34 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



fortnight, and oftener if practicable. The fisher and wolvrene, as we have before remarked, 

 will often destroy these traps, by breaking into them behind, and eat up not only the bait, 

 but the captured animal. 



I am inclined to believe that the American Sable is very distinct from the Pine Marten of 

 Europe, with which it is usually arranged ; but as I have had no means of making a direct 

 comparison, I shall adhere to the ancient name. Its geographical range extends from the 

 Atlantic to the Pacific, and it is found in all the dry wooded districts between the fortieth and 

 sixty-eighth parallels of north latitude, 



THE SMALL WEASEL. 



MUSTELA PUSILLA. ^ 



PLATE XIV. FIG. I. — (AXBANY MUSEUM.) 



Mustek (^Putorius) vulgaris. Richardson, (excl. syn.) Fauna Bor. Am. Vol. 1, p. 45. 

 P. vulgaris. Emmons, Mass. Report, 1840, p. 44. 



Characteristics. Color same as that of P. novehoracensis in its summer coat, but smaller ; 

 unchanging. Tail one-fourth of the whole length. Length 12-13 inches. 



Description. Body vermiform ; head somewhat obtusely pointed. Ears broad, wide, and 

 slightly pointed above. Eyes black and prominent. A series of dark brownish whiskers along 

 the upper lips, and another, consisting of five or six, parallel with it above ; a small patch 

 of two or three above the eye. Fore feet short, and rather robust ; claws acute, curved, and 

 almost entirely concealed by the long hairs. Tail short, cylindrical, even throughout, not 

 bushy ; the tips of hairs extending beyond the vertebrae. Teeth of the typical number ; above, 

 the two outer incisors largest, the intermediate ones equal ; beneath, they are crowded, with 

 the two external largest, the two intermediate small, and the remaining two behind and 

 somewhat between the external and medial incisors. In the upper jaw, the second jaw tooth 

 is small and distant, the posterior with a large spur directed inwards. 



Color. Uniform throughout the year ; more glossy, but paler than in the New- York weasel. 

 Upper part of the head, neck and body, of a light reddish brown ; the same color prevails on 

 the outer and anterior part of the fore legs, the whole of the head, legs, rump and tail. The 

 chin, a small spot above the angle of the jaw extending to the borders of the upper lip, 

 throat, belly and breast, white. On the throat this color extends to the sides of the neck, 

 appears on the posterior parts of the fore legs, becomes dilated on the anterior part of the 

 abdomen, then irregularly contracted, and subsequently throwing off an acute-angled patch 

 of the same color on the upper and external part of the thighs. Tail a shade darker at the tip. 



