116 CAENIVORA. 



EUSSIAN SABLE. 



Mustela zihcUina. 



French : Martre zibelline. German : Zobel. 



The Sable, \Yhich yields, for its size, the most costly 

 fur of all animals, is fomid throughout Siberia. It is 

 most abundant in Kamschatka, Yakutsk, the Amoor 

 j)rovince, and the extreme north of China. . It is also 

 found in the Island of Saghalien. 



The hunter has many a hard day of exposure and 

 toil in these bleak inhospitable regions before trapping 

 this small but valuable animal, whose tracks he barely 

 discerns in the snow. 



The Russian Sable is about 9 inches long, including 

 the tail, which is 5 inches ; the ears are short, and as a 

 rule of a lighter shade than the rest of the body ; the 

 colour varies considerably, but not so much as in the 

 Marten, brown and dark brown being the predominant 

 shades. Light brown, silvery, and animals intermixed 

 with silvery or white hairs, are by no means uncommon. 

 A perfectly white example is rarely met with. There is, 

 except in a few instances, no mark on the throat. 



This animal is closely allied to the Baum and Ameri- 

 can Martens. 



The choicest and most valuable furs are those which 

 the rich fur-bearing province of Yakutsk produces. i^33 

 per skin has been paid for prime black skins of the 

 Crown Collection. The Okhotsky type is smaller, and 

 inferior to these in colour, but yet furnishes a useful, 

 marketable skin. Kamschatka produces, perhaps, the 

 most abundant supply of this fur. The animals from 



