348 THE SABLE. 
became tame under kind treatment, and was led about a garden by a string which was 
tied round its waist. 
After a while, as it was kept in a stable, it contracted a strong friendship for a horse, 
and was always to be found sitting upon the horse’s back. If a visitor entered, it would 
erowl and run about the horse in a very excited manner, sometimes sitting between his 
ears, and then running along his neck and lying on his back, and playing all kinds of 
similar antics, The horse seemed quite pleased with his curious little friend, and permitted 
the Marten to run over him as much as it pleased. 
Unfortunately, this strange friendship was of very short standing, for the poor Marten 
contrived to get into a trap, and was found in the morning quite dead. When in 
captivity, it was fed on meat, birds, or even on bread and milk. It always preferred to 
receive the birds before they were killed, and could not endure any disturbance while 
engaged in its meal. 
The Marten is a good swimmer, as well as an excellent leaper and climber, and has 
been often seen to swun across a tolerably wide river when it has been hard pressed in 
the chase. 
Both the Pine and the Beech Martens are said to be very lively in a state of 
domestication, if they are rightly managed and carefully tended. They are among the 
most graceful of animals ; and whether they are running, climbing, aaa or moving in 
any way, all their actions are full of quick and easy grace. They are the more fitted for 
a state of domestication by being free from the very ‘offensive scent which is given forth 
by many of the Mustelidee, and which makes several of those otherwise pleasing 
creatures objects of utter dishke and abhorrence. There is, indeed, a very perceptible 
odour in these creatures, which is caused by the substance that is secreted in a kind of 
pouch which is placed near the insertion of the tail, but it is not offensive in its character, 
and to many persons is even agreeable. On this account, the Pine and Beech Martens 
are distinguished by the title of Sweet Martens, in contradistinction to the Polecat, which 
is termed the Foul-Marten, or Foumart, on account of the peculiarly unpleasant odour 
which is exhaled from its person. 
Even in captivity, its agility is so great that, while it is engaged in its graceful antics, 
its shape can hardly be discerned. It is more watchful at night “than in the daytime, but 
will often awake from its slumbers during the hours of light, and recreate itself with a 
little exercise. Although it is an essentially carnivorous animal, it will often eat various 
vegetable substances, when it is deprived of freedom, and very probi ibly does so when it 
is at large in its native woods; a supposition which is strengthened by the partially 
herbivorous character of its molar teeth. It is said to be fond of nuts, which it strips of 
their shells while they are still hanging on the tree, leaving the shattered fragments 
adherent to the branches. So sharp are its teeth, and so powerful its jaws, that one of 
these animals has been known to gnaw its way through the wooden door of the room in 
which it was confined, and to make its escape through the orifice. 
The Martens are nearly banished from the more cultivated English counties, but still 
linger in some numbers among the more rocky and wooded portions of Great Britain. 
In Carnarvon and Merionethshire the ry are still tolerably numerous, and are frequently 
hunted by hounds, as if they were foxes or other lawful game. 
OnE of the most highly valued of the Weasels is the celebrated SABLE, which 
produces the richly tinted fur that is in such great request. Several species of this animal 
are sought for the sake of their fur. They are very closely alhed to the Martens that have 
alre eady been described, and are supposed by some zoologists to belong to the same species. 
Besides the well-known Martes Zibellina, a North American species is known, together 
with another which is an inhabitant of Japan, These two creatures, although they are 
very similar to each other in general aspect, can be distinguished from each other by the 
different hue of their legs and feet: the American Sable being tinged with white upon 
those portions of its person, and the corresponding members of the Japanese Sable being 
marked with black. 
The Sable is spread over a large extent of country, being found in Siberia, 
