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JfOTES OlS- THE MUSTELID^ OF ISTOETHUMBEELAND. 



No. IV. —The Pole Cat, 

 By T. H. Gibb. 



In years not far remote tlie pole cat was numerously and very generally 

 dispersed throughout Northumberland; now however, its habitat has become 

 more local, if not circumscribed to a few particular and favoured situations. 

 The chief of these are those wild and thickly wooded districts, lying conti- 

 guous to the higher branches of the Tyne, and their tributaries, and to those 

 regions bordering on our great hill ranges where they still abound to some 

 extent. In the autumn of 1862, I saw as many as six individuals in the 

 flesh offered for sale in Newcastle-on-Tyne, all of which had been captured 

 on a tract of land bounding the North Tyne, and not exceeding a mile in 

 extent. In 1863, a few specimens were taken near to the Cheviots, and in 

 the succeeding year, a very magnificent old male of unusual size and strength 

 was captured near to Harbottle by Mr. Clennel's gamekeeper, who was 

 induced from its surpassing beauty to preserve its life, at least for a season ; 

 and for this purpose it was placed in an empty ferret house, built of stone, 

 and otherwise strongly and compactly put together, and deemed sufficiently 

 impregnable against any attack which the animal might make upon it, to 

 effect its escape ; but the next morning the captive was noii est, having 

 broken open its prison, under difiiculties so great, and with a skill ap- 

 parently so consummate, that the keeper was not less struck with astonishment 

 than admiration at the animal's adroitness and sagacity, forgetting for a time 

 the havoc and destruction it had previously committed amongst his young 

 pheasants and poultry. After its escape it was never again seen in the neigh- 

 bourhood,although for many months previous to its capture,it had been a con- 

 stant resident in the locality. Smarting under its recent chastisement it had 

 undoubtedly abandoned its adopted home to seek a more congenial and less 

 dangerous rendezvous. 



Although bold and fearless to a degree, the instincts of the pole-cat for 

 self-preservation are so acute that were its character not so well known it 

 might be considered a timid and fearful animal. Wary and keen of per- 

 ception, it soon finds out the trapper's skill and deception, and fiees from 

 localities where they are plied as if from a pestilence, and hastens from, and 

 in some instances, utterly deserts a covert, that has been drawn with dogs, 

 though it may not have been personally molested or disturbed by their 

 presence. Upon this hypothesis may be attributed the sudden appearance 



