THE POLECAT. 383 



rocks, but is readily bolted either by sending in a small terrier 

 or by smoking. It is easily trapped, and a good vermin 

 dog 1ms no difficulty in killing it in the same way as a cat 

 that is, by turning it up and seizing it between the fore- 

 legs. 



THE Fox ( Vulpes vulgaris). 



Foxes are sacred throughout England, Ireland, and the 

 lowlands of Scotland, where indeed they are rigidly pre- 

 served, the reproach of being a " vulpecide " being almost as 

 bitter a taunt as can be hurled against any man short of the 

 accusation of actual crime. In the highlands of Scotland 

 and North Wales, and indeed in some of the hills of Ireland, 

 inaccessible to hounds, the mountain fox is so destructive to 

 game, and even to lambs, that in each district in the first- 

 named country a " tod-hunter " is appointed to the office of 

 finding and destroying the young litters, as well as the full- 

 grown foxes, when he can reach them. In the present day 

 the cubs, as well as the old foxes, bear a money value in the 

 market if taken alive, being sent to masters of hounds in the 

 south, who are always ready to take them, as the mountain 

 or hill fox is a finer animal than the lowlander. The former 

 is generally short, with grey hairs all over, and his tail is 

 also thicker and more bushy, though not of greater length 

 than that of the southern fox, which is now so much crossed 

 with French and German blood as to retain little of his 

 original peculiarities. 



THE POLECAT (Putorius falidus). 



This animal, also called the fitchet and foulmart, is very 

 common throughout those parts of the country which are 

 not strictly preserved ; but being to all kinds of game one of 

 the most destructive of all the vermin tribe, he is carefully 

 destroyed by all good keepers. The appearance of the 

 polecat is well shown in the annexed woodcut, the colour 

 being a rich brown black on the surface, over an under-coat 

 of yellow. He is somewhat larger than the ferret, with 

 which he readily breeds, producing the dark variety of that 

 animal shown at page 152. His smell is peculiarly rank, 



