CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 5. CARNIVORA. 



307 



places which we have mentioned close by the Polar Sea, or on the cold heights of the mountains 

 further south; and therefore the sable-skins obtained during the winter are more uniform in color 

 than those of animals which inhabit less rigorous localities. 



In many places in Siberia, the hunting of the sable is a duty imposed by the Russian govern- 

 ment upon the exiles of that country; and to them, when they first enter upon it, it is the most 

 dreadful to which human beings can be subjected. They are unacquainted with the country, and 

 instead of knowing where to discover and how to procure the animals, of which they are com- 

 pelled to find a specified number, they can hardly make their own way across rocks and chasms, 

 fallen trees, and countless other irregularities, all hidden under the snow; and thus many of them 

 perish in that dreadful wilderness. 



The sable, as we might expect, partakes of the characters of a tree animal and a ground animal 

 jointly. It can climb; and it is understood to climb for those wild berries which remain upon 

 the branches in winter, as well as for birds and their eggs and young during the summer. It also 

 hunts prey upon the ground, and though it is of course not capable of running down a hare in 

 fair chase, it is very capable of dispatching one if it come upon it by surprise. It is also sure to 

 follow the more powerful predatory animals, the polar bear, the wolf, and the glutton, in order to 

 obtain a share of their prey. In its disposition it is not a ferocious animal, but can be tamed, and 

 will show some affection in a domestic state. In this condition it subsists indiscriminately upon 

 animal and vegetable matter, and is said not to be so prone to make its escape to the wilds as the 

 other martens. 



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:■ ^ ^ 



POLECAT ATTACKING A HAHE. 



Genus POLECAT, or WEASEL : Putorius.— This genus includes the Weasels, with the -Ermine 

 »r Stoat, as well as the Polecat or Fitchet, and the Ferret ; all small, but distinguished for their 

 ong, flexible bodies, and their destructive habits, surpassing even the cats in their instinct for kill- 

 »g other animals. All are noted for a secretion in an anal pouch, which, when they are irritated 

 t heightened, diffuses a more or less offensive odor. They trace their prey by scent, take to flu- 

 tter readily, as they have semi-palmated feet, and kill by inflicting a wound in the neck. The 

 wale is commonly much smaller than the male. 

 The Polecat, Fitchet, or Fitchet-Weasel, P. fcetidus, the M. putorius «of Linnaeus, is the 

 "hmart or Foumart of the English. Polecat has been supposed to be a corruption of Polish 

 lt ; but this seems to be not much better than a guess: Foumart and Fulimart have, with 

 etter reason, been .considered as contractions of Foul Marten, in contradistinction to the Sweet 



