I strongly suspect thatferrets dream, as I have frequently seen them when fast asleep moving their noses and twitching their claws as if in pursuit of rabbits.
That wild rabbits never do so I infer from having several times seen ferrets turn out from the most crowded burrow in a warren young stoats and weasels not more than four inches long.
From burrows which have not been much ferreted, rabbits will bolt soon after the ferret is put in; but this is not the case where rabbits have had previous experience of the association between ferrets and sportsmen.
Bobby was fairly cornered, for he had bought two ferretson tick, and promised to pay a shilling a week, thinking the shillings were going on for ever, the silly young ass.
We were just considering whether in this fertile soil an apparently accidental remark on the solid qualities of guinea-pigs or ferrets might haply blossom and bring forth fruit, when our governess appeared on the scene.
Dogs and ferrets must be thoroughly accustomed to each other, and the former must be quiet and steady instead of noisy and excitable.
If unmuzzled ferrets are sent into rat retreats, they are apt to make a kill and then lie up after sucking the blood of their victim.
There is danger that these lost ferrets may adapt themselves to wild conditions and become a pest by preying upon poultry and birds.
Please, are the ferrets far enough away for me to have a quiet little game with them?
Ferrets are not safe creatures to have near children, and Eric's shall be removed to the gamekeeper's to-morrow.
Eric says the ferrets must come with us, for they ought to have fun like the rest of us on father's birthday, particularly Shark, who has a great sense of humor.
Stick your legs well out in front, or the ferrets may bite 'em.
Marjorie sank down in front of the cage, and gazed at the ferrets quite as long and as earnestly as Eric could desire.
Miss Maggie, she did laugh wonderful, and Master Eric, he just dashed in to give us his ferrets to take care of for him, miss.
They go in their love at the time that ferrets do, so they that hold (keep) ferrets in their houses may well know the time thereof.
Of conies I do not speak, for no man hunteth them unless it be bishhunters (fur hunters), and they hunt them with ferrets and with long small hayes.
They bear their whelps as long as the ferrets and sometimes more and sometimes less.
The ferrets commonly are treated as a subgenus, Putorius, along with the Old World polecat.
The genus Mustela includes the true weasels, the ferrets and minks.
European writers, on the other hand, accord greater taxonomic weight to the zoological differences between ferrets and weasels and, therefore, accord full generic rank to Putorius.
Poor 'young Aaron' got into nearly as much disgrace through the brown jug as a poaching uncle of his through his ferrets and wires.
Although it is in the nature of ferrets to hunt and kill rats, the same as it is for a bird to fly, yet we find a little extra course of training is necessary in both cases.
For a pair of ferrets use a shallow pan for their food, the pan to be as large as an ordinary saucer.
I prefer to have my stock housed in a comfortable and correct manner, as the ferrets will then do better work and get attached to their new master a great deal quicker than if their quarters were neglected.
For the latter use the larger apartment should be boarded up, so that the ferrets are not completely exposed to the rough weather; it should also be kept three or four inches above the ground.
As in crops, there are years for raising ferrets which are more fortunate than others, some seasons having a fatal effect on the young ones.
I have numbers of people come to me with pans of milk, part of which they want the ferrets to lap up, reserving the other half for medicine.
The ferrets hunt downward, and if put on the upper or top floors in the evening they will turn up in the morning down in the cellar driving the rats before them.
Ferrets must have plenty of good air, as they cannot stand being boxed up closely for a great length of time without getting diseased.
We thus close our story of research, through which we have shown America as the birthplace of the ferret, China of the rat, and England as the first country employing ferrets for rat-hunting.
The writer has cats and ferretson his farm that regularly feed and play together.
Ferrets are muzzled by tying their jaws, so that they can not bite, with waxed cords, etc.
There is a wide door on the end of the larger section and also one on the roof of the smaller, so that the ferrets can be conveniently taken out or handled and the cage cleaned at any time.
If there are plenty of rats in the place the ferrets will be able to do their own choice marketing; otherwise, when not hunting, feed them either crackers and milk or bread and milk, with a pan of water always at hand in warm weather.
If these over-fed ferrets are in a pen and you put rats in for them to kill, they will not wake up even if the rats crawl all over them, although the rodents are scared into fits and are trying to get away with all their might and main.
Ferrets are sometimes troubled with fleas of a large size, that use the animals up greatly if they are not checked immediately.
As regards the second case, ferrets and buzzards fall forthwith upon blind worms or other non-poisonous snakes, and devour them then and there.
He and his sons had special merits In breeding and in handling ferrets Full many a snaky hob and jill Had bit the thumbs of Baldy Hill.
No, I have always carried my ferrets in a good strong canvas bag, with a little clean straw at the bottom, and a leather strap and buckle stitched on to it with which to close it.
Most mothers, I fear, will object to it on the ground that rats and ferrets don't smell nice; but this objection is not reasonable.
I have in my time been bitten by ferrets many dozens of times and have never suffered any ill effects.
Some years ago the Field opened its pages to a long discussion on the subject of ferrets sucking the blood of their victims after they have killed them.
All I can say is, I have reared hundreds of young ferrets and have always given the mothers flesh.
Now and then the lids came open and let all out; and now and then I let the box slip off the spade and fall to the ground, and then I felt sorry for the ferrets inside it!
Either barley-straw or hay will give ferrets mange in a few days.
The left-hand compartment should be the smallest and filled with wheat-straw well packed in, with a small round hole a little way up the division, for the ferrets to use as a door.
Remember ferrets work hard in a big day's ratting, and therefore should be well nourished and strong; a ferret that is not will not have the courage to face a rat.
The ferrets are fed and locked up, and then, unlacing our boots at the back door and kicking them off, the day is done.
Muzzling ferrets appertains solely to rabbiting, but it is useful to know how to do it.
Equally puzzling was it, now that they were inside, to get them out, for I dare not putferrets in, for fear they should kill a rat and leave it to decay and smell for months.
A rabbit-catcher in full swing should have from eight hundred to a thousand yards of this, for with a good long net he will often kill as many rabbits in a few hours as he could do with the ferrets in a week.
Many of our domesticated animals can bear with undiminished fertility the most unnatural conditions; for instance, rabbits, guinea-pigs, and ferrets breed in miserably confined hutches.
They sometimes manage to get into poultry yards, when, like the Ferrets and Weasels, they kill all that can be found, only eating their brains and drinking their blood.
For this reason it is hunted with perseverance, ferrets being frequently employed in some countries to drive it from the depths of its warren.
Before the ferrets were put in the holes, I made Peter quite aware that he was not to touch them; and he was so sensible a dog that there was no difficulty in doing this, although it was the first time he had seen a ferret.
His stock-in-trade consisted of some ferrets and an old terrier dog, and a more extraordinary dog was seldom seen.
Occasionally ferretsare worked with a line attached; but this is an objectionable practice.
Gamekeepers who know their business preferferrets taken from poachers to any other.
When the nets are set the ferrets are taken from the moucher's capacious pockets and turned in.
There are various reasons why white ferrets are to be preferred as opposed to the brown polecat variety.
Once during the day, as the ferrets were turned into a burrow, some one pointed out a brace of ermines that had doubtless been looking after the rabbits on their own account.
To many persons ferrets are objectionable pets; but if properly kept they are among the cleanest of animals.
Closely-confined ferrets become weak and tender, and are susceptible to cold.
To do this scarcely any training is necessary, and three young ferrets which we used the other day worked as well as their more experienced parents.
Ferrets not only soon get used to handling, but like it.
The first is said to be the more hardy and vicious; and it is to secure these qualities that keepers on large warrens cross their ferrets with the wild polecat.
The common diseases to which ferrets are liable are owing to unsuitable food and damp or dirty housing.
A cruel practice used to obtain of stitching together the lips of ferrets to prevent their worrying rabbits and then "laying up.
Food has much to do with temper, and confined under favourable conditions ferrets will be cleanly and sweet as in their natural habitat.
In this country ferrets are kept more for work than as pets, and are used for making rabbits bolt from their burrows.
An experienced person with dogs and ferrets trained to work together can kill many rats when they are numerous.
When ferreting these places they think that if a Rat-catcher has once put his ferrets under the floor they will never see another Rat in the place; but depend upon it they are very bad to catch in these places.
I have known a gamekeeper to have dogs with the distemper, and he has not touched his ferrets or handled them at all during the time his dogs were bad, yet a week afterwards his ferrets caught the disease.
The general cause of this latter disease is neglect of the ferrets and the hutches not being cleaned out regularly.
Throw the straw in carelessly, and the ferretswill make their own beds.
In feeding ferretsfor the purpose of Rat-catching, never do so before going out with them; I think it is quite sufficient to feed them every 24 hours.
I quite agree as to the desirability of this to get the ferrets out, but I say that the man using the ferrets ought never to touch the paunch, as the ferrets will not work half so well after he has the smell of the paunch on his hands.
Let me add that all I have written about ferrets and dogs are not given merely from hearsay, but are the facts derived from study and experience during 25 years of dog and ferret-keeping.
Scatter the cayenne along the boards and joist where you have had the long sheet net, and also along the other end of the joist where you put the ferrets in, and you will find that under no consideration will Rats face the cayenne pepper.
I think the best bedding for ferrets is good oat straw, fresh every fortnight.
He tried all the remedies he knew of, but in 14 days 12 hitherto good, strong, healthy ferrets died: all he had.
There is one way of working ferrets when rabbit-shooting which, if followed, I think would lead to a better day's shooting.
Now, in most cases the gamekeeper or his man working the ferrets will often cut open a dead rabbit and put the paunch to the burrow.
Always have your hutches leaning from the wall, so that wet or refuse will not lodge, for when the bottom of a hutch is always wet it is liable to give the ferrets a disease called foot rot, which is very frequent where ferrets are neglected.
Each title has appended the name of the bibliographer on whose authority it is given.
I am glad you had the ferrets to amuse you this afternoon," said Robinette, in a propitiatory tone.
Ferrets are such darlings, aren't they, with their pink eyes?
Ferrets differ remarkably in disposition, and the poacher chooses his with care; otherwise, if the ferret will not come out the keepers are certain to find him the next day hunting on his own account.
In the winter men will carry ferrets with them in a trap like this.
Those who go poaching with ferrets choose a moonlight night: if it is dark it is difficult to find the holes.
One of the ferrets had come out of a hole and was aimlessly--as it appeared--roaming along the bank.
There being no nets to alarm the rabbits and three ferrets hunting them, they tumbled out in all directions as fast as we could load.
Some keepers think nothing of shooting their own ferrets if they will not come when called by the chirrup with the lips, or displease them in other ways.
He then undid the mouth of the ferret-bag, holding it between his knees--the ferretsimmediately attempted to struggle out: he selected two and then tied it up again.
For half an hour we had some really good shooting: then it began to slacken, and we told him to catch his ferrets and go on to the next bury.
The ferrets left in it in reserve were eager to get out--sharp set on account of a scanty breakfast--and their motions caused the bag to roll along a short distance.
There were still two ferrets in--one that was suspected to be gorging on a rabbit in a cul de sac, and the other lined, and which had gone to join that sanguinary feast.
His ferrets were well looked after, and he sometimes sold one for a good price to keepers.
The ferrets are placed in a smaller bag, tightly tied at the top--for they will work through and get out if any aperture be left.
In large woods there are generally one or more ferrets wandering loose in the season, that have escaped from the keepers or poachers.
While Little John was in the ditch putting up nets, we slily undid the ferret-bag and turned three ferrets at once loose into the holes.
As a rule a man who keeps ferrets is suspected: but Little John was too well understood, and he had no difficulty in begging a little milk for them.
His ferretscost him much thought, which to take and which to leave behind.
I ferrets a goodish few rabbits on bright nights in winter.
This careful treatment saved all trouble, and after a couple of days' rest the ferrets were quite ready for work.
From time to time Hob ran with the jill-ferrets in the clearing round the hutches, and he was the father of several fine litters, but was probably unaware of the fact, for he was totally devoid of domestic instincts.
When the last rat had been killed, the ferrets were collected and taken home, to be carefully examined and have their wounds dressed and their feet carefully washed in warm water, with which a disinfectant was mixed.
Complaints were made to the bailiff, and half a dozen ferrets visited each cottage in turn.
Presently we came on the two ferrets gorging away at a dead rabbit,--nasty little beasts!
Before her lay that same shallow cup of ploughed land stretching from her father's big wood to the downs, on the edge of which Hurd had plied his ferrets in the winter nights.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "ferrets" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
