82 MTSTELIBiE. 



96. Mattes flavigula. 



Mustela apud Boddaeet. — Blyth, Cat. 196. — Mustela SardwicUi, 

 HoRSFiELD, Zool. Jour. — Maries Gwathinsii, and Galidictis chrysogaster, 

 Jaedink, Nat. Libr. — Mai sampra, Nepal. — Tuturala, in Kumaon. — 

 Kusiah, in Sirmoor. — Huniah, or Aniar, Bhot. — Sahhu, Lepch. 



The Indian Marten. 



Deser. — Head and face, ears, and whole upper parts, with the body from 

 the breast, and Hmbs, glossy blackish-brown, the chin and lower lip white ; 

 throat and breast yellow, more or less deep, and inclining to orange 

 yellow, or yellowish-brown in some. The body is at times dirty brownish, 

 or chesnut-brown, or mixed brown with gray, and the middle of the back 

 is sometimes paler than the rest, or the same tint as the sides of the body. 

 In some, the top of the head is pale brown, but it is edged by a dark 

 peripheral line ; and in some, there are one or more irregular dark spots 

 between the forelimbs ; soles nude. 



Length about 20 inches head and body ; tail about 12, with the hair. 



This marten is found throughout the whole extent of the Himalayas ; 

 also on the Neelgherry hiUs and Ceylon ; and, out of our province, it ex- 

 tends from the Khasia hills through Arrakan down the Malayan peninsula 

 to Java. Horsfield, in his Catalogue, applied the synonym M. Gwathinsii 

 to the dark Neelgherry race, but it was originally given to a Himalayan 

 specimen, many of which are equally dark ; and Dr. Adams considers that 

 the dark state is merely the summer fur. The Malayan race is paler than 

 the others, and according to Blyth, all specimens from thence are true to 

 the particular coloring. 



The Indian marten is cliiefly found in the valleys both of the outer 

 ranges and the interior, but also ascends the wooded ridges in summer up 

 to 7,000 or 8,000 feet of elevation. It is sometimes found in pairs, often 

 in small famihes of five or six, and is not unfrequently met with in the 

 day time, hunting among brushwood, fallen trees, &c. If pursued by 

 dogs it at once takes refuge on trees, in climbing which it is very active. 

 Its food is said to be chiefly birds' eggs ; also rats, lizards' and snakes 

 sometimes, and even, it is said, the young of the Kaljiar deer (Stylocerus). 

 It is also very destructive to poultry. Adams states that it is easily 

 domesticated, and is very active and playful; and Mr. Bennett, many 

 years ago, gave an account of its manners in confinement in the " Gardens 



