MINOR FUR INDUSTRIES. 115 



Marten are much more rare than mink in Alaska; probably there 

 are not more than one-third as many. Marten pelts are worth $9 

 to $10, and some bring as much as $30 to $40. Two perfectly 

 matched dark marten caught last winter on Healy River brought 

 the trapper only $40, although they were soon resold for $110. 



The marten, although in the wild state apparently quite ferocious 

 and untamable, as a matter of fact lends itself readily to domestica- 

 tion. It is more easily domesticated than almost any other of the 

 fur-bearing animals. When taken young, it soon becomes quite 

 tame and it is believed could be handled with commercial success 

 on a fur farm. 



ERMINE. 



The ermine, or weasel, is found throughout the whole wooded in- 

 terior of Alaska. It is found not only in the dense forests, but it is 

 also quite common sometimes about miners' and woodchoppers' 

 cabms, woodpiles, and in rubbish piles along the trails. 



The female is much smaller than the male. She makes her home 

 under a pile of stumps or stones or in a hollow tree. The young are 

 born in May while the female is still white or only changing. The 

 male and female do not remain together, but separate soon after the 

 rutting season is over and lead solitary lives during most of the year. 



By the middle of October most of the weasels have changed their 

 brown summer pelage for the white winter coat and are then called 

 ermine. A specimen (a male about 2 years old), taken on October 

 15 near Fairbanks, had not quite completed the change; the head 

 and tail were mostly brown, the back was about half and half, while 

 the belly was pure white. Four days later another male, several 

 years old, was obtained that was entirely white; not a brown hair was 

 to be seen; the skin inside was clear white or fully prime. It may be 

 that the older animals make the change from summer to winter 

 pelage sooner than the younger ones. In the spring brown hairs 

 begin to appear early in AprU if the spring be an open one; usually, 

 however, the change does not begin until after the middle of April. 

 By the middle or last of May the change is complete and the coat is 

 brown once more. 



Ermine eat all sorts of small animals and birds, ranging in size 

 from shrews and mice to rabbits and squirrels, and from chicadees 

 to partridges. They feed chiefly, however, upon the smaller mam- 

 mals and birds. 



Because of the small size of ermine and the small price usually 

 brought by the skin, trappers rarely make any special effort to trap 

 it. The price is now increasing so rapidly, however, that the ermine 

 is becoming an animal worth while, and trappers are paymg more 

 attention to it. Choice bunches of skins bring as high as $1,50 per 

 skin, though the usual price for interior skins is $1.25 to $1.35. 



