COMMON MARTIN AND PINE MARTIN. 47 



They chiefly frequent woody and mountainous tracts. 

 All their actions are marked by gracefulness and agility ; 

 and, in their general appearance and manners, few 

 animals are more elegant or interesting. They climb, 

 not only trees, but walls, with the greatest ease. They 

 frequently enter poultry and pigeon-houses, where they 

 destroy, in abundance, eggs, fowls, and pigeons. They 

 likewise devour, with great eagerness, rats, mice, and 

 moles. Their principal time of coming forth from their 

 hiding-places, in search of prey, is during the night. 

 They form their nests, and produce their young ones, 

 usually three or four in number, in holes of decayed 

 trees, or old walls ; and they are sometimes known to 

 take possession of deserted rabbit-burrows. In the 

 nest of a Martin, which was shot on the moors near 

 Holmfirth, in Yorkshire, there were found as many 

 feathers, feet, and bones of birds, as would have filled a 

 couple of bushels : such is the voracity, and such the 

 ability of these animals in the procuring of prey. They 

 have a musky smell, which, to some persons, is very plea- 

 sant. Their cry, which is never uttered except when in 

 pain or distress, is sharp and piercing. They are hunted, 

 in some countries, for the sake of their skins, which, 

 as fur, are employed in the lining of robes, and for 

 other purposes ; and of which several thousands are 

 annually imported into England from Canada and Hud- 

 son's Bay. 



The chief difference betwixt the Common and Pine 

 Martin is in the former having a white, and the latter a 

 yellow throat and breast. Their length, to the base of 

 the tail, is about eighteen inches ; and the tail is ten 

 inches long. The head is small, the eyes are prominent, 

 and the ears broad, rounded, and open. The legs are 

 very short. The fur is of a black tawny colour on the 



