THE POLECAT. 



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fur of the under portions are on a much lighter tint, because the brown hairs are shorter 

 and fewer in number, and permit the soft yellow fur to appear. The outer skin, with 

 its covering of fur, is of some value, and is used for the purpose of clothing as well as of 

 the manufacture of brushes. Indeed, it is sometimes fraudulently employed in imita- 

 tion of the true sable, and is sold under that title. 



The Polecat does not restrict itself to terrestrial game, but also wages war against the 

 inhabitants of rivers and ponds. Frogs, toads, newts, and fish are among the number 

 of the creatures that fall victims to its rapacity. It has been known to take great 

 numbers of frogs and toads, and to lay them up as a living store of food in a corner of 

 its habitation, and to guard against their escape by a bite upon the brain of each victim, 

 which produced a kind of perpetual drowsiness, and prohibited them from any active 

 exertion. Large stores of eels have also been found in the larder of a Polecat, a 

 remarkable circumstance, when we consider the slippery agility of the eel, and its powers 

 of swimming when immersed in 

 its native element. Even the 

 formidably defended nests of the 

 wild bees are said to yield up 

 their honeyed stores to the fear- 

 less attack of this rapacious 

 creature. 



As to rabbits, hares, and other 

 small animals, the Polecat seems 

 to catch and devour them almost 

 at will. The hares it can capture 

 either by stealing upon them as 

 they lie asleep in their " forms," 

 or by patiently tracking them 

 through their meanderings, and 

 hunting them down fairly by 

 scent. The rabbits flee in vain 

 for safety into their subterranean 

 strongholds, for the Polecat is 

 quite at home in such localities, 

 and can traverse a burrow with 

 greater agility than the rabbits 

 themselves. Even the rats that are found so plentifully about the water-side are oc- 

 casionally pursued into their holes and there captured. Pheasants, partridges, and all 

 kinds of game are a favorite prey with the Polecat, which secures them by a happy 

 admixture of agility and craft. So very destructive are these animals, that a single 

 family is quite sufficient to depreciate the value of a warren or a covert to no small ex- 

 tent. 



Although so injurious to the property of the farmer, the Polecat is not without its use. 

 It certainly commits sad havoc among game, and if it can obtain admittance into a 

 poultry-house, is sure to scatter destruction around it. But it is quite as deadly an 

 enemy to the rats as to the poultry, although its rat-killing performances do not attract 

 so much attention as its evil conduct towards game and poultry. In some parts of the 

 world, the Polecat is taken under the protection of the farmers, who have an idea 

 that the animal is penetrated with a sense of hospitality, and will do no damage to the 

 property of the man whose farm-buildings afford it a shelter. It is true that the hen- 

 roosts are frequently depopulated, but this mischance is laid on the shoulders of a Pole- 

 cat which is the guest of some distant farmer, and which is not bound by any ties of 

 gratitude. 



The Polecat is a tolerably prolific animal producing four or five young at a litter. 

 The locality which the mother selects for the nursery of her future family is generally 

 at the bottom of a burrow, which is scooped in light and dry soil, defended if possible by 

 the roots of trees. In this subterranean abode a warm nest is constructed, composed 

 of various dried leaves and of moss, laid with singular smoothness. The young Polecats 

 23 



POLECAT. -Prtorfa* faetidus. 



