352 THE POLECAT. 



closely allied. The color of its fur is generally of a grayish-brown, the gray tint 

 being found chiefly on its back, head, neck, and shoulders, and the legs, tail, and 

 back of the neck marked with a much darker brown. 



Its habitation is usually made in burrows, which it excavates on the banks of 

 rivers, choosing that aqueous locality on account of the nature of its food, which 

 consists of fish and various quadrupeds which live near the water. Hunting the 

 Wood-shock is a diversion which is greatly in vogue, and is especially followed by 

 the younger portions of the community, who find in this water-living, earth-burrowing, 

 sharp-toothed animal, a creature which affords plenty of sport to themselves and their 

 dogs, while it is not a sufficiently powerful antagonist to cause any great danger to its 

 foes, if it should be driven to despair and assume the offensive, instead of yielding in 

 sullen silence. 



The POLECAT has earned for itself a most unenviable fame, having been long cele- 

 brated as one of the most noxious pests to which the farmyard is liable. Slightly 

 smaller than the marten, and not quite so powerful, it is found to be a more deadly 

 enemy to rabbits, game, and poultry, than any other animal of its size. 



It is wonderfully bold when engaged upon its marauding expeditions, and maintains 

 an impertinently audacious air even when it is intercepted in the act of destruction. 

 Not only does it make victims of the smaller poultry, such as ducks and chickens, but 

 attacks geese, turkeys, and other larger birds with perfect readiness. This ferocious 

 little creature has a terrible habit of destroying the life of every animal that may be in 

 the same chamber with itself, and if it should gain admission into a henhouse will kill 

 every one of the inhabitants, although it may not be able to eat the twentieth part of its 

 victims. It seems to be very fond of sucking the blood of the animals which it destroys, 

 and appears to commence its repast by eating the brains. If several victims should come 

 in its way, it will kill them all, suck their blood, and eat the brains, leaving the re- 

 mainder of the body untouched. 



There is a beautifully merciful provision in this apparently cruel habit of the Pole- 

 cat, by which the creatures that are doomed to fall under its teeth and claws are spared 

 from much suffering. The first bite which a Polecat delivers is generally sufficiently 

 powerful to drive the long canine teeth into the brain, and to cause instantaneous in- 

 sensibility, if not instantaneous death. Its habit of drawing the blood from the veins is 

 another preservative against suffering, for the wounded animal is thus deprived of life 

 while its senses are deadened by the injury to the brain, and the possibility of a linger- 

 ing death prohibited. Nearly all the members of the Weasel tribe are remarkable for 

 this development of a sanguinary nature, but in none of them is it more conspicuous 

 than in the Polecat. 



This animal is not only famous for its bloodthirsty disposition, but for the horrid 

 odor which exhales from its body, and which seems to be partially under the control 

 of the owner. When the Polecat is wounded or annoyed in any way, this disgusting 

 odor becomes almost unbearable, and has the property of adhering for a long time to 

 any substance with which it may come in contact. This odor is produced by a secre- 

 tion which is found in a small pouch near the tail. The stoat and the weasel are more 

 than sufficiently tainted with this powerfully rank odor, but in the Polecat it is insuffera- 

 bly fetid. From this circumstance the Polecat is termed the Foul-marten, or 

 Foumart. Sometimes it is called the Fulimart, which is evidently a mere varia- 

 tion of the same word. It is also called the Fitchet a name which is well known 

 to artists as being the title of the animal from whose fur their best brushes are 

 produced. 



The hairs from which the brushes are manufactured are those long, sharp, and 

 glistening hairs which protrude through the soft coating of woolly fur that lies next the 

 skin and serves to preserve the animal from the effects of cold and moisture. The color 

 of these longer hairs is a rich shining brown, of a very dark hue, and that of the inner fur 

 is a pale yellow. It follows, therefore, that the color of the fur differs according to the 

 comparative length of the two kinds of hair ; that on the back being of a dark brown, 

 because the long brown hairs are more numerously and closely set together ; while the 



