CHAPTER XXII 



SMALL NEIGHBORS OF THE BIG GAME Continued 



The Pine Marten The Coyote Mule Deer Winter Birds Only- 

 Franklin Grouse, or "Fool-Hen" White-Tailed Ptarmigan 

 Harlequin Duck Water Ouzel Eagles and Hawks Clark's Nut- 

 cracker, Canada Jay and Magpie. 



THE Pine Marten * is now the most important and 

 valuable fur-bearing animal of British Columbia. Fine, 

 dark pelts are worth as high as thirty dollars each; but 

 the lighter ones run as low as three dollars. The beaver 

 and otter are done, at least in southeastern British Colum- 

 bia, but of Martens there are yet a goodly number. Dur- 

 ing their October and November trapping (1905) in the 

 mountains between the Elk and Bull Rivers, our three 

 guides caught fifty-three Marten, a very fine catch for 

 so short a period. 



The Marten is an animal of about the size of a half- 

 grown red fox, and looks like one. In head and body it 

 is seventeen inches long, and its tail is seven inches. Ordi- 

 narily its body is brownish-yellow, but the legs are two 

 or three shades darker. It has three kinds of hair. From 

 the standard color, the coat of this animal shades darker 

 until it becomes almost black. 



The Marten is in every sense a predatory animal, and 



* Mustela americana. 

 31* 



