THE WEASEL KIND. 



333 



thinks of returning to the owner, but continues 

 to lead a rapacious solitary life while the 

 summer continues, and dies with the cold of 

 the winter. In order to bring the ferret from 

 his hole, the owners often burn straw and 

 other substances at the mouth ; they also beat 

 above to terrify it ; but this does not always 

 ucceed ; for as there are often several issues 

 to each hole, the ferret is affected neither by 

 the noise nor the smoke, but continues secure 

 at the bottom, sleeping the greatest part of 

 the time, and waking only to satisfy the calls 

 of hunger. 



The female of this species," is sensibly less 

 than the male, whom she seeks with great ar- 

 dour, and, it is said, often dks without being 

 admitted. They are usually kept in boxes, 

 with wool, of which they make themselves a 

 warm bed, that serves to defend them from 

 the rigour of the climate. They sleep almost 

 continually; and the instant they awake, they 

 seem eager for food. They are usually fed 

 with bread and milk. They breed twice a 

 year. Some of them devour their young as 

 soon as brought forth, and then become fit 

 for the male again. Their number is usually 

 from five to six at a litter; and this is said to 

 consist of more females than males. Upon 

 the whole, this is an useful, but a disagreeable 

 and offensive animal ; its scent is ftetid, its 

 nature voracious, it is tame without any at- 

 tachment, and such is its appetite for blood, 

 that it has been known to attack and kill chil- 

 dren in the cradle. It is very easy to be irri- 

 tated ; and, although at all times its smell is 

 very offensive, it then is much more so ; and 

 its bite is very difficult of cure. 



To the ferret kind we may add an animal 

 which Mr. Buffbn calls the vanstre, the skin of 

 which was sent him stuffed from Madagascar. 

 It was thirteen inches long, a good deal resem- 

 bling the ferret in figure, but differing in the 

 number of its grinding teeth, which amounted 

 to twelve ; whereas in the ferret there are 

 but eight : it differed also in colour, being of 

 a dark brown, and exactly the same on all 

 parts of its body. Of this animal, so nearly 

 resembling the ferret, we have no other his- 

 tory but the mere description of its figure ; 

 and in a quadruped whose kind is so strong- 



Buflbn, 



ly marked, perhaps this is sufficient to satisfy 

 curiosity. 



THE POLECAT. 



THE Polecat is larger than the weasel, the 

 ermine, or the ferret, being one foot five in- 

 ches long; whereas the weasel is but six in- 

 ches, the ermine nine, and the ferret eleven 

 inches. It so much resembles the ferret in 

 form, that some have been of opinion they 

 were one and the same animal ; nevertheless, 

 there are a sufficient number of distinctions 

 between them : it is, in the first place, larger 

 than the ferret; it is not quite so slender, and 

 has a blunter nose; it differs also internally, 

 having but fourteen ribs, whereas the ferret 

 has fifteen ; and wants one of the breast bones, 

 which is found in the ferret : however, war- 

 reners assert, that the polecat will mix with 

 the ferret; and they are sometimes obliged 

 to procure an intercourse between these two 

 animals, to improve the breed of the latter, 

 which, by long confinement, is sometimes seen 

 to abate of its rapacious disposition. Mr. Buf- 

 fon denies that the ferret will admit the pole- 

 cat; yet gives a variety, under the name of 

 both animals, which may very probably be a 

 spurious race between the two. 



However this be, the polecat seems by 

 much the more pleasing animal of the two; 

 for although the long slender shape of all these 

 vermin tribes gives them a very disagreeable 

 appearance, yet the softness and colour of the 

 hair in some of them atones for the defect, 

 and renders them, if not pretty, at least not 

 frightful. The polecat, for the most part, is 

 of a deep chocolate colour; it is white about 

 the mouth ; the ears are short, rounded, and 

 tipped with white ; a little beyond the cor- 

 ners of the mouth a stripe begins, which runs 

 backward, partly white and partly yellow : 

 its hair, like that of all this class, is of two 

 sorts, the long and the furry; but in this ani- 

 mal the two kinds are of different colours; 

 the longest is black, and the shorter yellow- 

 ish : b the throat, feet, and tail, are blacker 

 than any other parts of the body ; the claws 

 are white underneath, and brown above ; and 

 its tail is about two inches and a half. 



b Ray's Synopsis. 



