74 
HABITS OF THE POLECAT. 
him—“ Jemmy” just then coming into the kitchen, seeing the long tail with its 
raw and bloody extremity (for' Coati-mondis have a shocking propensity for 
eating their own tails!), conceived, I suppose, that he might eat a bit of it too, as 
its owner himself had set the example. Accordingly, in his simplicity, he seized 
the tail and prepared for a meal—“ Jacob”, roused I imagine more by feeling his 
body pulled through the medium of his tail, than from any pain he felt (for I am 
of opinion that the extremity of the Coati-mondi’s tail is void, or nearly so, of 
sensation), turned sharply round on “Jemmy,” and rushing suddenly upon him’ 
caught him by the back with his teeth, driving his sharp claws into his side : nor 
was “ Jemmy” idle—had he been so, I should have been too late to have saved 
him; fortunately he contrived to turn his head sufficiently to pin his foe by the 
extremity of his long projecting snout! Coati showed game, and bore his punish¬ 
ment like a hero: so, too, did “ Jemmy,” and had I not been called by some of 
the servants to the scene of action, I have no doubt the latter would have 
furnished me with the opportunity for a dissection, in his own proper person, 
for “ Jacob’’ bit cruelly. He would whip the head off a stray hen or chicken in a 
moment,''and was besides nearly as large as a small cur Fox. After this “ Jacob” 
was kept tied up.*—A small Baboon which I kept tame, took a great fancy to 
my Polecat, and would frequently nurse him in his arms, fondling him in his 
bosom as a woman would a child. “Jemmy” disliked this, and after a few growls 
and ha - ahs ! would bite: still I never knew “Jack” so provoked, even when 
his hands were streaming with blood, as to inflict any injury in retaliation. 
Although said, naturally, to be of a fierce and unsociable temper, the specimen 
in my possession appeared to be fond of company, and to dislike above all things 
solitary confinement. 
For a long time after “ Jemmy” became tame, I used to shut him up in his 
cage (the same, alas! that my poor Squirrel had once occupied!) both at night 
and during the day; if I intended going out myself, I took this precaution lest 
he might wander too far from home, and perhaps meet with some accident, or, as 
might happen, find some companion of his own species, and, probably, never return 
to me. One morning, on going as usual to feed my animals, which were kept 
in cages (most of them, at least), in the area attached to the house, I found 
“Jemmy’s” cage broken open, and himself missing. I searched in every hole and 
corner where he could possibly have secreted himself, but for a long time to no 
purpose: at length it struck me he might have entered the kennel of a large Hog, 
bred between Boar-hound and British blood-hound (the Boar-hound, the sire, 
was the well-known Dog “ Hector,” the property of his Grace the Duke of 
* In another paper I shall give you an account of Coati-mondis in general, and shall also inform 
you how this individual conducted himself in captivity. 
