FERRETS AND RABBITS. 395 



claws thoroughly with the mixture every 

 morning. Give your ferret a little sulphur in 

 warm milk, every morning for a few days, 

 very likely the claws will drop off, but that 

 will not matter much, as they will grow again 

 when the canker in the feet is cured. Many 

 ferrets die of foot rot, which never ought to 

 happen if the hutch is kept properly clean and 

 sweet, and it is almost impossible to do this if 

 the floor is made of wood, for as soon as it is 

 saturated by the ferrets there is no cleansing 

 it, and all kinds, of diseases attack the unfor- 

 tunate animal, diseases which baffle all 

 attempts to cure. 



Ferrets that are kept for rabbiting should 

 never be used to hunt rats, but kept for 

 rabbits only ; ratting makes them very shy 

 to come to the hand to be caught, besides 

 which they are likely to bite you when 

 you put your hand in a rabbit's hole. 

 I could pull a properly trained ferret out of 

 the hole by his fore-foot, tail, loins, or even 

 by his under jaw, and he would never bite me, 

 but I never attempted to take liberties with a 



