Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon Part 31

NO. 183. MUSTELA ERMINEA.

_The Ermine or Stoat_.

HABITAT.--Europe, America and Asia (the Himalayas, Nepal, Thibet, Afghanistan).

DESCRIPTION.--Brown above; upper lip, chin, and lower surface of body, inside of limbs and feet yellowish-white; tail brown, with a black tip. In winter the whole body changes to a yellowish-white, with the exception of the black tip of the tail.

SIZE.--Head and body, about 10 inches; tail, 4-1/2 inches.

This is about the best known in a general way from its fur being used as part of the insignia of royalty. The fur however only becomes valuable after it has completed its winter change. How this is done was for a long time a subject of speculation and inquiry. It is, however, now proved that it is according to season that the mode of alteration is effected. In spring the new hairs are brown, replacing the white ones of winter; in autumn the existing brown hairs turn white. Mr. Bell, who gave the subject his careful consideration, says that in Ross's first Polar expedition, a Hudson's Bay lemming (_Myodes_) was exposed in its summer coat to a temperature of 30 degrees below zero. Next morning the fur on the cheeks and a patch on each shoulder had become perfectly white; at the end of the week the winter change was complete, with the exception of a dark band across the shoulder and a dorsal stripe.

Hodgson remarks that the Ermine is common in Thibet, where the skins enter largely into the peltry trade with China.

In one year 187,000 skins were imported into England.

NO. 184. MUSTELA (VISON: _Gray_) CANIGULA.

_The h.o.a.ry Red-necked Weasel_.

HABITAT.--Nepal hills, Thibet.

DESCRIPTION.--Pale reddish-brown, scarcely paler beneath; face, chin, throat, sides of neck and chest white; tail half as long as body and head, concolorous with the back; feet whitish. Sometimes chest brown and white mottled, according to Gray. Hodgson, who discovered the animal, writes: "Colour throughout cinnamon red without black tip to the tail, but the chaffron and entire head and neck below h.o.a.ry."

SIZE.--15-1/2 inches; tail without hair 7-1/2 inches, with hair 9-1/2 inches.

NO. 185. MUSTELA STOLICZKANA.

HABITAT.--Yarkand.

DESCRIPTION.--Colour pale sandy brown above; hairs light at base, white below; tail concolorous with back; small white spot close to anterior angle of each eye; a sandy spot behind the gape; feet whitish.

SIZE.--Head and body, 12.2; tail, 3 inches, including hair.

NO. 186. MUSTELA (VISON) SIBIRICA.

HABITAT.--Himalayas (Thibet?); Afghanistan (Candahar).

DESCRIPTION.--Pale brown; head blackish, varied; spot on each side of nose, on upper and lower lips and front of chin, white; tail end pale brown like back, varies; throat more or less white.

This Weasel, described first by Pallas ('Specil Zool.' xiv. t. 4, f. 1.) was obtained in Candahar by Captain T. Hutton, who describes it in the 'Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal,' vol. xiv. pp. 346 to 352.

NO. 187. MUSTELA ALPINA.

_The Alpine Weasel_.

HABITAT.--Said to be found in Thibet, otherwise an inhabitant of the Altai mountains.

DESCRIPTION.--Pale yellow brown; upper lip, chin, and underneath yellowish-white; head varied with black-tipped hairs; tail cylindrical, unicolour, not so long as head and body.--_Gray_.

NO. 188. MUSTELA HODGSONI.

HABITAT.--Himalaya, Afghanistan.

DESCRIPTION.--Fur yellowish-brown, paler beneath; upper part and side of head much darker; face, chin, and throat varied with white; tail long, and bushy towards the end.

NO. 189. MUSTELA (VISON) HORSFIELDI.

HABITAT.--Bhotan.

DESCRIPTION.--Uniform dark blackish-brown, very little paler beneath; middle of front of chin and lower lip white; whiskers black; tail slender, blackish at tip, half the length of head and body.

NO. 190. MUSTELA (GYMNOPUS) NUDIPES.

_Gymnopus leucocephalus_ of Gray.

HABITAT.--Borneo, Sumatra, Java, but possibly Tena.s.serim.

DESCRIPTION.--Golden fulvous with white head.

As so many Malayan animals are found on the confines of Burmah, and even extending into a.s.sam, it is probable that this species may be discovered in Tena.s.serim.

_GENUS PUTORIUS--THE POLE-CAT_.

This is a larger animal than the weasel, and in form more resembles the marten, except in the shortness of its tail; the body is stouter and the neck shorter than in _Mustela_; the head is short and ovate; the feet generally hairy, and the s.p.a.ce between the pads very much so; the under side of the body is blackish; the fur is made up of two kinds, the shorter is woolly and lighter coloured than the longer, which is dark and s.h.i.+ning.

The disgusting smell of the common Pole-cat (_Putorius foetidus_) is well known, and has become proverbial. In my county, as well as in many parts of England, the popular name is "foumart," which is said to be derived from "foul marten." The foumart is the special abhorrence of the game-keeper; it does more damage amongst game and poultry than any of the other _Mustelidae_, and consequently greater pains are taken to trap and shoot it, in fact, so much so that I wonder that the animal is not now extinct in the British Isles. Professor Parker writes: "It has been known to kill as many as sixteen turkeys in a single night; and indeed it seems to be a point of honour with this bloodthirsty little creature to kill everything it can overpower, and to leave no survivors on its battle-fields."

According to Bell, a female Pole-cat, which was tracked to her nest, was found to have laid up in a side hole a store of food consisting of forty frogs and two toads, all bitten through the brain, so that, though capable of living for some time, they were deprived of the power of escape. Now, this is a most wonderful instance of instinct bordering upon reason. Only the Reptilia can exist for any length of time after injury to the brain; to any of the smaller mammalia such a process as that adopted by the Pole-cat, would have resulted in instant death and speedy decomposition.

The Ferret (_Putorius furo_) is a domesticated variety of the Pole-cat, reputed to be of African origin. Certain it is that it cannot stand extreme cold like its wild cousin, and an English winter is fatal to it if not properly looked after. It inter-breeds with the Pole-cat.

Ferrets are not safe pets in houses where there are young children.

Cases have been known of their attacking infants in the cradle, and severely lacerating them.

They are chiefly used for killing rats and driving rabbits out of burrows; in the latter case they are muzzled. As pets they are stupid, and show but little attachment. Forbearance as regards making its teeth meet in your fingers is, I think, the utmost you can expect in return for kindness to a ferret, and that is something, considering what a sanguinary little beast it is.

NO. 191. PUTORIUS LARVATUS _vel_ TIBETa.n.u.s.

_Black-faced Thibetan Pole-cat_.

HABITAT.--Utsang in Thibet, also Ladakh.

DESCRIPTION.--"Tail one-third of entire length; soles clad; fur long; above and laterally sordid fulvous, deeply shaded on the back with black; below from throat backwards, with the whole limbs and tail, black; head pale, with a dark mask over the face."--_Hodgson_.

SIZE.--Head and body, 14 inches; tail, 6 inches, with hair 7 inches; palma, 1-3/4; planta, 2-3/8.