174 THE POLECAT. 



The Polecat has been known to breed with the 

 Ferret. And as the race of Ferrets,, by long do- 

 mestication, are apt to lose their savage nature, it 

 is said to be customary with warreners sometimes 

 to cross their breed with a Polecat. The offspring 

 of the two animals are of a colour partaking, in 

 some measure, of the colour of each, or of a dingy 

 yellowish brown. 



In the northern regions of the continent, this 

 animal, at the commencement of winter, changes 

 its dark hair, and assumes another coat, which has 

 a whitish tinge. Professor Pallas observed the 

 Polecat in this wild state, in Russia, and in several 

 parts of Siberia. 



The name given to the Polecat in Wales is 

 jffwlbard: in France, putois, puant : in Italy, fcetra, 

 puzolo: in Spain, putoro: in Germany, iltis, iltnis, 

 ulk, buntsing: in Holland, bonsing, boutsem: in 

 Hungary, goreng: in Sweden, iller : in Denmark, 

 ilder: in Poland, vydra, tchorz: in Savoy, pouttet: 

 in Lapland, boaid, boitta, goa, aige : in Russia, 

 lasitza, 



THE 



