118 Boyne Castle. [cHaP. VII. 
until after it was dark, he never missed seeing them in the 
morning, and sometimes after it had become daylight. The 
same remark is, in a measure, applicable to many of the 
night insects, to land crustaceans, beetles, many of the larger 
moths, sand-hoppers, and slaters. 
One of the most severe encounters that Edward ever had 
with a nocturnal roamer was with a polecat or fumart* in 
the ruined castle of the Boyne. The polecat is of the same 
family as the weasel, but it is longer, bigger, and stronger. 
It is called fumart because of the fetid odor which it emits 
when irritated or attacked. It is an extremely destructive 
brute, especially in the poultry-yard, where it kills far more 
than it eats. Its principal luxury seems to be to drink the 
blood and suck the brains of the animals it kills. It-de- 
stroys every thing that the gamekeeper wishes to preserve. 
Hence the destructive war that is so constantly waged 
against the polecat. 
The ruined castle of the Boyne, about five miles west of 
Banff, was one of Edward’s favorite night haunts. The 
ruins occupy the level summit of a precipitous. bank form- 
ing the eastern side of a ravine, through which the little 
river Boyne flows. One of the vaults, level with the ground, 
is used as a sheltering place for cattle. Here Edward often 
took refuge during rain, or while the night was too dark 
to observe. The cattle soon got used to him. When the 
weather was dry, and the animals fed or slept outside, Ed- 
ward had the vault to himself. On such occasions he was 
visited by rats, rabbits, owls, weasels, polecats, and other ani- 
mals. 
One night, as he was lying upon a stone, dozing or sleep- 
ing, he was awakened by something pat-patting against his 
legs. He thought it must be a rabbit or a rat, as he knew 
that they were about the place. He only moved his legs a 
little, so as to drive the creature away. But the animal 
* Fumart from ful merde, old French. 
