FITCHET WEASEL. 



203 



OARNIVORA. 



MU^TELAD^E. 



' FITCHET WEASEL. 



FITCHEW, POLECAT, FOUMART, FULIMART. 



Mustela jiutorius. 



Specific Character. — Fur long, dai'k browu on the surface, yellowish 

 beneath ; head blackish, with white spots about the ears and nioutli; tail 

 about one-third the length of the head and body. 



Muslela 2^utorius, Linn. Fn. Suoc. IL f. 6. — Syst. Nat. I. p. ](>7. Dksjiak, 

 Mammal, p. 177, sp. 271. Flem. Brit. An. p. 14. 

 Jenyns, Brit. Vert. p. 1]. 

 ,, cversmani, Lesson, Man. p. 144. 

 Virerra jmtorius, Shaw, Gen. Zool. I. p. 415, t. xcviii. 

 Foetorius piiforius, Keys, and Blas. Wirbelth. Europ. p. 62. Blas. Wirbclth. 



Deutsch. p. 222. 

 I'lUois, BuFFON, Hist. Nat. VIL p. 199, t. cxxiii. 



Fitchet Weasel, Pennant, Brit. Zool. I. p. 89, t. vi. 

 Polecat, Shaw, Gen. Zool. 1. c. 



The Fitchet, Fitchcr, or, as it is more frequently 

 termed, the Polecat, although smaller than either of the 

 Martens, is the largest of the indigenous species of the 

 restricted genus Mustela. In its habits it greatly re- 

 sembles the two former species ; but instead of being 

 contented with the les.ser (]uadruj)eds and birds, it attacks 



