cHaP, XIII. | PINE-MARTEN—BEECH-MARTEN. 107 
lambs, and when they take to poultry-killing, enter the henhouse 
fearlessly, committing immense havoc; in fact seldom leaving a 
single fowl alive—having the same propensity as the ferret for 
killing many more victims than he can consume. 
The eagle is said to prey frequently on the marten-cat, but I 
never happened to witness an encounter between them; my tame 
eagle, however, always seemed to prefer them to any other food. 
I have no doubt that the eagle on its native mountain pounces on 
any living creature that it can conquer, and therefore must fre- 
quently kill both marten and wild cat, both which animals fre- 
quent tne rocks and high ground where this bird hunts. 
From the strength and suppleness of the marten, he cannot 
fall a very easy prey to any eagle of this country, and probably 
when pounced upon he does not die without a severe battle. 
There are said to be two kinds of martens here, the pine- 
marten and the beech-marten ; the former having a yellow mark 
on the breast, and the latter a white one. I do not, however, 
believe that they are of a distinct species, but consider the variety 
of shade in the,colour of the breast to be occasioned by difference 
of age, or to be merely accidental—having frequently killed 
them in the same woods with every intermediate shade, from 
yellow to white on their breasts; the animals being perfectly 
alike in every other particular. ‘The oldest looking martens had 
generally a whiter mark than the others, but this rule did not 
apply to all. 
