SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



271 



THE POLECAT. 



By T. A. W. Rees, F.R.M.S. 



'THE polecat has, as its nearest of kin in the 

 British Islands, the stoat and weasel. It is 

 scientifically known as Mustcla putorius. It has a 

 slender, supple body, short muzzle and legs, thin 

 wiry tail, small round ears lying flat on the skull, 

 and sharp, cruel teeth. Whilst exceeding both 

 stoat and weasel in size, it is comparatively thicker, 

 too, in build and general appearance. The crea- 

 ture is enveloped in soft, close coat of very fine fur, 

 dirty-yellow in colour, but a coarser covering of 

 hair, black or dark brown, stands out sparsely over 

 this garment. On the back and tail this coarse hair 

 is long, but short on legs, face, and throat. During 

 the polecat's visits to rabbit-warrens, all dew or 

 damp loam is collected on this long hair, and does 

 not reach the closer fur beneath, which under- 

 garment is consequently protected from becoming 

 matted, and the skin from growing diseased. The 

 snout is tipped with white. On the approach of old 

 age, the polecat assumes a venerable gown of grey. 



Parasites are generally found in plenty on the 

 polecat, and in confinement the animal is usually 

 attacked by mange. When enraged it has the 

 power of erecting the hair along the spine and tail 

 just in the same way as that in which an infuriated 

 cat shows her displeasure. Its food is, to speak 

 tersely, flesh, blood and water. Ravenous habits, 

 the outcome of insatiable desires, are the chief 

 characteristic of this untiring murderer, which — 

 like a wasp that, deprived of its abdomen, still 

 clutches its prey— would almost glory in its blood- 

 thirstiness whilst sweating in the throes of death. 

 Where rabbits are numerous, the polecat exists 

 chiefly upon the brains of these rodents, though an 

 occasional rat, field-mouse, mole, or bird is not 

 despised as a change of diet. It hunts its prey by 

 scent, following the trail as surely as the steadiest 

 beagle, moving with a quick, sinuous motion, alter- 

 nating in a series of short leaps. When pressed, a 

 rabbit takes refuge in its warren, to be mercilessly 

 ejected thence by its enemy and chased from 

 burrow to burrow until, hidden in the farthest 

 corner of its lair, or among the tangled undergrowth, 

 the poor frightened thing is fain to give up the 

 struggle for life, and unresistingly await, with 

 fluttering heart, an awful death. The fittest sur- 

 vives, the weakling goes to the wall — such is 

 nature's inexorable law. 



Sometimes, however, there is a happy exception 

 to the rule. Perchance a violent kick from the 

 rabbit's hind feet may lay bare the entrails of its 

 foe ; or, if the burrow is tenanted by many occu- 

 pants, the polecat may be baffled by the strong 

 taint which lies on the much-frequented paths to 



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and from the neighbouring covert. Should a par- 

 ticular warren be frequently visited, its inhabitants 

 will invariably migrate, in a body, toother quarters, 

 until, in turn, driven out from these retreats, they 

 go back to their former abode after the vile odour, 

 which a polecat always leaves behind it, shall have 

 passed away. The breath of putorius is strong and 

 offensive ; its skin emits a powerful scent, and — 

 worse than all this — a gland near the tail is full of 

 a rank fluid, which the creature discharges at will, 

 but only when much enraged. Terriers have been 

 known to give up their attack directly upon the 

 arrival of this effective aroma upon the scene. I 

 once treated a polecat that had been trapped alive 

 for me by holding it down with a fire-tongs at the 

 bottom of a deep cask, whilst I stunned and after- 

 wards killed it with a poker. Although I can put 

 up with many a trifle, I very much question whether 

 I could have held my nasal organ over the cask 

 for more than the time which was occupied in be- 

 labouring that polecat to death. 



The polecat chooses for its home an old drain or 

 rabbit burrow. It will even utilise the abode of an 

 evicted stoat, enlarging it as necessity prompts. 

 The locality of its haunt will generally depend upon 

 the size of the occupants ; for the polecat, though 

 generally measuring about sixteen inches from 

 nose to root of tail, sometimes attains a length of 

 twenty inches. Five is the average number of the 

 litter of young. Whilst suckling these in the warm 

 nest of leaves or hay at the bottom of her burrow, 

 the polecat is even more than usually ferocious; 

 and it is at this season that the female is most 

 generally seen, whilst hunting some fat coney from 

 over the way among the evening shadows. Were 

 it not for the hunger of maternity night would 

 come before the cautious mother ventured forth. 



In days now past, we who were schoolboy 

 naturalists pursued our studies of Nature's face 

 among the dingles and woods of what was known 

 as the Tunnel, from a deep gully, overhung with 

 precipitous rocks some two hundred feet high. 

 Whilst, one day in early spring, we of the brother- 

 hood were walking along at the foot of these crags, 

 to visit a pond in quest of objects for our micro- 

 scope, some loose earth and stones came crashing 

 from the summit. Judge of our astonishment when 

 we saw that a struggle was going on among the 

 rolling debris. We rushed to the spot, sticks in 

 hand, to find that a large polecat was holding on to 

 a kicking, squealing rabbit. The former was at 

 once despatched, a female with teats large and 

 flesh-coloured. The rabbit, incapable of thinking 

 about anything but squealing and kicking, was 



