brow sable    The sable (Martes zibellina) is a small
carnivorous mammal, closely related to the martens. It inhabits
forest environments primarily in Russia from the Ural Mountains
throughout Siberia, in northern Mongolia and China and on
Hokkaidō in Japan. Its range in the wild originally extended
through European Russia to Poland and Scandinavia. It has
historically been harvested for its highly valued fur, which
remains a luxury good to this day. While hunting of wild animals
is still common in Russia, most fur in the market is now
commercially farmed.   The name sable appears to be of Slavic
origin and to have entered most Western European via the early
medieval fur trade. Thus the Russian sobol and Polish soból
became the German Zobel, Dutch Sabel; the French zibelline
Spanish cibelina, cebellina, Finnish soopeli and Mediaeval Latin
zibellina derive from the Italian form. The English and Medieval
Latin word sabellum comes from the Old French sable or saible.
The term has become a generic description fo