OmAP, XIIT.] POLECATS—MARTENS. 105 
other young one also fell to the ground, both bleeding at the 
throat. I immediately loaded my gun, and had the satisfaction 
of shooting a large polecat, who came climbing down the tree 
and was just preparing to carry away one of the young pigeons. 
Like the stoat, the polecat has a beautiful fur, rendered use- 
less by the strong odour of the animal. Notwithstanding the 
quantity of game and other creatures killed by the polecat, he 
does not appear to be very quick on the ground, and must owe 
his success in hunting more to perseverance and cunning than 
to activity. Like the stoat and weasel, this animal is easily 
caught in box-traps, and is attracted in an extraordinary manner 
by the smell of musk, which they appear quite unable to resist. 
In trapping all these small beasts with iron traps the bait 
should be suspended at some little height above the trap, to 
oblige them to jump up, and by so doing there is a better chance 
that, notwithstanding their light weight, the trap will be sprung. 
Formerly I frequently mistook the track of the marten-cat for 
that of a hare, when seen in the snow. Its way of placing its 
feet, and of moving by a succession of leaps, is quite similar to 
that of the more harmless animal, which so often serves it for 
food. The general abode of the marten is in woods and rocky 
cairns. He is a very beautiful and graceful animal, with a fine 
fur, quite devoid of all smell, but owing to its great agility it 
must be one of the most destructive of the tribe. When hunt- 
ing, their movements are quick and full of elegance, the effect of 
which is much heightened by their brilliant black eyes and rich 
brown fur, contrasted with the orange-coloured mark on their 
throat and breast. The marten, when disturbed by dogs, climbs 
a tree with the agility of a squirrel, and leaps from branch to 
branch, and from tree to tree. I used frequently to shoot them 
with my rifle on the tall pine-trees in Sutherlandshire. In this 
part of the country they are now seldom seen. This animal is 
not wholly carnivorous, being very fond of some fruits—the 
strawberry and raspberry, for instance. I found in my garden in 
Inverness-shire that some animal came nightly to the raspberry- 
bushes ; the track appeared like that of a rabbit or hare, but as I 
also saw that the animal climbed the bushes, I knew it could be 
neither of these. Out of curiosity, I seta trap for the marauder ; 
the next morning, on going to look at it very early, I could see 
