158 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR, 



specimen is to be met with. A great forest fire in the central part 

 of East Ural is said to have driven off the highly-prized and much- 

 hunted creature. We hear the same story in the forest villages of 

 the lower Ob, where the hunting of the sable is still pursued, and 

 yields, for instance, at the Yelisaroff market, about a score of skins 

 every winter. 



In all the forests of West Siberia the pine-marten is notably more 

 abundant than the sable. In the fairly extensive hunting-ground 

 around the already-mentioned town of Tagilsk from thirty to eighty 

 are still captured every winter. It is said that the pine-marten, 

 much more than the sable, is associated with the squirrel, and that 

 the two appear and disappear together. But the greedy marten is 

 by no means content with making the beautiful squirrel its prey; 

 indeed it kills every creature which it can master, and is an espe- 

 cially dangerous foe of black-cock and capercaillie. Even in summer 

 a clever spring often enables him to capture the watchful bird; while 

 in winter the habit the black game birds have of sleeping in holes 

 in the snow greatly facilitates his stealthy operations. Sneaking 

 almost noiselessly from branch to branch, he comes within springing 

 distance of the buried bird, and springs on it from above, crush- 

 ing down the snowy roof by the force of his bound, and seizing 

 the sleeper by the neck before it has any chance to escape. The 

 stone-marten also occurs everywhere in the mountain forests, but it 

 is rarer than its relative. Polecat, ermine, and weasel are also 

 widely distributed and locally very abundant; the mink is con- 

 fined to the western side of the Ural, and is also absent from its 

 tributaries, the Irtish and Ob, which harbour the otter in consider- 

 able numbers; the badger is hardly ever mentioned in West Siberia; 

 and the universally distributed glutton is less thought of than any 

 other of the martens, being hunted not so much for his skin as 

 because of his thefts from the traps. 



Although the west of Siberia is regarded as altogether over-shot, 

 the forest-folk prepare every year to hunt for sable and other mar- 

 tens. Some huntsmen undertake expeditions and explorations, which 

 compare with those of the North American trappers. Of course, they 

 do not confine their attention to martens, but are prepared to bag 



