The generality of naturalists have considered the marten and
pine-weasel, as animals of the same species. That they copulate
together is a circumstance which, unsupported by any other testimony
than Gesner and Ray, who only assert it on the authority of Albertus,
appears to me so doubtful, that I am inclined to think that they
have no intercourse, but form two distinct and separate species;
for if the pine-weasel were only a wild marten, or the marten only
a tame pine-weasel, the former would uniformly preserve the same
characteristics, and the latter would vary; as in the wild cat, which
always remain the same, and the domestic one assumes all sorts of
colours. The marten, on the contrary, never varies; its characteristics
are as peculiar and permanent as those of the pine-weasel; this alone
is sufficient to prove they are not simple varieties, but different
species. Indeed there is not the smallest reason for terming the
marten a domestic animal, since he is in no degree more tame than the
fox, who, like him, approaches the habitations of men in search of
prey, nor has he any more communication with man than any other animal
whom we call wild and savage. Equally in disposition and temperament
does the marten differ from the pine-weasel; the latter shuns open
countries, confines itself to the bosom of the forest, and is never in
great numbers but in cold climates, while the former approaches our
habitations, even takes up his residence in old buildings, hay-lofts,
and in holes in the wall. Besides, this species is diffused in great
numbers over all the temperate countries, and are even found in hot
ones, as Madagascar, and the Maldive Islands, and is never met with in
the northern regions.
The marten has a sharp countenance, a lively eye, supple limbs,
flexible body, all its movements are quick, and he rather leaps
and bounds than walks; with great facility he climbs walls, enters
pigeon-houses, and devours eggs, pigeons, fowls, mice, rats, moles,
and birds in their nests. I reared and kept one of them a considerable
time. He was easily tamed to a certain degree, but appeared incapable
of attachment, and retained so much of his wild disposition, that I
could not suffer him to go at large. He made war upon the rats, and
harassed the poultry whenever they came within his reach. Though
fastened by the middle of the body, he often got loose; at first he
went to no great distance, would return in a few hours, but without
testifying the smallest joy or affection to any one person, and being
hungry he would call for food like a cat or dog; his excursions became
afterwards more and more long, and at length he finally disappeared. He
was then about a year and a half old; seemingly at the age when Nature
had assumed her full ascendancy. Salad and herbs excepted, nothing
eatable came amiss to him; he was very fond of honey, and preferred
hemp-seed to every other grain. We remarked that he drank frequently,
that he sometimes slept two days without intermission, and at others
he would keep awake for two or three days together; that before going
to sleep he would fold himself up in a round posture, and cover his
head with his tail; that while awake he was in a perpetual motion, so
violent and troublesome, that even had he not worried the fowls, there
would have been a necessity for chaining him to prevent his breaking
every thing to pieces. I had several other martens of a more advanced
age, which had been taken in traps, but they remained totally wild, bit
every person who attempted to touch them, and would eat nothing but raw
flesh.
This animal, it is said, brings forth as often as cats; and as we
find young ones from spring to autumn, we may, indeed, presume that
she breeds more than once a year; and though the younger females do
not produce more than three or four, those more advanced in age have
six or seven at a time. When about to be delivered they take up their
residence in some hay-loft, or in the holes of a wall, which they
stuff with straw or grass, in clefts of rocks, or in the hollow trunk
of an old tree. When disturbed in their habitations they remove their
young, of which the growth is very quick, for the one I reared had
nearly attained his full growth at the expiration of the first year;
from hence it may be inferred their lives do not exceed eight or ten.
Its smell is not very disagreeable, but like that of counterfeit musk.
Both the pine-weasel and marten, like several other animals, have
interior vesicles which contain a strong-scented substance, like that
which the civet furnishes. The flesh in some degree partakes of this
odour, yet that of the pine-weasel is not altogether unpalatable: the
flesh of the marten is more disagreeable, and its skin is of far less
estimation.