POLECAT— FERRET— ERMINE OR STOAT 



S3 



for mice. Though the ferret is usually white, and has pink eyes, there are ferrets 

 which, as the result of interbreeding, are similar in colour to the polecat, from which 

 they differ in their extreme sensitiveness to cold and in being, like many other 

 domesticated animals, more reproductive than the original stock. They usually 

 have from five to ten young at a birth and often a second litter in the year. 



Ermine The ermine or stoat ('SI. n-mineti), the nearest relation of 



or stoat. t] ie polecat inhabiting Europe, is yellowish below, and in summer 

 brownish red above. In winter its fur 

 turns white, except the tip of the tail, 

 which even then remains black. This 

 is 'the case in Germany and in the 

 Scottish Highlands ; in the northern 

 counties of England it sometimes, al- 

 though not always, changes, and in the 

 southern counties the change takes 



ERMINE AND HARE. 



place but seldom. The same thing has been observed in North America. Ermines 

 caught in New England during the winter are nearly always white; those taken 

 in Virginia are partly white, while those found in South Carolina are never 

 white. 



In its habits the ermine resembles the polecat ; and as it is powerful enough 

 to overcome hares, rabbits, and fowls, it attacks them frequently. Even large 

 hares succumb to it, and in hen-houses it has been known to kill as many as 



