2oo Practical Game Preserving. 



commencing a strain, choose young, healthy, hardy parents, 

 and equally well-constituted progeny will be the result. In 

 appearance a ferret should exemplify the type of the Mus- 

 telidae proper, not of the moles. A sharp-pointed muzzle 

 and lithe muscular body, well set on sturdy legs, are the 

 chief points of a good ferret. 



The early training of ferrets is, to our thinking, not 

 sufficiently practised, and it would be a saving of time 

 and trouble if something more than the natural instinct of 

 the animal were depended on to teach it its work. When 

 young ferrets are handled properly from the beginning, 

 they never become shy at the holes, except some mis- 

 adventure occurs such as the bite of an unruly dog. The 

 earlier you commence to handle them the better, and at 

 three months old it should be made a daily practice to 

 take out the young ones from the hutch and accustom 

 them to being picked up from the ground and transferred 

 from hand to hand. At feeding time we always repeat 

 the same call, and in course of time they learn to answer 

 it. As has often been said, to snatch at ferrets in a timid 

 way is most likely to cause them to come to hand with 

 reluctance, and to endeavour to get their teeth into the 

 hand that seizes them. 



When they have become throughly tame to the catch, 

 they may be taken out to some well-known small burrow, 

 where a rabbit or two is known to be. The old jill, which 

 presumably is a good worker, must be turned in, and a 

 young one with her. It is best to put nets over the holes, 

 so that when the rabbit bolts it may be kept, and having 

 been killed, the young ferret should be allowed half a 



