154 



THE BEASTS OF PREY. 



the tail. The fur is grayish brown, assuming a darker 

 tint on the legs and tail and merging into dark brown 

 on the paws. The spot on the throat is smaller than 

 that of the Pine Marten and consists of pure white 

 hairs; though in the young animal it is sometimes of 

 a reddish-yellow shade. The margins of the ears are 

 set with short whitish hair. 



The Stone Marten is found in nearly all the coun- 

 tries that the Pine Marten inhabits ; it is a native of 

 all of central Europe and Italy, excepting Sardinia ; 

 England, Sweden, temperate European Russia 

 bounded by the Ural, the Crimea and the Caucasus; 

 and western Asia, especially Palestine, Syria and 

 Asia Minor. But it also extends over Afghanistan 

 and a great part of the Himalayas, although in this 

 latter region it is not found at a lower elevation than 

 4,800 feet. In the Alps it mounts higher than the 

 fir-tree belt in summer, and descends in winter. In 

 Holland it seems to be almost exterminated. Nearly 

 everywhere it is more common than the Pine Marten 

 and approaches much more closely to human dwell- 

 ings ; in fact, one might go so far as to say that vil- 

 lages and cities are its favorite haunts. Isolated 

 barns, stables, garden-houses, old walls and large 

 piles of wood in the vicinity of villages most fre- 

 quently harbor this dangerous foe of domestic birds. 

 Habits and Food The mode of life and habits of the 

 of the Stone Marten correspond with those 



Stone Marten. f the Pine Marten in a great many , 

 respects. It is an adept at all physical exercises, 

 and is as lively and agile, as courageous, as cunning 

 and as ferocious as its kinsman ; it climbs perfectly 

 smooth trees and poles, takes long leaps, swims with 

 ease, and can creep without noise and force itself 

 through extremely narrow apertures. 



Its food is nearly similar to that of the Pine Mar- 

 ten, but it is guilty of a considerably greater amount 

 of mischief, for it has larger opportunities of causing 

 damage to property. Whenever it has the slightest 

 chance, it enters the Chicken-coops and slays the 

 inmates with insatiable ferocity. Besides this it 

 preys on Mice, Rats, Rabbits, birds, and when it is 

 in the forest, on Squirrels and reptiles. Eggs seem 

 to be a favorite dainty with this animal and it also 

 revels in fruit of all kinds, cherries, plums, pears and 

 gooseberries, and hemp seed. It is necessary to pro- 

 tect valuable fruit from it, and this is best accom- 

 plished by painting the tree-trunk with tobacco-juice 

 or kerosene oil as soon as one perceives the mischief. 

 Chicken-coops and Pigeon-houses must be securely 

 locked, and every hole large enough to admit a Rat 

 must be closed up. 



Taming the Even specimens that are taken old are 

 Stone capable of a certain degree of domes- 

 Marten. tication. In Scotland a Stone Marten 

 was once caught in a peculiar way. The unwelcome 

 guest had taken up his abode near a mountain vil- 

 lage and for a long time had been guilty of murders 

 innumerable among the Chicken tribe. With the 

 aid of good Dogs the villagers succeeded in driving 

 him out of an isolated barn, which the robber had 

 appropriated for his den. They drove him to the 

 edge of a precipice, and thought they had him, but 

 he preferred to jump down, falling from a height of 

 ninety feet. The shock proved too violent for him, 

 and he lay motionless, as if dead. His pursuers felt 

 assured that he had killed himself and one of them 

 went down, in hopes of obtaining the fur, and took 

 the poor creature up. It suddenly began to move, 

 and gave its rescuer a distinct proof of its return- 

 ing consciousness by biting him. Still the wounded 



Man did not let the animal go, but seized it by the 

 neck and brought it home. The family treated it 

 with kindness and in a short time it became quite 

 tame, either owing to the fall it had taken or from 

 gratitude for the friendly care. Its owner resolved 

 to make use of its abilities in catching Mice, and 

 therefore the Marten was installed in the stable, 

 where it not only made itself at home in a short 

 time but struck up a friendship with the Horse. 

 When any person entered the stable the Marten was 

 found near its friend, whom it seemed to defend with 

 a growl. It would sit on the Horse's back, or run 

 back and forth on it ; and sometimes played with 

 the Horse's tail or ears. The Horse seemed to ap- 

 preciate the affection the little robber had for it, but 

 unfortunately the tie of friendship was severed in a 

 cruel way. While on one of its nocturnal excursions 

 the Marten entered a trap and was found dead the 

 next morning. 



The Sable, a The celebrated Sable {Mustela zibel- 



Most Valuable lina)is closely allied to the Martens. 



Fur Animal. i t ; s distinguished from the Pine 



Marten, which most resembles it, by its conically- 



shaped head, large ears, long, stout legs, large feet 



and lustrous, silky fur. 



The fur is valued according to its thickness, soft- 

 ness and uniformity of tint. The woolly coat should 

 show a smoky brown tint merging into bluish gray. 

 The lighter the color of the outer coat, the smaller 

 is the value of the skin; the darker and more uni- 

 formly tinted it is, the greater its value. The hand- 

 somest pelts are blackish in the upper part, mixed 

 black and gray on the snout, gray on the cheeks, 

 reddish chestnut-brown on neck and flanks, a beau- 

 tiful yellow on the throat and lower part of the 

 neck, and the ears usually show margins of grayish- 

 white or pale brown. The yellow color of the 

 throat fades after the animal's death, and the most 

 vividly yellow specimens are the first to fade. 



The Sable's Originally the native country of the 

 Range and Sable extended from the Ural to the 



Principal Food. Bering sea and from the southern 

 mountainous boundaries of Siberia to latitude sixty- 

 eight degrees north, and also over a small part of 

 northwestern America, but it has much narrowed 

 during recent times. Incessant persecution has 

 driven the animal to seek refuge in the darkest for- 

 ests of northeastern Asia, and as even there Man 

 follows it eagerly, even at the risk of life, it retires 

 farther and farther back and is constantly becoming 

 more rare. While Sable hunters were still reaping 

 golden harvests, they founded associations in Kam- 

 chatka, and the decrease of the animal there as well 

 as all over Eastern Asia dates from that time. The 

 principal cause of its extermination is the activity 

 of hunters. The animal undertakes rather prolonged 

 wanderings, following, as the natives say, its favorite 

 game, the Squirrel. In the pursuit of these rodents 

 it crosses wide streams by swimming, even during 

 the season of drifting ice, although it usually avoids 

 water. Its favorite haunts are forests of fir trees, 

 whose large trunks afford shelter, while the seeds 

 contained in the cones of the tree furnish the animal 

 food. 



The Sable seems most to resemble the Pine Mar- 

 ten, partaking of its agility and masterly way of 

 climbing. Its food consists chiefly of Squirrels and 

 other rodents, birds and similar prey, but it does not 

 disdain fish, as it is sometimes induced to enter traps 

 in which fish is used as bait ; it has also been observed 

 that it is fond of the honey of wild Bees. It seems 



