MAMMALIA. £ER^. Weafels. 179 



353 12. Black Sable. — M. Zlbdlma nigra. 



The back, belly, legs, and tail, are black ; the fides are brown ; the tail is very bufhy. 



Fifher Weefel. Penn. hift, of quad. n. 202. Arcl. zool. n. 3 1. Lev. muf. 



Inhabits North America, particularly New York and Penfylvania.— Is two feet four inches long 

 from nofe to rump, and the tail feventeen inches ; the hairs on the back, legs, belly, and tail, arc 

 bpownifh at the bafe, and black at the ends.; the fides are brown; the face, and fides of the neck, are 

 pale brown, or cinereous ; the nofe is black, with ftrong, ftiff whifkers ; the ears are broad, rounded, 

 dufky on the outfides, and edged with white ; the feet are very broad, and are covered with hair 

 both above -and below, having five tt>es before, and four, fometimes five, behind, armed with ftrong, 

 fharp, Crooked claws ; the tail is full and bufhy, but fmaller at the extremity. Though called the 

 Fifher Weafel, it is not amphibious, but preys on all lefler quadrupeds : It has fix Imall fore -teeth in 

 each jaw; fix large tufks in all; four grinders on each fide of the upper jaw, three of which are fharp 

 pointed and the fourth flat ; fix grinders on each fide of the lower jaw, the fartheft back being flat, 

 the next three pointed, and the other two having two points. This fpecies fometimes varies in co- 

 lour. 



354 13. Polecat. — 7. Mujlela Putorius. 7. 



Of a blackifh yellow or chocolate colour, with white muzzle and ears. Faun. Suec. 16. 

 Schreber, iii. 485. t. exxxi. 



Muftela, or Weafel, having its hair of a whitifh.grey colour at the roots and black at the tips, 

 and with a white muzzle. BruT. quad. 186. — Yellowifh-black Weafel, Muftela flavefcente-nigri- 

 cans, with a white muzzle, and yellowifh collar. Syft. nat. ed. vi. 5. n. 3. — Putorius. Gefn. quad. 

 767. Aldrov. clig. 329. fig. p. 330. Jonft. quad. 154. t. 64. Raj. quad. 199.— Fitchet, or Polecat. 



Penn. hift. of quad. n. 195 — Putois, or Polecat. Shi, Buff. iv. 248. pi. lxxiv. Brit. zool. i. 77; 



lltnis. Ridinger, wild, thier. t. 20. 



Inhabits moft parts of Europe, and in the temperate climates of Afiatic Ruflia.— Dwells in rocky, 

 ftoney, and gravelly places ; about Arables, barns, and dwelling-houfes ; in hollow trees, and in ftial- 

 low burrows, of feveral yards long, terminating under the roots of large trees ; fleeps moftly during 

 the- day, and goes about in the night in fearch of rabbits, rats, mice, moles, poultry, and other birds, 

 in winter it feeds 'likewife on fifli and frogs, and is very deftrudtive to bee-hives. The head of the 

 Polecat is thicker,, the muzzle {harper, arid the tail fhorter, than in the Martin, from which animal 

 it chiefly, however, differs in colour. In the deferts of Afiatic Ruflia, Polecats are fometimes found, 

 efpecially in winter, of a white colour ; they are likewife found beyond lake Baikal with white or 

 yellowifh rumps, bounded with black. It is exceedingly fetid, like feveral other fpecies of this genus, 

 efpecially the Martin and Sable, giving out from the anus a moft exceffively fetid vapour, when 

 frightened : The male is moftly of a yellowifh tinge, having a whitifh muzzle, while the muzzle of 

 the female is commonly of a yellowifh dirty white. 



355 14^ Ferret.-— 8. Mujlela Furo. 8. 



Has remarkably red and fiery eyes. 



Z 2 Muftela,, 



