84 THE RABBIT 



tural characters by which they can be distinguished, 

 and the brown variety of the ferret is so like a 

 polecat that it might well be mistaken for one. The 

 appearance of a ferret is too well known to require 

 description. With most wild animals the result of 

 domestication is to increase their size and weight. 

 With the ferret it is otherwise. The average weight of 

 a male polecat is 2-| lb., and of a female i| lb. ; 

 no such weights have ever been recorded for ferrets. 

 The reason for this is no doubt to be found in the 

 different conditions of existence to which the two 

 animals are subjected ; confinement, want of fresh 

 air, insufficient exercise, and want of warm animal 

 food operate in the case of the ferret to produce an 

 undersized, weakly, and spiritless progeny. 



There can be no doubt that the more the treat- 

 ment of ferrets approximates to the natural conditions 

 of life, the hardier and better they will be, and this is 

 the secret of success in their management. Instead of 

 keeping them in a shed or outhouse, in a small hutch 

 with a bedding of musty straw, saturated with wet 

 and dirt, so productive of 'foot rot,' 'sweat,' and 

 other diseases, with a small saucer of sour milk and 

 a piece of tainted meat on which to live or starve, 

 they should be kept, at all events for the greater part 

 of the year, as much as possible in the open air. 



