296 REMINISCENCES OF A SPOETSMAN. 



flight. It is a sad robber of nests, rifling them of eggs 

 and young, and not unfrequently adding the parent 

 birds to its list of victims. Even the active and wary 

 squirrel sometimes yields up its life to this agile and 

 stealthy foe ; for in a hole which had been made the 

 head-quarters of a marten were found several of the 

 bushy tails which are such predominant decorations of 

 the squirrel's person. That the squirrels had been 

 captured and eaten by a marten is placed beyond doubt 

 by the fact, that the dead body of the destroyer was dis- 

 covered within the hole, itself having fallen a victim to 

 the venomous bite of a viper : there had evidently been 

 a combat between the reptile and marten, both having 

 succumbed to the deadly weapon of their adversary. 

 It is probable that the viper was an intruder on the 

 marten, and that the latter animal had, after receiving 

 the fatal wound, retained sufficient strength to inflict 

 such injuries upon its antagonist as to deprive it of the 

 power of escape, and ultimately to cause its death. 

 The damage which a pair of martens and their young 

 will inflict upon a poultry-yard is almost incredible. If 

 they can get into a fowl-house, they will destroy a whole 

 brood of chickens, suck the eggs, and destroy the parents. 

 To give an example of these little vermin, Mr. W. 

 Thompson relates : " A farmer in Ireland who had 

 possessed twenty one lambs, found one morning that 

 fourteen of them had been killed by some destructive 

 animal, and none of the flesh had been eaten, but had 

 contented themselves with sucking the blood ; on the 

 following night the remaining seven were treated in a 

 similar manner, and the destroyers, a pair of martens, 

 were seen in the morning taking their departinre from 

 the scene of their sanguinary exploits ; they were traced 



