5 8 CARNIVORES. 



eastward its range extends as far as South China and Amurland. It is always 



found at a considerable elevation above the sea-level, ranging in the Himalaya up 



to seven thousand or eight thousand feet ; and its occurrence in ranges so remote 



from one another as the Himalaya and Nilgiri would seem to indicate a former 



colder condition of climate in order to have enabled the animal to have traversed 



the intervening hot districts. 



This marten is only found where the hills are thickly clothed 

 Habits 



with forest, and is by no means exclusively nocturnal. Although 



apparently far from uncommon in the Himalaya, it is, according to the writer's 

 personal experience, but seldom seen. He had, however, once the good fortune to 

 see a pair of these handsome animals descend from the trees, and gambol in a 

 forest-glade at a short distance from his position. Other observers state that it 

 may sometimes be seen in parties of five or six, hunting for prey either among 

 brushwood or on the branches of trees. The late Prof. L. Adams states that, when 

 on the move, it is continually uttering a kind of low chuckle, prolonged into a 

 harsh cry when it becomes excited. Its food, which includes large insects, appears 

 to be very similar to that of the other martens, but it is reported to kill young- 

 deer. It is noteworthy that a fossil marten, probably nearly allied to this species, 

 occurs in the Pliocene strata of the Siwalik Hills of Northern India, and is thus 

 the oldest representative of the group yet known. 



With the well-known European polecat (M. patorius), we come 

 to the first representative of the second great group of the genus 

 Mustela, or that which includes the polecats, weasels, stoats, and minks. 



As already mentioned, the chief characters by which these animals are 

 distinguished from the martens are the absence of the first pair of premolar teeth 



SKELETON OF THE POLECAT. 



in both jaws, the sharper cusps on the crowns of all the cheek-teeth, and the 

 absence of a cusp on the inner side of the blade of the flesh-tooth in the lower jaw. 

 The members of this group are, moreover, of smaller size than the martens, and 

 have, as a rule, longer bodies and proportionately shorter legs ; and, whereas the 

 martens give but little smell, the animals remaining for consideration are of ill 

 reputation in this respect — as testified by the old name of foumart (foul-marten) 

 applied to the polecat. 



The common polecat is the best known representative of a small group of 

 five species, distinguished from the stoats and weasels by their larger size and 

 more powerful build. In length the head and body usually measure about 17 

 inches, while that of the tail is 6 inches. The nose is rather sharp, the small 



