294 
THE WEASEL. 
Although this odour from individuals of the 
iveasel tribe is very distressing to our own nasal 
sensibilities, it by no means follows that the scent 
should have a similar effect upon those of all other 
animals. For example, the smell from purulent car- 
rion is certainly very disagreeable to us bipeds ; — 
still it cannot prove so to the dog — for, in lieu of 
avoiding it, this quadruped never loses an oppor- 
tunity of rolling in it. I, myself, have often seen 
fowls run to an old sow, and pick up voraciously 
what was still smoking on the ground behind her, 
although their crops were distended with corn at 
the time. This act of the fowls appeared a very 
nasty deed to me ; but they, of course, could not 
have seen it in the same point of view. 
If the polecat has had the fetid gland " given 
him by Nature as a defence," then must Nature have 
given a sweet one to the civet for its destruction ; 
seeing that, whilst we shun the first on account of 
its insupportable stench, we pursue and kill the last 
in order to obtain its perfume. Now, as both these 
animals are of the same family, I cannot help 
remarking, with Sterne, in the case of " the poor 
negro girl/' that Nature has put one of this tribe 
sadly over the head of the other, if the North 
American theory be sound. 
Again, if Nature has given this abominable! 
stench to many of the polecat tribe, " as a defence,"' 
she has cruelly neglected our former invader, theri 
Hanoverian rat. The polecat is not much exposed^ 
to destruction, as its movements are chiefly noctur- 
n^lj and, in general, it is apt to shun the haunts ofl 
