CARNIVORA. 141 
with the polecats, and this with the true martens. 
The most striking distinction between the two is in 
the brown-black tail, and the point of the lower jaws 
only being white, not like the martes lutreola, where , 
both the upper lip and the chin and neck are white 
all through. They appear to agree very much in 
habits, and in the character of the semipalmated 
feet covered with hair. 
They are generally found on the edge of rivers, 
and burrow under the ground. They feed prin- 
cipally on fish, water-birds, rats, shrews, moles, and 
the eggs of tortoises. But they sometimes approach 
the country houses. The female brings forth three 
or six young ones at a time. 
