The Polecat is perhaps even more destructive than the other Mustelidæ, and is certainly a far greater plague to the farmer. Its ravage among Rabbits, Hares, and Partridges is immense, and if once it gets unobserved into a poultry-yard, the fate of a very considerable number of the inmates is sealed, as it possesses in a high degree the family love of slaughter for slaughter’s sake. It has been known to kill as many as sixteen Turkeys in a single night; and, indeed, it seems a point of honour with this bloodthirsty little creature to kill everything it can overpower, and to leave no survivors on its battlefields. It has, too, an unfortunate liking for eggs, as well as for game and poultry, and in this way alone does great harm to preserves. There are also many accounts of its fondness of fish; Bell also quotes an instance in which a female Polecat was pursued to her nest, and was found to have laid up, in a side hole, a store of food, consisting of forty Frogs and two Toads, all of which she had skilfully “pithed,” that is, bitten through the brain, so that, although retaining a certain amount of vitality, they were effectually prevented from running away! [Illustration: 1. POLECAT. 2. FERRET.] The Polecat is found throughout Northern Europe, not extending southwards into the warmer parts of the Continent, but being quite at home in snow-covered regions. It is essentially, like the Marten, a sub-arctic and temperate animal. THE FERRET.[173] This is a domesticated variety of the genus _Putorius_, of African origin. It shows its Southern nature by being, unlike the Polecat, unable to endure great cold; even an English winter is enough to kill it if not properly housed. It is an interesting animal, zoologically, from the fact that it is a true-breeding Albino, having the white fur and pink eyes of that peculiar “sport.” It is a little smaller than the Polecat, with which it will breed with perfect readiness, producing hybrids intermediate in character between the two parent species. Ferrets are much used, both in Britain and America, chiefly for killing Rats and for driving Rabbits out of their burrows. For the latter function the Ferret is muzzled, to prevent its killing the Rabbit in the burrow; the latter is either netted or killed immediately, as soon as it is driven out. The Ferret is also frequently employed to kill fowls for the table. Its particularly neat method of slaughtering by one bite in the neck is much admired by Ferret-fanciers, who make quite a pet of the animal. It, however, never shows the slightest affection for its master, and has usually to be confined: the necessity of this is shown in an instance, quoted by Bell, in which a child was attacked in its cradle, and only rescued after the veins of its neck had been severed, its face, neck, and arms lacerated, and its eyes so injured that the sight of one of them was permanently lost. THE MINK.[174]