286 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



appetite. It is strong and active; and, by bringing all the 

 feet near together, and drawing the back into an arch, 

 springs with great force on its intended victim, which it 

 generally kills expeditiously, and with a single bite on the 

 head, making a wound scarcely perceptible. Its facility of 

 passing through a small hole, enables it to get admission to 

 outhouses and barns ; and if no sufficient aperture be found 

 below, it is in general able to find and reach one on or 

 under the roof, to enable it to proceed to its cruel office of 

 devastation within, or to lie concealed till a fit opportunity 

 offer for its predatory operations. Its work of destruction 

 is also frequently more extensive, from its habit of sucking 

 the blood, and leaving the carcass of its prey until it can 

 find a convenient time for dragging it to its hiding-place. 

 Even the finny race is not secure from the attack of the 

 Polecat ; fish-ponds are exposed to its depredations, as well 

 as poultry-yards, dairies, warrens, preserves, and beehives ; 

 the hole of a Polecat has been found to contain the mu- 

 tilated remains of a number of eels. 



It either takes possession of a rabbit-hole, or prepares for 

 itself a subterraneous retreat, which is in general found to 

 be protected by the ramifications of the roots of a tree ; a 

 practice apparently originating in that degree of intellect 

 and foresight, which the Creator has so remarkably be- 

 stowed upon all the races of animals, when necessary for 

 their preservation or propagation. Here, or in some secure 

 hiding-place, under a hay-stack, or in a barn, or outhouse, 

 the female produces her young, generally five or six in num- 

 ber at a time, which she accustoms, when very young, to 

 suck blood and eggs. 



When disabled, irritated, or dying, the fetid smell from 

 this animal is almost insupportable ; and the place where 

 it is destroyed will not lose the scent for a considerable 

 length of time. It is very tenacious of life ; and a scuffle 

 with a Polecat should be conducted with caution. If not able 

 to escape from a man, it will, in desperation, attack him,- 



