82 ANIMALS OF THE 



The polecat is particularly destructive among 

 pigeons,* when it gets into a dove-house ; with- 

 out making so much noise as the weasel, it does 

 a great deal more mischief; it dispatches each 

 with a single wound in the head, and, after kill- 

 ing a great number, and satiating itself with their 

 blood, it then begins to think of carrying them 

 home. This it carefully performs, going and re- 

 turning, and bringing them one by one to its 

 hole ; but if it should happen that the opening by 

 which it got into the dove-house, be not large 

 enough for the body of the pigeon to get through, 

 this mischievous creature contents itself with 

 carrying away the heads, and makes a most deli- 

 cious feast upon the brains. 



It is not less fond of honey, attacking the hives 

 in winter, and forcing the bees away. It does 

 not remove far from houses in winter, as its prey 

 is not so easily found in the woods during that 

 season. The female brings forth her young in 

 summer, to the number of five or six at a time ; 

 these she soon trains to her own rapacious habits, 

 supplying the want of milk, which no carnivorous 

 quadruped has in plenty, with the blood of such 

 animals as she happens to seize. The fur of this 

 animal is considered as soft and warm ; yet it is 

 in less estimation than some of a much inferior 

 kind, from its offensive smell, which can never 

 be wholly removed or suppressed. The polecat 

 seems to be an inhabitant of the temperate cli- 

 mates,! scarcely any being found towards the 



* Buffon. f Ibid. 



