rally consist of five or six, but sometimes seven or eight, and even nine.
It is apt to degenerate in this country, and lose in some degree its ferocity. Warreners are therefore obliged to procure an intercourse between the female and the Foumart. The produce is a breed of a much darker colour than the Ferret, partaking more of that of the Foumart.
Its length is about fourteen inches; that of the tail five: Its nose is sharper than that of the Weasel or the Foumart; Its ears are round; and its eyes red and fiery: The colour of the whole body is a very pale yellow.
The Ferret is naturally such an enemy to the Rabbit, that if a dead Rabbit be laid before a young Ferret, it instantly seizes upon it, although it has never seen one before: If a living Rabbit be presented to it, the Ferret is still more eager, seizes it by the neck, winds itself round it, and continues to fuck its blood till it be satiated.—When employed in the business of the warren, it must be muzzled, that it may not kill the Rabbits in their holes, but only oblige them to come out, that the warrener may catch them in his nets. If the Ferret be suffered to go in without a muzzle, or should disengage itself from it whilst in the hole, there is great danger of losing it: For, after satisfying itself with blood, it falls asleep, and it is then almost impossible to come at it.—The most usual methods of recovering the Ferret are, by digging it out, or smoking the hole. If these do not succeed, it continues during the summer among the Rabbit holes, and lives upon the prey it finds there; but being unable to endure the cold of the winter, is sure to perish.
