346 THE PINE MARTIN. 



startled victim can address itself to flight. It is a sad robber of nests, rifling them of 

 eggs and young, and ij^ot unfrequently adding the parent birds to its list of victims. 



Even the active and wary squirrel sometimes yields up its life to this agile and stealthy 

 foe ; for in a hole which had been made the headquarters of a Marten were found 

 several of the bushy tails which are such familiar decorations of the squirrel's person. 

 That the squirrels had been captured and eaten by a Marten is placed beyond doubt 

 by the fact that the dead body of the destroyer was discovered within the hole, itself 

 having fallen a victim to the venomous bite of a viper. Poetical justice was visible in 

 this instance ; for there had evidently been a combat between the reptile and the Marten, 

 both having succumbed to the deadly weapons of their adversary. It is probable that 

 the snake was an intruder upon the Marten, and that the latter animal had, after re- 

 ceiving the fatal wound, retained sufficient strength to inflict such injuries upon its an- 

 tagonist as to deprive it of the power to escape, and ultimately to cause its death. 



The damage which a pair of Martens and their young will inflict upon a poultry-yard 

 is almost incredible. If they can only gain an entrance into the fowl-house, they will 

 spare but very few of the inhabitants. They will carry off an entire brood of young 

 chickens, eat the eggs, and destroy the parents. Mr. William Thompson, in his admir- 

 able work on the Zoology of Ireland, relates an anecdote of the destructiveness of the 

 Martens which exhibits in a very strong light the exceeding ferocity of these little 

 animals. 



A farmer, who had possessed twenty-one lambs, found one morning that fourteen of 

 them had been killed by some destructive animal, and that the murderers had not eaten 

 any of the flesh of their victims, but had contented themselves with sucking the blood. 

 On the following night the remaining seven were treated in a similar manner, and the 

 destroyers a pair of Martens were seen in the morning taking their departure from 

 the scene of their sanguinary exploits. They were traced to their residences, and were 

 found to have taken up their abode in a deserted magpie's nest in Tollymore Park. 



It is found that the Martens of both species are very fond of usurping the nests of 

 rooks, hawks, crows, magpies, and other birds, although they sometimes prefer the 

 habitation of a squirrel, or the hole in a decaying tree. After a Marten has taken up its 

 residence in the open nest of a crow, a hawk, or other similar locality, and is quietly 

 sleeping in the daytime, its whereabouts is often manifested by the noisy crowd of small 

 birds which surround the tree, and join in a unanimous outcry against their slumbering 

 foe. In winter, it prefers the more genial retreats which are afforded by hollow trees, 

 or the clefts of rocks, where it makes a warm bed with dry leaves or grass, and is securely 

 sheltered from the cold atmosphere. But in the summer time it migrates to the cooler 

 and more airy domicile which is afforded by a deserted nest, and there takes up its abode. 



A magpie's nest is a very favorite resort of the Marten, because its arched covering 

 and small entrance afford additional security. A boy who was engaged in bird-nesting, 

 and had climbed to the top of a lofty tree in order to plunder a magpie's nest, was 

 made painfully sensible of an intruder's presence by a severe bite which was inflicted 

 upon his fingers as soon as he inserted his hand into the narrow entrance. This ad- 

 venture occured in Belvoir Park, County Down, in Ireland. 



The fur of the Pine Marten is rather valuable, especially if the animal be killed in 

 the winter. A really fine skin is but little inferior to the celebrated sable, and can 

 hardly be distinguished from it by inexperienced eyes. An ordinary skin, in good 

 preservation, is worth about two shillings and sixpence, before it is dressed by the furrier, 

 but its value is much enchanced by its quality. It is thought not to be so prolific an 

 animal as the Beech Marten, seldom producing above three or four at a birth, while the 

 latter animal has been known to nurture six or seven young at the same time. If this 

 circumstance be generally true, it goes far towards proving that the Beech and the Pine 

 Marten are really distinct animals. The head of this creature is smaller than that of 

 the Beech Marten, and the legs are proportionately larger. 



The length of the Pine Marten is about eighteen inches, exclusive of the tail, which 

 measures about ten inches. The tail is covered with long and rather bushy hair, and 

 is slightly darker than the rest of the body, which is covered with brown hair. The tint, 

 however, is variable in different specimens, and even in the same individual undergoes 



