NOTES ON ADIRONDACK MAMMALS. 331 



Adirondacks. So persistent is it that several specimens are killed every year 

 in the New York Zoological Park. While subject to fluctuation in numbers, like 

 other fur-bearing animals, the mink holds its own fairly well. 



Garten. 



After the beaver, the most important fur-bearing animal in the Adirondacks is 

 the Canada pine marten or American sable (Hlnstela americana), which is closely 

 related to the European pine marten and Siberian sable, although its coat does 

 not compare in beauty with the rich dark fur of the latter animal. The specimens 

 from the Adirondacks are much lighter in color than the furs from farther north. 

 In British Columbia large black skins are relatively common. 



The marten is a tireless traveler and hunts in the daytime for its quarry, 

 chiefly red squirrels, which it" runs down and captures by superior agility and 

 strength. The writer found marten quite numerous around Little Tupper Lake 

 as late as 1891, but it has been trapped almost to extinction since that time. 



The enormous rise in the value of the skins of this animal has nearly resulted 

 in its extermination. It is usually taken by traps set on a line running sometimes 

 for miles, with from six to ten traps to the mile. A drag of meat is drawn 

 from one trap to another, and in this way an entire district can be covered 

 so that sooner or later nearly every marten can be caught. In the winter of 1901 

 some enterprising trappers in the Bitter Root Mountains in Idaho started a marten 

 farm to take advantage of the increased price of fur. After a number of these 

 animals had been captured they were discovered to be all males. Apparently it 

 was the breeding season and the males alone were cruising about while the 

 females were hidden away. 



There are known to be seasons of abundance and of scarcity of marten. Epi- 

 demics seem to occur every few years and greatly reduce the numbers of certain 

 fur-bearing animals. The most interesting case of this periodic plague is the 

 mysterious disease which occurs at regular intervals in the Canadian northwest 

 and almost exterminates the rabbits throughout an immense extent of countrv. For 

 a year or two the species appears to have entirely perished. The rabbits then 

 rapidly increase and in two or three years the countryside swarms with them 

 until the pest again appears and the cycle is repeated. The lynx, which depends 

 on the rabbit for its food supply, suffers and starves during the years of scarcity, 

 and greatly decreases in numbers. Many of the survivors migrate long distances. 

 When the rabbits regain their abundance the lynx follow suit and multiply. 

 Nothing could better demonstrate the balance of nature and the interdependence 

 of animal life. 



