100 PKEY OF THE POLECAT. 



powerful, it is found to be a more deadly eueray to rabbits, game, and 

 poultry than is any other animal of its size. 



It is wonderfully bold when engaged upon its marauding expeditions, 

 and maintains an impertinently audacious air even when it is inter- 

 cepted in the act of destruction. Not only does it make victims of the 

 smaller poultry, such as ducks and chickens, but attacks geese, turkeys, 

 and otlier larger birds with perfect readiness. This ferocious little 

 creature has a terrible habit of destroying the life of every animal 

 that may be in the same chamber with itself, and if it should gain ad- 

 mission into a henhouse will kill every one of the inhabitants, although 

 it may not be able to eat the twentieth part of its victims. It seems 

 to be very fond of sucking the blood of the animals which it destroys, 

 and appears to commence its repast by eating the brains. If several 

 victims should come in its way, it will kill them all, suck their blood, 

 and eat the brains, leaving the remainder of the body untouched. 



This animal is famous not only for its bloodthirsty disposition, but 

 for the horrid odor which exhales from its body, and which seems to 

 be partially under the control of the owner. When the Polecat is 

 wounded or annoyed in any way, this disgusting odor becomes almost 

 unbearable, and has the property of adhering for a long time to any 

 substance with which it may come in contact. 



The Polecat does not restrict itself to terrestrial game, but also wages 

 war against the inhabitants of rivers and ponds. PVogs, toads, newts, 

 and fish are among the number of the creatures that fall victims to its 

 rapacity. Even the formidably-defended nests of the wild bees are 

 said to yield up their honeyed stores to the fearless attack of this ra- 

 pacious creature. 



As to rabbits, hares, and other small animals, the Polecat seems to 

 catch and devour them almost at will. The hares it can capture either 

 by stealing upon them as they lie asleep in their " forms," or by pa- 

 tiently tracking them through their meanderings, and hunting them 

 down fairly by scent. The rabbits flee in vain for safety into their sub- 

 terranean strongholds, for the Polecat is quite at home in such local- 

 ities, and can traverse a burrow with greater agility than the rabbits 

 themselves. Even the rats that are. found so plentifully about the 

 waterside are occasionally pursued into their holes and there captured. 

 Pheasants, partridges, and all kinds of game are favorite prey with 

 Polecats, which secure them by a happy admixture of agility and craft. 

 So very destructive are these animals that a single family is quite suf- 

 ficient to depreciate the value of a warren or a covert to no small ex- 

 tent. 



The Polecat is a tolerably prolific animal, producing four or five 

 young at a litter. The locality which the mother selects for the nur- 

 sery of her future family is generally at the bottom of a burrow, which 



