106 FITCHET. Class I. 



creep up the sides of walls with great agility, 

 and spring with vast force. In running, the 

 belly seems to touch the ground ; in preparing 

 to jump, it arches its back, which assists it great- 

 ly in that action. 



The ears are short, rounded and tipt with 

 white : the circumference of the mouth, that 

 is to say, the ends of the lower and upper 

 jaws are white ; the head, throat, breast, legs 

 and thighs, are wholly of a deep chocolate 

 color, almost black ; the sides are covered with 

 hairs of two colors, the ends of which are of a 

 blackish hue, like the other parts ; the middle of 

 a full tawny color; in others cinereous* The 

 toes are long, and separated to the very origin ; 

 the tail is covered with pretty long hair. 

 Manners. The fitchet is very destructive to young game 

 of all kinds, and to poultry : it generally resides 

 in woods, or thick brakes, burrowing under 

 ground, forming a shallow retreat, about two 

 yards in length, which ^commonly ends, for its 

 security, among the roots of some large trees. 

 It will sometimes lodge under hay-ricks, audi© 

 barns ; in the winter it frequents houses, and 

 makes a common practice of robbing the dairy 

 of the milk ; it also makes great Jravoke in war- 

 rens. 



