344 THE ZOOLOGIST* 



farmer's dog. We are fairly overrun with Foxes, which have destroyed 

 Weddholm Flow : no birds breed there now ; but nothing interesting is 

 allowed to live. Two centuries ago the Lake district was a wilderness of 

 Brocks and Wild Cats, Kites, Ospreys, and a few Eagles ; but the church- 

 wardens, and after them the keepers, persecuted these wild creatures almost 

 to the death. Even the Hedgehog fared badly in some parishes. — H. A. 

 Macpherson (Carlisle). 



Habits of the Polecat.— The Editor's interesting article on the Polecat 

 (pp. 281 — 294) suggests a few remarks and criticisms. We naturally 

 begin by looking at the Plate, where a Polecat is shown in a position which, 

 though perfectly possible, I never remember to have seen a Polecat assume, 

 and it is, at any rate, not characteristic. If its little fore legs had been 

 drawn upright, making the animal in a sitting position, with rather more 

 of the hind leg showing, it would have been a very common attitude. The 

 fore legs as drawn have an extremely gouty appearance. The artist has 

 fallen into the error common to almost every taxidermist who stuffs a 

 carnivorous animal, namely, of representing it with its mouth open. Hardly 

 anything can look more unnatural. [We have seen a Stoat hunting with 

 his mouth open and his tongue hanging out, like a dog. — Ed.] The 

 head is also rather too small. One other point I must venture to 

 criticise. The sharply contrasted black and white on the muzzle, and 

 the white tip to the ear, so characteristic of the animal, are here 

 hardly hinted at. An extra Oxfordshire example may now, perhaps, 

 be worth recording, a rather small male, said to have been obtained 

 on, or close to, the Marston running-ground, near Oxford, in March, 

 1872. This I had alive in my rooms at Christ Church, and, amongst 

 other adventures, it temporarily escaped, owing to an inquisitive friend 

 looking at it when I was out, which produced a rather good story. 

 I have also received examples from the Oxon and Bucks border. With 

 regard to distinguishing between the wild Polecat and the domestic Ferret, 

 I believe it is always possible to do so (except, of course, the direct cross 

 between the two). The Polecat has much greater bone than the Ferret, as 

 shown in the blunt, square muzzle, which in the Ferret is an isosceles 

 triangle ; the same in a lesser degree is true of the tail ; the greater 

 robustness of the body would not be so easily perceptible. A Ferret has 

 never the clearly defined black and white muzzle and white tips to the ears 

 before alluded to as so very conspicuous a characteristic of the Polecat, and 

 also never has the glossy black tips to the fur, but looks yellower from the 

 short under fur showing. Eels are very acceptable to Polecats, but no other 

 kind of fish seems to be particularly cared for, though they will eat them 

 faute demieux. Frogs are readily eaten, but rabbits, any kind of bird, and 

 even rats are preferred. Oddly enough, in captivity, mice are often refused. 

 Cats can hardly be reckoned a " great delicacy " to them, but make a good 

 useful supply of food. It is curious that the flesh of cats almost invariably 



