TIIK I'MSIIKK Oil MARTEN. 



587 



tho base of a hollow ti-cc here, a hollow log there, next a deserted 

 woodchuek hole i\m\ then a natural cavern. But they almost al- 

 ways emerge at the same or another entrance and go on. Indeed 

 they probably hav(^ no permanent homes except at the breeding 

 season, but hunt till tired and satiated, then enter some convenient 

 shelter for sleej), only to emerge and go on to another den miles 

 away. 



The young are said to number five or six to the litter and are 

 born in April or May. The nest is sometimes placed in an extensive, 

 labyrinthian burrow which the animals are supposed to make for 

 themselves. More often, however, it is placed in a rock-pile or 

 behind the wall of a bridge, where the wagons rumble by unheeded. 

 Hollow logs, natural caverns or holes which other animals have 

 made and deserted, or from which they have been ejected by force, 

 are also vised as homes by these animals. 



Genus Mustela Linnaeus. 



Mustela Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, Vol. I, p. 45, 1758. 



Dental formula.— I, IE-3; C, J^}; Pm, M, ^J. 



Generic characters.— ^'vaq larger than a mink; tail long and 

 thick ; ears short ; claws partly retractile ; toes only, applied to the 

 ground in walking ; habits principally arboreal. 



This genus includes the martens, sables and fishers and is found 

 in the northern parts of both the eastern and western hemispheres. 

 Only a few species are known. Five forms are recognized from 

 North America. One of these formerly occurred in Indiana and it 

 is possible that another, the pine marten {Mustela americana) once 

 lived in the State, although we have no evidence of it. 



MUSTELA PENNANTI Erxleben. 



FISHER; PENNANT'S MARTEN; PEKAN. 



[Mnstela] pennanti Erxleben, Systema Regni Animal, Vol. I, 

 p. 470, 1777. 



Description. — Larger than the mink, with a longer, more bushy 

 tail and a fox-like head. Legs, tip of tail and belly nearly black, 

 with light spots on throat or under part of body ; back dark brown 

 or blackish posteriorly, the head and shoulders being lighter brown 

 and generally grizzled with hoary tipped hairs. 



The skull is very much larger than that of the mink and longer 

 in proportion to its breadth ; the zygomatic arches do not flare out 



