CAPTURE OF ANIMALS. 27 



feet. It is thought by some of the Hudson's Bay Company's 

 agents, that a marten exists in the northwestern part of Brit-. 

 ish America, and in the late Russian Possessions, Avhich, if not 

 the same, is A'ery closely allied to the Russian Sable. The 

 Russian Sable is spread over a vast extent of territory, being 

 found from the northern parts of European Russia eastward 

 to Kamtschatka. Its size is about equal to that of the marten, 

 beins about eighteen inches in length exclusive of the tail. It 



too o 



is not very prolific, seldom bringing forth more than five at a 

 birth, and generally only three. This takes place in March 

 and April. They make their homes chiefly near the banks 

 of rivers, and in the thickest parts of the woods. They usu- 

 ally live in holes which they burrow in the earth. These 

 burrows are commonly made more secure by being dug among 

 the roots of trees. Occasionally they make their nests in the 

 hollows of trees, and there rear their young. Their nests are 

 composed of moss, leaves, and dried grass, and are soft and 

 warm. Their food varies with the season, and is partly ani- 

 mal and partly vegetable. In the summer, when hai'es and 

 other small animals are wandering about, the Sable devours 

 great numbers of them. But in winter, when these animals 

 are confined in their retreats by the frost and snow, the Sable 

 is said to feed on wild berries. It also hunts and devours the 

 ermine and small weasels, and such birds as its agility enables 

 it to seize. Sometimes, when other sources of food fail, it will 

 follow the track of wolves and bears, and feed on the rem- 

 nants of prey these animals may have left. 



The fur of the Sable is in great request, and is the most 

 beautiful and richly tinted of all the martens. The color is 

 a rich brown, slightly mottled with white about the head, and 

 having a gray tinge on the neck ; it varies somewhat according 

 to locality, and in some regions is very dark. The best skins 

 are said to be obtained in Yakootsk, Kamtschatka, and Russian 

 Lapland. Atkinson, in his " Travels in Asiatic Russia," says 

 that Bagouzin, on Lake Baikal, is famed for its Sables. No 

 skins have yet been found in any part of the world equal to 

 them. The fur is of a deep jet black, with points of hair 

 tipped with white. This constitutes their peculiar beauty. 



