300 VERTEBRATA. 



it Boon becomes attached to its master, but is not docile. The flesh is occasionally eaten, but 

 ii. > t prized, bj the Indians. The females are smaller than the males, go with young about six 

 weeks, and produce from four to seven at a time,, about the end of April. According to Mr. 

 Graham, this marten is sometimes troubled with epilepsy. 



'1'hc t'ur of this animal is much esteemed, and the exportation of skins from the territories of the 

 Hudson's Bay Company and Canada is very great. 



The Pekan, Fisher, or Pennant's Marten, M. Canadensis, popularly called Black Fox and 

 8 ack Cat in sonic parts of the United States, has a head somewhat resembling a cat, eyes small 

 and oblique, body long, and formed for agility and strength; general color grayish brown; length 

 of the body twenty-four inches. It runs with rapidity, and climbs trees with facility. When at- 

 tacked by dogs it fights ferociously. Though nocturnal in its habits, it is frequently seen abroad 

 in the day. It prefers low, swampy ground, and being partially web-footed, probably preys oc- 

 casionally on fish: it generally feeds on mice, rabbits, grouse, and the like. It is said to haw 

 received the name of Fisher from a taste for fish used to bait traps. Richardson says it i 

 frogs, and be was informed that it had a fondness for the Canada porcupine, which it kills h\ 

 turning it over and biting it on the belly. It is found from Virginia to the Great Slave Lake. It 

 was \ ery abundant in New England in the early periods of its history, but is now comparatively rare. 



The .1 ipanebe S uiLE, M. melanopus, is little known. 



It may be remarked that some uncertainty and confusion exist as to several species of mar- 

 tens. The pine marten is generally regarded as the American sable, but, as already remarked, 

 I >r. I>cKay held a different opinion. Gervais mentions the Pekan and Pennant's marten as dis- 

 tinct species, and several authors speak of the Huron Marten, M. Huro of Cuvier, as a distinct 

 apecies, while it is no doubt a mere variety of the pine marten. 



The Sable, or Zibeline Marten, M. zibellina ; the Sobol of the Poles and Russians. — This \> 

 by far the most highly esteemed of all the martens; it ranks higher in respect to its fur than i 

 the ermine. In form and size it does not differ greatly from the other martens, and there is abo 

 a slight resemblance in the character of the fur, though that of the martens is very inferior in all 

 those qualities which are valued in furs. Though the fact is sometimes stated otherwise, the 

 t- eth of the sable are of exactly the same character as those of the martens, which indicates the 

 same kind ofKving, and the capacity of partially subsisting upon vegetable matter when animal 

 I is not to be had. But there is one character of the sable which points it out as belonging to 

 a different locality, and that is, the feet being completely covered with fur down to the claws. 

 Thus the sable is a more northerly animal than any of the martens, and much more a creature of 

 the wilds. Accordingly, it is never met with in warm places, but only in the extremist wilds ol 

 Siberia and the vicinity, beyond the positive forests, and on the margins of the polar ice. 



The skin of the sable is exceedingly valuable; and though a very small one, a single skit 

 mi- a large price. The animal is accordingly sought after with the greatest assiduity, and il 

 may be said, that the desire of procuring sable-skins has conduced more than any thing else to tb< 

 discovery of the extreme north and northeast of Asia. It is during winter that this hunting 

 carried on, and it is described as being more severe than the hunting of the fur animals in Ann; 

 ica, because of the vast accumulations of broken ice, covered with snow, which skirt the shorei 

 the sea, and contain between them the most dangerous pitfalls, concealed by snow. In Americi 

 the margin of the Polar Sea is no doubt as wild in itself as it is in Asia; but the American hunt 

 ing-ground does Dot come up into so high latitudes as the sable ground in Siberia; and ' : 

 though the American hunter has long roads and severe cold, he is not beset by so many danj 

 \\ e Deed hardly mention that the fur of the sable, in its perfection, is a rich brown, marked wit 

 some white spots on the chin and sides of the head. The part where these spots are is not i 

 much value. 1 as the rest, and the furriers work it up separately, and give it the name of *sal 

 -ill." 



bike the ermine, the sable is Bubjecl to an annual change of color. In summer it is black, ai 

 the change to brown that it undergoes in winter naturally follows the general law of being ni" 

 perfect in proportion as the cold is more severe. The cold of the sable's country, however, is sat 

 .i- nt every winter for accomplishing any thing that cold can accomplish, whether it reside in tj 



