CHAP. MIL] POLECATS MARTENS. 105 



other young one also fell to the ground, both bleeding at the 

 throat. I immediately loaded my gun, and had the satisfaction 

 of shooting a large polecat, who came climbing down the tree 

 and was just preparing to carry away one of the young pigeons. 



Like the stoat, the polecat has a beautiful fur, rendered use- 

 less by the strong odour of the animal. Notwithstanding the 

 quantity of game and other creatures killed by the polecat, he 

 does not appear to be very quick on the ground, and must owe 

 his success in hunting more to perseverance and cunning than 

 to activity. Like the stoat and weasel, this animal is easily 

 caught in box-traps, and is attracted in an extraordinary manner 

 by the smell of musk, which they appear quite unable to resist. 



In trapping all these small beasts with iron traps the bait 

 should be suspended at some little height above the trap, to 

 oblige them to jump up, and by so doing there is a better chance 

 that, notwithstanding their light weight, the trap will be sprung. 



Formerly I frequently mistook the track of the marten-cat for 

 that of a hare, when seen in the snow. Its way of placing its 

 feet, and of moving by a succession of leaps, is quite similar to 

 that of the more harmless animal, which so often serves it for 

 food. The general abode of the marten is in woods and rocky 

 cairns. He is a very beautiful and graceful animal, with a fine 

 fur, quite devoid of all smell, but owing to its great agility it 

 must be one of the most destructive of the tribe. When hunt- 

 ing, their movements are quick and full of elegance, the effect of 

 which is much heightened by their brilliant black eyes and rich 

 brown fur, contrasted with the orange-coloured mark on their 

 throat and breast. The marten, when disturbed by dogs, climbs 

 a tree with the agility of a squirrel, and leaps from branch to 

 branch, and from tree to tree. I used frequently to shoot them 

 with my rifle on the tall pine-trees in Sutherlandshire. In this 

 part of the country they are now seldom seen. This animal is 

 not wholly carnivorous, being very fond of some fruits the 

 strawberry and raspberry, for instance. I found in my garden in 

 Inverness-shire that some animal came nightly to the raspberry- 

 bushes ; the track appeared like that of a rabbit or hare, but as I 

 also saw that the animal climbed the bushes, I knew it could be 

 neither of these. Out of curiosity, I set a trap for the marauder ; 

 the next morning, on going to look at it very early, I could see 



