THE WEASEL AND THE MARTEN 73 



been described, several of them being very much alike. The 

 Common Weasel, or Ermine,^ is brown in summer and white 

 in winter. 



The Weasel is one of the most courageous and aggressive 

 of all animals. It kills rabbits, grouse, chickens, and ducks 

 of ten or twelve times its own size, and often kills ten times as 

 many chickens as it can eat, purely to gratify its murderous 

 disposition. It is as savage as a tiger, but on farms it often 

 does good service in destroying rats and field-mice. Weasels 

 are so small their fur has little value, but the time is coming 

 when it will eagerly be sought and used. 



The Marten^ looks very much like a young red fox, 

 and in size it is about as heavy as a large domestic cat. Its 

 head and body length is 17 inches, and its tail 7 inches. 

 The body is l^rownish yellow, the legs are two or three shades 

 darker, and it has three kinds of hair. It loves timber, and 

 spends much of its time in trees. It is rarely found in open 

 country, and is most abundant on rugged and rocky forest- 

 covered mountains. 



The Marten is not a poultry -killer, or a wanton murderer 

 of more game than he can eat, but he lives by honest hunting 

 of wild game. His food consists of small rodents, birds, eggs, 

 or even an occasional reptile. In the United States this 

 animal is now rare, for its fur has always been highly prized. 

 It is often called the Pine Marten. As a fur-bearer it still 

 is an important animal, and the annual catch for North Amer- 

 ica reaches the high total of about 120,000 skins. In dura- 

 bility the fur of the Marten is 65 per cent. 



' Pu-to'ri-tis er-min'e-a. ^ Mus-te'la americana. 



