POLECAT 203 



Tha full mo mhuic-sa cheart cho meith ri full do mhuic-sa. 

 The blood of my pig is just as rich as the blood of yours. 



POINTER (see Dog). 



POLECAT, MARTEN-CAT (see also Weasel).— Breun- 

 fhocuUan; Feocullan, fiadh-chat, fochdalan, foclan, focuUan, 

 fumair, fumaire ; Tachan, taghan, taghan-tartaidhe or tutaidh, 

 taoghan. 



Beech-marten ; Carre, club-tail ; Fewmot, fichet, fidget, fidgeon, 

 filmart, filmert, filmut, fitch, fitchal, fitchat, fitchan, fitchaw, fitchee, 

 titchet, fitchock, fitchole, fitchuck, fithawe, fithowe, fiumart, flout, 

 fomard, fomart, fomud, fooamad, fooamet, foomart, foomerd, 

 foomert, foomet, foomot, foomurt, foomut, foulmart, foulmarten, 

 foulmard, foumart, foumert, fourmart, fourmer, foutnart, fowmart, 

 fowmarte, foynie, fozzle, fullmart, fulmar, fulmarde, fulmart, 

 fulmarten or martern, fumard, fumart, fumat, fumert, fummad, 

 fummard, fummart, fummat, fummed, fummit, fummut, furner ; 

 Martill, raartrick, martrone, mertrick ; Pine-marten ; Stote (Som.) ; 

 Tigulmard, turnjie ; Wild-cat, wilocat (Lane). 



The supposed origin of polecat is from " poll," a hole or 

 burrow. 



The polecat used to be plentiful in the Highlands, one 

 hundred and six animals under this name having been destroyed 

 at Glengarry from Whitsunday 1837 to Whitsunday 1840, and 

 two hundred and forty-six marten-cats. The latter in a hen-house 

 is most destructive, as it goes on killing till there is nothing left 

 alive. Both are now rare. A fine specimen of the former, twenty- 

 two inches in length, weighing two-and-three-quarter lbs., was 

 lately (1902) captured in a rabbit trap, in Ross-shire; a marten- 

 cat also was thus caught in Melfort about the same time. The 

 "martrick," Hector Becc says, was largely caught at one time. 

 It is the miistella martis of Linnaeus; he (H. B.) describes it as a 

 carnivorous quadruped, larger than a cat, of a brownish black 

 colour, and has a fine fur. 



Capture of a Polecat. — A few days ago Mr Adam Henderson, 

 head keeper, trapped a fine specimen of the polecat in the Amat 

 Forest, Ardgay, Ross-shire. It was in splendid fur, and measured 

 twenty-four inches from tip to tip. Like other wild animals the 

 polecat is getting very rare. Even in Amat Forest, so far out 

 of the beaten track, none have been got for a number of years 

 back. The specimen caught has been sent to Mr Inglis, taxider- 

 mist, Dingwall, for preservation. It may be mentioned that Mr 

 Henderson captured a still more rare animal — a pine-marten -cat 

 in the same forest and near the same place. 



Polecat in the Highlands. — Mr Bisshopp, naturalist, 130 George 

 Street, Oban, has just received a remarkably fine male specimen 

 of the polecat {Mudela Putorius). The animal is in exquisite fur. 



