FERRET. 
419 
almost continually, and when awake, immediately 
begins to search about for food : it is usually fed 
with bread and milk; but its favourite food is 
the blood of the smaller animals. It is by nature 
an enemy to the Rabbet; and it is affirmed by 
Buffon^ that whenever a dead Rabbet is presented 
for the first time to a young Ferret, he flies upon 
it in an instant, and bites it with great fury ; but 
if it be alive, he seizes it by the throat and sucks 
its blood. When let into the burrows of Rab- 
bets, the Ferret is always muzzled, that it may 
not kill the Rabbets in their holes, but only drive 
them out in order to be caught in the nets. If 
the Ferret be put in without a muzzle, or happens 
to disengage himself from it, he is often lost; for 
after sucking the blood of the Rabbet, he falls 
asleep, and cannot be regained, except sometimes 
by smoking the hole, in order to oblige him to 
come out ; but as this is a practice which does 
not always succeed, it continues to lead a rapa- 
cious and solitary life in the warren, as long as 
the summer continues, and perishes by the cold 
of the winter. 
We are told by Strabo that the Ferret was 
brought into Spain from Africa, and it is sup- 
posed that this was done in order to free that 
country from the vast number of Rabbets with 
which it was overrun; and from Spain it was gra- 
dually introduced into other European countries. 
The Ferret is an animal of irascible nature, and, 
when irritated, his odour, which is not at all times 
disagreeable, becomes far more so than usual. The 
