FAMILY MUSTELID^E. 33 



tinge of brown. Ears margined with white. Reddish brown behind the ears. The inside 

 of the legs, inferior and posterior parts of the feet, and the palms, dark brown. Tail ten 

 and a half inches long, the tip of the hairs extending four inches beyond the vertebrae ; 

 dark brown at the tip, intermixed with a few white hairs ; remainder of the body and tail 

 yellowish white, becoming deeper on the posterior parts of the body. Throughout pale 

 yellow. Claws white. The plate represents this specimen. 



No. 2 is smaller, being only twenty-two inches in length. Head, chin and cars entirely 

 white. Feet at the base with an obsolete circle of dusky brown. A dusky indistinct line 

 along the dorsal ridge. Tail dusky for two-thirds of its length from the tip. General color 

 bright orange, more vivid on the flanks and abdomen. Palms light-colored. 



No. 3 and 4 resemble each other in the distribution of their colors, but are smaller than the 

 preceding. Head greyish white ; brownish behind the ears. General color fulvous, inter- 

 mixed on the back and abdomen with brown, giving a dark hue to the animal. Legs, feet 

 and tail blackish brown, the latter increasing in intensity towards its tip. 



The Sable is a very pretty and active little animal, inhabiting the elevated and wooded 

 districts in the northern parts of the State. It lives entirely in trees, and brings forth six to 

 eight at a litter. It is a nocturnal animal, and excessively carnivorous ; feeding on mice, 

 birds' eggs, squirrels, etc. The females are said to be smaller than the males. It has been 

 tamed ; but from its petulant character, is never docile. The fur is exceedingly beautiful, 

 and highly esteemed. The hunters assure me, that as you proceed north, the fur becomes 

 darker and more valuable, but this seems rather a peculiarity in certain districts. Those 

 obtained in our State, are more usually of the color noted in the figure, and sell for about 

 $1-25 apiece. 



The Sable is exceedingly active, and destroys great quantities of squirrels, the red squirrel 

 only occasionally escaping by its superior agility. It is so prolific, and finds the means 

 of living with so much ease, that it would long since have multiplied to a great extent, were 

 it not hunted so perseveringly for its fur. The hunting season for the sable in this State 

 begins about the tenth of October, and ends in the middle of April. The hunters assert, that 

 in the beech-nut season, when they are very abundant, the sable will not touch bait of 

 any kind, believing that at that time it feeds upon these nuts. It is probable, however, that 

 the abundance of nuts attracts great numbers of the smaller quadrupeds, who are thus offered 

 an easy prey to the sable. 



A line of traps for these animals, technically called " a sable line," sometimes extends 

 sixty or seventy miles, containing six to ten traps in a mile, according to the nature of the 

 ground. The construction of these traps is exceedingly simple. The hunter cuts off long 

 chips from the nearest tree, and drives them into the ground, forming three sides of a square 

 about six inches across ; the top is covered with spruce boughs. The bait, which is either a 

 bit of venison, mice, red squirrel, or any other small animal, is put on the end of a round 

 stick and placed within the trap, resting on a round stick lying on the ground across the open 

 end ; on this rests a short upright stick, supporting a heavy log or small tree. Any distur- 

 bance of the bait causes the log to fall and crush the animal. These traps are visited once a 

 Fauna. 5 



