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Polecat, female, on raised ground in France (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

ferret

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'polecat' is the definition.
(I know that ferret parent taxon polecat)

'female on raised ground in france' is the wordplay.
'female' becomes 'f' (common abbreviation).
'on raised ground' becomes 'err' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'in france' becomes 'et' (I've seen this in other clues).
'f'+'err'+'et'='FERRET'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for ferret that I've seen before include "Small animal used to drive rabbits from burrows" , "Animal trained to catch rabbits" , "Small carnivore" , "Find (out) by persistent investigation" , "It digs out rabbits" .)

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