77S8 Quadrupeds. 



Martens are found all over this district, excejjt on the barren ground, 

 to which, as they are arboreal anitnals, they do not resort ; their dens 

 are sometimes excavated, but more fVequentl}- are made in a tree. 

 Their principal food is mice, and they are therefore abundant when- 

 ever these little creatures are plentiful. 



The periodical disappearance of this species is very remarkable; it 

 occurs in decades, or thereabouts, with wonderful regularity, and it is 

 quite unknown what becomes of them : they are not found dead ; the 

 failure extends throughout the Hudson Bay territory at the same time ; 

 and there is no tract or region to which they can migrate where we 

 have not posts, or into which our hunters have not penetrated. 



Martens are caught commonly in wooden traps, baited with white- 

 fish heads, jjieces of flesh meat, or, still better, with the heads of wild 

 fowl, which the natives gather for this purpose in the autumn. When 

 they are at their lowest ebb in point of numbers they will scarcely 

 bite at all: Providence appears thus to have implanted some instinct 

 in them, by which the total destruction of their race is prevented. 

 Martens are easily tamed, and look exceedingly pretty, as pets. When 

 enraged they utter a sound somewhat like the hissing of a domestic 

 cat. 



Common Mink [Pulorius Vison). — Tail about half as long as the 

 body. The winter colour varies, according to the age of the specimen, 

 from a very dark blackish brown to a deep chesnut. Tail not bushy 

 and very black. End of chin white. Length of head and body about 

 20 inches. Length of tail with hairs about 10 inches. 



In shape the mink resembles an otter, as it also does in the colour 

 and quality of its fur: in size it generally has about the same dimen- 

 sion as the Mustela araericana. The colour of its pelt varies greatly ; 

 in winter its shades range from a dark chesnut to a rich brownish 

 black. The tint of all the body is uniform, except that the belly is 

 sensibly lighter, and that there is a series of white blotches running 

 with greater or smaller breaks from the end of the chin to some 

 distance below the fore legs, and again continued with more regularity 

 from the middle of the belly to the anus ; in some skins these markings 

 are of small extent, but I have never seen them entirely wanting; 

 there are commonly spots under either one or both of the fore legs, 

 but not invariably. I have remarked that the coloration of this animal, 

 as well as that of the otter and beaver, grows lighter as it advances in 

 years, and that the while blotches or spots are of greater size and more 

 distinctness in the old than in the young. The fur of a young miuk. 



