30S VERTEBRATA. 



Marten. It is the Putoia of the French; Foetta and Pmzolo of the Italians; Putoro of the 

 Spanish; litis, Ulk, and Buntsing of the Germans. 



This animal is stouter in proportion than either the common weasel or the ermine, and the 

 head is broader; the nose rather pointed, ears round, and n«>t conspicuous; nek comparatively 

 short; tail inclining t<> bushy, and rather more than a third of the length of the body and head. 

 There are two kinds of fur in this species — the short is fulvous and woolly, the long is black, brown- 

 ish black, an«l shining. A brown color mingled with yellow, varying according to the proportions 

 of these two sorts of fur in the individual, is the result. There are some white marks about the 

 in., ith and ears and the parts which are darkest in color are the head, tail, and fret. The length 

 • >f the head and body i- seventeen inches. The anal sack, situated beneath the extremity of the 

 re. -turn, contains a yellowish fetid substance of the consistence of thick cream, winch lias an odor 

 inferior in intensity t<> that of the skunk, but still proverbial for its offensive quality. 



The polecat is found throughout Europe and Western Asia, hut is not a native of America. It 

 Is most destructive to the poultry-yard and the preserve; its appetite for slaughter, which seema 

 never to he satiated as long as any living thing remains within its reach, rendering it a most ruin- 

 ous neighbor to those who rear fowls or keep up a head of game. Not only the young birds fall 

 victims to it, hut the parents also; nor are even geese or turkeys safe. We have heard an in- 

 stance of a hen and a whole brood of chickens being killed by one of these destroyers in a single 

 night; and upon another occasion, seven or eight nearly full-grown turkeys. The brain and the 

 blood seem to be the choicest portions. The bodies of the dead are carried off to its ha; 

 which arc generally in some copse or wood near a farm, or in the heart of a preserve, whence i; 

 3 on it- deadly errand in the evening, generally soon after sunset, or when it grows dusk. 



No "vermin" is placed with more satisfaction upon "the Keeper's Tree," for none commits more 

 havoc, if so much, among the game. Beginning with the egg, it persecutes all the game-birds 

 through every period of life, and is a far more determined enemy than the stoat itself to the hare 

 and rabbit-warren. The fox, as is well known, will do much to keep down the pheasants, and 

 cially the rabbits and hares; but even this wily and powerful invader is not so mischievous as 

 'he species of which we are treating. Where a fox will kill one, a polecat will immolate ten, to 

 say nothing of eggs; no vertebrated animal seems to come amiss to its murderous nature. Bewick 

 relates that during a severe storm, a foumart was traced in the snow from the side of a rivulet to 

 ;t< hole at some distance from it. As it was observed to have made frequent trips and as ol 

 marks were to be seen in the snow which could not easily be accounted for. it was thought a 

 matter worthy of enreat attention. Its hole was accordingly examined, and five eels were dis 

 •red to be the fruit of its nocturnal excursions. The marks in tin' snow were made by the motion 

 of the eels in the quadruped's mouth. In Loudon's Magazine is an account of a female po! 

 that was hunted to her nest, which held five young ones in a comfortable bed of withered grass. 

 From a side hole the narrator picked out forty large frogs and two toads alive, but capable of 

 sprawling only, for the old polecat had stricken them all with palsy by a bite through the brain oi 

 lach! Whether she had put them in this condition as a pickle, to preserve them for future 08 

 not known. At all events, the feet suggests the hideously destructive nature of these creature--, 

 lie thissp - generally made in some rabbit-burrow, in the crevice of a rock, or when 



tang 1 herbage and brushwood overgrow loose heaps of stones; there the female drops 

 i four to six young in May, or early in June. The courage of the polecat is great, and : 

 of tin- tribe denominated by game-keepers "vermin" so severely tries the "pluck" of a terrier: 

 lexibility, unless seized in the right place and shaken to death at once, enables it to tun, 

 u upon the nose of the dog, SO as to make the l ;i tt •]• not unfrequently delist from the attack. 



Tlere b g 1 evidence that the polecat will breed with the ferret. Inferior to the fur of tin- 



■■able or marten, that of the polecat is nevertheless esteemed, and a considerable exportation of the 

 -kins annually take- place from the north of Europe, under the name of Fitch. , 



Tie Siberian Polscat, or Chobok, Af. Sibirica of 1 'alias, is about the size of the ferret, and 

 long fur of a bright golden yellow. It is a very hardy species, and in its native country p 

 -ides chiefly in the forests. Among the other species are the Vomela, or Peregusna, P. Sarmatt- 

 found in Siberia, and the ItaUi, /'. efotet, of a bright chestnut-color, and found in Japan. 



