A HISTORY OF KENT 



CARNIVORA 



1 6. Wild Cat. Felis cams, Linn. 



There do not appear to be any authenti- 

 cated records of the wild cat for many years, 

 although it is reported to have been captured in 

 the thick woods at Chattenden and elsewhere 

 in the county. Robert Pocock^ wrote in 1809 

 that the cat was ' uncommon and seldom 

 seen,' presumably referring to the wild cat. 



17. Fox. Fulpes vulpes, Linn. 



'&e\\—Vulpes vulgaris. 

 Found in almost all wooded districts. 

 Vixens have been taken from earths with four 

 to ten cubs. They are nearly always to be 

 found in the earth with their cubs until these 

 are five weeks old. A litter of very young 

 cubs was once found in a characteristic form 

 in some brambles on the Cobham Hall estate, 

 where they no doubt had been born owing to 

 the earths having been ferretted and stopped 

 just previously. The vixen was seen to leave 

 the spot when beaters approached. 



18. Pine Marten. Mustela martes, Linn. 



Bell — Martes abietum. 

 Robert Pocock ' wrote in 1809 that mar- 

 tins were 'uncommon and seldom seen.' 

 There are many reputed instances of it having 

 occurred forty to sixty years ago, but in most 

 cases the source is not reliable. 



19. Polecat. Putorius putorius, Linn. 



Bell — Mustela putorius. 

 Fielding, in Memories of Mailing, writes : 

 ' Once plentiful, but now only occasionally 

 seen in the county.' It certainly existed 

 thirty to forty years ago, but is now probably 

 extinct. Vulgar, the gamekeeper at Chatten- 

 den, possibly caught the last in the early 

 seventies. 



20. Common Stoat. Putorius ermineus, Linn. 



^Al— Mustela ermine a. 

 Common wherever rabbits abound. The 

 variation in colour which often occurs in late 

 autumn and winter is the best example 

 among Kentish quadrupeds of adaptation of 

 colour to environment. 



21. Weasel. Putorius nivalis, Linn. 



Bell — Mustela vulgaris. 

 Locally, Keen (a small variety). 

 Common. This animal lives chiefly on 

 mice, but also on voles, small rats and ralsbits, 

 and small birds when it can catch them. 

 • G. M. Arnold : Robert Pocock, the Gravesend 

 Historian. 

 Ubid. 



LTnfortunately, it is very fond of young 

 pheasants and partridges, which it catches 

 and drags one at a time into a hole. It 

 often makes use of mole runs, and is 

 occasionally caught in mole traps. One was 

 caught with its coat turned white along the 

 back, at Shorne, about February 1881. 



Gilbert White, in his Natural History of 

 Selborne ^ wrote : ' Some intelligent country 

 people have a notion that we have in these 

 parts a species of the genus Mustelinum, be- 

 sides the weasel, stoat, ferret and polecat ; a 

 little reddish beast not much bigger than a 

 field mouse, but much longer, which they call 

 a " cane." ' Zoologists only admit of one 

 species, but the variety alluded to by White 

 certainly exists, or did formerly, in Kent. 

 The typical weasel is about 7 to 8| in. in 

 length (without the tail), and frequents 

 woods, fields and hedges. The ' keen ' is 

 only 6 in. (without the tail), is much 

 thinner, and more spotted around the throat 

 than the typical species. It was well known 

 by all the old gamekeepers in the woods of the 

 Cobham Hall estate, where between twenty 

 and thirty years ago the rhododendrons were 

 very thick and where also thick masses of 

 elder, brambles and other bushes covered a 

 large area. In and around these thickets 

 numbers of this small variety could be caught. 

 More than a dozen, too, have been seen 

 together, and a number have been caught 

 around an old tree stump within a few hours, 

 old and young, male and female, but many 

 more females than males. This smaller 

 variety very seldom associates with the typical 

 species. The habits of the two differ con- 

 siderably. It is extremely local, although it 

 may be, as formerly at Cobham, very abun- 

 dant where it occurs. 

 22. Badger. Meles meles, Linn. 

 Bell — Meles taxus. 

 Locally, Brock. 



Rare, but probably visits most of the wooded 

 districts at intervals. Its characteristic foot- 

 prints, its habit of skinning rabbits before 

 eating them,* and scratching out wasps' nests, 

 soon make its presence known, though it is 

 seldom seen. It breeds annually near Maid- 

 stone and occasionally at other places. The 

 Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing states that the keeper 

 at Langton Kennels some years ago showed 



3 Letter XV. Selborne, March 30, 1768. 



* The cat, fox, badger and stoat have each a 

 different and distinct method of eating a rabbit 

 and disposing of the skin, which experts can 

 detect at once. 



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