2O8 ECONOMIC MAMMALOGY 



Sable, 6,000 from Asia, 400,000 (marten) from North America. 

 Skunk, 3,500,000 from North America, 100,000 from South America. 

 Siberian polecat, 600,000 from Asia. 

 Civet (probably spotted skunk), 600,000 from North America. 



The civet cat items is a good illustration of the confusion arising from 

 use of trade names by trappers and furriers, which prevent one from 

 obtaining accurate statistics in some cases. That name is applied to the 

 North American spotted skunks, the bassarisks, and the true civet cats 

 of Asia and Africa. Osborn and Anthony, in their first list, give the 

 number of civet cat skins sold in 1919-1921 as 2,114,535, perhaps in- 

 cluding several distinct species and families, but omit that item from 

 their second list. 



Subfamily Mustelinae MARTENS, FISHERS, WEASELS, FERRETS, 



MINKS, ETC. 



The food of the American pine martens (Martes americana and 

 subspecies) consists chiefly of small mice and insectivores, but they 

 take also rabbits, squirrels, birds and their eggs, insects, reptiles, toads, 

 frogs, lizards, fish, berries, and various other food. 6 They are very fond 

 of mountain ash berries. 7 Their fur has long been in demand, 15,000 

 having been handled by the Hudson Bay Company as far back as 1743. 

 The Pennant marten or fisher (Martes pennanti and subspecies), not- 

 withstanding its popular name, is not aquatic and is not known to catch 

 fish, though it takes fish as bait in traps. Its food is about the same as 

 that of the pine marten, and porcupine quills were found in one stom- 

 ach. 8 Comeau says that he found one with 200 porcupine quills in its 

 body, and has since killed 40 fishers, each one of which had such quills 

 in its body. 9 Other writers testify to the porcupine-attacking habit of the 

 fisher, and one is reported to have attacked a deer, while another de- 

 feated a dog. 10 



In 1906, twenty-four very fine marten pelts sold in London for 

 $70 each, but in the fur boom year of 1920 the best pelts brought 

 $210 each. 11 Skins of the Pennant marten in 1912 brought from $75 



e Coues, N. Amer. Mustelidae, p. 92, 1877. Bailey, N. Amer. Fauna, No. 49, p. 176, 

 1926. Seton, Lives of game animals, n, Part 2, pp. 482-515, 1929. 



7 Hardy, A fall hunt in Maine, Forest and Stream, May 21, 1910, p. 810; Hunter, 

 Canadian wilds, p. 138, 1907; as cited by Seton. 



8 Coues, North American Mustelidae, pp. 66-68, 1877. Bailey, N. Amer. Fauna, 

 No. 49, p. 177, 1926. 



8 Comeau, Life and sport on the North Shore, pp. 80-84, 1909, as cited by Seton. 

 "Hardy, Shooting and fishing, April 13, 1899, p. 526; Forest and Stream, June 4, 



1910, pp. 888-889; Merriam, Mammals of the Adirondacks, pp. 49-50; all quoted by 

 Seton. 



11 Seton, Lives of game animals, n, Part 2, pp. 482-515, 1929. 



