THE SMALL NEIGHBORS OF BIG GAME 313 



a very savage one, but it is not a double-dyed villain, 

 brimful of malice and mischief, like the wolverine. In 

 the wilds it is a great hunter, but it seldom turns poacher 

 and poultry-killer. It hunts in the daytime, and cannot 

 properly be called a nocturnal animal. It is an expert 

 tree-climber, and it is said that Martens catch red 

 squirrels out of their own tree-tops. Charlie Smith 

 has shot five or six Martens out of trees, on Bull River. 

 In descending a tree, a Marten goes head first, like a 

 squirrel. 



We found Marten signs quite up to timberline, and 

 we know that in the autumn they eat mice, for we saw 

 proof of it. Of course they feed upon small mammals 

 and birds of every kind they can catch. In summer they 

 eat berries of several kinds. In winter they live chiefly 

 by catching mice under logs, where the snow does not 

 drift in and pack tightly. By means of these open places 

 under logs, and their runways under the snow, the mice 

 move about quite freely, and thus serve the Marten with 

 many a warm luncheon, of small dimensions. When 

 pressed for food the Marten digs down beside a fallen 

 log until he reaches the open space under it, and there 

 he travels to and fro, practically under the snow, for 

 considerable distances. 



Even where they are abundant, Marten are rarely 

 seen until they are trapped. Once however, on Bull 

 River, after a fire in green timber, eight martens were 

 seen in one day, just below the fire line. This animal is 

 a good traveller, and runs rapidly, by long bounds which 

 cover from three to six feet at a leap. 



