S 2 



THE MAMMALS OF THE WOODS 



Polecat and The polecat (M. putorius), which is less exclusively an arboreal 



Ferret. animal than the pine-marten, is much better known than its 

 larger relative. Its colour is a uniform blackish brown, lighter above and on the 

 sides than below ; the under-fur being yellowish, the tip of the nose black, the 

 lips and chin white, the sides of the head whitish, and the tail black. This species 

 is found over the greater part of Europe as far north as the south of Sweden and 

 the White Sea, but is unknown in the Mediterranean countries. In habits the 

 polecat is nocturnal ; it sleeps by day in the woods, lying hidden in fox or rabbit 

 holes, in wood-piles, or among stones. In the evening it leaves its haunt in search 



A POLECAT AND ITS PREY. 



of hares and rabbits, lizards and snakes, frogs and other small animals — as well 

 as poultry, such as pigeons, domestic fowls, and even turkeys, and all kinds of 

 birds' eggs.^ In a hen-house a polecat will kill, if possible, all the inhabitants, 

 sucking their blood without eating their bodies. These animals are very fond of wild 

 rabbits, and are so eager in their pursuit that a single family of polecats will 

 greatly diminish the number in a warren in a very short time. The polecat is 

 not so common now as it used to be, and is becoming more and more restricted to 

 dense woods, though in the Alps it is found in summer above the tree-line. The 

 well-known ferret is an albino variety of the polecat, which has been domesticated 

 —if ferrets can be said to be domesticated— in southern Europe ever since the 

 days when a polecat was kept as a substitute for the domestic cat in hunting 



