88 THE FERRET. 



will seize the rabbits, gorge itself with their blood, and then fall 

 asleep instead of returning to its master. When the ferret is 

 guilty of this dereliction of duty, the warrener has either to 

 dig his way down to it, or to smoke it out. Sometimes, 

 however, the ferret has been known to succeed in maintaining 

 this state of liberty all the summer, regaling itself with the 

 blood of the rabbits during the whole season ; but when the 

 winter has set in, it has either perished from cold, or been 

 obliged to leave its lodging, and submit to be recaptured. If 

 permitted to seize a rabbit above ground, it generally seizes it 

 by the neck, winds itself round it, sucks its victim's blood, and 

 does not leave it until completely satiated. 



Frequent attempts have been made to keep the ferret on 

 board ship, for the purpose of killing the rats, which prove so 

 destructive to vessels and their cargoes ; but this mode of life 

 appears so badly suited to it, that it seldom stands it for any 

 length of time. 



Besides rabbits and rats, it will feed upon pigeons, fishes, 

 and milk. 



The ferret breeds twice in a year, and the female goes with 

 young six weeks. She has from six to nine at a litter, and 

 is reported to bring forth more females than males. Sometimes 

 she will devour her young as soon as they are born, and will 

 breed again soon afterwards. " Warreners assert," says Pen- 

 nant, " that the fitch will intermix with the ferret, and they 

 are sometimes obliged to procure an intercourse between these 

 animals to improve the breed of the latter, which, by long 

 confinement, will abate its savage nature, and become less eager 

 after rabbits, and consequently less useful. The Rev. Mr. Lewis, 

 vicar of Llansowel in Caermarthenshire, had a tame female 

 ferret, which was permitted to go about the house. At length 

 it absented itself for several days, and on its return proved to 

 be with young, and produced nine of a deep brown colour, more 

 like the fitch than the ferret. What makes it more certain that 

 they were begotten by a fitch is, that Mr. Lewis had no male 

 ferret; neither was there any within three miles, and these 



