Class I. FITCHET. J07 



It brings five or six young at a time. War- 

 reners assert, that the fitchet will mix with 

 the ferret, and that they are sometimes obliged 

 to procure an intercourse between these ani- 

 mals, to improve the breed of the latter, which 

 by long confinement will abate its savage na- 

 ture, and become less eager after rabbets, and 

 consequently less useful. M. de Buffon denies 

 that it will admit the fitchet, yet gives the figure 

 of a variety under the name of the Ferret Pole- 

 cat* which has much the appearance of being 

 a spurious offspring. But to put the matter 

 out of dispute, the following fact need only be 

 related : the B/ev. Mr. Lewis, Vicar of Llan- 

 sowel in Caermarthenshire, had a tame female 

 ferret, which was permitted to go about the 

 house ; at length it absented itself for several 

 days, and on its return proved with young ; it 

 produced nine, of a deep brown color, more 

 resembling the fitchet than the ferret. What 

 makes the matter more certain is, that Mr. 

 Lewis had no males of this species for it to 

 couple with, neither were there any within three 

 miles, and those were closely confined. 



The ferret agrees with the fitchet in many 

 respects, particularly in its thirst after the blood 

 of rabbets. It may be aded, that the ferret 



* La Furet Putois, Tom, vii. Tal. >&5. 



