Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 2 (1878).djvu/149

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—The Marten has become one of the rarest of our wild animals, and is regarded as almost extinct; but every now and then one is met with, and when a specimen is obtained it is always regarded as an interesting fact, not only from its rarity as a British quadruped, but also from its striking size and graceful shape, far surpassing in this respect the other members of the Mustelidæ, or Weasel tribe. Early in March a full-grown female Marten was captured in the immediate neighbourhood of Delabole Quarries in the north part of this county. Length twenty-three inches; length of tail nine inches and a half. I should imagine from these dimensions that it must be very inferior in size to the male, if the dimensions of authors can be depended upon, which give twenty-seven inches and a half. Its large bushy tail adds to its beauty, and at a distance the Marten resembles a gigantic Squirrel. It is very arboreal in its general habits, and is usually seen running over the long boughs of trees, apparently in pursuit of birds, squirrels, &c, upon which it feeds. It does not always exhibit agility or gracefulness in its movements; but it can do so to a great degree when called upon. It has been observed creeping stealthily like a cat on the branches of trees, apparently in pursuit of its prey. Its actions have been noticed and watched by sportsmen when hunted with fox-hounds. They appear to lose their scent, from their eagerness in recognizing it. About thirty-five years since a pack of fox-hounds, in drawing Bodethiel Coombe, in the Glynn Valley, near Bodmin, found an animal, which at a distance appeared too large for a Squirrel and too small for a Fox. When moved it fled to the tops of the brushwood and furze, and then took a course through the Coombe at a good pace to Hallow Marsh Wood, when in leaping from one tree to another it missed its footing by alighting on a rotten branch, which gave way, and it fell amongst the hounds. This was a fine adult male Marten. Although arboreal in its habits generally, it is somewhat curious that the specimen just obtained was caught by its fore-foot in a gin set in a stone quarry; and I think another was caught in a similar way not many years ago at Northam Burrows, a sandy plain in the North of Devon. As to there being two species of Marten, the colour of the breast is no criterion of specific value, for specimens have been killed in the same wood which exhibited on the breast intermediate shades of colour from pure white to primrose-yellow. (See St. John's 'Wild Sports in the Highlands,' p. 107.) The fur in the yellow-throated Pine Marten is said to be far superior in texture and quality to that of the Common Beech Marten; but this may arise from the fur becoming coarser as the animal advances in age. It seems to be a generally entertained idea that the white-breasted Marten betokens age, and that the yellow tone is a sign of adolescence. In the