60 Field and Forest Rambles. 



Natives and hunters state that the former, or the orange and 

 saffron coloured sable, lives more or less in forests composed 

 of deciduous leaved trees, and the latter in the dense pine 

 woods. I can well believe that the exposure to light in the 

 maple woods, as compared with the eternal gloom of the coni- 

 ferous fofest, would be sufficient to bring about these remark- 

 able differences ; indeed, looking at the advantages these 

 colorations are to both — take, for example, in the autumn, 

 when the ground is covered with the many yellow and red 

 leaves of the various sorts of trees, then the black sable would 

 be conspicuous when hunting, whereas the other would scarcely 

 be recognized. At all events, we must say that there is 

 a predisposition to variation in the species, and that from 

 whatever cause the same is apt to be continued and propo- 

 gated by offspring, provided the parents are both similarly 

 shaded. I have repeatedly arranged series of sable skins 

 from one large forest tract composed of long stretches of 

 nothing but coniferous trees, with only hard wood sparingly 

 distributed throughout, when without difficulty I was enabled 

 to form a regular gradation from one extreme to the other. 

 Now, although it frequently takes place that the two sorts are 

 met with in the same situation, this does not militate against the 

 fact that the animals prey chiefly on squirrels, partridges, and 

 the like, which repair to feed on the nuts, etc., that furnish 

 their chief food in summer and autumn, as do the denizens 

 of the coniferous region in winter, therefore we may fairly 

 conclude that, if nature does select the animal best suited 

 to the circumstances, she did wisely towards the sable, 

 inasmuch as its means of subsistence are distributed over 

 two districts very distinct as regards sunshine. With reference 

 to physical features, we might go so far as to believe that 

 supposing the pine forests should disappear, and only the 

 maple, beech, birch, and so forth remain, in process of time the 

 dark-coloured sable would become extinct. From abundant 

 data I was enabled, as far as the New World animal is con- 



