CHAPTER IX 



THE RARE FURS OF THE WEASEL FAMILY 



Sable, Mink, Marten, Kolinsky and Fisher or Pekan 



The despised weasel family is the one branch of zoology, in 

 which scientific classifications and fur classifications agree. The 

 weasels are the bearers of rarest furs and for their size, the most 

 expensive furs in the world ; and all have more or less similar char- 

 acteristics as to habits and furs. 



Mink, Weasel and Marten, also Russian Sable and Japanese 

 Kolinsky — all have long slender bodies, very short legs, flattened 

 heads and lightning-quick furtive motion. To any one who finds 

 a difficulty in retaining in memory the differences between the mink 

 and the marten, apart from size and quality of fur, it helps to re- 

 member that the mink's motions are distinctly serpentine; the 

 marten's are catty. The mink advances with a long pulling wriggle 

 of a stealthy body, head uplifted to strike like a snake and shaped 

 not unlike a snake. The marten is equally stealthy but leaps like 

 a cat; and if you examine the shapes of the heads, you will see the 

 marten head is more like a cat's or a fox's than a snake's. Otter, 

 which also belongs to this family, but whose fur will be considered 

 separately, and fisher or pekan, are five times the size of the little 

 fur bearers and their heads are not unlike the seal's. Marten has 

 a bushy tail that is priceless, so fine it is often sold separate from the 

 fur. Fisher has a bushy beautiful tail like a fox; but it is never 

 sold separate from the fur; but the mink and otter have nothing 

 to boast of in their caudal appendage. 



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