FERRETS, STOATS, AND WEASELS. 67 



survives only in warm and sheltered localities. It is from 12 in. 

 to 15 in. long, and is a stouter animal than either of the others. 

 Though a semi-domesticated animal, it never shows the slightest 

 affection for its master, and has usually to be kept in confinement. 

 My son, Dr. Allan Thomson, tells me that about Kekerangu, in 

 Marlborough, wild ferrets are at present very numerous. 



I have no record of the introduction of the true polecat 

 (Putorius foetidus) into these Islands; but some five or six 

 years ago Mr. Anderton, curator of the Portobello Marine Fish- 

 hatchery, shot two animals which were too large for stoats, being 

 about 18 in. long. They were not ferrets, in that they were brown- 

 coloured. Unfortunately he did not keep the bodies, their smell, 



FIG. 9.-THE FERRET. 



for one thing, being so offensive; so their specific character was not 

 determined. 



The stoat is about 1 ft. long and is somewhat distinctively 

 coloured. " In summer the upper parts vary from yellowish-brown 

 to mahogany-brown, while the underside is white tinged with 

 sulphur-yellow, except on the throat, which is pure white. The tail 

 is tipped with black. The brown upper and white under surfaces 

 are separated by a perfectly distinct line of demarcation, which 

 extends from the snout to the root of the tail, dipping down at 

 the limbs, so as to include the outer surfaces of the latter in the 

 dark area. In winter, on the other hand, the skin is with the 



