5 6 CARNIVORES. 



two thousand. The price of a single sable skin in St. Petersburg ranges from £2 

 to £25, according to its quality and condition. The Kamschatkan peasant receives 

 an average of sixteen roubles for each skin ; and this he has to take out in kind. 

 American This species (M. americana) is so nearly related to the pine- 



Marten, marten and the sable that there may be a question whether it should 

 be regarded as anything more than a variety. The long hair is very like that of 

 the pine-marten, to which it is most nearly allied ; its general colour being more 

 or less uniformly brown, the breast-spot yellow, and the head and ears grey or 

 whitish. 



It is found in the Hudson's Bay district, Labrador, Alaska, and other parts of 

 North America, descending on the eastern side as far south as the Adirondack 

 Mountains, near New York. 



In habits it appears to be similar to the pine-marten. In the Adirondacks it 

 inhabits the evergreen forests, and is chiefly, although not exclusively, nocturnal. 

 Its food consists of partridges, rabbits, and other smaller rodents, birds' eggs, young 

 birds, frogs and toads, and large insects. It is said to display a distinct preference 

 for forests of conifers, and is thoroughly arboreal, never venturing into the neigh- 

 bourhood of human dwellings. Although generally gentle-looking in appearance 

 it is related that when attacking animals larger than itself, such as hares, it becomes 

 as fierce in demeanour, in proportion to its size, as a tiger. When one is seen 

 among the tree-tops, the hunter has but to whistle and thus attract its attention, 

 when it will afford a ready shot. 



The fur is of great commercial value ; the best skins selling at about £3, 



15s. each. Of recent years the annual imports into this country have exceeded 



100,000. Curiously enough, at certain periods this species becomes exceedingly 



scarce ; the periods of scarcity recurring with great regularity at intervals of about 



ten years. How the animals disappear is, however, unknown, since there is no 



region into which they can migrate without the knowledge of the hunter, and 



none are found dead. The best season for obtaining the skins is in November ; 



the animals being generally caught in wooden traps, which are set in lines for 



miles across the country. In spite of the incessant persecution to which it is 



subject, it does not appear that this species has appreciably diminished in number 



in the wilder regions of its habitat. 



The largest of all the martens is the so-called fisher marten (M. 

 Fisher Marten. ° 



pennanti), an animal rejoicing in a number of names — both popular 



and scientific — being variously designated as the " pekan," "Pennant's marten," 



" black fox," and " black cat." The two latter titles are due to the large size, stout 



build, and dark colour of the animal, which in point of form may be more aptly 



compared to a fox than to a weasel. It measures from 24 to 30 inches from the 



tip of the snout to the root of the tail. Its general colour is blackish brown, 



becoming grey on the head and neck ; while the throat is distinguished by the 



absence of the light-coloured patch distinctive of all the other species. It ranges 



over the greater part of North America, as far northwards as Alaska and the 



Great Slave Lake, while to the southwards it is found in the upper part of Texas 



and about latitude 35°. Continual hunting has, however, exterminated the animal 



from the more settled districts of the United States east of the Mississippi. 



