THE SABLE. 349 
Kamtschatka, and in Asiatic Russia. Its fur is in the greatest perfection during the 
coldest months of the year, and offers an inducement to the hunter to brave the fearful 
inclemency of a northern winter in order to obtain a higher price for his small but 
valuable commodities. A really perfect Sable skin is but seldom ‘obtained, and will 
command an exceedingly high price. An ordinary skin is considered to be worth from 
one to six or seven pounds, but if it should be of the very best quality, is valued at 
twelve or fifteen pounds. 
In order to obtain these much-prized skins, the Sable-hunters are forced to undergo 
the most terrible privations, and often lose their lives in the snow-covered wastes in 
which the Sable loves to dwell. A sudden and heavy snow-storm will obliterate in a 
single half-hour every trace by which the hunter had marked out his path, and, if it 
should be of long continuance, may overwhelm him in the mountain “drifts” which are 
heaped so strangely by the fierce tempests that sweep over those fearful regions. Should 
he not be an exceedinely experienced hunter, possessed of a spirit which is undaunted in 
the midst of dangers, and of a mind which is stored with the multitudinous precepts of 
hunters’ lore, he is certain to sink under the accumulated terrors of his situation, and to 
SABLE.—Martes Zibellina. 
perish by cold and hunger in the midst of the snow-sea that rolls in huge white billows 
over the face of the country. 
At the best, and when he meets with the greatest success, the privations which he is 
called upon to undergo are of the most fearful character, and he rarely escapes without 
bearing on his person the marks of the terrible labour which he has performed. 
The Sables take up their abode chiefly near the banks of rivers and in the thickest 
parts of the forests that cover so vast an extent of territory in those uncultivated regions. 
Their homes are usually made in holes which the creatures burrow in the earth, and 
are generally made more secure by being dug among the roots of trees. Sometimes, 
however, they prefer to make their nests in the hollows of trees, and there they rear their 
young. Some authors, however, deny that the Sable inhabits subterranean burrows, 
and assert that its nest is always made in a hollow tree. Their nests are soft and warm, 
being composed chiefly of moss, dried leaves, and grass. 
Their food is said to partake partially of a vegetable and partially of an animal 
character, according to the season of the year. In the summer time, when the hares 
and other animals are rambling about the plains and forests, the Sable takes advantage 
of their presence, and kills and eats them. But when the severity of the winter frosts 
has compelled these creatures to remain within their domiciles, the Sable is said to feed 
