CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 5. CARNIVORA. 305 



hair. The fur is of two sorts — the inner extremely soft, short, copious, and of a light yellowish- 

 gray color; the outer very long, shining, ash-colored at the roots, brown at the extremity, but of 

 different degrees of intensity at different parts of the body ; the middle of the back, the tail, the 

 outer parts of the legs and the feet, being darker than the other parts; the belly lighter and more 

 <jray; the throat white. Length of head and body one foot six inches; of the tail, nine inches 

 six lines. 



This marten is found more remote from woods, though it is often met with in them, and more 

 frequently in mountainous and stony places, and nearer the habitations of man than the pine mar- 

 ten. It prefers the vicinity of farm-yards and homesteads, and is a ruinous visitor to them and 

 the game-preserve. It is an expert climber, and is lively, active, and graceful in its movements. 

 The nest of the female is constructed of herbage, straw, or grass, sometimes in the hollow of a 

 tree, sometimes in the crevices of rocks, not unfrequently in a ruin, and occasionally in granaries 

 or barns. The fur is considered very far inferior to that of the pine marten, and is known in the 

 trade as the skin of the Stone Marten, Many are imported from the north of Europe, and dyed 

 to represent sable. The comparatively poor quality of the fur, however, is immediately percept- 

 ible to the experienced eye, although, as is the case with most of the animals which are used for 

 their fur, the northern skins are fuller, richer in color, and more lustrous than those from more 

 'temperate climates. 



The Pine Marten, Martes abiehim, the Mustela niartes of Linnaeus. — Of this species the general 



jolor is brown, though as in the case of the preceding, subject to variation in the depth of the tint ; 



:hroat yellow ; toes naked beneath ; legs longer and head smaller than in the beech marten. This 



s the Marte of the French ; Marta, Afartura, Martora, and Martorello of the Italians ; Marta of 



.he Spanish ; Feld-Marder and Wild-Marder of the Germans ; Mqpter of the Dutch ; Wawpeestan 



)f the Cree Indians; Wawbeechins of the Algonquins; Sable of the American Fur-Dealers, 



hough Dr. DeKay thinks the American sable a distinct species; and Marten of the Hudson's 



r 3ay Company's Lists. It is found in Europe and North America. In its habits it resembles 



he beech marten in many respects, but it shuns the neighborhood of man — living in Europe in 



leep forests, and preying on birds and the smaller animals. The female deposits six to eight 



oung ones, in a nest of moss and leaves, formed in some hollow tree, when she does not take 



tossession of that of the squirrel or the woodpecker. 



In America it inhabits the woody districts in the northern parts, from the Atlantic to the 

 'acific, in great numbers, and has been observed to be particularly abundant where the trees 

 ave been killed by fire, but are still standing. It lives in the trees, is nocturnal in its habits, 

 nd destroys great numbers of the smaller squirrels. " It is very rare," says Richardson. u as 

 learne has remarked, in the district lying north of Churchill River and east of Great Slave 

 jake, known by the name of Chepewyan or Barren Lands. A similar district, on the Asiatic 

 ide of Behring's Straits, twenty-five degrees of longitude in breadth, and inhabited by the 

 chutski, is described by Pennant as equally unfrequented by the marten, and for the same rea- 

 >n, the want of trees. The limit of its northern range in America is like that of the woods, 

 bout the sixty-eighth degree of latitude, and it is said to be found as far south as New England, 

 'articular races of martens, distinguished by the fineness and dark colors of their fur, appear to 

 iliabit certain rocky districts. The rocky and mountainous but woody district of the Nipigon, 

 ■i the north side of Lake Superior, has long been known for its black and valuable marten- 

 cms." It might have been added that this animal is found as far south as Pennsylvania. 

 The same author gives the length of the head and body at from eighteen to twenty inches, and 

 >tices a remark of the natives that the fur loses all its luster, and consequently much of it* 

 due, upon the falling of the first shower of rain for the season. He further states that this 

 umal preys on mice, hares, and partridges, and in summer on small birds' eggs, <fec. A p'ar- 

 !iage's head, with the feathers, is, he says, the best bait for the long-traps in" which it is taken, 

 does not reject carrion, and often destroys the hoards of meat and fish laid up by the natives, 

 hen they have accidentally left a crevice by which it can enter. When its retreat is cut off, it 

 owa its teeth, sets up its hair, arches its back, and hisses like a cat. It will seize a dog by the 

 >se and bite so hard, that, unless the latter is well used to the combat, it escapes. Easily tamed, 

 Vol. I.— 39 



