154 BRITISH MAMMALS 



Putorius foetidus. THE COMMON POLECAT 



The origin of the name of this large weasel is very doubtful. 

 It appears in early English after the Norman Conquest, and it 

 written polcat. The second syllable explains itself, but pole, or 

 poly is possibly derived from the French poule, a hen, because 

 of the fondness this creature shows for attacking domestic 

 poultry ; or it may be a variant of the Anglo-Saxon word ful 

 (foul). In early English it was also called foumart^ or <c foul 

 marten," from its disgusting smell. In old French this animal 

 was called fissau (corrupted in English into fitchew, or fitchef}^ and 

 this was derived from an old Low German and Scandinavian verb, 

 to make a disagreeable smell (allied to English fizz and fizzle}. 

 Whatever name is given to this creature, whether it be the Latin 

 Putorius or the French Putois, is connected with the fact of its 

 filthy odour, due to the secretion in the anal glands underneath 

 the base of the tail. The length of a fair-sized male polecat is 

 about 17 in. from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail. 

 The tail, which is short and bushy, is another 6 in. or 7 in. 

 long. The female, on the other hand, may only measure 1 1 in. 

 to 12 in. along the head and body, with the tail about 5 in. 

 longer. The male polecat in country dialect is usually known 

 as the " hob," a name also given to male stoats and weasels. 

 The first finger or toe on all four feet is very short. 



The colour of the polecat is rather handsome. The upper 

 and lower lips are white. The white extends on a little distance 

 over the muzzle, and is succeeded sharply by a blackish-brown, 

 which extends from the under side of the jaws over the eyes and 

 nose. There is a band over the forehead behind the eyes stretch- 

 ing to the extremity of each cheek, which is a dark bluish-gray, 

 with perhaps a tendency in some varieties to become whitish. 

 The blackish-brown colour begins again behind this gray band on 

 the forehead, and includes the ears and neck. The rim of the ear 

 is white. All four legs are black. The greater part of the body 

 has an under-fur, which is dense, soft, and matted, and of a 

 yellowish-brown colour, sometimes quite a pale ochre. This, 



