THE MARTENS, POLECATS, AND WEASELS 647 



upper part of the throat are white, while the lower throat and chest are either of a 

 brilliant orange, brownish yellow, or pure yellow tint. In the second variety, with 

 the exception of the white chin and throat and the pale yellow chest, the whole of 

 the fur is dark brown. The length of the head and body varies from twenty to 

 twenty-two inches, and that of the tail, inclusive of the hair at the tip, from seven- 

 teen to twenty inches. According to Mr. Blanford, the Indian marten is found 

 throughout the Himalayas, from the regions to the westward of Kashmir to Eastern 

 Assam, and thence through the hilly districts of Burma to the Malay Peninsula and 

 Sumatra. In Peninsular India it occurs on the Nilgiri and Travancore hills; 

 while to the eastward its range extends as far as Southern China and Amurland. It 

 is always found at a considerable elevation above the sea level, ranging in the Hima- 

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

 remote from one another as the Himalayas 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 with 

 forest, and is by no means exclusively nocturnal. Although appar- 

 ently far from uncommon in the Himalayas, 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 Professer L,. Adams states that, when on the move it is 

 continually uttering a kind of low chuckle, prolonged into a harsh cry when it be- 

 comes 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 note- 

 worthy 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 repre- 

 sentative of the group yet known. 



With the well-known European polecat {M. putorius) 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 characteristics by which these animals are dis- 

 tinguished from the martens are the absence of the first pair of premolar teeth 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 re- 

 spect 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 seventeen 

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

 are rounded, the neck is relatively long, and the tail is bushy. In color the long 



