78 
MAMMALS. 
In this county the two species are looked upon as the 
same animal, and both receive the local name of " Whitteret " 
or " Futteret." 
25. Mustela erminea (L). Stoat or Ermine. 
Very plentiful, and has even been seen on the summits of the 
highest mountains.^ 
JTotwithstanding the war of extermination so con- 
stantly carried on, the stoat is steadily on the increase, 
and this is very probably coincident with the increase of 
rabbits. This, at least, was the case in 1880. 'Not 
abundant in the Tongue district. 
In Caithness commoner than the weasel, but both marked 
by Mr. Eeid as " seen and got occasionally." 
26. Mustela putorius, L. Polecat or Foumart. 
The same causes which have lessened the numbers of t^e 
marten in Sutherland have operated in the case of the pole- 
cat. Eabbit-trapping has proved fatal to it ; for whilst the 
increase of rabbits has provided abundance of food, it has 
been the indirect means of causing the decrease of the species 
by the agency of steel traps. Inland localities, formerly 
occupied by polecats, have been deserted by them, for, 
drawing down towards the sandy barrens to prey upon the 
rabbits, they themselves became an easy prey. Careful 
inquiries have elicited the fact that a few polecats still 
remain at certain sea-shore localities, but only where rabbits 
do not abound and are not systematically trapped. An 
occasional one is still obtained in the Tongue district, but 
the species is decidedly rare there. In Glen Cassley one 
was trapped in the spring of 1885, and one at Inchnadamph 
by J. Munro. 
1 Mr. Onaond records the appearance of a stoat in the depth of winter of 
1883-84 on the summit of Ben Nevis. 
