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Weasels, Ferrets, Stoat, Polecat and Marten Cat
CHAPTER XIII.
Weasels-Ferrets: Fierceness of-Anecdotes-Food of Weasels-Manner of
Hunting for Prey: - The Stoat-Change of Colour-Odour of-Food
of-Their catching Fish:-Polecat-The Marten Cat-Habits-Trapping
-Eating Fruit-Activity of:-Different Species.
The bloodthirstiness and ferocity of all the weasel tribe is perfectly wonderful. The proverb " L'appetit vient en mangeant "
is well applied to these little animals. The more blood they
spill, the more they long for, and are not content till every
animal that they can get at is slain. A she ferret, with a litter
of young ones, contrived to get loose a few nights back, and
instinctively made her way to the henhouse, accompanied by
her six kittens, who were not nearly half-grown, indeed their
eyes were not quite open. Seven hens and a number of tame
rabbits were killed before they were discovered ; and every
animal that they killed, notwithstanding its weight and size, was
dragged to the hutch in which the ferrets were kept, and as they
could not get their victims through the hole by which they had
escaped themselves, a perfect heap of dead bodies was collected
round their hutch. When I looked out of my window in the
morning, I had the satisfaction of seeing four of the young
ferrets, covered with blood, dragging a hen (who I had flattered
myself was about to hatch a brood of young pheasants) across
the yard which was between the henhouse and where these ferrets
were kept; the remainder of them were assisting the old one in
slaughtering some white rabbits. Their eagerness to escape
again, and renew their bloody attacks, showed the excited state
the little wretches were in, from this their first essay in killing.
In the same way the wild animals of the tribe must be wofully
destructive when opportunity is afforded them. Sitting opposite
a rabbit-hole, I one day saw a tiny weasel bring out four young
rabbits one after the other, and carry, or rather drag them away
one by one towards her own abode in a cairn of loose stones;
and, a few days ago, I saw one bring three young landrails in as
many minutes out of a field of high wheat. In fact, as long as
she can find an animal to kill, so long will a weasel hunt, whether
in want of food or not. I have frequently seen a weasel, small
as he is, kill a full-grown rabbit. The latter is sometimes so
frightened at the persevering ferocity of his little enemy, that it
lies down and cries out before the weasel has come up. Occasionally these animals join in a company of six or eight, and
hunt down rabbit or hare, giving tongue and tracking their unfortunate victim like a pack of beagles.
There is no doubt that in some degree they repay the damage
done to game, by the number of rats and mice which they destroy
(the latter being their favourite food). The weasel will take up
its abode in a stack-yard, living on the mice and small birds that
it catches for some time, and the farmer looks on it as a useful
ally ; till, some night, the mice begin to grow scarce, and then
the chickens suffer. Eggs, fresh and rotten, are favourite dainties with the weasel.
I once witnessed a very curious feat of this active little animal.
I saw a weasel hunting and prying about a stubble field in which
were several corn-buntings flying about, and every now and then
alighting to sing on the straggling thistle that rose above the
stubble. Presently the little fellow disappeared at the foot of a
thistle, and I imagined he had gone into a hole. I waited, however, to see what would happen, as, from the way he had been
hunting about, he evidently had some mischief in his head. Soon
a corn-bunting alighted on the very thistle near which the weasel
had disappeared, and which was the highest in the field. The
next moment I saw something spring up as quick as lightning,
and disappear again along with the bird. I then thought it time
to interfere, and found that the weasel had caught and killed the
bunting, having, evidently guided by his instinct or observation,
waited concealed at the foot of the plant where he had expected
the bird to alight. A friend of mine who was a great naturalist,
assured me, that, tracking a weasel in snow on the hillside, he
found where the animal had evidently sprung upon a grouse;
and, on carrying on his observation, he had convinced himself
that the bird had flown away with the quadruped, and had fallen
to the ground about thirty yards off, where he found it with its
throat cut; and the tracks of the weasel again appeared, as if he
had come down with the bird, and having sucked its blood, had
gone on its way, looking for a new victim.
The stoat is also very common here, and equally destructive
and sanguinivorous-if I may use such a word. Being larger,
too, he is more mischievous to game and poultry, and not so
useful in killing mice. I often see the stoat hunting in the
middle of an open field : its activity is so great that few dogs can
catch it. When pursued, it dives into any rat's or mole's hole that
lies in its way. I find that a sure mode of driving all animals of
this kind out of a hole, is to smoke tobacco into it. They appear
quite unable to stand the smell, and bolt out immediately in the
face of dog or man, rather than put up with it. Tobacco-smoke
will also bring a ferret out of a rabbit-hole, when everything
else fails to do so. In winter the stoat changes its colour to the
purest white, with the exception of the tip of the tail, which
always remains black. The animal is then very beautiful, with
its shining black eyes and white body. The fur is very like that
of the ermine, but is quite useless, owing to the peculiar odour
of the animal, which can never be got rid of. It is worthy of
note that the stoat does not emit this odour excepting wfyen
hunted or wounded. When I have shot one, killing it on the
spot, before he has seen me, no smell is to be perceived. The
same thing I have also observed when it has been caught in a
large iron trap, which has killed it instantaneously, before there
has been time for fear or struggling. When, however, I have had
some chace after a stoat before shooting it, or have caught one
alive in a trap, the stench of the little animal is insupportable,--
and sticks to the skin, in spite of every attempt to get rid of it.
The attachment of the stoat and weasel to their young is very
great. I chased a weasel into a hollow tree : she was carrying
some animal in her mouth, and though I was on the very point
of catching her before she got to her refuge, she would not drop
it. I fancied that it was a newly-born rabbit that she was
carrying off. I applied smoke to the hole, and out came the
weasel again, still carrying the same burden. She ran towards
a stone wall, but was met by a terrier halfway, who killed her,
catching her with the greater facility in consequence of her ob
stinacy in carrying away what I still thought was some prey.
On picking it up, however, I found that it was a young weasel,
unable to run, which its mother was endeavouring to carry to a
place of safety, her former hole in an adjoining field having been
ploughed over. I cannot express my regret at the fate of this
poor creature, when I saw that her death was caused wholly by
her maternal affection. Notwithstanding the havoc which these
animals make among my rabbits, nothing would have induced
me to molest her, had I known what she was carrying.
The track of the stoat is very like that of a young rabbit, and
may be easily mistaken for it. They travel over an amazing
extent of ground in their nocturnal rambles, as their marks in
the snow can testify. The edges of rivers and brooks seem their
favourite hunting-places. By some means or other they manage
to catch eels. I tracked a stoat from the edge of a ditch to its
own hole, at the distance of several hundred yards. He had
been carrying some heavy body, as I could plainly see by the
marks in the snow ; and this, on digging out the hole, I found
to be an eel about nine inches long. No bait is better for all
kinds of the weasel tribe than fish, which they seem to have a
great liking for, and evidently feed upon whenever they inhabit
a neighbourhood where they can procure them.
The polecat is now comparatively rare in this country, in consequence of the number of gamekeepers and vermin-trappers :
they still, however, frequent the banks of the river, where they
take shelter among the loose stones and rocks. There is no difference in appearance between the polecat and the brown ferret,
who also partakes very frequently of the shyness of his wild
relative, being much more apt to become cross-tempered and
ready to return to a state of nature than the tamer white ferret.
The polecat is extremely destructive-nothing comes amiss to it.
I found in the hole of a she polecat, besides her young ones,
three kittens that had been drowned at the distance of at least
a quarter of a mile. Besides these, her larder contained the remains of hares, rabbits, and of an infinity of birds and several eels.
There was a wood-pigeon that had young ones nearly fullgrown in an ivy-covered tree close to the window' of my dressingroom. One morning I saw the old birds flying about in distress,
but I could see no hawk or bird of prey about. Presently down
fell one of the young birds and in a moment afterwards the
other young one also fell to the ground, both bleeding at the
throat. I immediately loaded my gun, and had the satisfaction
of shooting a large polecat, who came climbing down the tree
and was just preparing to carry away one of the young pigeons.
Like the stoat, the polecat has a beautiful fur, rendered useless by the strong odour of the animal. Notwithstanding the
quantity of game and other creatures killed by the polecat, he
does not appear to be very quick on the ground, and must owe
his success in hunting more to perseverance and cunning than
to activity. Like the stoat and weasel, this animal is easily
caught in box-traps, and is attracted in an extraordinary manner
by the smell of musk, which they appear quite unable to resist.
In trapping all these small beasts with iron traps the bait
should be suspended at some little height above the trap, to
oblige them to jump up, and by so doing there is a better chance
that, notwithstanding their light weight, the trap will be sprung.
Formerly I frequently mistook the track of the marten-cat for
that of a hare, when seen in the snow. Its way of placing its
feet, and of moving by a succession of leaps, is quite similar to
that of the more harmless animal, which so often serves it for
food. The general abode of the marten is in woods and rocky
cairns. Pie is a very beautiful and graceful animal, with a fine
fur, quite devoid of all smell, but owing to its great agility it
must be one of the most destructive of the tribe. When hunting, their movements are quick and full of elegance, the effect of
which is much heightened by their brilliant black eyes and rich
brown fur, contrasted with the orange-coloured mark on their
throat and breast. The marten, when disturbed by dogs, climbs
a tree with the agility of a squirrel, and leaps from branch to
branch, and from tree to tree. I used frequently to shoot them
with my rifle on the tall pine-trees in Sutherlandshire. In this
part of the country they are now seldom seen. This animal is
not wholly carnivorous, being very fond of some fruits-the
strawberry and raspberry, for instance. I found in my garden in
Inverness-shire that some animal came nightly to the raspberry-bushes ; the track appeared like that of a rabbit or hare, but as I
also saw that the animal climbed the bushes, I knew it could be
neither of these. Out of curiosity, I set a trap for the marauder;
the next morning, on going to look at it very early, I could see
nothing on the spot where I had put my trap but a heap of
leaves, some dry and some green ; I was just going to move them
with my hand, when I luckily discerned a pair of bright eyes
peering sharply out of the leaves, and discovered that I had
caught a large marten, who, finding that he could not escape,
had collected all the leaves within his reach, and had quite concealed himself under them. The moment he found that he was
discovered, he attacked me most courageously, as the marten
always does, fighting to the last. I had other opportunities of
satisfying myself that this animal is a great fruit-eater, feeding
much on the wild raspberries, and even blackberries that grow
in the woods. Though generally inhabiting cairns of stones, the
marten sometimes takes possession of some large bird's nest, and
relining it, there brings up her young, who are remarkably
pretty little creatures. I endeavoured once to rear and tame a
litter of young martens which I found in an old crow''s nest,
and I believe I should have succeeded had not a terrier got at
them in my absence, and revenged himself on them for the
numerous bites he had felt from martens and polecats in his
different encounters with them. I have more frequently seen
this animal abroad during the day time than any of the other
weasels.
I remember starting one amongst the long heather in the very
midst of a pack of dogs of a Highland fox-hunter : though all
the dogs, greyhounds, foxhounds, and terriers, were immediately
in full pursuit, the nimble little fellow escaped them all, jumping over one dog, under another, through the legs of a third,
and finally getting off into a rocky cairn, whence he could not be
ejected. " It's the evil speerit hersell,,, said the old man, as,
aiming a blow at the marten, he nearly broke the back of one
of his best lurchers. Nor did he get over his annoyance at
seeing his dogs so completely baffled, till after many a Gaelic
curse at the beast and many a pinch of snuff. The marten-cat
is accused by the shepherds of destroying a great many sheep.
His manner of attack is said to be by seizing the unfortunate
sheep by the nose, which he eats away, till the animal is either
destroyed on the spot or dies a lingering death. I have been
repeatedly told this by different Highland shepherds and others,
and believe it to be a true accusation. They kill numbers of
lambs, and when they take to poultry-killing, enter the henhouse
fearlessly, committing immense havoc ; in fact seldom leaving a
single fowl alive-having the same propensity as the ferret for
killing many more victims than he can consume.
The eagle is said to prey frequently on the marten-cat, but I
never happened to witness an encounter between them; my tame
eagle, however, always seemed to prefer them to any other food.
I have no doubt that the eagle on its native mountain pounces on
any living creature that it can conquer, and therefore must frequently kill both marten and wild cat, both which animals frequent the rocks and high ground where this bird hunts.
From the strength and suppleness of the marten, he cannot
fall a very easy prey to any eagle of this country, and probably
when pounced upon he does not die without a severe battle.
There are said to be two kinds of martens here, the pinemarten and the beech-marten ; the former having a yellow mark
on the breast, and the latter a white one. I do not, however,
believe that they are of a distinct species, but consider the variety
of shade in the colour of the breast to be occasioned by difference
of age, or to be merely accidental-having frequently killed
them in the same woods with every intermediate shade, from
yellow to white on their breasts; the animals being perfectly
alike in every other particular. The oldest looking martens had
generally a whiter mark than the others, but this rule did not
apply to all.
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