148 THE PINE-MARTEN. 



sociable disposition, the pine-marten is fierce and 

 solitary, avoiding its own kind at all times except 

 during the mating season. 



All the weasels are notorious for their reckless 

 bravery, which often outruns sound judgment, 

 and the marten is by no means an exception. It 

 is both nocturnal and diurnal in its habits ; in- 

 deed, like the otter, it is one of those creatures 

 which seem never to rest. Probably it curls up 

 in some sunny or sheltered spot after a meal, 

 and when the meal is digested, an hour or so 

 later, sallies forth again on its lifelong pathway 

 of destruction. 



Martens have been known boldly to raid heron- 

 ries, attacking the young birds in their nests, 

 forthwith to be themselves attacked by a croaking, 

 gasping, screeching army of bayonet-armed de- 

 fenders ! Herons readily unite to help members 

 of their own clan, and the marten that failed to 

 make himself scarce when the massed attack 

 descended would have a very thin chance of 

 getting to earth alive. This animal has been 

 known to fall upon a nesting ringdove, shattering 

 the life out of the brooding bird ere she had time 

 to know what manner of death had descended 

 upon her ; in fact, any birds that nest in trees, 

 barring, perhaps, the larger owls, are subject to 

 the attacks of this gifted little climber. 



The squirrel is no sluggard in the branches, yet 

 compared with the marten it is an indifferent 

 climber. In hunting squirrels the marten is at 

 a disadvantage at the outset, for, being a heavier 

 animal, it must leap sooner and alight later in 

 passing from tree to tree ; it cannot run to the 

 extreme end of the slender branches as does the 

 squirrel, and so must take much longer leaps at 



