90 



HUSTELID^.- 



-JIAMMALIA- 



-MltSTEt.ir).E. 



\'/ " 



native of the British isles, as well as of Europe generally. 

 It occurs abundantly iu rocky mouritaiuous districts, 

 and is perhaps less strictly arboreal in its habits than 

 the pine marten. According to 

 Mr. Bell, "the female makes hel 

 nest generally in a hollow tree, but 

 not uiifrequently in holes iu rocks, 

 sometimes in ruined buildings, 

 or even in granaries and barns. It 

 is formed of straw or grass. She 

 has at least two litters in a year — 

 some assert, four — and the number 

 of young ones at each birth varies 

 from two to seven, the usual number 

 being four or five. The aspect and 

 attitudes of the marten are perhaps 

 more elegant than those of any 

 other of our native quadrupeds. 

 Endowed with great liveliness and 

 activity, its movements are at once 

 rapid and gracile. Its limbs are elastic, and its body 

 lithe and flexible, and it bounds and springs over the 

 ground with equal speed and grace. It is, however, 

 wild and untameable to a great degree, if captured 

 when full grown or after a very early age." The food 

 of the beech marten, in common with its allied forms, 

 consists of birds, squirrels, and other small quadrupeds. 

 THE PEKAN [Martes Caimdieiisis) of the Canadians, 

 is known by the title of the Fisher or fishing marten, 

 and it has likewise several other names. It presents a 

 more canine look about the face than the sable or 

 other martens. The head is rounded posteriorly, con- 

 tracting suddenly in front to terminate in a rather 

 sharply-pointed muzzle. The ears are comparatively 

 small. It is a stouter -built animal than the pine 

 marten. The fore-limbs are remarkably strong and 

 short, the claws of the feet being sharp and much 

 curved. As in the pine marten, the soles of the feet 

 are completely enveloped in closely-set hairs, the 

 several digits being connected together at their common 

 base by a short, web-like expansion of the skin. The 

 fur is rather coarse, and of a dark-brown colour, 

 lighter at the fore part of the body, but almost black 

 beliind, as well as on the throat, belly, and limbs. 

 White spots are occasionally seen between the fore and 

 hind legs. The fur has a strong musky odour, and its 

 quality is inferior to that of tlie sable. Although less 

 sought after by the Araericaa i'ur-dealers, several 

 thousand pekans are destroyed amiually for the sake 

 of their skins. Sir John Richardson states that it 

 feeds principally on mice. He adds — " It lives in the 

 woods, preferring damp places in the vicinity of water, 

 in which respect it dilfers from the marten, which is 

 generally found in the driest spots of the pine forests. 

 The fisher is said to prey much on frogs in the summer 

 season ; but I have been informed that its favourite 

 food is the Canada porcupine, which it kills by biting 

 on the bell}'. It does not seek its food in the water, 

 although, like the pine marten, it will feed on the 

 hoards of frozen fish laid up by the residents." The 

 pekan is widely distributed over the upper half of the 

 North American continent. The female produces from 

 two to four young at a single litter. 



THE POLECAT {Mustela pvioriua) or foumart is a 



most ferocious creature (fig. 24). "Its appetite for 

 slaughter, which seems never to be satiated as long as 

 Fig. ?4. 



The Polecat (Mustela putorius). 

 any living thing remains within its reach, rendering it 

 a most ruinous neighbour to those who rear fowls or 

 keep up a head of game. Kot only the young birds 

 fall victims to it, but the parents also ; nor are even 

 geese or turkeys safe. We remember an instance of a 

 hen and a whole brood of chickens being killed by one 

 of these destroyers in a single night ; and upon another 

 occasion, seven or eight nearly full-grown turkeys. 

 The brain and the blood seem to be its choicest por- 

 tions. The bodies of the dead are carried off to its 

 haunts, which are generally in some copse or wood 

 near a farm or in the heart of a preserve, whence it 

 issues on its deadly errand in the evening, generally 

 soon after sunset, or when it grows dusk. No vermin 

 is placed with more satisfaction upon the keeper's 

 tree ; for none commits more havoc, if so much, among 

 the game. Beginning with the egg, it persecutes all 

 tlie game birds through every period of life, and is a 

 far more determined enemy than the stoat itself to the 

 hare and rabbit warren. The fox, as is well known, 

 will do much to keep down the pheasants, and espe- 

 cially the rabbits and hares ; but even this wily and 

 powerful invader is not so mischievous as the species 

 of which we are treating. Where a fox will kill one, 

 a polecat will immolate ten, to say nothing of eggs. 

 No vertebrated animal seems to come amiss to its 

 murderous nature. Bewick relates that during a 

 severe storm, a foumart was traced in the snow from 

 the side of a rivulet to its hole at some distance from 

 it. As it was observed to have made frequent trips, 

 and as other marks were to be seen in the snow which 

 could not easily be accounted for, it was thought a 

 matter worthy of great attention. Its hole was accord- 

 ingly examined, and five fine eels were discovered to 

 be the fruit of its nocturnal excursions. The marks 

 in the snow were made by the motion of the eels in the 

 quadruped's mouth. In Loudon's Magazine is an 

 account of a polecat that was hunted to her nest, 

 which held five young ones in a comfortable bed of 

 withered grass. From a side hole the narrator picked 

 out forty largo frogs and two toads alive, but capable 

 of sprawling only ; for the old polecat had stricken 

 tliem all with palsy by a bite through the brain of 



