52 THE MARTEN. 



pended, and it springs upon them and dispatches them 

 in a moment. 



The art with which many of the wild animals dis- 

 patch their prey, without injuring or tearing the flesh, 

 is very surprising, and in none is it more so than in the 

 marten. If the animal be small, or of feeble structure, 

 it is understood by one crush of its jaws to dislocate 

 the neck, and divide the spinal marrow ; but if the 

 animal be too large, or the articulation of the neck too 

 strong for that purpose, it fastens on the side of the 

 neck behind the ear, and divides the blood-vessels 

 with as much neatness and certainty, as if it had studied 

 anatomy. 



The PINE MARTEN (Maries abietmi) differs from 

 the common marten in appearance only by being a 

 little smaller, and having the throat and breast yel- 

 lowish instead of white ; though the latter is said not to 

 be always the case, and is by some supposed to be the 

 effect of age. The pine-marten is most abundant in 

 Scotland, in the w 7 ild, wooded ravines of the mountains, 

 where it either builds a nest for itself on the tops of 

 trees, or finds one ready made by dislodging or de- 

 stroying a bird. This animal is more secluded than 

 the former, and unless at lonely huts near its native 

 woods, it seldom approaches the habitation of man, or 

 interferes with his property. Their habits, as well as 

 the superior thickness and softness of the fur, may be 

 the result of the more rigid climate, as it is found that 

 the marten of countries that are still colder, has finer 

 fur than the pine-marten of Scotland. 



But if those circumstances soften the fur, they do 



