also, perhaps, the close proximity of the other Martens kept her in a restless
state, and on the evening of the 22nd I saw her with one of the cubs in her
mouth ; and on May 3rd, on going into the cage to clean it out, I found one of
the young ones lying almost dead on the top of one of the bed-boxes, where it
must have been carried and left by the mother. I took it indoors immediately
and carefully warmed i t ; but it was too much exhausted to swallow milk, and
died an hour and a half later. I have preserved it in spirit: it was a male,
length 10-& inches.1
‘ The following evening I put some fresh straw into the cage, which had the
effect of frightening the Marten; and taking one of the cubs out of the box in
which it was she carried it behind a box out of sight, and presently let it fall
on the ground, a drop of about five feet. However, no bones were broken, and
I replaced it in the box with the other cub, and fortunately had no further
disaster. The eyes were still closed. I left home the next day (the 6th) for a
fortnight, during which interval they acquired the use of their eyes. On the 25th
one of the cubs showed itself for the first time, trying to climb out of the bed-
box and calling loudly. On the 29th the mother took three young greenfinches
which I gave her and tried to induce the young to eat, uttering a peculiar
chuckling or clucking noise. The cubs made repeated efforts to get out of the
box, with a view of finding a place where they could eat by themselves, but were
each time pulled back by the mother. One cub, however, at length succeeded in
getting out, and ate and growled in a most satisfactory manner.
‘ The next day the cubs had a scrimmage over eating a sparrow, and one or
both came out. On June 5th one of the cubs being out scrambled back into
the box, which is rather more than a foot high, by helping himself up by the
wall, which formed an angle with the side of the box, and by the next day
was able to jum p on to the top of the box. On the 23rd they made, I believe,
their first descent to the ground, having been born at a height of nearly five feet
above it, by means of a carefully arranged inclined plane, or chicken-ladder. I
first actually saw them do so on the evening of the 25th. On July 2nd, being
the anniversary of the date on which I had measured the young Marten the
previous year,2 I endeavoured to measure this young male, but it proved so
extremely fractious that I could not succeed in measuring it even as accurately as
on that occasion. It was, however, just about the same size as, or if anything
1 Nose to eye-slit, § inch; eye-slit to ear, § inch; head, 2 inches; peck and body, 5$ inches; tail, 2 \ inches.
s Cf. Zoologist, 1881, p 333.
Slightly larger than, those cubs at that date. I therefore think my estimate of
the age of the former couple was pretty correct, as the fact of having been taken
from their moth||]when quite small, and possibly ridt very suitably fed by the
shepherd before they were sent to me, and then the journey, would be likely to
throw them back somewhat and slightly retard their growth.
‘ The young Martens were quite full-grown by the autumn, and are still
flourishing. I regret that I am unable to state the length of gestation, but may
hope for “ better luck ” if there should be a “ next time.” ’
The actual pairing of Martens seems to take place at night, and Mr. Cocks
has observed that the female when in season scatters about little tufts of straw.
In a short note1 the same careful observer has recorded his views on the subject
of gestation. He says :
‘ Pine Martens (Mustela martes) first bred in my collection in 1882, a note on
which was published in the “ Zoologist” for 1883, P- 203. Various details concerning
the rate of growth of the young were recorded, including the interesting
fact, which seems to have been previously unsuspected, that the young are at first
perfectly white. Since then other litters of this species have been bred in my
collection; but as we never could discover when the female came in season (and
have never even yet seen this species pairing), all attempts at breeding were
extremely hazardous; the allowing of a pair to run together was apt to result in
the death of the female, in consequence of one or more of the long canines of the
male penetrating her brain, the damage being inflicted so instantaneously that
there was no possibility of a timely separation.
‘ At last, this year, we noticed little mouthfuls of short straw deposited here
and there in the cage of a female Marten—a sign of her being in season, which I
first observed some years ago in the case of otters.
‘ Accordingly, a male was admitted from the adjoining cage on January 5 ;
shut off again on the 16th, but readmitted the next day, and the pair were finally
separated on the 18th. Pairing probably took place on the nights of the 8th,
10th, and 13th, though quite possibly at other times also.
‘ Young, which proved to be two males, were born early on April 22 ; and by
the end of Ju ly they were already bigger than their mother.
‘ The probable period of gestation of this species is therefore a few hours over
103 days, the extremes of possibility ranging from ninety-four to 106 days.
‘ Beyond certain contributions towards determining the gestation of the badger,
1 Proc. Zool. Soc. December 4, 1900.