32 NEW- YORK FAUNA. 



thinly settled northern districts. Twenty years ago, they were numerous in the western part 

 of the State, where they are now scarcely ever seen. It is a nocturnal species, and lives 

 chiefly on the smaller quadrupeds, but also devours frogs, fish and serpents. It climbs trees 

 with great ease, and takes up its abode in the trunk of a tree. It appears to prefer marshy 

 wooded swamps, and the vicinity of lakes and water courses. 



The name of Fisher, which has been censured as not applicable to this animal, is, however, 

 that by which it is best known, and which it has received from its characteristic habits. 

 Richardson states that it feeds on the hoards of frozen fish stored up by the residents. We 

 are informed by a person who resided many years near Lake Oneida, where the Fisher was 

 then common, that the name was derived from its singular fondness for the fish used to bait 

 traps. The hunters were in the practice of soaking their fisli over night, and it was frequently 

 carried off by the fisher, whose well known tracks were seen in tlie vicinity. In Hamilton 

 county it is still numerous and troublesome. The hunters there have assured me that they 

 have known a fisher to destroy twelve out of thirteen traps in a line of not more than fourteen 

 miles in length. It brings forth two young annually. The hunting season for the fisher in 

 the northern part of the State, commences about the tenth of October, and lasts to the middle 

 of May, when the furs are not so valuable. The ordinary price is $1 '50 per skin ; but it is 

 not so fine, nor so highly valued as that of the sable. Its geographical range is included 

 between the fortieth and seventieth parallels of latitude, extending across the continent. 



THE AMERICAN SABLE. 



MUSTELA MARTES. 



PLATE XL FIG. 2. — PLATE XIX. FIG. 2. Skull. — (CABINET OF THE LYCEUM.) 



Mustela marles. LiN. Gmel; Vol. 1, p. 95. 



Pine Marten. Pesn. Arct. Zool. Vol. ], p. 70. Harlan, Fauna, p. 07. Godman, Vol. 1, p. 200, figure. Richardson, 



F. B. A. Vol. 1, p. 51, (summer dress.) 

 M. zibbeUina? GoDMAN, Vol. 1, p. 208. 

 M. huTO. Freb. Cuviee. 



Pine Marten. £m.mon-s, Mass. Reporl, 1638, p. 25. 

 The Sable of the New-York hunters. 



Characteristics. Varying in color from tawny to brown or black. Head constantly lighter. 

 Length 20 - 30 inches. 



Description. Head long and pointed. Stands rather high on its feet. Ears broad, short, 

 and somewhat acuminated. Eyes small and black. Tail bushy, and enlarged towards the 

 end. Toes with long, slender and compressed nails, nearly concealed by the hair. 



Color, various, according to age, season and latitude. The following notes are derived 

 from four specimens in the Cabinet of the Lyceum : 



No. 1 is larger and higher colored than the others, measuring thirty inches in its total 

 length. Head, sides of the neck and upper part of the throat white. Chin with a slight 



