A HISTORY OF KENT CARNIVORA 1 6. Wild Cat. Felis cams, Linn. There do not appear to be any authenti- cated records of the wild cat for many years, although it is reported to have been captured in the thick woods at Chattenden and elsewhere in the county. Robert Pocock^ wrote in 1809 that the cat was ' uncommon and seldom seen,' presumably referring to the wild cat. 17. Fox. Fulpes vulpes, Linn. '&e—Vulpes vulgaris. Found in almost all wooded districts. Vixens have been taken from earths with four to ten cubs. They are nearly always to be found in the earth with their cubs until these are five weeks old. A litter of very young cubs was once found in a characteristic form in some brambles on the Cobham Hall estate, where they no doubt had been born owing to the earths having been ferretted and stopped just previously. The vixen was seen to leave the spot when beaters approached. 18. Pine Marten. Mustela martes, Linn. Bell — Martes abietum. Robert Pocock ' wrote in 1809 that mar- tins were 'uncommon and seldom seen.' There are many reputed instances of it having occurred forty to sixty years ago, but in most cases the source is not reliable. 19. Polecat. Putorius putorius, Linn. Bell — Mustela putorius. Fielding, in Memories of Mailing, writes : ' Once plentiful, but now only occasionally seen in the county.' It certainly existed thirty to forty years ago, but is now probably extinct. Vulgar, the gamekeeper at Chatten- den, possibly caught the last in the early seventies. 20. Common Stoat. Putorius ermineus, Linn. ^Al— Mustela ermine a. Common wherever rabbits abound. The variation in colour which often occurs in late autumn and winter is the best example among Kentish quadrupeds of adaptation of colour to environment. 21. Weasel. Putorius nivalis, Linn. Bell — Mustela vulgaris. Locally, Keen (a small variety). Common. This animal lives chiefly on mice, but also on voles, small rats and ralsbits, and small birds when it can catch them. • G. M. Arnold : Robert Pocock, the Gravesend Historian. Ubid. LTnfortunately, it is very fond of young pheasants and partridges, which it catches and drags one at a time into a hole. It often makes use of mole runs, and is occasionally caught in mole traps. One was caught with its coat turned white along the back, at Shorne, about February 1881. Gilbert White, in his Natural History of Selborne ^ wrote : ' Some intelligent country people have a notion that we have in these parts a species of the genus Mustelinum, be- sides the weasel, stoat, ferret and polecat ; a little reddish beast not much bigger than a field mouse, but much longer, which they call a " cane." ' Zoologists only admit of one species, but the variety alluded to by White certainly exists, or did formerly, in Kent. The typical weasel is about 7 to 8| in. in length (without the tail), and frequents woods, fields and hedges. The ' keen ' is only 6 in. (without the tail), is much thinner, and more spotted around the throat than the typical species. It was well known by all the old gamekeepers in the woods of the Cobham Hall estate, where between twenty and thirty years ago the rhododendrons were very thick and where also thick masses of elder, brambles and other bushes covered a large area. In and around these thickets numbers of this small variety could be caught. More than a dozen, too, have been seen together, and a number have been caught around an old tree stump within a few hours, old and young, male and female, but many more females than males. This smaller variety very seldom associates with the typical species. The habits of the two differ con- siderably. It is extremely local, although it may be, as formerly at Cobham, very abun- dant where it occurs. 22. Badger. Meles meles, Linn. Bell — Meles taxus. Locally, Brock. Rare, but probably visits most of the wooded districts at intervals. Its characteristic foot- prints, its habit of skinning rabbits before eating them,* and scratching out wasps' nests, soon make its presence known, though it is seldom seen. It breeds annually near Maid- stone and occasionally at other places. The Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing states that the keeper at Langton Kennels some years ago showed 3 Letter XV. Selborne, March 30, 1768.
- The cat, fox, badger and stoat have each a
different and distinct method of eating a rabbit and disposing of the skin, which experts can detect at once. 304
