394 



THE NATURE BOOK 



ease, a singularly handsome animal. His 

 fur, like that of all mustelines, consists 

 of a short woolly undergrowth in which 

 is implanted an outgrowth of coarse 

 stout hairs. These two growths are 

 strongly differentiated in the Polecat 

 owing to their contrasted colours, the 

 undergrowth or pelt being a pale buff, 

 and the outgrowth a dark purple-brown 

 which deepens into black on the throat, 

 limbs, and under part of the body. The 

 tail is well haired but has no pronounced 

 tuft, ^^'ith every movement of the 

 muscles the buff pelt reveals itself, so 

 that on some occasions, as may be seen 

 from the illustration on page 391, a Polecat 

 appears to be definitely striped, while 

 on other occasions he appears to be 

 piebald.' His head presents a bold and 

 striking colouration. Round his lips and 

 the borders of his ears the fur is white ; 

 there is a broad band of buff between 

 each eye and ear, which reaches to his 

 cheeks ; a narrower, somewhat darker, 

 band stretches across his forehead ; and the 

 rest of his head is deep purple-brown, 

 darkening to black on the throat. 



It has been suggested that the bold 

 colouring of the Skunk (young specimens 

 appear to be black with white dorsal 

 stripes and a bushy white tail) is an 

 example of " warning colouration " — a 

 proclamation to all whom it may concern 

 that the owner had best be left alone. 

 H this be so, one can hardly avoid credit- 

 ing Nature with a similar intention in 

 the case of the Polecat. His head is re- 

 markably conspicuous, and, as I have 

 explained, in movement he often presents 

 the appearance of being boldly striped. 



It is impossible to define the present 

 distribution of the Polecat. He is a 

 good swimmer, a good climber (Charles 

 St. John gives an instance of one attacking 

 a pigeon's nest on a level with his dressing- 

 room window), and, like all mustelines, 

 an intrepid traveller. It may well happen 

 that successive breeding seasons may 

 find the same Polecats in widely separated 

 districts, but the hand of man is every- 

 where against him as a murderer of 

 poultry as well as of game, and his best 

 chance is where man is not, and where 

 birds are many. I can fancy no better 

 retreat for a Polecat than the Essex 

 marshes, and I have been interested to 



receive recent news of him from that 

 district. A few years back I had no 

 difficulty in procuring live specimens 

 from the Fen Country, and, generally, 

 I incline to the opinion that he prefers 

 low-lying ground, though the presence 

 of rabbits or game may of course attract 

 him anywhere. His method of attacking 

 the former is to leap on their backs and 

 worry at the jugular \'ein, swinging himself 

 like a whip-lash from side to side of his 

 victim's body. Weasels and Stoats act 

 in a similar way. The single paralysing 

 bite into the brain is, in my judgment, 

 purely fortuitous, though no doubt it 

 happens frequently enough. 



Attempts to train the Polecat as a ratter 

 seem generalty to have failed. Mr. J. L. 

 Bevir, who tried the experiment, writes : 

 "If he could get down the hole he was 

 very efficacious ; but if he could not he 

 became angry, and I can see him now 

 pursuing the gardener round the green- 

 house."* 



If the reader will refer for a moment 

 to the quotation at the head of this 

 article, he will realise, if indeed he did 

 not do so to begin with, that Venator 

 was merely a " sportsman." No fewer 

 than four out of his string of vermin are 

 specifically identical. It is not unlikely 

 that the naturalist of three hundred 

 years hence will regard the modern 

 classification of Martens with similar 

 amusement. The differences between the 

 European Pine and Beech Martens, 

 the American Pine Marten, the Indian 

 Marten, the American Sable, and the 

 Asiatic Sable are so slight that it seems 

 improbable that their specific distinction 

 will be permanently maintained. The 

 fur of all being valuable, and that of 

 the Sables extremely so, it is ob- 

 viously to the interests of the furrier 

 to maintain, even to create, as many 

 names as possible. Xor can one reason- 

 ably blame him, for in colour, gloss, and 

 feel there is a wide difference between 

 the fur of the Sable on the one hand 

 and that of the Beech or Stone (? stone- 

 coloured) Marten on the other, and the 

 value of Martens' fur depends on its 

 approximation to Sable quality. 



For the purpose of the present article 

 we need only concern ourselves with 



* Field Xaturalisfs Quarterly, Feb., 1903. 



