THE MARTIN. 



PLATES XLI. AND XLII. 



Class Mammalia. Order Garni vora : flesh eaters. Family 

 Digitigrada. Genus Mustela. The species are num- 

 erous, including the Martin, Weasel, Ermine, Ferret, Pole- 

 cat, Sable, Ichneumon, Genet, Civet, and Glutton. 

 HAVING described the bolder ranks of carnivorous animals, 

 the lion, tiger, &c., we now come to a minuter and more 

 feeble class, less formidable indeed than any of the former, 

 but far more numerous, and in proportion to their size, more 

 active and enterprising. The Weasel kind may be particu- 

 larly distinguished from other carnivorous animals, by the 

 length and slenderness of their bodies, which are so fitted as 

 to wind, like worms, into very small openings, after their prey ; 

 and hence also they have received the name of vermin, from 

 their similitude to the worm in this particular. These ani- 

 mals differ from all the cat kind, in the formation and dispo- 

 sition of their claws, which, as in the dog kinds, they can 

 neither draw nor extend at pleasure, as cats are known to do. 

 They differ from the dog kind, in being clothed rather with 

 fur than hair ; and although some varieties of the fox may 

 resemble them in this particular, yet the coat of the latter is 

 longer, stronger, and always more resembling hair. Beside 

 these distinctions, all animals of the Weasel kind have glands 

 placed near the anus, that either open into or beneath it, fur- 

 nishing a substance that, in some, has the most offensive 

 smell in nature ; in others, the most pleasant perfume. All 

 of this kind are still more marked by their habitudes and dis- 

 positions, than their external form ; cruel, voracious, and 

 cowardly, they subsist only by theft, and find their chief pro- 

 tection in their minuteness. They are all, from the shortness 

 of their legs, slow in pursuit ; and, therefore, owe their sup- 

 port to their patience, assiduity and cunning. As their prey 

 YOL. II 19 



