MARTENS, POLECATS, WEASELS, STOATS 189 



trying for a fox, pass through a rabbit warren of 

 great extent, and then not only I, but many others, 

 witnessed a curious sight. The hounds caught the 

 rabbits as they squatted in fear in the furze clumps. 

 A feeble squeak ; two hounds were at work, one 

 pulling at the fore, one at the hind part, and the 

 rabbit vanished out of sight like magic. A similar 

 performance takes place when three or four wolves 

 break through and clear off the small sheep of the 

 unhappy Breton peasant ; some of them do not own 

 more than half a dozen of the tiny creatures. As to 

 poultry, it is quite out of the question in many 

 localities for him to keep any. The marten would 

 kill and drag them off to his stronghold. The 

 peasants do not destroy these hungry persecutors, 

 because the wolf there, like our fox here, has an 

 acknowledged protection thrown over him. It is 

 a vague one, but it exists, or he would have been 

 exterminated in some districts long ago. 



The Polecat, fitchet or foumart the last name 

 certainly the abbreviation of foul marten resembles 

 his relative closely in form and colour. The odour 

 of his fur is stronger and he is a much smaller 

 animal, only measuring one foot five inches in length. 

 He is, however, strongly made, very active, nocturnal 

 in his habits as a rule, and very ferocious. That 



