THE SABLE. 185 



The skull is much more elongated than either a Bear's or a Glutton's ; the tympanic bullse are 

 slightly swollen, and the jugal arches, beneath which the jaw muscles pass, are comparatively narrow 

 and slender. As in the Wolverene, there are thirty-eight teeth, eighteen in the upper, twenty in the 

 lower jaw, and the molars arc thoroughly carnivorous in character, being produced into sharp, 

 trenchant, cutting edges. 



The Pine Marten occurs over a considerable portion of Europe and Asia, and, amongst other 

 places, in Great Britain, where, however, it is becoming rare. The finest specimens are said to come 

 from Sweden. 



This animal is essentially arboreal in its habits, inhabiting chiefly thick coniferous woods, whence 

 its name of Pine Marten is derived. In the branches the female makes a nest of leaves or moss, and 

 sometimes saves herself this trouble by ejecting Squirrels or Woodpeckers, and occupying the vacant 

 dwellings. For its size it is, like all the Mustelidce, extremely ferocious and strong. It attacks and 

 kills Fawns, notwithstanding their superior size ; from these down to mice, nothing comes amiss to it, 

 and nothing is safe from its attacks. 



The Beech Marten, or Stone Marten (Mustela foina], differs from the foregoing species in. certain 

 characters of the skull and teeth, as well as in the fact that the throat is white instead of yellow. Its 

 habits are, on the whole, similar to those of the Pine Marten, but it is more often found away from 

 woods, on the sides of mountains and rocks, or in the neighbourhood of farms. Its general 

 distribution is the same as that of the Pine Marten, but it is decidedly more common than the latter 

 in Great Britain. 



THE PEKAN* 



The Pekan, or Pennant's Marten, is a North American species. It is much larger than either of 

 the preceding, the body attaining a length of thirty inches from snout to root of tail, while the tail 

 itself is about sixteen inches long. The face is more Dog-like than that of the Common Marten ; the 

 skin is brown, becoming lighter in the front part of the back, and presenting white patches on the chest 

 and belly. 



Like the Pine Mai'ten, it is a good climber, but, unlike it, shows a partiality, not for the driest 

 parts of the wood, but for the neighbourhood of water. Its chief food seems to be Mice, but it is also 

 fond of stealing the fish used to bait traps whence it is often called the Fisher and Sir J. Richardson 

 states that its favourite meal is the Canadian Porcupine, which it kills by a bite on its unprotected 

 belly, and eats, notwithstanding the quills. Sometimes it is forced, by want of better food, to eat 

 beech-nuts. 



THE SABLE.f 



This is another species of the same genus, important from the fact that it is the most valuable of 

 the fur-producing animals. Its skin seems to have been even more precious in former times than now. 

 A writer in the sixteenth century states that " forty of the best quality, which is the quantity usually 

 packed in one bale, have been sold for more than a thousand pieces of gold." 



The Sable is found in the northern parts of Asia, being especially abundant between the Lena 

 r.nd Kamstchatka. It differs markedly from the true Martens in the form of its head, which is conical, 

 the apex of the cone being formed by the pointed snout, while from its base project the pointed, and, 

 for a Mustela, large ears. The legs and feet, too, are larger and stronger than in the other species of 

 this genus. 



Sable-hunting is, natm'ally, a very important branch of industry, and forms the chief occupation 

 of many of the Siberian tribes. The work is by no means an easy one ; it entails miles of travelling 

 in dark woods and through heavy snow-storms ; the track of the Sables may have to be followed for 

 long distances ; and numerous traps must be skilfully set and visited daily. With all his trouble, the 

 hunter often finds tli.it " an Arctic Fox, or some other Carnivore, has eaten up the costly booty, leaving 

 only a few fragments, as if for the express purpose of showing him how narrowly he has escaped 

 earning forty, fifty, or sixty silver roubles." 



* Afuxtela Pennantii. t Mustela zibdlina. 



' 73 



