384 THE MARTIN. 



The female of this species, is sensibly less than the male. 

 They are usually kept in boxes, with wool, of which they 

 make themselves a warm bed, that serves to defend them 

 from the rigor of the climate. They sleep almost continually ; 

 and the instant they awake, they seem eager for food. They 

 are usually fed with bread and milk. They breed twice a 

 year. Some of them devour their young as soon as brought 

 forth, and then become fit for the male %ain. Their number 

 is usually from five to six at a litter ; and this is said to consist 

 of more females than males. Upon the whole, this is an useful, 

 but a disagreeable and offensive animal ; its scent is foetid, its 

 nature voracious, it is tame without any attachment, and such 

 is its appetite for blood, that it has been known to attack and 

 kill children in the cradle. It is very easy to be irritated ; and, 

 although at all times its smell is very offensive, it then is 

 much more so ; and its bite is very difficult of cure. 



THE MARTIN. 



The Martin is a larger animal than any of the former, 

 being generally eighteen inches long, and the tail ten more. 

 It differs from the Polecat, in being about four or five inches 

 longer ; its tail also is longer in proportion, and more bushy 

 at the end ; its nose is flatter ; its cry is sharper and more 

 piercing ; its colors are more elegant ; and, what still adds to 

 their beauty, its scent is very unlike the former, instead of 

 being offensive, is considered as a most pleasing perfume. 

 The Martin, in short, is the most beautiful of all beasts 

 of prey ; its head is small, and elegantly formed ; its eyes 

 livery ; its ears are broad, rounded, and open ; its back, its 

 sides, and tail, are covered with a fine thick downy fur, with 

 longer hair intermixed ; the roots are ash color, the middle of 

 a bright chesnut, the points black ; the head is brown, with a 

 slight cast of red ; the legs, and upper sides of the feet, are of 

 a chocolate color ; the palms, or under sides, are covered with 

 a thick down, like that of the body ; the feet are broad, the 

 claws white, large, and sharp, well adapted for the purposes 

 of climbing, but, as in others of the Weasel kind, incapable of 



