i8o WOODLAND, MOOR, AND STREAM 



MARTENS, POLECATS, WEASELS, AND 

 STOATS 



THE marten, or, as he is sometimes called, the marten 

 cat, is the largest and most handsome of this family. 

 From the nose to the tip of his tail he measures 

 about 2 feet 7 inches ; his limbs are stout and strong, 

 his colour a rich dark brown, with either a patch of 

 white or yellow under the throat. In some parts he 

 rejoices in the name of Sweet Marten, because there 

 is not that peculiar odour about him which dis- 

 tinguishes the rest of his tribe, His general appear- 

 ance reminds one of a small, low-legged, dark- 

 coloured fox, his tail too being bushy. He is equally 

 at home on the ground or in the trees, and is a first- 

 rate runner and jumper. Sometimes he will make 

 his place of abode on the stony hill-side, where only 

 scrub thorns and brambles grow ; then again he will 

 make himself a home high up in the trees, in the old 

 deserted nest of a crow or a hawk. 



According to some writers, he has been extinct in 



