914 Life-histories of Northern Animals 



mother first fed them flesh meat. On June 23, at seven weeks 

 of age, they first left the nesting box and came to the ground. 

 In autumn they were full grown. 



One pair which bred in captivity lived till their seventeenth 



year. 



This is the most arboreal of all our Weasels. It delights 

 in climbing from crotch to crotch, leaping from tree to tree, or 

 scampering up and down the long branches with endless power 

 and vivacity. One cannot long watch a Marten, even in a cage, 

 without getting an impression of absolutely tireless energy. 

 For hours it will race up and down, leaping from perch to 

 wall, to ground, to perch, to wall, to ground, to perch, over and 

 over again, doing endless gymnastic feats, giving countless 

 surprising proofs of strength, with bewildering quickness, all 

 day long, without a sign of weariness, without a quickening of 

 its breath. It must travel many hard miles each day in this 

 way, yet it is complained that in confinement they sufi^er for 

 lack of exercise. 



Active as a Squirrel is an old adage, and yet the Squirrel 

 is commonly the prey of the Marten. 



It is remarkable that the Marten should follow the Red- 

 squirrel in all its range, but hardly anywhere encroach on the 

 territory of the large Gray- and Fox-squirrels — species which 

 seem to afford special inducements to the active destroyer, for 

 their numbers are great, it can follow into their holes, and 

 their weight is so nearly that of its own that it would have no 

 handicap in the leaps from tree to tree. 



Daniel Hayward, of Oxford County, Maine, says:" "It is 

 impossible for Gray-squirrels to exist in the same locality with 

 the Sable, as their sizes are about the same, and the Squirrels 

 easily become their prey. They will also outstrip the Red- 

 squirrel, and capture him if he confines his retreat to the trees 

 instead of entering holes too small for the Sable to follow. 

 He will pounce upon and overpower a partridge or Rabbit, 

 but usually takes the latter by the long chase, which seemingly 



" Shooting and Fishing, Vol. ig, Nov. 26, April 16, 1896, p. 537. 



