THE PINE-MARTEN. 153 



likely to prove widely profitable, as owing to the 

 disposition of the marten its rearing is somewhat 

 precarious. Overfeeding leads to infertility, and 

 a large cage must be employed for each individual 

 specimen ; otherwise the beast suffers from lack of 

 exercise. The violence of the males is, however, 

 the chief difficulty and the most common cause of 

 loss. The cage of the female must be provided 

 with shelters into which she can retreat in order to 

 escape her lord, though even when every provision 

 is made in this way the female is apt to be killed 

 by the male's long corner-teeth penetrating her 

 brain. 



It is probable that in a wild state such mortality 

 does not occur. It is as unjust to judge the 

 characters of wild creatures from examples afforded 

 by their less fortunate kindred kept in captivity, 

 as it would be to attempt to gauge the character 

 of man by a study of prisoners in solitary confine- 

 ment ; and particularly as concerns the mating and 

 breeding habits of animals does captivity upset the 

 natural order of things. How can they be natural 

 when everything that nature gave them as a birth- 

 right is taken away ? And we can only hope that 

 a more intimate knowledge of the marten of our 

 woods will finally dispel many of the evil charges 

 which experience with his captive kin has caused 

 to be brought against him. 



THE YOUNG. 



The wild marten usually adapts a bird's nest as 

 a nursery for its young, though it may choose a 

 hollow tree or a crevice among boulders, in the 

 latter case loosely constructing a nest of grass and 

 moss. 



Gestation lasts about ninety days, very consider- 



