WOOD-DWELLERS 267 



rick. Weasels also kill toads and frogs; and their 

 mode of killing these, as well as of despatching 

 birds, is by piercing the skull. 



The polecat or " fitchet " keeps much to the woods, 

 and feeds mostly on rabbits and game. But in the 

 northern fell districts it often takes up a temporary 

 abode on the moors during the season that grouse 

 are hatching. Then it not only kills the sitting 

 birds but sucks the eggs, and thus whole broods are 

 destroyed. Many " cheepers " of course fall victims. 

 Knowing well the ferocity of the polecat, I 

 believe the damage done to grouse moors where 

 this bloodthirsty creature takes up its abode can 

 hardly be estimated. Like others of its tribe the 

 polecat kills more prey than it needs. Sometimes it 

 makes an epicurean repast from the brain alone. 

 Fowl-houses suffer considerably from its visits; 

 and it has been known to kill and afterwards leave 

 untouched as many as sixteen large turkeys. In 

 the nest of the " fitchet," which I once observed to 

 frequent the banks of a stream, no fewer than eleven 

 fine trout were found. The gamekeeper persistently 

 dogs this creature both summer and winter. In the 

 latter season every time it ventures abroad it registers 

 its progress through the snow. It is then that the 

 keeper sets most actively about its destruction, and 

 is most successful. He tracks the vermin to some 

 stone fence or disused quarry or barn, cuts off the 



