THE MARTEN. 255 



been chiefly confined to a furzy common in the 

 immediate vicinity of his master's cottage, where 

 young rabbits, 



" and such small deer, 



Have been Tom's food for seven long year." 



But woe betide him if an ornithological fit 

 should tempt him to extend his researches into 

 the adjoining preserves. His fate will then be 

 sealed, for his sagacity and self-denial must indeed 

 be greater than fall to the lot of other cats, to 

 enable him to resist the varied temptations of 

 fish, flesh, and valerian, with which his arch- 

 enemy has decked the path to destruction. 



Of the weasel family (mustelidce) the marten 

 (martes foina\ commonly, but erroneously, called 

 the marten cat, has been almost exterminated in 

 England. Although in former days its depreda- 

 tions among game were of no trifling character, 

 yet it is surely to be regretted that the species 

 should since have been persecuted down to the 

 very verge of extinction. There are many cir- 

 cumstances that would appear to favour the toler- 

 ation, if not the preservation, of a limited number 

 in the woods of England. The odour that pro- 

 ceeds from a glandular secretion of this animal, 

 and of the pine marten probably a variety of the 

 same species so far from being fetid or offensive, 

 is singularly agreeable. Mr. Bell says, " The 



