222 Practical Game Preserving. 



polecat is obviously employed in an artificial one, which is, 

 moreover, foreign to its habits and a cause of discomfort to 

 itself. It is evident, however, that this freak (other name it 

 scarcely deserves) is of a very rare occurrence, and brought 

 about through the scarcity of ordinary food, or, perhaps, its 

 unattainableness. 



The possibility of crossing the polecat with the ferret is no 

 longer a disputed fact. The breed or variety termed u pole- 

 cat ferrets " is now not uncommon ; indeed, these have 

 become nearly as numerous as the others, and the question 

 arises whether it might be possible to capture and tame 

 polecats, and breed from them in confinement, to employ 

 them in the same manner as ferrets. Whether this has been 

 tried or not with success we are unaware, but we fancy that 

 its feasibility is something more than probable, and venture 

 to suggest the attempt being made, as we think, from the 

 more adroit way in which polecats work, that, could their 

 taming be accomplished, they would prove considerably supe- 

 rior to the cross or the common ferret. But this matter we 

 leave to others. 



The fitch, when attacked, fights with enormous pluck, and 

 is a queer customer for a terrier, few of which will go in and 

 kill it in the first round. It is an ill-advised indiscretion to 

 corner a polecat, because they will often turn upon their 

 aggressor, and the bite of one is always painful and lasting, 

 so that in many cases, where they cannot be killed without 

 fear of their retaliating, a careful attack must be made. 

 These are words of warning, and we admonish the reader not 

 to disregard them. 



We noticed in the Field of lyth July, 1880, an eminently 



