Of all intentional introductions to this country that of the animals of this family is the most unfortunate and undesirable. The history of the business is, to my mind, a depressing one, for it shows what people are prepared to do to save their own pockets, whatever the effect may be upon others. These animals have not done what was expected of them—namely, suppressed the rabbits, or even kept them in check, but they have exercised a most baneful influence on the bird-life of the country. The characteristics of the three species are somewhat similar. They have been called vermiform animals, for they have a singularly worm-like appearance. The body is long, narrow, and cylindrical in shape, while the legs are relatively extremely short. The neck is also very long, and bears a small, flattened head; the eyes are small, savage-looking, and glittering.
The ferret is closely allied to the polecat, but is a domesticated variety, and is zoologically interesting, because it is a true-breeding albino, having white fur and pink eyes. It originated in Africa, and retains this characteristic of its warm origin: that it is unable to endure great cold; hence if it goes wild in New Zealand it usually survives only in warm and sheltered localities. It is from 12 in. to 15 in. long, and is a stouter animal than either of the others. Though a semi-domesticated animal, it never shows the slightest affection for its master, and has usually to be kept in confinement. My son, Dr. Allan Thomson, tells me that about Kekerangu, in Marlborough, wild ferrets are at present very numerous.
I have no record of the introduction of the true polecat (Putorius foetidus) into these Islands; but some five or six years ago Mr. Anderton, curator of the Portobello Marine Fish-hatchery, shot two animals which were too large for stoats, being about 18 in. long. They were not ferrets, in that they were brown-coloured. Unfortunately he did not keep the bodies, their smell, for one thing, being so offensive; so their specific character was not determined.
[J. Macdonald, photo.
Fig. 9.—The Ferret.
The stoat is about 1 ft. long and is somewhat distinctively coloured. “In summer the upper parts vary from yellowish-brown to mahogany-brown, while the underside is white tinged with sulphur-yellow, except on the throat, which is pure white. The tail is tipped with black. The brown upper and white under surfaces are separated by a perfectly distinct line of demarcation, which extends from the snout to the root of the tail, dipping down at the limbs, so as to include the outer surfaces of the latter in the dark area. In winter, on the other hand, the skin is—with the exception of the tip of the tail, which always remains black—pure white, tinged here and there with sulphur-yellow. Intermediate states between full winter dress and full summer dress are often found.” In winter, when the fur is white, the animal is known as the ermine, and white stoats are well known in winter in the South Island. The favourite food of the stoat consists of rats and mice, but it is fond of birds, and thus is a danger in a poultry-yard. It occasionally attacks lambs. These creatures seem often to kill for the mere sake of killing. In my boyhood days I at one time kept a large number of rabbits in an enclosure. One night a stoat got in and killed the whole lot—over a dozen—and left each with a hole in the back of its head. These animals are fairly abundant over New Zealand at the present time.
[J. Macdonald, photo.
Fig. 10.—The Stoat.