Suppose now our new recruit had run across a rattlesnake instead of a polecat!
If you can convert a man by callin' him a polecat, why, call him one, of course.
Indeed, the whole tribe of Weasels is well represented, and the polecat is seen there as well as the Weasel.
But you must remember that a polecat is only dangerous when frightened.
This worm occurs also in the polecat (M. putorius), in the common weasel (M. vulgaris), and in the pine-marten (M. martes).
Like others of its tribe, the polecat kills more prey than it needs.
Still, they linger while the marten has disappeared, the polecat is practically gone, and the badger becoming rare.
Kaug, in these dialects is a porcupine, and She kaug a polecat.
The ferrets commonly are treated as a subgenus, Putorius, along with the Old World polecat.
Thats a polecat, the cruellest and most bloodthirsty beast in creation.
early 14c., from cat (n.); the first element is perhaps Anglo-French pol, from Old French poule "fowl, hen" (see pullet (n.)); so called because it preys on poultry [Klein]. The other alternative is that the first element is from Old French pulent "stinking," for obvious reasons. Originally the European Putorius foetidus; also applied to related U.S. skunks since 1680s.
