144 MAMMALS OF UTAH 



Mr. McNeill of Bountiful, a well known trapper, says that 

 he can always depend on getting martens on the streams 

 about Kamas, Utah, and he used to trap them on the head- 

 waters of the Provo, Weber and Duchesne rivers. S. B. 

 Locke informs me that martens, though rare, are occas- 

 ionally seen in the mountains of the La Sal national forest. 



Habits — Like other members of the weasel tribe, the 

 marten is a fierce, merciless creature of rapine, but unlike 

 the mink and weasel, it avoids the abodes of man and loves 

 the remotest depts of the wilderness. In the forest they 

 climb trees with the agility of a squirrel and on the ground 

 they hunt about under brush, moving with great rapidity. 

 Practically every living thing within their power falls vic- 

 tim to their rapacity. They eat minks, weasels, squirrels, 

 chipmunks, wood rats, mice of many kinds, conies, snow- 

 shoe rabbits, grouse, small birds and their eggs, frogs, fish, 

 beetles, nuts, and a variety of wild fruits. Unlike minks 

 and weasels, however, they do not usually kill more than 

 they can eat. They make nests of grass, moss and leaves 

 in hollow trees, under logs, among rocks or in holes in the 

 ground. The young, from one to eight, naked and help- 

 less, are born in April or May. (Nelson.) 



Marten skins bring the trapper from $1.00 to $65.00 

 each according to color, size and condition, the dark being 

 the most valuable, the brown next and the pale least valu- 

 able. 



MOUNTAIN WEASEL 



PUTORIUS ARIZONENSIS (Mearns) 



Putorius arizonensis Mearns, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. Ill, 

 No. 2, pp. 234-235, 1891. 



Description — Summer pelage : Upper parts clear dark 

 brown, decidedly darker on head; tail the same, somewhat 

 lighter beneath, and with black tip; upper lip and chin 

 white ; rest of under parts buff with a decided orange tint ; 

 upper surface of front feet and hind toes, and inner side 

 hind legs yellow ; soles of hind feet pale brown. According 

 to Merriam, the color of the under parts varies quite con- 

 siderably in depth and shade. The winter pelage is white 

 with black tip to tail. In spring and autumn specimens are 

 found showing the various stages of transition between the 

 two pelages and are often very interesting. Measurements 



