CH. I.] Choosing Ferrets. 13 



enough to tackle a big rat, and therefore 

 often gets desperately punished. I like to 

 see the ferrets in a tub, end up, looking well 

 nourished and strong ; and directly I touch 

 the tub I like to see them dash out of their 

 hidden beds in the straw and rush to spring 

 up the sides like a lot of furies. "When I 

 put my hand in to take one, I prefer not to 

 be bitten ; but yet I have often known a 

 ferret turn out very well that has begun by 

 making its teeth meet through my finger. 

 When I have the ferret in hand, I first look 

 at its tail and then at its feet, and if these 

 are clean it will do. If, on the other hand, I 

 find a thin appearance about the hairs of its 

 tail and a black-looking dust at the roots, the 

 ferret goes back into the tub ; or if the 

 underside of the feet are black and the claws 

 encrusted with dirt, I will have nothing to say 

 to it, as it has the mange and will be trouble- 

 some to cure. All this done, I put the ferret 



