50 



KNOWLEDGE 



[March 2, 1896. 



The hunter then surrounds the base of the tree with nets, 

 and either shakes down his quarry or knocks it oH' the 

 bouyhs with sticks. If it does not fall into the not it is 

 run down by the dogs, or again compelled to take refuge 

 in a tree. Should the tree be too high for this method to 

 be successful it is cut down, or the sable is shot ; but the 

 hunters generally avoid the use of the gun if possible, as it 

 is apt to spoil the skin." 



The pine-marten, which, although now scarce in Britain, 

 is still abundant in many parts of Europe, is much less 

 valuable than the last, skins averaging about half a 

 sovereign apiece. The greater number appear to come 

 from Lithuania and Courland, on the ISaltic, whence the 

 annual exportation amounts to about three thousand. 



Very closely allied to the two last is the American 

 marten or sable ( M. anuTicuna ). It is stated to dill'er 

 from the pine-marten by certain characters of the teeth, 

 while its fur is generally darker and subject to greater 

 variation in tint. Kegarding its relationship to the true 

 sable. Dr. C'oues observes that "the animal is, to all 

 external appearance, indistinguishable except in some of 

 those slight points of pellage which, through the whims of 

 fashion, affect its commercial value ; but there may be a 



The European ]\Iink ((liie-third n;ihiral size). 



technical zoological character of importance in the teeth." 

 Probably we shall not be far wrong in regarding the two 

 forms as local varieties of a single widely-spread species, 

 although this is not the view of modern American 

 zoologists. This marten has a wide geographical range in 

 the northern half of the American continent, where it was 

 formerly very abundant, upwards of fifteen thousand skins 

 having been sold by the Hudson Bay Company in the year 

 174;:!, while about the same time thirty thousand were 

 imported by the French from Canada. During the present 

 century over one hundred thousand skins have been 

 exported in a single year by the former company ; and as 

 late as 1891 they sold over sixty-four thousand, nearly forty 

 thousand being accounted for in the same year by other 

 traders. Great fluctuations occur in the value of these 

 skins, which of late years has tended to depreciate; and 

 in 1892 the range in price, according to quality, fluctuated 

 between half a crown and two guineas each. There 



appear to have been good and bad " marten years," as is 

 attested by Pennant, who wrote that once in two or three 

 years these animals " come out in great multitudes, as if 

 their retreats were over-stocked ; this the hunters look on 

 as a forerunner of great snows and a season favourable to 

 the chase." A later writer, Mr. Ross, adds that the 

 marten " occurs in decades or thereabouts with wonderful 

 regularity, and it is quite unknown what becomes of them. 

 They are not found dead. The failure extends throughout 

 the Hudson Bay territory at the same time. And there is no 

 tract or region to which they can migrate where we have 

 not posts, or into which our hunters have not penetrated. 

 When they are at their lowest ebb in point of number.i 

 they will scarcely bite at all [at the baits of the traps]. 

 Providence appears thus to have implanted some instinct 

 in them by which the total destruction of their race is 

 prevented." 



In spite of the vast numbers destroyed for the sake of 

 their pelts, these martens appear to hold their own so long 

 as the country is left in its original wildness. Directly, 

 however, civilization makes its presence felt they begin to 

 diminish rapidly, and soon disappear completely ; their 

 shy and suspicious nature rendering them incapable of 



existing in the neighbour- 

 hood of human habitations. 

 Another speciesofthegroup, 

 of which but comparatively 

 little is known, is the Japa- 

 nese marten (.V. melanopus), 

 its fur being distinguished by 

 its light yellow. Commer- 

 cially the pelts, of which 

 from two to five thousand are 

 imported annually into Lon- 

 don, are of but small value, 

 now averaging only from one 

 to two shillings each. 



The beech-marten or stone- 

 marten (Jl/. /of'Hrt), sometimes 

 also known as the white- 

 breasted marten, is widely 

 distributed over Europe and 

 Northern Asia, but is a more 

 southern form than the pine- 

 marten, being unknown in 

 the British Islands and Scan- 

 dinavia. From the species 

 last mentioned it may be 

 readily distinguished by the 

 dull greyish hue of the fur of 

 the back and the pure white 

 of that of the throat. There are likewise still more decisive 

 differences to be found in the conformation of the skull and 

 teeth, the former being relatively wider than in the pine- 

 marten. The great market fur the pelts of this species 

 is Russia, but it is difficult to form any estimate of the 

 number which annually change hands or the price they 

 realize. The finest skins are stated to come from Bosnia. 

 By far the most striking in appearance of the whole 

 group is the Indian marten (M. jiavii/iila), which inhabits 

 the hills of India and some of the Malayan countries, and 

 is distinguished by the deep blackish brown colour of the 

 upper-parts and the bright orange or yellow of the chest. 

 Although pelts of this handsome marten sell for about 

 seven shillings apiece, they are so seldom brought into 

 the market that they form no essential element in the fur 

 trade. 



Very diflerent from all the foregoing is Pennant's 

 marten (.1/. pnimniti), also known as the pekan or tislier- 



