222 The Keeper's Tree. 



from its birth. Moreover, in the pine-marten the soles of the feet 

 are covered with hair j in the stone-marten they are. bare. And 

 the habits and localities frequented by the two are entirely different. 



Although I never remember to have seen a marten hanging from 

 the branches of the " keeper's tree," I scarcely ever recollect looking 

 at one of these museums without seeing an old "fumar" or two 

 (as we used to call the pole-cats), and well did they deserve their 

 fate, for I fancy that no animal of its size is more destructive to game 

 than the pole-cat. It has been stated (I know not upon what 

 authority) that sixteen turkeys have been known to be killed by a 

 single polecat in one night. 



The polecat resembles the marten-cat, but is smaller. The tail is 

 about five inches shorter, and there is no spot on the breast, either 

 white or yellow, all the underpart being black. 



If a keeper should chance to kill a polecat in which the toes are 

 webbed, and the hair of the body dark brown instead of yellow at 

 the bottom, let him preserve it, for this is a rare northern species j 

 but it probably will never be met with in Britain. 



The stoat and the weasel may justly be ranked among the 

 keeper's enemies. It is true they are both small, but neither a 

 young hare nor a rabbit is secure from the attacks of either, and I 

 fancy that both are very destructive to the eggs of all kinds of birds. 



The weasel is much smaller than the stoat, and the tail is always 

 of the same colour as the rest of the body. In the stoat the tip of 

 the tail is always black. 



In Sweden both the weasel and the stoat turn pure white during 

 the winter. 



Perhaps there is no greater enemy to all kinds of game than the 

 common cat when it once takes to roam ; and if a cat is by chance 

 found a quarter of a* mile from the village, the keeper is fully 

 justified in knocking him over. A cat has no excuse, for it is 

 always well cared for at home ; and if it once turns poacher it is of 

 little or no use for the legitimate purpose of killing rats or mice. I 

 really think some cats, like men, are born poachers. I recollect at 

 home that we had a fat sleek old tabby who lived principally in the 



