THE GAMEKEEPER AND HIS GOLGOTHA. 101 



The Keeper's indiscretions are fewer in fur 

 than feather. His larder abounds in long- 

 bodied creatures of the weasel-kind. There is 

 the richly coloured, dark brown fur of the 

 Pine-Marten ; that of the Polecat, loose and 

 light at the base but almost black at the ex- 

 tremity; and many skins of Weasel, reddish 

 brown above with the sides and under parts 

 white. For each of these creatures he has 

 quaint provincial names of his own. The Pine 

 Marten he calls " sweet-mart," in contradistinc- 

 tion to the Polecat, which is the " foumart," or 

 " foul mart " — a name bestowed on the creature 

 because it emits a secretion which has an 

 abominable stench. There is also the Stoat or 

 Ermine, which even with us is brown in sum- 

 mer, white in winter ; the tip of the tail, how- 

 ever, is always black. 



The beautiful Martens take up their abode 

 in the rockiest parts of the woods where the 

 pines grow thickly. They are strictly arboreal 

 in their habits ; and, seen among the shaggy 

 pine-foliage, the rich yellow of their throats is 

 sharply set off by the deep brown of the glossy 

 fur. With us they do not make their nests 

 and produce their young in the pine-trees, 



