to be trusted not to attempt to injure him, while the polecat, who knew quite well the dog's amiable disposition, would come flying out of a bush or other cover, springing high and far, making feints at the dog's nose. Some two or three times I had occasion to chastise the dog while the polecat was loose on the lawn. Directly he saw his friend in a scrape, describing a circle as I held on to his collar, the little wretch would fly at the dog's tail or hind quarters, and be whisked round at the outer axis of the circle. I have no idea how many times the keeper who then had charge of my animals came to me and declared that 'Snap' had had the last drop of his blood that he ever should have ; but probably within a week the same declaration would be repeated ; and this, time after time. There was something extremely fascinating about the little varmint ! On one occasion when my old friend, Captain F. H. Salvin, came to pay me a visit, being engrossed I suppose in interesting conversation, I left ' Snap ' tethered on the lawn when we went indoors for dinner. During the meal I recollected him, and as soon as we had finished we went out after him, only to find that ' Snap ' had slipped his collar and vanished. I hunted the Lapland dog round the various shrubberies after him, while Salvin stood more or less still in the open. Presently I heard a loud view hollo from him, and hastening back, he told me that while stand- ing quite still he was startled by ' Snap ' run- ning up his leg. The view hollo had how- ever apparently caused him to relinquish his hold and drop, and scuttle off again into the darkness. The dog however very soon found him and I ' collected ' him. On some two or three occasions when there were rats in the cowhouse or other conveniently enclosed place, I tried him in the capacity of ferret. But directly he smelt rat, long before he saw one, he became so demoniacal from excite- ment that I was glad to catch him up in a wire trap and not attempt to handle him again that day. I never ventured to try him at rabbits, or at rats anywhere in the open, because he was such a galloper. There was no running into him in a fair stern chase so long as he went on, but fortunately he never ran (at any rate if pressed) for more than about a hundred yards (generally less) without taking cover, where one got a chance of pick- ing him up. He greatly appreciated being carried about in one of the ' hare pockets ' of one's jacket, and would often sit in it with his bright little eyes looking out at the top and taking in all there was to be seen. Rabbits, rats and mice form unquestionably the staple articles of polecats' diet ; but no species of bird which roosts on the ground (or is otherwise to be caught there) would come amiss, unless perhaps the great bustard may have been in its day considered too large. It may be doubted also whether swans would be attacked. Hedgehogs when skinned form of course good food for nearly all carni- vorous animals, and the skins with their fleshy panniculus carnosus and the bristles, go to my polecats and hybrid stoat-ferrets, who always eat them bristles and all ! Eels are much appreciated, and frogs also. Polecats (in a wild state) are during the autumn much in- fested with ticks.
16. Common Stoat. Putorius ermineus. Linn.
Bell Mustela erminea.
Still fairly common (and in some places decidedly so) in spite of the unremitting per- secution to which it is subjected in conse- quence of the prevailing system of game preservation, but must inevitably become scarce before many more years are past. It is the most douce and phlegmatic of the British Mustelidæ, rarely showing rage in captivity, the very opposite of its near relation the excitable weasel. A few white examples occur probably every winter, or at least when there is a spell of unusually cold weather before Christmas. In this county, as else- where in the southern part of England, the white coat is rarely perfect, but generally a little colour remains on the back of the head and neck. A white example was caught in a wire trap at Lowgrounds farm, Great Marlow, on 30 December 1877, which had been seen on several previous days. A large white one was shot at Turville Court in December 1901 ; and stuffed white speci- mens are to be seen in probably nearly every parish in the county. I have been told of a buff young one in a litter of ordinary colour; probably this was an albino. A stoat sent me by a friend from Banffshire in October 1901 had, in the following January, a band of white about ¼ inch wide across the upper jaw, just behind the naked nose. About two years later, in January 1903, it again had the same narrow band of white across the nose, the normal white on the lower side then extending considerably more than half way up the flanks, and including the whole of the legs, and the cheeks with the insides of the ears ; and in addition the rump and tail, with the exception of course of the black tip of the latter, are white. It seems probable, though I write under reserve, as I have only recently formed the opinion, and regret not having utilized all opportunities
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