1936] MAMMALS OF OREGON 297 



Crater Lake were filled with big brown, wingless crickets ( Cuphodir- 

 ris piperi) which were also found in one collected near Three Sisters 

 Peaks in July 1914. Feathers of birds and fur conies and other 

 small rodents were also found in their stomachs, and birds, squirrels, 

 chipmunks, rats, and mice are excellent bait for marten traps. Traps 

 set in the runways and burrows of mountain beaver sometimes catch 

 martens, and it is probable that the mountain beaver and pocket 

 gophers are on their bill of fare. Fish are said to be good trap bait 

 for martens, but it is doubtful if fish are caught or taken from the 

 water by them. Food is generally abundant, but martens rarely 

 show any signs of fat and are generally as lean and muscular as the 

 mink or weasel. 



Economic status. According to the Oregon Sportsman for June 

 1914, 518 martens were taken during the previous winter, November 

 1 to February 28, by the registered trappers in Oregon. Of these, 

 88 skins were taken in Klamath County; 87 in Union County; 82 

 in Grant County; 60 in Curry County; 41 in Baker County; 23 

 in Umatilla County; 22 in Douglas County; 21 in Lane County; 

 19 in Crook County; 18 in Multnoman County; 15 in Lincoln 

 County ; 14 in Wallowa County ; and smaller numbers in other coun- 

 ties in the State. At the current price of trappers' skins, about $25 

 each, these brought into the State nearly $13,000, about the same as 

 was received for the greater number of skins of mink. 



Martens are not destructive to poultry and not seriously so to 

 game. The beauty and high price of their fur make them one of 

 the most important fur-bearing animals of Oregon. 



MARTES CAURINA ORIGENES (RHOADS) 

 ROCKY MOUNTAIN MARTEN 



Mustela caurina orlyenes Rhoads, Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila. Proc., p. 458, 1902. 



Type. Collected at Marvine Lodge, Garfield County, Colo., Sept. 16, 1901, 

 by E. T. Setr>n. 



General characters. Size and proportions about the same as in cawrina 

 >ut colors generally lighter, more drab brown with more distinctly gray head, 

 ghter yellow or occasionally white throat patch, and light yellow traces along 

 ledian line of belly (pi. 42, B). Skull relatively wide with slender rostrum^ 

 and the same heavy molar teeth and wide heel of back upper molar as in 

 lurina. 



Measurements. Adult male from Colorado: Total length, 610 mm; tail, 

 L70; foot, 95; ear (dry), 30. Skull: Basal length, 76; zygomatic breadth, 49. 



Distribution and habitat. These beautiful fur bearers range from 

 lorthern New Mexico through Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho 

 ito the Blue Mountains of Oregon (fig. 70). There are specimens 

 rom Strawberry Butte and vicinity in the Biological Survey col- 

 lection, and one from Cornucopia in the University of Oregon col- 

 action. In 1897 the writer found their tracks on the snow far above 

 timber line on the Wallowa peaks, and in 1915 Jewett reported 

 "iem as becoming scarce in the Wallowa Mountains, although dur- 

 _ the previous winter of 1913-14 one trapper had taken $800 worth 

 >f their skins in the lodgepole pine forest near Olive Lake, and 

 " winter before that two trappers had taken 12 skins near Bourne 

 in the Baker City Range. In 1896 a fine old male was collected on 

 trawberry Butte, and in 1915 Jewett took 4 specimens near there 



