60 CARNIVORES. 



northwards from Poland, whence it extends into Western Asia, where it is common 

 in the neighbourhood of Kandahar. 



Black-Footed Lastly, we have the American, or black-footed polecat (M. 



Polecat. nigripes), which is generally of a brownish-white colour, with the 

 feet, the tip of the tail, and a broad stripe across the forehead, black. It is larger 

 than the common species; the length of the head and body measuring 19 inches, 

 and that of the tail, with the hair at the end, 5J inches. It inhabits the central 

 plateau of the United States, ranging as far south as Texas. 



The habits of all these five species of polecat appear to be 

 very similar, and the whole of them are characterised by their 

 extremely fetid odour. From the barren nature of the country which it 

 inhabits, the Tibetan polecat probably, however, dwells among rocks and stones ; 

 while the Sarmatian species generally resides in the deserted burrows of other 

 animals. 



The common polecat, whose habits will in the main serve to illustrate those 

 of the other species, is chiefly a nocturnal animal, lying concealed during the day 

 in woods, in fox or rabbit holes, woodstacks, or among rocks, and issuing forth at 

 evening for its devastations. In winter it frequently seeks shelter in old farm- 

 buildings or outhouses. It is far less arboreal in its habits than the martens, and 

 is also less active in its ways. The polecat is a deadly enemy to hares, rabbits, 

 and partridges, and equally destructive to all kinds of domestic poultry, from the 

 pigeon to the turkey ; while in addition to the smaller mammals and birds, it will 

 consume eggs, lizards, snakes, and frogs. It is stated on good authority that it 

 always carries away its food to its lair ; this would be obviously impossible with 

 such large birds as geese and turkeys, which are, perhaps, merely killed for that 

 insatiable thirst for blood, which is its characteristic. Indeed, wherever a polecat 

 gains access to a poultry-house, the owner will be pretty sure to find the majority 

 of the occupants lying dead in the morning. The polecat is, moreover, a no less 

 deadly enemy to the game preserver; the authors of Bell's British Quadrupeds 

 remarking that " the destruction which it occasions among the eggs and young of 

 pheasants and partridges, young hares and rabbits, is incalculable; and, in the 

 latter case particularly, it follows these animals into their burrows with such 

 facility that a single family of polecats would shortly produce a sensible 

 diminution in numbers amongst the denizens of a whole warren." 



Fortunately, however, of late years its numbers have been vastly diminished, 

 and it is now chiefly confined to regions with thick woods affording it compara- 

 tively inaccessible retreats. In the Alps it wanders in summer far above the 

 limit of trees, although retreating to lower elevations in winter. The nest of 

 the polecat is made in a deserted rabbit-hole, in the crevices of rocks, or amongst 

 heaps of stones overgrown with brushwood or weeds ; and here the young are born 

 in the months of April and May, or, more rarely, the beginning of June. The 

 number in a litter may vary from three to eight, although it is more usual to find 

 four, five, or six. When captured early, the young may be easily trained for the 

 purpose of rabbit-catching. Fossil remains of the polecat, like those of the weasel 

 and the stoat, have been obtained from the cavern-deposits of this country and 

 the continent, in association with the bones of extinct mammals. 



