January, 1922 
FOREST AND STREAM 
37 
to seek their respective homes. An ap- 
petite sharpened by consistent short fare 
made havoc, I know, in at least one full 
storeroom. A real bed had acquired a 
fascination entirely unknown before. 
So ends the tale. Duck shooting? No. 
I made all that clear at the outset. But 
you who have read to the end of my 
narrative will admit that our cruise to 
the Great South Bay was some .sort of 
cruise, after all. 
RARE FURS OF THE 
WEASEL FAMILY 
{Continued from page 9) 
much fuller than the tail of the Ameri- 
can mink. The belly is almost white 
Only a few years ago, kolinsky skins 
sold at 32c. Last spring they sold at $5 
to $7 in New York. 
Dyed by hand, a good kolinsky can 
hardy be detected from Russian sable. 
It is a favorite lining for the Turkish 
trade, which explains why it is called 
“fire marten,” or “Tartar sable.” It is 
almost the size of the cat, 14 to 18 
inches long, with a tail 4 to 8 inches 
and the female is always larger than the 
male. 
Kolinsky is nocturnal in habits. It 
climbs trees like the marten ; robs nests, 
eats squirrels, birds, eggs, mice and ber- 
ries. It is a great blood-drinker and 
hunts exactly like the cat, by furtive, 
stealthy approach, then a savage leap, 
with one strike of the sharp teeth into 
the brain or neck of the victim and the 
poor, stupid, defenseless hare falls its 
victim just as it falls the victim to mink. 
I have often wondered if the souls of 
cowards are sent back for a period of 
probation to the bodies of rabbits and 
hares to be haunted by their own fears. 
The first rage for kolinsky came to the 
United States when the war shut off 
European markets, but the fur combines 
utility with beauty to such a marked 
degree that I do not believe it will ever 
lose favor with the American market — 
especially as long as it sells at a sixth 
the price of minks and martens. It is a 
type of mink that seems to me all ready 
designed for coats, for it has to be dyed 
and cannot be sold undyed : whereas good 
marten and good mink should never be 
dyed, but if you match the stripes in 
coats and mantles, there must always be 
more or less dyeing and to put $30,000 
in one garment comes very near being 
a fur, if not a game, hog. Every skin 
in a $30,000 coat would have made a 
neckpiece to vie with diamonds. 
But it is when you are considering the 
Sables and the Martens that you are 
considering the royal family amid weasel 
furs. Sham aristocrats here have cre- 
ated as much confusion as sham aristo- 
crats in the human world. Sable is 
sable and marten is marten and mink 
is mink, but to call one by the name of 
the other is only to confuse the public 
into a timidity of buying. 
American marten is marten ; it is 
I never sable, though we call it American 
' sable, or Hudson Bay sable. 
The only true sable is the Russian 
i sable. 
. In Writing to Advertisers mention Forest and Stream. It will identify you. 
SMITH GUNS 
Speak for Themselves in quality of 
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during 36 years of manufacture. 
In 36 years a Smith 
has never shot loose ''Vi aL catalog 
JVo. 319 
With Hunter One Trigger and Automatic Ejector, It’s the Complete Gun 
THE HUNTER ARMS COMPANY, Inc., FULTON, N. Y. 
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Export Office: 5 State St., New York City 
H.P. BRIDGES 
Wild TURKEY, 
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Best imitation of a wild turkey 
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Address? H. P. BRIDGES 
!muNSEY building • • BALTIMOne. MD. 
^SENT BY RETURN MAIL UPON RECEIPT OF J I 
We can take coyote 
and wolves and 
make beautiful furs 
of the raw skins, ia 
any style from ary 
style book and also 
’coon, mink and fox. 
Write today for our 
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kind of furs that 
you have. 
W.W. WEAVER 
Ettabluhed 1891 
CUSTOM FUR 
TANNING and 
MA NUFA C TURING 
READING. 
MICH. 
1817-R 
FbUKE 
WANTS 
mfiooMois 
FURS 
•WORTH 
OF 
And will pay liigher prices than any house 
in America to get them. We have such a big 
demand we must have more furs quick. Write for 
new book — ^Trappers* Partner, regular price lists and 
tags — all free. Don’t sell your furs until you get 
Fouke’s prices. Write today. 
FOUKE FUR CO., 197 Fooke Bldg., Sl Loms, Mo.^ 
U. S. ARMY KRAG RIFLE— Cal. 30, 
Good as new, all in perfect, serviceable condition, inside barrel bright. Thousands of people say. 
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W. STOKES KIRK, DEPT. 21, 1627 N. TENTH ST., PHILADELPHIA. PA. 
