Some authors have doubted whether the Ferret (_fig. 67._) and polecat
did not belong to the same species. Perhaps the resemblance there
sometimes is in their colour first gave rise to this doubt. The
polecat, however, is a wild animal and a native of temperate climates,
whereas the ferret is a native of warm countries, and cannot exist
even in France, but in a domestic state. The ferret is preferred to
the polecat for driving rabbits from their burrows, because he is more
easily tamed. They both have a strong and disagreeable smell, yet as
they never intermix, and differ in a number of essential characters,
they may with safety be pronounced two distinct species. The ferret has
a longer and thinner body, a narrower head, and a sharper snout than
the polecat. It has not the same sagacity in providing its subsistence,
and unless taken care of and nourished in the house, it cannot even
exist, at least in our climates, for those which have been lost in the
burrows of rabbits have never multiplied, but most probably perished
by the severity of the winter. The ferret also, like other domestic
animals, varies in colour, and is as common in hot countries as the
polecat is scarce. The female is conspicuously smaller than the male;
and when in season, Gesner says, she has even been known to die if
her desires were not gratified. They are reared in casks or chests,
where it is usual to furnish them with beds of flax. They sleep almost
perpetually, but no sooner are they awake than they eagerly seek for
food, which consists of bran, bread, milk, &c. The females bring forth
twice a year, and go six weeks with their young. Some of them eat their
young almost as soon as they are brought forth, are immediately in
season again, and then have three litters in the year, each of which
consists of from five to nine.
This animal is by nature a mortal enemy to the rabbit. If even a dead
one is presented to a young ferret, although he have never seen a
rabbit before, he flies at and tears it with fury; but if it be alive,
he seizes it by the nose or throat, and sucks its blood. When let into
the burrows of rabbits, it is necessary to muzzle him, that he may
not kill them in their holes, but only oblige them to run out that
they may be entrapped in the nets; besides, if he is suffered to go in
unmuzzled, there is great danger of his being lost; for having sucked
the blood of the rabbit, he will fall asleep; and smoking the hole is
not always a successful expedient to bring him back, because as the
burrows frequently communicate with each other, he is apt to be the
more bewildered the more he is surrounded with smoke. The ferret is
also made use of by boys in searching for bird's nests in the holes of
walls or trees.
Strabo says the ferret was brought from Africa into Spain; which does
not appear void of foundation, as Spain is the native climate of
rabbits, and the country where formerly these animals most abounded.
It is probable, therefore, that the rabbits having increased so much
as to become incommodious, the ferret was introduced to diminish them,
instead of encouraging the race of polecats, from which no advantage
could have accrued but the death of the rabbit, whereas by the ferret
some benefit is also obtained by the hunter. The ferret, though easily
tamed and rendered docile, is exceedingly irascible; he has always an
ill smell, but more so when heated or irritated. He has lively but
inflamed eyes; all his movements are quick, and is besides so strong,
that he will easily master a rabbit three or four times as big as
himself.
Notwithstanding the authority of interpreters and commentators, there
are still doubts whether the ferret be the _ictis_ of the Greeks.
"The ictis (says Aristotle) is a kind of wild weasel, smaller than
the little Maltese dog, but resembling the weasel in its hair, form,
whiteness in the under parts of its body, and also in its cunning.
Though easily tamed, it does mischief among the bee-hives, being
extremely fond of honey. It will also attack birds, and like the cat,
its genital member is bony." It appears first a contradiction, in
saying the ictis is a species of wild weasel, which is easily tamed,
for with us the common weasel is not to be tamed at all; secondly,
the ferret, though larger than the weasel, cannot be compared with
the lap-dog in point of size; thirdly, it is evident that the ferret
does not possess the cunning of the weasel, nor is it even capable of
artifice; and lastly, it does no mischief to bee-hives, nor is it fond
of honey. I enquired of M. de la Roy, intendant of the royal forests,
as to this last fact, and this was his answer: "_M. de Buffon may be
assured that the ferret has no absolute inclination for honey; but if
kept on slender diet, it may be forced to eat it. For four days I fed
some with bread soaked in water mixed with honey; but though they ate
pretty large quantities of it the last two days, the weakest of them
was become sensibly more thin._" This is not the first time M. de la
Roy has furnished me with facts for the advantage of this work. Having
no ferret in my possession, I made the like experiment on the ermine,
by giving him nothing but honey to eat, and milk to drink; but he died
in a few days. It appears, then, that neither the ferret nor ermine
are fond of honey, like the ictis of the ancients, which leads me to
think that the word ictis is nothing more than a generic name; or if
it denotes any particular species, it is rather that of the marten
or polecat; both of which possess the cunning of the weasel, attack
bee-hives and are particularly fond of honey.
_Engraved for Barr's Buffon._
[Illustration: FIG. 68. _Pine Weasel._]
[Illustration: FIG. 69. _Weasel._]
[Illustration: FIG. 71. _Roselet._]
[Illustration: FIG. 70. _Ermine._]