The pine-weasel, or as it is also called, the yellow breasted marten,
is a native of the northern countries, where the quantity of furs
produced by this species alone is really astonishing. In temperate
climates they are seldom met with, and in warm ones never. There are
some few in Burgundy, and also in the forests of Fontainbleau, but
in general they are as rare in France as the other marten is common.
There are none of them in England, because in that country they have
no extensive woods. They are alike averse to open and inhabited
countries; they remain in the recesses of the forests, and do not
conceal themselves among rocks, but range through the thicket or climb
the trees. They live by the chace, and destroy a prodigious quantity
of birds, whose nest they seek, to devour the eggs; the squirrel and
dormouse likewise become their prey, and they are also very fond of
honey. They not only differ from the marten by avoiding the habitations
of men, but also in their manner of endeavouring to escape in the
chace. When the former finds himself pursued, he makes to his favourite
hay-loft or hole; but the latter humours the chace for some time, and
then will climb up the trunk of some tree, and from thence take a view
of his pursuers as they pass along. The track which he leaves in the
snow has the appearance of being made by some large animal, because
he always leaps and his two feet strike the ground at the same time.
Though rather larger than the marten his head is shorter, but his
legs are longer, and consequently he runs with more ease. His neck is
yellow, whereas that of the marten is white; his hair is also finer,
more thick, and less subject to shed. The female does not prepare a bed
for her young, and yet she lodges them very commodiously. Squirrels
form nests on the tops of trees with as much skill as birds; when the
pine-weasel is near her time she climbs to some squirrel's nest,
drives away the owner, enlarges it, and there deposits her young; she
sometimes takes the nests of owls or buzzards, or holes in old trees,
from which she soon dislodges the woodpeckers, and other birds. She
brings forth in spring, and never more than two or three; the young
ones come into the world with their eyes closed, but they nevertheless
soon acquire their full growth. The mother brings them eggs and birds
until they are able to go out, and then she takes them abroad to hunt
with her. Birds are so well acquainted with their enemies that they
send forth the same notice of danger upon seeing this animal as when
they perceive a fox; and a proof that it proceeds more from hatred than
fear, is their not only giving this alarm, but also following these and
all other carnivorous animals, and never doing so at the approach of
the stag, roe-buck, hare, &c.
Pine-weasels are as common in the northern parts of America as they are
in Europe and Asia. They are found in Canada, at Hudson's Bay, and as
far north in Asia as the kingdom of Tonquin and the empire of China.
They must not, however, be confounded with the sable, an animal whose
fur is much more precious. The sable is black, but the pine-weasel is
brown and yellow; the brown part of the skin is the most in estimation,
and that extends along the back to the very extremity of the tail.
_Engraved for Barr's Buffon._
[Illustration: FIG. 66. _Pole Cat._]
[Illustration: FIG. 67. _Ferret._]