POLECATS 43 



Tame Otters Training Otters Accusations made against 

 Otters Otters asserted not to be Fish-poachers ' Quod- 

 ding ' for Eels Otters Fish-poachers Toughness of Otter's 

 Skin Sport and Cruelty Powers and Pluck of Otters 

 The Ear of an Otter Size of Otters Derivation of Word 

 1 Otter ' Inland and Sea Otters the same British Bats 

 Common British Bats The Great Bat Greater Horse- 

 shoe Bat Smaller Horseshoe Bat Long-eared Bat The 

 Common Bat Common and Rare British Bats Barbas- 

 telle Bat Whiskered Bat Reddish-gray Bat Daubenton's 

 Bat Notch-eared Bat Mouse-coloured Bat Bechstein's 

 Bat Serotine Bat Hairy-armed Bat Parti-coloured Bat 

 Probable Importation of some of our Rarest Bats The 

 Cheiroptera A Mixed Bag Descriptive Table of British 

 Bats. 



OF all the many enemies of the rabbit, the polecat 

 is, perhaps, the one which it has most cause to 

 fear. Fortunately, these animals are by no means 

 as common as formerly, for although, like the rest 

 of their species, they do good in helping to keep 

 down rats, mice, and such-like vermin, they are 

 terrible poachers. Bewick states that a couple of 

 polecats are capable of exterminating the entire 

 stock of rabbits in a warren. The same naturalist 

 asserts that, in addition to the depredations these 

 animals commit by killing game, poultry, etc., 

 they also do not scruple to take eels, in proof of 

 which he narrates the following anecdote, the truth 

 of which he vouches for : ' During a severe storm 

 one of these animals was traced in the snow from 

 the side of a rivulet to its hole, at some distance 

 from it. As it was observed to have made 

 frequent trips, and as other marks were to be 



