Mustelid/E. MAMMALIA. Mustelid^. 91 
each.” Such is Mr. Ogilby’s account of its depreda- 
tions ; and there are few of us who have resided in the 
countiy that cannot testify to its accuracy. The pole- 
cat is a larger and stouter-built animal than the marten. 
Its body rather exceeds two feet in length, not includ- 
ing the tail, which measures only six inches. The 
head and neck are comparatively stout and thick. 
The fur is of a dark-brown colour, approaching black. 
There is, however, a considerable difference of shade, 
depending upon the greater or less abundance of 
short woolly hairs, having a pale brown colour. The 
lips and cheeks are more or less whitish. The odour 
given out by the polecat has a very disagreeable smell. 
It is produced by a fatty substance secreted by a gland 
situated beneath the tail. The fur, though of com- 
paratively small value, is sold under the name of fitch; 
hence the term fitchet weasel, another name by which 
this animal is known. The female produces towards 
the close of the spring, or in early summer, a litter of 
five or six young. The nest is made either in a rabbit 
burrow or in some similar snug retreat, among stones 
and rocks covered over with long grass, tangled herb- 
age, or low brushwood. 
The common ferret is considered by most naturalists 
to be a mere domesticated variety of the polecat. It 
exhibits every shade of hue from that of a pale 
yellowish-white up to a dark fulvous brown, and it is 
most frequently somewhat variegated. Its habits are 
similar to those of the wild animal, and they will freely 
breed together. The ferret, however, can hardly be 
considered a tame creature, in the strict meaning of 
the term ; for, as most of us have observed, its disposi- 
tion is exceedingly capricious, and in handling ferrets, 
as every rat-catcher knows, a certain degree of bold- 
ness and caution are necessary. The following sad 
story, taken from Mr. Jesse’s “ Gleanings in Natural 
History,” illustrates its truly carnivorous and sangui- 
vorous propensities. “ Some few years ago, a pom- 
woman, holding a mangled infant in her arms, rushed 
screaming with agony and fright into my friend’s 
house, who is a surgeon, imploring him to save the 
child’s life, who, she said, had been almost killed by a 
ferret. The face, neck, and arms were dreadfullj^ 
lacerated, the jugular vein had been opened, as also 
the temporal arter3^ The eyes were greatly injured, 
and indeed the child, who is still living, has lost the 
entire sight of one of them, and has very imperfect 
vision in the other. Having stopped the still bleeding 
vessels, my friend accompanied the mother to her cot- 
tage, on entering which the child, in some degree 
recovering from its state of apparent death, began to 
cry, when the ferret was in an instant seen rushing 
from behind some basins where he had taken shelter, 
and with his head erect, boldly came forward and met 
the infuriated parent in the middle of the room, still 
holding the Infant in her arms. On my friend’s kick- 
ing the ferret, as the first impulse of protection, the 
animal endeavoured to seize his leg, and not until his 
(the ferret’s) back was broken by repeated kicks, did 
he give over his earnest and reiterated attempts to 
renew his sanguinary feast ; and indeed, whilst in the 
agonies of death, the piteous screams of the child 
seemed to rouse him to vain efforts to regain his prey. 
The ferret was of large growth and much distended 
with the infant’s blood ; and though formerly of pecu- 
liar shyness, yet he lost sight of fear and became bold 
in the pursuit of the unfortunate infant. It appears 
the poor woman had left her child (about six months 
old) in a cradle, whilst she went to market, when 
it is supposed the infant’s cry had arrested the 
attention of the ferret, who managed to make his 
escape, and thus effected his purpose. There is good 
reason to believe he must have passed more than half 
an hour in the indulgence of bis appetite, from the 
circumstance of the neighbours having heard the 
piercing shrieks of the child a long time without the 
slightest suspicion of the mother’s absence.” Finally, 
we have only to remark, that the method of employing 
ferrets for the capture of rabbits, rats, and other vermin 
is too well known to require more than a passing 
allusion. In the majority of cases it is advisable to 
use a muzzle ; otherwise the ferret is very apt, after 
having feasted on its prey, to lay up in the burrow, 
and disappoint the sportsman. This remark applies 
more particularly in the case of rabbit hunting. 
THE ERMINE OR STOAT {Mustela erminea) is a 
much smaller species. The body is scarcely ten inches 
long, exclusive of the tail ; this organ is four and a 
half inches in length, slightly bushy towards the tip, 
the hairs of which are invariably black. In the sum- 
mer the fur is rufous-brown on the back, and white 
underneath from the chin to the root of the tail. In 
the winter the entire fur becomes white, with the 
exception of the tail ; and this change is brought about, 
not by an alteration of the colour of the summer hairs, 
as some have supposed, but by the development of 
new and white hairs in the autumn to supply the place 
of the falling coloured ones. It is this metamorphosis 
of the fur which renders the ermine so valuable in 
commerce. From the North of Europe and Siberia 
several hundred thousand skins are exported annually 
to various parts of the world — a large proportion of 
them being transmitted to this country. Everj' one is 
familiar with the pure, white, glossy texture of ermine 
tippets, boas, and other robes, whose pure snow-white 
ground-work is beset and adorned with a regularly- 
disposed series of qnincunxially-arranged tails, forming 
a striking contrast by their rich jet black colour. Such 
are the leading characteristics of the fur. With regard 
to this animal’s habits, Mr. Bell observes that they 
vary “ from those of the weasel, principally with rela- 
tion to the difference of size. Althpugh much more 
destructive than that animal to poultry and to game, 
the favourite object of its pursuit is the common rat 
and the water-vole, as that of the weasel is the different 
species of mice. Prevented from following the latter 
little pests into their runs, which are often not much 
larger than their own bodies, the stoat leaves such 
small game to its little congener, and betakes itself to 
prey more suited to its own bulk. It occasionally 
attacks hares even half or two -thirds grown, pursuing 
them with the utmost pertinacity, and hunting them 
down by dint of its indefatigable perseverance. The 
Rev. F. W. Hope informs me, that on one occasion, 
when shooting in Shropshire, he heard at a short 
distance the shrill loud scream of a hare, which he 
