THE POLECAT. 287 



adjoining waste known as Wedholme Flow. Here (he says) they 

 breed and rear their young : — 



" Nests are often found by the hunters when digging out an animal 

 that has goue to ground. Scottish-like, they are made up of ■ but and ben ; ' 

 that is, they consist of two distinct parts — one made of leaves for the 

 reception and rearing of the young, and the other serving as a storehouse 

 for food. In the latter compartment have been found young rabbits, 

 leverets, partridge chicks, ducklings, larks, frogs, and even eels. The 

 frogs, though alive, were stunned by a puncture on the top of the head, 

 and were thus in a half-unconscious state. In the spring of the year 

 the poultry yards of the Abbey Holme farmers suffer much from the 

 depredations of Foumarts. On two holdings at Plaskett Lands over sixty 

 head of young poultry disappeared in a short space of time. 



" The female Polecat generally selects her lair in the autumn, occupies 

 it during the winter, and brings forth her young in it in the spring. She 

 has usually four or five at a time, so that the species multiplies rapidly, 

 notwithstanding that they are assiduously watched and trapped by local 

 gamekeepers. 



" In the early part of the season the hunters seek the Polecat on the 

 banks of the open cuts, locally designated ' sowes ; ' later on they quest the 

 fallow breaks and drier grounds. The usual time for ' throwing off' is 10 

 in the evening (by moonlight) and 3 to 4 in the morning (by daylight). The 

 average length of a run is from three to five miles, but occasionally an old 

 'varmint' affords a chase of from eight to ten miles. An aged Polecat 

 always dies game, being sure to make a spring and bite some of the dogs 

 before he receives his coup de grace. One recently taken was very old, 

 without a single tooth in either jaw, his coat ragged and poor, and his skin 

 covered with ticks. 



"In April, 1883, the Aspatria pack, consisting of otter-hounds and a 

 quartet of terriers, had two splendid runs with what was believed to be the 

 same Foumart, for he led them exactly over the same ground, a distance of 

 seven miles. On April 21st they found him on the high land overlooking 

 the village of West Newton, gave chase as far as Allonby, where he doubled 

 and made a circuit by way of Cooper, and down into the meadows, then 

 took refuge in a sod drain, and, as it was getting on towards midnight, the 

 pack was called off, no attempt being made to unearth ' the varmint.' " 



Another correspondent, who desired that his name might be 

 withheld, sent the following account of the sport as formerly 

 practised in Lancashire :— 



"You ask for information on the hunting of the Polecat, so I will 

 venture to give you a short sketch of this kind of sport, as it was formerly 



