415 
POLECAT. 
Viverra Putorlus. 
Mustela Putorius M. corpore flavo nigricantej ore anriculisque 
albis. Lin. Syst. Nat. GmeLp. 
Blackish-tawny W. with whitish muzzle and ears. 
Putorius. Gesn. Quadr. 767. Aldr. dig. 329. Jonsf. Quadr, 154. 
Putois. Buff. p. i^g. pi. IS' 
Fitchet. Pennant Quadr. 1. p. 2"]. 
The Polecat or Fitchet. 
The Polecat is one of the most remarkable Eu- 
ropean species of the Weesel tribe. Its colour is 
an extremely deep blackish-brown, with a tawny 
cast slightly intermixed : the ears are edged with 
white, and the space round the muzzle is also 
whitish. The o^eneral lenoth of this animal is 
seventeen inches^ exclusive of the tail, which 
measures about six inches. The Polecat is found 
in most parts of Europe, as well as in some of the 
Asiatic regions, as in Siberia, where it is said to 
be generally found with the rump of a whitish or 
yellowish tinge, surrounded with black. 
The Polecat commonly forms itself a subter- 
raneous retreat, sometimes beneath the roots of 
large trees, and sometimes under hay-ricks, and 
in barns. It preys indiscriminately on the smaller 
animals, and is very destructive to poultry: it is 
also, like the Ferret, a cruel enemy to rabbets, 
which it destroys by sucking their blood, instead 
of tearing them immediately in pieces. It steals 
into barns, pigeon-houses, &c. where it occasion- 
ally makes great havock; biting off the heads of 
fowls and pigeons, and then carrying them away 
