VOL. LXII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 327 



it travels very slowly, and has from 4 to 7 young at a time; in size it equals the 

 marten; its length is about l6 inches; its whole body is covered with shining 

 dark brown hairs, which lie very close, and seem perfectly convenient for an am- 

 phibious animal; under these brown hairs the woolly hairs are tawny, the whole 

 under-jaw is encompassed by a stripe of white hairs, and a little irregular spot of 

 the same colour appears in the middle of the throat ; the feet are quite covered 

 with liair to the very nails, which are small, 5 on each foot, and of a whitish 

 semipelhicid colour; the tail is pretty well beset with hair, though not bushy, 

 and much blacker than the rest of the body; it is about half as long as the 

 whole animal. 



3. Pine Marten. Penn. Syn. Quad. p. 2l6, n. 155. Mustek Martes (Abie- 

 tum). Linn. Severn river, male and female. 



These seem to be a variety of the yellow breasted marten, Br. Zool. i. 81; 

 their colour, especially in the females, being much paler than that described in 

 Mr. Pennant's works. The male is of a chestnut brown, the female a bright 

 tawny yellow ; the former has here some dark brown hairs, the latter in the 

 same manner has some bright bay hairs. They both have white cheeks, and 

 white tips of the ears. Their furs are very full of hair, proper to preserve them 

 from the cold. The tail in both sexes is bushy, and darker than the rest of the 

 body; in the female indeed it is tawny, with a black tip; in both it is shorter 

 than described by Mr. Pennant, Mr. Brisson, and others, and was perhaps mu- 

 tilated. This species feeds on mice, rabbits, &c. though it will not touch a 

 dead mouse which is put as a bait in a trap, and therefore the inhabitants are 

 obliged to make use of a partridge's head, or the like, for that purpose. If 

 pursued with noise, it immediately gets up into a tree. Some gentlemen have 

 unsuccessfully attempted to tame these creatures, and those kept in cages with 

 that view have been observed to be troubled with epileptic fits. Numbers of 

 them are caught at Hudson's Bay in traps made of small sticks. They burrow 

 under ground, and bring forth from 4 to 7 young at a time. 



4 Stoat and Ermine. Penn. Syn. Quad. p. 212, n. 151, a, |3, Mustek Erminea. 

 Linn. Severn river, Albany Fort. 



One in the summer and another in the winter dress. The natives about 

 Albany call them sic-cuse-sue, but it is not known why they give them that 

 name. They feed on mice, small birds, all sorts of fish, flesh, and fowl. 



5. Common Weesel. Penn. Syn. Quad. p. 211, n. 150. Mustek Nivalis. 

 Linn. 



One in its winter dress, length ^ inches, tail about 1 inch, perhaps mutilated ; 

 it is quite white, but the coat is mixed here and there with a brownish hair, 

 especially in the tail. Another in the summer coat, the same as our weesel. 



6. Skunk. Penn. Syn. Quad. p. 233, n. 167. Kalm's Travels, 1. 2/3, tab, 1. 



