54 CARNIVORES. 



In general the Fur of this species is less valued than Unit of the pine-marten ; 

 but nme skins bom Afghanistan and Turkestan have beautiful fur, with bog, 



glossy, noarly black piles, and very soft white or pale ashy under-fur. These 

 Turkettaa martens were at one time regarded as belonging to a distinct Hpeeies. 

 The inferiority of the fur of the ordinary beech-marten, as compared with that of 

 the sable, is due not only to its colour and actual length, but likewise to the relative 

 length of the long piles as compared with that of the under I'm-, which is seaTCely 

 concealed In, them The mom northern skins an always superior to those from 

 Southern Kuropc; and a huge number are imported into this country and sold U 

 mi inferior kind of sable. As already mentioned, it was considered by the late 

 Professor Rolloston that the domesticated animal employed by the ancient Greeks 

 lor the purposes for which we now use the cat, anil called by them the AUohvos, 

 WU thifl marten, which is often spoken of as the white breasted marten. Fossil 

 remains of martens occur in the Cavern deposits of the Continent; but only those 

 of the pine-marten have as yet been found in England. 



The sable ( M. tibetl i mi ) is so nearly allied to the pine-marten 

 that some writers have considered that it should be regarded merely 



as a variety distinguished by the greater length and fineness of the fur. Urchin 

 States, however, that it has a much more distinctly cone-shaped head, larger ears, 

 longer and stouter limbs, and proportionately larger feet En the most bighly- 



esfce d specimens the fill' should be thick, soft, and nearly uniformly coloured. 



Such skins are blackish above, having a mixture of black and grey on the snout, 

 grey on the cheeks, chestnut-brown on the neck and flanks, and orange-yellow, or 



BOmetl I reddish orange on the throat.. The margins of the ears are either 



greyish white or light brown in colour. In a number cf cases there is a larger 

 or smaller admixture of while hairs i ing the dark fur of the back, while the 



muzzle, cl ks, breast, and ander-parts are white, In other specimens the Eur on 



the buck is yellowish brown, while that of the iinder-parts is nearly white, and 



only the legs black. Good skins should exhibit a kind of " watering," owing to 



the reddish tint of the woolly under-fur showing through the long outer hairs. 



An average sable will measure about 20 inches from the snout to the root, of the 



tail; the length of the tail being 7 inches. The skins are valued only when they 



have their winter fur, the summer coat being much shorter. In spring, although 



the winter fur may still be retained, tin' skins are quite useless, as the hail- will 



drop oll'even after the skins have I n dressed. 



The range of the sable originally extended from the I'ral 

 Distribution. . , . 



Mountains to Behxing Sea, and from the mountains on the southern 



borders of Siberia to the (iKth parallel of north latitude. It is, however, now much 



curtailed, owing i" the incessant pi rseeution to which the animal has been SO long 



subject; and the chief haunts are now tin- mountain forests of North Asia, more 



especially Kastern Siberia and Kamschat ka. 



According to reports furnished to Dr. Gllillemard by a native 

 Habit*. ' . 



hunter, it appears that sables are for the most, part 01 nocturnal 



habits, and. though they occasionally feed by day, generally spend thai period 01 



the twenty four hours In holes at the roots or in the trunks of trees. They dislike 



the presence of man. and are rarely to be found in the neighbourhood of the 



