562 THE MARTENS OF THE NORTH. 



sequestered corners. During the autumn he lays up a store of winter 

 provision by collecting the finest grass and moss and herbs. These 

 he dries in the sun, and disposes in small heaps or hayricks, which 

 vary in size according to the number of animals employed, and fre- 

 quently furnish the sable-hunter with provender for his horse in the 

 hour of direst emergency. 



The group of Arctic Garni vora, more numerous than the reader 

 would at the first glance suppose, includes those animals which fur- 

 nish commerce with the costliest furs. 



Except the Fox and the White Bear, of which I shall presently 

 speak, all these Carnivora belong to the family which has for its 

 type the " long-spined animal" the common European "Weasel 

 (Mustela) and which borrows from it its zoological appellation of 

 Mustelidce. 



In this family the most remarkable genera are undoubtedly the 

 Martens, the Polecats, the Gluttons, and the Otters. 



The Martens of the North are cousins-german of the weasels, so 

 justly feared by our farmers and villagers on account of the exten- 

 sive depredations which they commit in the poultry-yard. The mar- 

 tens are not less ferocious ; but in the fir and birch forests which 

 they inhabit, it is upon the small rodents, the birds, and, when 

 necessity prompts, upon the reptiles, that they exercise their 

 sanguinary tyranny. They scale trees as nimbly as cats ; and their 

 flexible body enables them to introduce themselves into the smallest 

 openings, where a cat could not pass, and into the burrows and 

 fissures of the trees or rocks which serve as an asylum for their 

 victims. They are, moreover, very pretty animals, with lively manners, 

 a cunning physiognomy, and a rich furry attire. Besides the ordi- 

 nary marten, which is found in all the north of Europe, zoologists 

 distinguish in this genus several species exclusively indigenous to the 

 coldest regions of the two continents. The most renowned for the 

 beauty of his coat is the Zibelline, or Sable, which we must look for 



