326 On the Fur Trade, and Fur-bearing Animals. 
gions of Europe and Asia.* Its fur is of the most perfect whiteness, 
except the tip of its tail, which is of a brilliant shining black. With 
these black tips tacked on the skins, they are beautifully spotted, pro- 
ing-an effect often imitated, but never equalled in other furs. 
The ermine is of the genus Mustela, (weasel,) and resembles the 
common weasel in its form; is from fourteen to sixteen inches from 
the tip of the nose to the end of the tail. The body is from ten to 
twelve inches long. It lives in hollow trees, river banks, and espe- 
cially in beech forests ; preys on small birds, is very shy, me 
during the day, and employing the night in search of food. e f 
of the older animals is preferred to the younger. It is taken x“ 
snares and traps, and sometimes shot with blunt arrows. Attempts 
have been made to domesticate it ; but it is paereanly wild, and has 
been found untameable. 
The sable can scarcely be called second to the ermine. It isa 
native of northern Europe and Siberia, and is also of the genus Mus- 
tela. In Samoieda, Yakutsk, Kamschatka, and Russian Lapland, it 
is found of the richest quality, and darkest color. In its habits, it re- 
sembles the ermine. It preys on small squirrels and birds, sleeps 
by day and prowls for food during the night. It is so like the mar- 
tin in every particular except its size, and the dark shade of its col- 
or, that naturalists have not decided whether it is the richest and 
finest of the martin tribe, or a variety of that species.t — It varies in 
dimensions from eighteen to twenty inches. 
The rich dark shades of the sable, and the snowy saidaqnens of 
the ermine, the great depth, and the peculiar, almost flowing softness 
of their skins and fur, have combined to gain them a preference in 
all countries, and in all ages of the world. In this age they main- 
tain the same relative estimate in regard to other furs, as when they 
marked the rank of the proud crusader, and were emblazoned in 
heraldry : but in most European nations, they are now worn ro 
cuously by the opulent. 
The martins from Northern Asia and the mountains of Kamschat- 
ka are much superior to the American, though in every pack of 
* An animal called the stoat, a kind of ermine, is said to be found i in North Amer- 
ica, but very inferior to the European and Asiatic 
e finest fur, and the darkest color are seks esteemed, and whether the differ- 
ence arises from the age of the animal, or from some peculiarity of location is not 
known. They do not vary more from the common martin, than the Arabian horse, 
from the shaggy Canadian. 
