BRITISH MAMMALS 



87 



From a photograph specially taken by Messrs Lascelles < Co. 



FIGURE 95. A hybrid Stoat Ferret, 4th generation. 



to tell what a field-naturalist of the type of the late Thomas 



Edward, or Professor W. J. Long, might not be able to add to 



our knowledge of such well-known animals as the fox and hare, 



to say nothing of shyer 

 creatures like the otter 

 and badger. On the 

 other hand, there is much 

 that we can only hope to 

 learn by keeping and 

 breeding our British mam- 

 mals in captivity, and 

 this is particularly the case 

 with those which unfortun- 

 ately are now very rare. 

 In the end one may be led to pay most attention to the animals 



of a single order, as has 



been done by an old Etonian, 



Mr Alfred Heneage Cocks, 



in the case of the British 



carnivora (including the 



seals). This naturalist has 



succeeded in breeding wild 



cats (see the frontispiece 



and figure 94), martens, 



and pole-cats, and has made 



many valuable discoveries 



about these animals. He has 



also produced four generations of hybrids between the stoat and the 



ferret after the results of the original cross came into his hands ; 



the latter animal is a domesticated variety of the pole-cat. 



From a photograph specially taken by Messrs Lascelles d- Co. 



FIGURE 96. A hybrid Stoat Ferret. 

 This specimen was born with a stump tail. 



