HISTORY AND HABITS OF THE MARTEN. 93 



been observed to be particularly abundant where the trees have 

 been killed by fire but are still standing. It is very rare as 

 Hearne has remarked, in the district lying north of Churchill 

 Kiver, and east of Great Slave Lake, known by the name of 

 Chepewyan or Barren Lands. A similar district, on the Asiatic 

 side of Behring's Straits, twenty-five degrees of longitude in 

 breadth, and inhabited by the Tchutski, is described by Pen- 

 nant as equally unfrequented by the Martin, and for the same 

 reason, — the want of trees. The limit of its northern range 

 in America is like that of the woods, about the sixty-eighth 

 degree of latitude, and it is said to be found as far south as New 

 England. Particular races of Martins, distinguished by the 

 fineness and dark colours of their fur, appear to inhabit certain 

 rocky districts. The rocky and mountainous but woody district of 

 the Nipigon, on the north side of Lake Superior, has long been 

 noted for its black and valuable Martin- skins. . . . Upwards 

 of one hundred thousand skins have long been collected annu- 

 ally in the fur countries." 



But the range of the American Sable is now known to be 

 more extended in both directions than appears from the fore- 

 going. In some longitudes, at least, if not in all, it reaches the 

 Arctic coast, as mentioned by Mr. B. E. Eoss, and as attested 

 by specimens I have examined. Mr. Eoss states that it is found 

 throughout the Mackenzie Eiver District, except in the Barren 

 lands, to which it does not resort, being an arboreal animal. It 

 occurs abundantly in Alaska, apparently throughout that vast 

 country; and, in short, we cannot deny it a less highly Arctic 

 extension than that of the Asiatic Sable. Along the Pacific 

 side of the continent, west of the Eocky Mountains, the Sable 

 has been traced to the Yuba Eiver of California by Dr. J. S. 

 Newberry, who represents it as not uncommon in Oregon ; and 

 Dr. George Suckley procured specimens in Washington Terri- 

 tory. Mr. J. A. Allen found the animal in Wyoming and Colo- 

 rado, and considers it as common in the last- mentioned Territory 

 in Park County. But however far south it may extend in such 

 longitudes, there is apparently a great stretch of treeless country 

 in which it is not found at all. I obtained no indications of its 

 presence in any of the unwooded portions of Dakota and Mon- 

 tana, which I have explored with special reference to the dis- 

 tribution of the Mammals and Birds. It is represented as com- 

 mon in Canada, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Labrador. In 

 New England, according to Dr. Emmons, writing in 1840, it 



