jruSTELID.E.- 



-MAMMAI.IA.- 



-JIl'STF.LID.E. 



91 



eacli." Siicli is Mr. Ogilby's account of its depreda- 

 tions ; and tliere are few of us who have resided in the 

 country tliat cannot testify to its accuracy. The pole- 

 cat is a larger and stouter-built aniraal than the marten. 

 Its body rather exceeds two feet in length, not includ- 

 ing the tail, which measures only six inches. The 

 liead and neck are comparatively stout and thick. 

 The fur is of a dark-brown colour, approaching black. 

 There is, however, a considerable difl'erence of shade, 

 depending upon the greater or less abundance of 

 short woolly hairs, having a pale brown colour. The 

 lips and cheeks are more or less whitish. The odour 

 given out by the polecat has a very disagreeable smell. 

 It is produced by a fatty substance secreted by a gland 

 situated beneath the tail. The fur, though of com- 

 paratively small value, is sold under the name of fitch; 

 hence the term fitchet weasel, another name by which 

 this animal is known. The female produces towards 

 the close of the spring, or in early summer, a litter of 

 five or six J'oung. The nest is made either in a rabbit 

 burrow or in some similar snug retreat, among stones 

 and rocks covered ove 

 age, or low brushwood 



The common ferret is considered by most naturalists 

 to be a mere domesticated variety of the polecat. It 

 exhibits every shade of hue from that of a pale 

 yellowish-white up to a dark fulvous brown, and it is 

 most frequently somewhat variegated. Its habits are 

 similar to those of the wild animal, and they will freely 

 breed together. The ferret, however, can hardly be 

 considered a tame creature, in the strict meaning of 

 tlie term ; for, as most of us have observed, its disposi- 

 tion is exceedingly capricious, and in handling ferrets, 

 as every rat-catcher knows, a certain degree of bold- 

 ness and caution are necessary. The following sad 

 story, taken from Mr. Jesse's " Gleanings in Natural 

 History," illustrates its truly carnivorous and sangui- 

 vorous propensities. " Some few years ago, a poor 

 woman, holding a mangled infant in her arms, rushed 

 screaming with agony and fright into my friend's 

 house, who is a surgeon, imploring him to save the 

 child's life, who, she said, had been almost killed by a 

 ferret. The face, neck, and arms were dreadfully 

 lacerated, the jugular vein had been opened, as also 

 the temporal artery. The eyes were greatly injured, 

 and indeed the child, who is still living, has lost the 

 entire sight of one of them, and has very imperfect 

 vision in the other. Having stopjied the still bleeding 

 vessels, my friend accompanied the mother to her cot- 

 tage, on entering which the child, in some degree 

 recovering from its state of apparent death, began to 

 cry, when the ferret was in an instant seen rushing 

 from behind some basins where he had taken shelter, 

 and with his head erect, boldly came forward and met 

 the infuriated parent in the middle of tlie room, .still 

 holding the infant in lier arms. Ou my friend's kick- 

 ing the ferret, as the first impulse of protection, the 

 animal endeavoured to seize his leg, and not nntil his 

 (the ferret's) back was broken by repeated kicks, did 

 he give over his earnest and reiterated attempts to 

 renew his sanguinary feast ; and indeed, whilst in the 

 agonies of death, the jiiteous screams of the child 

 seemed to rouse him to vain efforts to regain his prey. 



The ferret was of large growth and much distended 

 with the infant's blood ; and though formerly of pecu- 

 liar shyness, yet he lost sight of fear and became bold 

 in the pursuit of the unfortunate infant. It appears 

 the poor woman had left her child (about six months 

 old) in a cradle, whilst she went to market, when 

 it is supposed the infant's cry had arrested the 

 attenticm of the ferret, who managed to make his 

 escape, and thus eflected liis purpose. There is good 

 reason to believe he must have passed more than half 

 an hour in the indulgence of his appetite, from the 

 circumstance of the neighbours having heard the 

 piercing shrieks of the child a long time without the 

 slightest suspicion of the mother's absence." Finally, 

 we have only to remark, that the method of employi]ig 

 ferrets for the capture of rabbits, rats, and other vermin 

 is too well known to reqm're more than a passing 

 allusion. In the majority of cases it is advisable to 

 use a muzzle ; otherwise the ferret is very apt, after 

 having feasted on its prey, to lay up in the burrow, 

 and disappoint the sportsman. This remark applies 

 more particularly in tlie case of rabbit hunting. 



THE ERMINE OK STOAT [Musttla erminea) is a 

 much smaller species. The body is scarcely ten inches 

 long, exclusive of the tail ; this organ is four and a 

 half inches in length, slightly bushy towards the tip, 

 the hairs of which are invariably black. In the sum- 

 mer the fur is rufous-brown on the back, and white 

 underneath from the chin to the root of the tail. In 

 the winter the entire fur becomes white, with the 

 exception of the tail ; and this change is brought about, 

 not by an alteration of the colour of the summer hairs, 

 as some have supposed, but by the development of 

 new and white hairs in the autumn to supply the place 

 of the falling coloured ones. It is this metamorphosis 

 of the fur which renders the ermine so valuable in 

 commerce. From the North of Europe and Siberia 

 several hundred thousand skins are exported annually 

 to various parts of the world — a large proportion of 

 them being transmitted to this country. Every one is 

 familiar with the pure, white, glossy texture of ermine 

 tippets, boas, and other robes, whose pure snow-white 

 ground-work is beset and adorned with a regularly- 

 disposed series of qiuncunxially-arranged tails, forming 

 a striking contrast by their rich jet black colour. Such 

 are the leading characteristics of the fur. With regard 

 to this animal's habits, Mr. Bell observes that they 

 vary " from those of the weasel, principally with rela- 

 tion to the difl'erence of size. Although much more 

 destructive than that animal to poultry and to game, 

 the favourite object of its pursuit is the common rat 

 and the water-vole, as that of the weasel is the diti'erent 

 species of mice. Prevented from following the latter 

 little pests into their runs, which are often not much 

 larger than their own bodies, the stoat leaves such 

 small game to its little congener, and betakes itself to 

 prey more suited to its own bulk. It occasionally 

 attacks hares even half or two-thirds grown, pursuing 

 them with the utmost pertinacity, and hunting them 

 down by dint of its indefatigable perseverance. The 

 Kev. F. W. Hope informs me, that on one occasion, 

 when shooting in Shropshire, he heard at a short 

 distance the shrill loud scream of a hare, which he 



