98 THE liARTIN. 



and sides are'covered with a thick downy fur, inter- 

 mixed with longer hair, the colour of which, at the 

 root, resembles ash, at the middle becomes bright 

 chesnut, and at the point terminates in black, though 

 the breast and throat are perfectly white. 



The yellon "-breasted martin is another species of this 

 animal, which seems only to vary from the former in 

 the fur upon the breast ; yet it is seldom to be met 

 with in our own country, though often found in differ- 

 ent provinces in France ; but, even there, the white is 

 the most prevalent. 



The white martin generally chooses its residence 

 near human habitations ; but the yellow confines itself 

 entirely to the woods, and lives upon animals equally 

 wild; for whilst the white martin attacks poultry, rab- 

 bits, and hares, the yellow subsists upon squinc/s and 

 birds, and frequently takes' possession of that habita- 

 tion which the industrious squirrel had formed to pro- 

 feet its young., 



The martin is more numerous in America and the 

 northern parts of Europe, than in England or in E ranee; 

 and above twelve thousand of its skins are said to be 

 annually imported from Hudson's Bay into this coun- 

 try, and thirty thousand from the Canadian shores. 



THE SABLE. 



Of all the animals of the weasel kind, the sable is the 

 most admired ; for a single skin, though not above four 

 inches broad, is valued from ten to fifteen pounds *'. 

 This little quadruped, which is so highly prized, re- 

 sembles the martin in point of size, and the weazel in 



* Reynard lias made this assertion, though it is thought he innst labour 

 under a mistake. 



