1011 



MUSTELIDjE. 



MU8TELIDJB. 



10U 



raked, but at time*, probably in the winter, covered beneath with a 

 thin toft hair. The fur, he observes, is of two sorts : tlio inner 

 extremely soft, abort, copious, and of a light yellowUh-gray colour; 

 the outer very long, ihiuing, ash-coloured at the root*, brown at the 

 extremity, hot of different degrees of intensity at different parts of 

 the body ; the middle of the back, the tail, the outer parta of the legs 

 and the feet, being darker than the other parta ; the belly lighter and 

 more gray ; the throat white, but Mr. Bell itatea that in one instance 

 he had Men it of a light yellowish tinge ; inner surface and margin 

 of the ean whitish. Length of head and body 1 foot 6 inches; of 

 the tail 9 inches 6 line*. 



This is the Bela Qraig of the Welsh, and Stone Marten of the English. 

 It is La Fouine of the French ; Foina and Fouina of the Italians ; 

 Marta and Oibellina of the Spanish ; Hauss Harder and Stein Harder 

 of the Germans ; Starter of the Dutch; Hard of the Swedes; and 

 Haar of the Danes. 



It is found in northern and temperate Europe, and western Asia. 



Beech or Atone Marten (Jftutela Itarln). 



This Marten is found more remote from woods, though it is often 

 met with in them, and more frequently in mountainous and stony 

 places, and nearer the habitations of man thau the Pine Marten. It 

 prefers the vicinity of farm-yards and homesteads, and is a ruinous 

 visitor to them and the game-preserve. It is an expert climber, and 

 Daniel, in his ' Kural Sports,' has figured it on a tree about to attack 

 a hen-pheasant at perch. A very groundless notion once prevailed 

 that this was the Pine Marten in a state of domestication. It is lively, 

 active, and graceful hi ita movements. The nest of the female is con- 

 structed of herbage, straw, or grass, sometimes in the hollow of a tree, 

 sometimes in the crevices of rocks, not 'infrequently in a ruin, and 

 occasionally in granaries or barns. 



The fur of the Beech Marten is considered very far inferior to that 

 of the Pine Marten, and is known in the trade as the skin of the Stone 

 Marten. Many are imported from the north of Europe, and dyed to 

 represent Sable. The comparatively poor quality of the fur however 

 is immediately perceptible to the experienced eye, although, as is the 

 case with most of the animals which are used for their fur, the northern 

 skins are fuller, richer in colour, and more lustrous than those from 

 more temperate climates. 



Maria Abittum (Ray); Mtutela Maria, Linn., the Pine Marten. 

 Brown ; throat yellow ; toes naked beneath ; legs longer and head 

 smaller than in the Beech Marten. 



This is the Bela Ooed of the Welsh ; La Marte of the French ; 

 Mart*, Martura, Martora, and Martorello of the Italians ; Marta of the 

 Spanish ; Feld-Marder and Wild-Marder of the (Jermaus ; Marter of 

 the Dutch ; Wawpeestan of the Cree Indians ; Wawbeechins of the 

 Algoaquini ; Sable of the American Fur-Dealers ; and Martin of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company's Lists. 



It is found in Europe and North America. 



The Pine Marten in its habits resembles the Beech Marten, but it 

 shun* the neighbourhood of man living in Europe in deep forests, 

 and preying on birds and the smaller animals. The female deposits 

 two or three young ones in a nest of moss and leaves formed in some 

 hollow tree, when she does not take possession of that of the squirrel 

 or the woodpecker. 



Sir John kichardson states that the Pine Marten inhabit* the woody 

 districts in the northern parts of America, from the Atlantic to the 

 Pacific, in great numbers, and that it has been observed to be parti- 

 cularly abundant where the trees have been killed by fire, but are still 

 standing. " It U very rare," continues Sir John, " as Hearne has 

 remarked, hi the district lying north of Churchill River, and east of 

 Great Slave Lake, known by the name of Chepewyan or Barren Lands. 



A similar district, on the Asiatic side of Behrinc's Straits, 25 degrees 

 of longitude in breadth, and inhabited by the Tchutaki, is described 

 by Pennant as equally unfrequented by the marten, and for the tarn* 

 reason, the want of trees. The limit of its northern range in America 

 is like that of the woods, about tho 68th degree of latitude, and it is 

 said to be found as far south as New England. Particular races of 

 martens, distinguished by the fineness and dark colours of their fur 

 appear to inhabit certain rocky districts. The rocky and mountain- 

 ous but woody district of the Nipigon, on the north side of Lake 

 Superior, has long been noted for its black and valuable marten- 

 skins." 





, , 



... fc-uir-^,.'- ^ - 





Pine-Marten (Xtubl*\ 



The same author gives the length of the head and body at from 

 18 to 20 inches, and notices a remark of the natives that the fur loses 

 all its lustre, and consequently much of its value, upon the falling of 

 the first shower of rain for the season. He further states that this 

 animal preys on mice, hares, and partridges, and in summer on small 

 birds' eggs, &c. A partridge's head, with the feathers, is, he says, the 

 best bait for the long-traps in which it is taken. It does not reject 

 carrion, and often destroys the hoards of meat and fish laid up by the 

 natives, when they have accidentally left a crevice by which it can 

 euter. When ita retreat is cut off, it shows its teeth, seta up its hair, 

 arches its back, and hisses like a cat It will seize a dog by the nose 

 and bite so hard, that, unless tho latter is well used to the combat, it 

 escapes. Easily tamed, it soon becomes attached to its master, hut is 

 not docile. The flesh is occasionally eaten but not prized by the 

 Indians. The females are smaller than the males, go with young 

 about six weeks, and produce from four to seven at a time about the 

 end of April. According to Mr. Graham this marten is sometimes 

 troubled with epilepsy. 



The importation of Pino Martens' skins from the territories o 

 the Hudson's Bay Company and Canada is great Pennant relates 

 that at one of the company's sales (in 1743) not fewer than 12,370 

 good skins, and 2360 damaged, were sold, and about the same time 

 the French brought into the port of Rochelle from Canada no less 

 than 30,325. Upwards of 100,000 skins have long been annually 

 imported into Great Britain. 



The editor of the last edition of Pennant's ' British Zoology' says 

 that the length of a male which he saw in Suffolk was 19 inches, 

 exclusive of the toil, which measured 1 inches ; the total length of 

 the female the same, but tho tail longer in proportion to the body. 

 The breast of the latter was of a paler yellow, and the colour extended 

 behind the ears. 



Mr. Bell, after remarking that the colour of the fur is scarcely a 

 tangible distinction, observes that different individuals of the Beech 

 Marten vary quite as much in this respect as the Pine Marten and the 

 Sable : the existence of fur on the toes, which has been adduced as a 

 character of tho Sable, probably depends, he observes, on climate; 

 and is mentioned by Pennant as having been seen by him in the Com- 

 mon Marten. " Never," says Mr. Bell, " having seen an undoubted 

 whole specimen of the true Sable, I am unable to offer any satisfactory 

 addition to our knowledge on the more important characters of the 

 two animals ; but I have found in the examination of numbers of the 

 finest sable-skins, that the yellow patch on the throat bad always an 

 irregular outline, and that there were also small spots of the same fine 

 colour scattered on the sides of the neck. This is a distribution of 

 the colour which I have never observed on the Common or Pine 

 Marten. I offer the fact however merely as one which, combine.! with 

 other characters, may possibly aid in determining the question when 

 we have fuller information on the subject" 



The probability seems to be that the Beech Marten, the Pine M 

 and the Sable, do not offer sufficient differing characters to warrant 

 their specific distinction. 



