The pekan (_fig. 189._) so strongly resembles the marten, and the vison (_fig. 190._) the pole-cat, that we are inclined to consider them as varieties of those two species. They are of the same make and proportion, have the same length of tail, quality of hair, and number of teeth and claws; from which facts there is certainly sufficient reason to conclude that they are merely varieties, or at least as species approaching so near each other, that it is difficult to point out any real difference, except that the hair of the pekan and the vison is more soft, brown, and glossy, than that of the marten and pole-cat; but this difference is common to them as well as to the beaver, otter, and other animals of North America, whose fur is more beautiful than those of the same kind of animals in the north of Europe. THE SABLE. Almost every naturalist has treated of this animal without knowing any thing more of it than its skin. M. Gmelin is the first who has given its figure and description, from having seen two living ones at the Governor's of Tobolski. "The sable (says he) resembles the marten in his shape and habit of body, and the weasel in the number of his teeth: he has six long incisive teeth, a little turned back, two long canine teeth in the lower jaw, and very sharp small teeth in the upper; he has very large whiskers about the mouth; and his feet are broad, and armed with five claws. These characters were common to these two sables, but one of them was of a dark brown, excepting the ears and throat, where the hair was rather yellow; the other, which was smaller was of a more yellowish tincture, its ears and throat being also much paler. These are the colours they both have in winter, and which they change in the spring, the former becoming of a yellowish brown, the other of a pale yellow. I have often admired, continues M. Gmelin, the agility of these animals. Whenever they perceived a cat they fixed themselves in an erect posture on their hind legs, as if they were preparing for an attack. Their inquietude in the night[C] was also remarkable, that being the natural time for seeking their prey, whereas in the day, especially after feeding, they generally slept an hour at a time, during which they might be taken up, rolled about, or carried to any distance without the smallest hazard of disturbing them." [Footnote C: This inquietude and motion during the night is not peculiar to sables: the same thing may be observed in ermines.]