160 MUSTELID.E. 



and probably on some of the other higher portions of the Western 

 Ghats, but it does not appear to have been recorded in this range 

 north of the Mlgiris. Jerdon says it is found in Ceylon, but I 

 cannot find any notice of its occurrence there. 



Habits. The Indian marten lives in hill-forests, and is not un- 

 frequently seen in the daytime, sometimes in pairs, occasionally in 

 families of five or six, hunting among brushwood or on the branches 

 of trees. " When moving about, it is constantly Littering a low 

 chuckle, which is prolonged into a harsh cry when the animal is 

 excited " (Adams). It lives upon birds and their eggs and small 

 mammals, and it is said to kill young deer. It also feeds on 

 reptiles and fruits, and probably on insects, one having been shot 

 by Mr. Bourdillon on a tree in the Travancore hills, apparently in 

 the act of feeding upon cicadas. 



This species is said to be easily tamed. Nothing is recorded 

 about its breeding-habits, which probably resemble those of other 

 members of the genus. It has a very slight unpleasant odour. 



78. Mustela foina. The beech Marten. 



Mustela foina, Erxleben, Syst. Regn. An. p. 458 (1777). 



Martes foina, Nilsson, Faun. Scand. i, p. 38 (1820) ; Alston, P. Z. S. 



1879, p. 409 ; Scully, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 202 ; id. A. M. N. II. (5) 



viii, p. 96. 

 Martes toufseua, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xvi, p. 353, partim ; id. Cat. p. 06, 



nee Hodgson. 

 Martes abietum, Horsf. Cat. p. 101 ; Adams, P. Z. S. 1858, p. 517, 



nee Ray. 

 Martes leucolachnaja, W. Blanford, York. Miss., Mam. p. 26. 



Datta kafak, Afghanistan. 



Tail covered with long hair, and measuring without the hair 

 about half the length of the head and body. Caudal vertebrre about 

 21. .Feet with long hair between the toes, so that the naked pads 

 are much concealed, especially in winter, when the hair is much 

 longer. Body covered in winter with long glossy hair and thick 

 soft woolly underfill*. Skull broad, muzzle short with the sides 

 slightly converging. Length of upper sectorial along the outer 

 edge greater than breadth of upper true molar. The inner lobe 

 of the last tooth, the hindmost in the upper jaw, is a very little 

 broader from front to back than the outer lobe, the outer margin 

 of the latter distinctly indented between the two cusps. 



Colour. Varying from greyish brown or even whitish brown or 

 brownish grey to deep blackish brown, the tail and limbs usually 

 rather darker than the body ; throat and breast white, the extent 

 of the white varying. The underfur varies from ashy to pure 

 white. 



In general the fur of this species is inferior to that of the pine- 

 marten, M. martes; but some Afghan and Turkestan skins of 

 M. foina have beautiful fur, with long, glossy, nearly black piles and 



