CORSAC FOX— POLECAT 89 



and lighter on the lower-parts, the chest being dark brown. It is often marked on 

 the sides with a few dark stripes, and the tail has six or seven dark rings, while 

 there are also spots on the forehead, and occasionally indistinct bars on the legs. 

 The manul, which formerly occurred in the Orenburg steppe, feeds principally on 

 small rodents, such as picas, and has been regarded as the ancestor of the Angora 

 cat, although this is improbable. 



The characteristic fox of the Caspian area is the corsac (Canis 



Corsac Fox. . 



corsac), a species whose nearest relative seems to be the Asiatic desert- 

 fox. It is of the colour of the desert sand above, and white below, with a black tip 

 to the tail. Its haunts are more or less desert-like districts, such as are found from 

 the shores of the Volga and the Caspian to south-eastern Siberia, China, and the 

 Amur countries. This fox does not apparently dig its own burrow, but generally 

 inhabits one abandoned by marmots, where it will die rather than attempt to bolt 

 when driven in by dogs. It lives principally on small rodents, such as picas and 

 voles, which it hunts during the night. 



sarmatian The habitat of the Sarmatian polecat (Mustela sarmatica) 



Polecat. extends from eastern Europe, where it has been taken in the forest of 

 Bielowitzka, right through the Caspian area to southern Afghanistan where it is 

 particularly common. This species, which has a bushy tail half the length of 

 the body, is generally about 13 inches in length without its tail. In colour it 

 is of a brown and yellow piebald above, and brilliant black below, with a brown 

 or black face, and a white band across the forehead extending down the sides of the 

 neck. This polecat lives in the environs of Quetta in holes in the ground, which 

 are probably made by rats, and it seems to be as common on cultivated as on un- 

 cultivated ground. Although its habits are not well known, it is probably a 

 nocturnal animal, as it is rarely seen during the day. Its food consists of birds, rats, 

 mice, lizards, beetles, and snails. One of these animals in captivity killed in succes- 

 sion four wagtails and four rats. The rats were always seized at the same spot, 

 namely, close behind the ears, and held firmly between the teeth of their conqueror 

 until they ceased to struggle, when they were finished off with one or two bites in 

 the back of the head. As soon as blood flowed from the wounds, the polecat licked 

 it up, but it never tried to suck the blood ; nor, although it had fasted for some time, 

 did it eat its victims at once, but took them to a compartment of its cage, where it 

 was accustomed to sleep, and there devoured them at nightfall. The Sarmatian 

 polecat, which emits the same disagreeable smell as its European relative, brings 

 forth three or four young at the end of March or beginning of April. 



Long-Eared In concluding this brief survey of the Caspian mammals, mention 



Hedgehog. ma y De ma de of the long-eared hedgehog (Erinaceus auritus), which 

 belongs to the same genus as the European hedgehog, but is somewhat smaller, 

 with ears more than half the length of the head 



Many of the birds in the Caspian area are closely related to those' 



eppe- ar . ^ Europe. The steppe-lark (Melanocorypha sibirica) is an abundant 



and characteristic bird on the lower Volga and the Ural Rivers, where it occurs with 



the skylark ; and thence it ranges into central Asia as far east as the Altai Mountains 



and the Irtish River. It is a little larger than the skylark with a stouter beak. 



