SABLE or MARTEN 



Mustela aincricana. 



In the days when the first trappers roamed the wilderness of 

 what is now Canada and the northern United States, the American 

 sable was so numerous that the skins were annually exported by the 

 thousands. To-day because of the high value then set upon their 

 rich brown fur with its remarkably fine texture, its soft downy 

 warmth and the beauty of its gloss, these animals, who are more 

 properly called martens, are rare everywhere throughout their 

 range. Had they not been aided in their unequal conquest with man 

 by natural shyness and unusual powers of reproduction, they would 

 probably long since have become practically extinct. As it is, they 

 withdraw as far as possible from civilization into mountainous 



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