BREEDING OF THE PINE MARTEN IN CAPTIVITY. 203 



These will be found in the ponds of the Horticultural Gardens, 

 where the visitor, when weary of examining the wondrous 

 resources of art within the buildings, may turn to the contempla- 

 tion of nature without, and experience a new sensation of fresh- 

 ness and repose. 



The Exhibition, as we have said, will be opened on Ma}' 19th, 

 and, the executive work being in the hands of a skilled and 

 experienced staff, its success may already be safely predicted. 



ON THE BREEDING OF THE PINE MARTEN IN 



CAPTIVITY. 



By A. H. Cocks, M.A., F.Z.S. 



So far as I have been able to ascertain, there is no 

 instance recorded of the Pine Marten (or other species of the 

 genus) breeding in captivity ; and but little appears to be known 

 concerning its reproduction in the wild state, for in no book that 

 I have met with is mention made of the remarkable difference in 

 the colour of the young when first born, which surely would have 

 been noticed had tbe fact been known. 



An adult female Pine Marten sent to me from Cumberland in 

 May, 1876, had for the last two, if not three, years shared a cage 

 with a male of the same species, without showing any signs of 

 breeding, until at about 11 p.m. on April 7, 1882, I heard the 

 unmistakable whimpering, or squealing, of young ones proceeding 

 from one of the bed-boxes in this cage ; I had fed the Martens 

 about six o'clock, and feel certain that no young were then born. 

 I at once shut off the male animal, not knowing how he might 

 treat the youngsters. On the morning of the 10th I ventured to 

 take out one of the young. It was about six inches long, 

 including the tail, which was about, or nearby, If inches long, 

 and appeared out of all proportion in so young an animal, and 

 was in shape, and, in proportion to the head and body, like that 

 member in an adult Stoat. It will, I believe, be a surprise to 

 others, as it certainly was to me, to learn that this species is at 

 first quite white ; the coat being, of course, fine and short. 



On the 14th I again looked at the young, and found them to 

 be thi'ee in number — two males and one female. They were 

 now getting grizzled, like very young Polecat Ferrets; coats 



