^92 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID.E. 



which he refers to as J/, martes. As will be seen by reference 

 to the list of synonyms, several nominal species have been 

 established at tbe expense of the xYmerican Sable, upon slight 

 individual peculiarities. The earliest of these is the J/, vulpina 

 of M. Eafiuesque, which represents the occasional anomaly of 

 the tail white-tipped, as alluded to by Mr. Eoss in the article 

 already quoted. A similar condition of the feet constitutes 

 Kuhl's Jf. leucopus ; while the M. huro of F. Cuvier is appar- 

 ently only light-colored individuals. Dr. Gray seeks to estab- 

 lish these last two varieties, and adds another, M. ahietinoides, 

 based upon dark-colored examples, with the " throat-spot large 

 or broken up into small spots". But these pretended species 

 are not such, nor even as varieties are they entitled to more 

 than passing allusion, as indicating to what extent some indi- 

 viduals may depart from the usual style of coloration. 



Although the American animal was known in very early 

 times, long before it received a distinctive name, having been 

 referred alternately to the European Pine Marten and Asiatic 

 Sable, or to both of these species, very little definite informa- 

 tion upon its range and habits was recorded for many years. 

 Pennant, our i->rincipal early authority on the animals of the 

 Xorth American fur countries, and the source of much subse- 

 quent inspiration on these species, considered it the same as 

 M. martes J and drew its range accordingly. He states that it 

 inhabits, in great abundance, the northern parts of America, 

 in forests, particularly of pine and fir, nesting in the trees, 

 bringing forth once a year from two to four young ; that its 

 food is principally mice, but also includes such birds as it can 

 catch ; that it is taken in dead-falls, and sometimes eaten by 

 the natives. As an article of commerce in comparatively early 

 times, we notice the sale of some 15,000 skins in one year (1743) 

 by the Hudson's Bay Company, and the importation from Can- 

 ada by the French into Kochelle of over 30,000. " Once in two 

 or three years," he adds, they " come out in great multitudes, 

 as if their retreats were overstocked : this the hunters look on 

 as a forerunner of great snows, and a season favorable to the 

 chase.'' Such periodicity in numbers thus early noted is con- 

 firmed by later observations. 



Sir John Richardson has the following observations upon the 

 distribution of the Sable in British America : "The Pine-martin 

 inhabits the woody districts in the northern parts of America, 

 from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in great numbers, and have 



