80 ANIMALS OF THE 



THE POLECAT. 



THE Polecat is larger than the weasel, the 

 ermine, or the ferret, being one foot five inches 

 long ; whereas the weasel is but six inches, the 

 ermine nine, and the ferret eleven inches. It so 

 much resembles the ferret in form, that some 

 have been of opinion they were one and the same 

 animal ; nevertheless, there are a sufficient num- 

 ber of distinctions between them : It is, in the 

 first place, larger than the ferret ; it is not quite 

 so slender, and has a blunter nose ; it differs also 

 internally, having but fourteen ribs, whereas the 

 ferret has fifteen ; and wants one of the breast 

 bones, which is found in the ferret: however, 

 warreners assert, that the polecat will mix with 

 the ferret ; and they are sometimes obliged to 

 procure an intercourse between these two animals, 

 to improve the breed of the latter, which, by 

 long confinement, is sometimes seen to abate of 

 its rapacious disposition. M. Buffon denies that 

 the ferret will admit the polecat; yet gives a 

 variety, under the name of both animals, which 

 may very probably be a spurious race between 

 the two. 



However this be, the polecat seems by much 

 the more pleasing animal of the two ; for although 

 the long slender shape of all these vermin tribes 

 gives them a very disagreeable appearance, yet 

 the softness and colour of the hair in some of 

 them atones for the defect, and renders them, if 

 not pretty, at least not frightful. ' The polecat, 



