,' whatever his 



