NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 



173 



believe this is due to over-trapping and that unless more ade- 

 quate protection is given the species it will in a short time be- 

 come scarce or absent except in such protected areas as the 

 national parks. A year-round closed season is recommended. 

 Concerning the marten of the Coast Range (race humboldtensis) 

 the authors above quoted regard it now as of "rather sparse 

 occurrence" in the redwood belt, "though in earlier years it 

 was more generally distributed and fairly numerous." Its 

 southernmost occurrence was in Sonoma County. In 1926 

 and 1927 two trappers were said to have worked a somewhat 

 inaccessible pocket within ten miles of Carlotta and to have 

 caught in all 25 martens, which is considered a remarkable 

 record. 



In general it may be said that while the pine marten is still 

 plentiful in the most favorable parts of its range, as in the 

 northwest of Canada and in parts of the Rocky Mountains and 

 Alaska, its outpost areas in the east and south have been so 

 very much depleted in recent decades that it is in need of 

 careful protection if it is to maintain anything like former 

 numbers or to survive at all. They require a large stretch of 

 territory to range over and a sufficient food supply in the way 

 of small rodents. Factors that seriously affect them are the 

 burning by forest fires of parts of their forest range, clearing 

 through extensive lumbering operations, overtrapping, and 



Eastern pine marten (Maries americana americana) 



