This is a very curious and beautiful animal not commonly known, even by many connoisseurs in natural history, and is the largest of the ferret kind; he seldom or never comes near any dwelling-houses or farm yards, but delights in solitariness, frequenting lone forests, chaces, woods, and other desart places: however I knew one that used to run tame about the kitchen of the Bald-Face-Stag, on Epping-Forest; they have no strong disagreeable scent, like the polecat, weasel, and other stinking animals of a similar nature, but are reckoned the sweetest of the vermin kind; I caught several one winter, on the aforesaid forest, and sold their skins for four shillings and sixpence each, for the sake of the fur, which is exceedingly good.
Their lodging places are in old crows or magpies nests, and sometimes in a woodpecker’s hole, and in hollow trees: I have traced them in the snow, and when they take to a tree they will go from one to another with incredible swiftness like a squirrel, till they settle themselves in some or other of the places before mentioned, where you are likely to find them. They are very fond of birds of all kind, particularly the wood-pigeon, or ring-dove, and turtle-dove, which in the night-time they take from their roosting places. Now when you have discovered by their tracks, either in the earth or snow, where they go, place a common box or hutch trap, such as they use in warrens, [pl. II. fig. 1.] bait it with a bird, in the same manner as I before described for the wild cat, pick off some of the bird’s feathers, and strew them through the inside of the trap, from one end to the other, and hang the bird on a nail; this is the way I have caught several of them; but in some places I have known them hunted with hounds, when they are sure to lead the dogs through the thickest covers they can find. They are not an animal that abounds in great numbers, but rather scarce to be found; I make this observation, because many persons are entirely ignorant of its existence, for which reason I have been more particular and exact in my account of this uncommon creature.
THE
POLECAT.
This animal is distinguished by various appellations in different parts of the kingdom, being in most places called a Polecat, in some a Formet, and in others a Fitchet, and by one or other of the above three names he is known all over England.
He is a very subtle and pernicious creature, being a mortal enemy to fowls of all kinds, and doing prodigious mischief in warrens, by destroying the young rabbits, for when once they take to a borough, consisting of a large number of holes or angles, they either kill or drive the rabbits away, who, by instinct, shun so dangerous a foe; in the hen-houses they are equally destructive, and when they have killed a fowl, they drag it away, if they can get it through the hole they enter in at, but they have one good property, that is, that if they can get what they have killed away, whether fowl or rabbit, they will eat of it as long as it remains sweet, before they return back to kill any more; in this circumstance differing from the weasel and stoat, who, after they have destroyed their prey, only suck the blood out, and very seldom take it away, but leave the flesh behind untouched; if therefore you miss any of your fowls, or find any of them in part devoured, it will be an almost infallible criterion for you to distinguish that the mischief has been done by these vermin.
In order the better to destroy them, I would recommend this method; at night, after your fowls are gone to roost, mind to sift some sand before every little hole you suspect he may come in at, and look at them again in the morning early, before the fowls are moving, and you will soon discern the prints of their feet by their trampling about, then set a common hutch trap, such as are used in warrens, [pl. II. fig. 1.] and bait it with a piece of fowl or small bird of any kind; hang the bait on the nail, over the bridge, as has been observed before, and if you should catch one of them, remember to make the print of his feet in the sand, which will enable you the better to know it another time, which has been my own constant practice, to discover what kind of vermin have been there in any shrape, whether made by sprinkling mould or sand; and if you should not have a hutch trap in your possession, then put at the place where you have tracked him, a small steel trap, and place a brick on each side, so that he cannot avoid coming over the trap, which must be covered nicely with fine mould; do this in the afternoon, then cover it with a thin board, that the fowls may not spring it in going to roost, then take the board or shelter away, and go in the morning before the fowls move, and if you should not catch him the first night, observe the same methods for a few nights more, and you will be sure of him.
THE
STOAT.
This animal in some places is called a Cain, and is the worst small vermin that exists, for if they approach to any warren, pheasantry or chicken-garden, they do incredible mischief, for whatever they kill they seldom eat, but only suck their blood, on which account they are more destructive and pernicious by far, than all the vermin of the ferret kind put together, as I have known one to kill a dozen fowls in a chicken-garden in the space of one night, and then let them remain behind, after having sucked out the blood at the side of the neck; but I cannot help here taking notice of a remarkable circumstance, that is almost peculiar to this subtle animal, which is, that they will start a hare from his form, and follow it by the scent, as true as the hound, till he comes up to it again; when they will slyly fasten on the side of the neck, and there hang till the hare sinks down with loss of blood, and then is left untouched by the Stoat, in regard to the flesh, and in this manner I have shot many Stoats hanging on a hare’s back, for if you should chance to be near where this happens, you will hear the hare cry, which will direct you which way the affrighted animal is coming, be then ready with your gun, and it will be next to a miracle if you miss shooting him.
In the same manner I have shot these vermin in warrens, for in going by some of the burrows, I have heard a rabbit cry under ground, which occasioned me to remain a short time by the side of the burrow, when of a sudden the rabbit has bolted out with the Stoat on its back, which I have then immediately shot dead, and by this method have killed great numbers of them.
Now in all chicken-gardens and pheasantries, two or more hutch or box traps, should always remain set under the walls or pales, baited with any small bird, rabbits or fowls guts, when the person who looks after the fowls may likewise take a proper survey of the traps, by which means they might be caught before they entered within side and did the mischief, which otherwise must necessarily ensue. Let the traps be placed on the outside, close under the walls or pales, with the back part against the same, make a wing or low paling, about eighteen inches high, with old pales, or form a small hedge, about the same height, from each end of the trap, extending four or five yards aslant, and about two or three yards open at the end from the wall, which will be a guide for them to enter into the trap, for they love to run under such places, and unless prevented in proper time, by the method here laid down, they will enter and destroy great numbers of rabbits, pheasants, and poultry, in a single night’s time; in most warrens, therefore, it is generally customary, to have traps constantly set and baited, otherwise you would soon not have any rabbits left therein. In hare-warrens, likewise, hutch or box traps should be placed in divers parts of the warren, with the two ends painted white, and rubbed over with the guts of any animal, which will prevent the hares from entering in, but allure the vermin; let them be always baited in the same manner as before observed; and if you find they likewise come to your hen-houses, use the same method, and they will naturally come into the trap and be catched, and in case you should not have a hutch trap, set a small steel trap, as before directed for the polecat, and you will be certain of securing him.