346 THE PINE MARTEN. 
startled victim can address itself to flight. It is a sad robber of nests, rifling them of eggs 
and young, and not unfrequently adding the parent birds to its list of victims. 
Even the active and wary squirrel sometimes yields up its life to this agile and stealthy 
foe ; for in a hole which had been made the head-quarters of a Marten were found several 
of the Boel tails which are such familiar decorations of the squirrel’s person. That the 
squirrels had been captured and eaten by a Marten is placed beyond doubt by the fact 
that the dead body of the destroyer was discover ‘ed within the hole, itself having fallen a 
victim to the venomous bite of a viper. Poetical justice was visible in this instance ; for 
there had evidently been a combat between the reptile and the Marten, both having 
succumbed to the deadly weapons of their adversary. It is probable that the snake was an 
intruder upon the Marten, and that the latter animal had, after receiving the fatal wound, 
retained sufficient strength to inflict such injuries upon its antagonist as to deprive it of 
the power of escape, and ultimate ly to cause its death. 
The damage which a pair of Martens and their young will inflict upon a poultry-yard 
is almost incredible. If they can only gain an entrance into the fowl-house, they will 
spare but very few of the inhabitants. They will carry off an entire brood of young 
chickens, eat the eggs, and destroy the parents. My. William Thompson, in his admirable 
work on the Zoology of Ireland, relates an anecdote of the destructiveness of the Martens 
which’exhibits im a very strong light the exceeding ferocity of these little animals. 
A farmer, who had possessed twenty-one lambs, found one morning that fourteen of 
them had been killed by some destructive animal, and that the murderers had not eaten 
any of the flesh of their victims, but had contented themselves with sucking the blood. 
On the following night the remaining seven were treated in a similar manner, and the 
destroyers—a pair of Martens—were seen in the morning taking their departure from the 
scene of their sanguinary exploits. They were traced to their residences, and were found 
to have taken up their abode in a deserted magpie’s nest in Tollymore Park. 
It is found that the Martens of both species are very fond of usurping the nests of 
rooks, hawks, crows, magpies, and other birds, although they sometimes prefer the 
habitation of a squirrel, or the hole in a decaying tree. After a Marten has taken up its 
residence in the open nest of a crow, a hawk, or other similar locality, and is quietly 
sleeping in the daytime, its whereabouts is often manifested by the noisy crowd of small 
birds which surround the tree, and join in a unanimous outcry against their slumbering 
foe. In winter, it prefers the more genial retreats which are afforded by hollow trees, or 
the clefts of rocks, where it makes a warm bed with dry leaves or grass, and is securely 
sheltered from the cold atmosphere. But in the summer time, it migrates to the cooler and 
more airy domicile which is afforded by a deserted nest, and there takes up its abode. 
A magpie’s nest is a very favourite resort of the Marten, because its arched covering 
and small entrance afford additional security. A boy who was engaged in bird-nesting, 
and had climbed to the top of a lofty tree in order to plunder a magpie’s nest, was made 
painfully sensible of an intruder’s presence by a severe bite which was inflicted upon his 
fingers as soon as he inserted his hand into the narrow entrance. This adventure occurred 
in Belvoir Park, County Down, in Ireland. 
The fur of the Pine Marten is rather valuable, especially if the animal be killed in 
the winter. A really fine skin is but little inferior to the celebrated sable, and can hardly 
be distinguished from it by inexperienced eyes. An ordinary skin, in good preservation, 
is worth about two shillings and sixpence, before it 1s dressed by the furrier, but its value 
is much enhanced by its quality. It is thought not to be so prolific an animal as the 
Beech Marten, seldom producing above three or four at a birth, while the latter animal 
has been known to muture six or seven young at the same time. If this circumstance be 
generally true, it goes far towards proving that the Beech and the Pine Marten are really 
distinct animals. The head of this creature is smaller than that of the Beech Marten, 
and the legs are proportionately larger. 
The length of the Pine Marten is about eighteen inches, exclusive of the tail, which 
measures about ten inches. The tail is covered with long and rather bushy hair, and is 
slightly darker than the rest of the body, which is covered with brown hair. The tint, 
however, is variable in different specimens, and eyen in the same individual undergoes 
