82 MUSTELID^. 



96. Martes flavig^ula. 



Mustela Sii-)ud Boddaert. — Blyth, Cat. 196. — Muslela Hardwichii, 

 HoRSFiELD, Zool. Jour. — Martes Gwatkinsii and Galidictis chri/sogaster, 

 Jardine, Nat. Libr. — Mai sampra, Nepal. — Tuturala, in Kumaon. — 

 Kusiah, in Sirmoor. — Huniah, or Aniar, Bhot. — Sakku, Lepch. 



The Indian Marten. 



Descr. — Head and face, ears, and whole ujDper parts, with the body 

 from the breast, and limbs, glossy blackish-brown, the chin and lower lip 

 white; throat and breast yellow, more or less deep, and inclining to orange- 

 yellow, or yellowish-brown in some. The body is at times dirty brownish, 

 or chestnvit-brown, or mixed brown with gray, and the middle of the back 

 is sometimes paler than the rest, or the same tint as the sides of the body. 

 In some, the top of the head is pale brown, but it is edged by a dark 

 peripheral line ; and in some, there are one or more irregular dark spots 

 between the forelimbs ; soles nude. 



Length, head and body, about 20 inches ; tail, about 12, with the hair. 



This marten is found throughout the whole extent of the Himalayas ; 

 also on the Neelgherry hills and Ceylon ; and, out of our province, it ex- 

 tends from the Khasia hills through Arrakan down the Malayan peninsula 

 to Java. Horsfield, in his Catalogue, applied the synonym M. Gwatkinsii 

 to the dark Neelgherry race, but it was originally given to a Himalayan 

 specimen, many of which are equally dark ; and Dr. Adams considers 

 that the dark state is merely the summer fur. The Malayan i-ace is paler 

 than the others, and according to Blyth, all specimens from thence are 

 true to the particular colouring. 



The Indian Marten is chiefly found in the valleys both of tha outer 

 ranges and the interior, but also ascends the wooded ridge in summer up 

 to 7,000 or 8,000 feet of elevation. It is sometimes found in pairs, often 

 in small families of five or six, and is not unfrequently met with in the 

 daytime, hunting among brushwood, fallen trees, tfec. If pursued by 

 dogs, it at once takes refuge on trees, in climbing which it is very active. 

 Its food is said to be chiefly birds' eggs ; also rats, lizards, and snakes 

 sometimes, and even, it is said, the young of the Kakar deer (^Stylocerus). 

 It is also very destructive to poultry. Adams states that it is easily 

 domesticated, and is very active and playful; and Mr. Bennett, many years 

 ago, gave an account of its manners in confinement in the " Gardens 



