216 



MARTEN. 



though not the central parts oF extensive forests. In 

 such situations it digs a burrow, not very deep but 

 extending five or six feet under ground, and usually 

 terminating under a bush, or close by the tangled 

 root of a tree. It is no easy matter to dislodge it 

 unless by smoke ; for its burrow is too small for ad- 

 mitting a terrier dog, and its odour, especially when 

 excited, is offensive even to a proverb more so, 

 indeed, than that of any other animal in Britain. 

 Anger, or perhaps rather fury, is the only passion 

 which it displays upon such occasions, for it does not 

 appear that fear enters into its composition. When 

 attacked by a dog the polecat turns, and defends 

 itself with great spirit. If the dog is not staunch, so 

 as to go in upon it at once, but stands barking as 

 curs do when they hesitate, the polecat springs at 

 him, fastens so exactly and so severely on his nose, 

 that he is apt to run yelping away from his compara- 

 tively small enemy. 



The common polecat is found in all the West of 

 Europe, and also in the North of Africa, and it is 

 perhaps most abundant in the middle latitudes of its 

 range. It does not belong to those animals which 

 frequent in such numbers the countries of the extreme 

 north ; and the thinness and poorness of its fur point 

 it out as a native of more southerly and congenial 

 climates. Even with us it is not found in the wild 

 uplands any more than in the extensive forests. It 

 is naturally a low-country animal, and peopling and 

 cultivating have no tendency to diminish its numbers. 

 On the other hand, they are rather the means of 

 increase ; for rabbits and partridges, both of which 

 are favourite prey for the polecat, increase rather 

 than diminish as the fields are more cultivated. It 

 breeds in the spring, and the litter usually consists of 

 three or four. The mother does not continue to 

 suckle them for any great length of time, but supplies 

 them with eggs and the blood of animals. When she 

 carries the latter to her nest, it is said that she con- 

 trives to compress the wound by which she kills 

 them, so as to keep in the blood, in order that it may 

 be sucked by her young ones, whereas, when pole- 

 cats kill for their own eating, they suck the blood 

 instantly. None of the tribe are good milk nurses to 

 their offspring, their apparatus for this purpose being 

 by no means perfect. Unless when required for the 

 young ones, the mammae are nearly obliterated, and 

 even then they are but little produced. The 

 mammae are ventral, and vary in number ; some 

 species have only four, and others as many as eight. 



This paucity of nursing in animals which are ex- 

 ceedingly bloodthirsty, as compared with those which 

 have less of that character, or none of it, is a point 

 worthy of attention in animal physiology ; and 

 though it has not been systematically noticed, it will 

 be found to be by no means one of the worst keys to 

 the disposition of the animal. The mammae of the 

 female cat, for instance, though no animal shows 

 more attachment to its young, are but little deve- 

 loped in comparison to those of the female dog ; these 

 again are less developed than in the female hog, and 

 so are they less developed than the mammae of 

 the ruminants, especially the cow, which may be 

 considered as the most domestic, and the most im- 

 mediately connected with man of all animals. It 

 would be easy to fill up the chain through the whole 

 range of the mammalia, and it would invariably be 

 found that the bloodthirsty disposition is inversely as 

 the development of the mammary apparatus. The 



instances which we have given, which are leading 

 ones, serve, however, to establish the fact. Nor 

 are we without experimental evidence as to the 

 other portion ; for (as we have formerly had occa- 

 sion to remark in the article LUTRA) it' the young df 

 a carnivorous animal continue to be fed for a long 

 time on milk, or milk and farinaceous matter united, 

 their dispositions are softened, so that they become 

 tame and gentle. If, on the other hand, animal food, 

 and especially raw flesh, is given to them early in life, 

 they become ferocious, and never can be tamed into 

 perfect obedience, or any docility, except such as is 

 flogged into them with the whip. The breeders of 

 dogs are perfectly aware of this circumstance ; so 

 that, out of the very same litter, and of two pups, the 

 one of which can hardly be discovered from the other, 

 they can so deal with the one in its feeding as to 

 make it ferocious, and so with the other as to make it 

 perfectly gentle. Even in the human subject there 

 are proofs of this ; for people who live upon vegeta- 

 bles and milk are, with equal usage, much more gentle 

 in their dispositions than those who live upon animal 

 food ; and when pugilistic combats were, to the 

 shame of human nature, encouraged by many of the 

 misnamed great of England, as manly sports, that 

 passive sort of brutal courage, known by the slang 

 name of " bottom," was cherished in the ruffians by 

 feeding them upon beef almost in a raw state. It is 

 most encouraging to the philosophic student of nature 

 to find, that that which has been proved to him by 

 his own observation, without any reference to natural 

 history, corresponds exactly with that which runs 

 through the system of nature. 



The Polish Polecat, (P. Sarmatica.) This species 

 has sometimes been confounded with the common ; 

 and, from the peculiarity of its colours, it has some- 

 times been considered as a cross between the com- 

 mon polecat and the ferret. Such, however, is not 

 the case ; for the animal is abundant in a state of 

 nature, and that in places where neither of the others 

 is to be met with. It is rather more tropical in its 

 locality than the polecat, being found chiefly in the 

 South of Russia, in Asia Minor, and generally in the 

 countries around the Black Sea and the Caspian. 

 The upper part of the body is bright brownish yel- 

 low, beautifully mottled over with small brown and 

 white spots. The under part, the legs, and the point 

 of the tail, are rich brown. The head also is brown ; 

 but it is marked with a white line, which proceeds 

 from under the one ear over the eye across the front, 

 and onward to the other eye, and under the other 

 ear, something in the shape of a horse-shoe. The 

 ears, the point of the muzzle, and the chin, are white. 

 In its markings it is a very handsome animal ; and 

 on account of these, its skin is in considerable esti- 

 mation with the dealers in peltry ; but it is a poor 

 fur, short, thin, and by no means durable, though 

 those who are fond of show are apt to be taken in by 

 its colours. By some naturalists this species has 

 been classed with the true martens ; but any one who 

 smells it can tell at once that it is a polecat. 



The Ferret (P. furo) is, generally speaking, of a 

 yellowish colour, with the eyes of a red or rosy tint, 

 on which account some have supposed that it is an 

 albino variety of that animal. This is, of course, 

 an incorrect statement ; for we have no instance of 

 an albino variety being continued by propagation in 

 any race of animals ; and besides, it differs from the 

 polecat, not merely in external appearance, but actu- 



