Mr. J. E. Hartinrj on Foresit Animals. 95 



and their keepers. That it is a very destructive animal 

 there can be no doubt, not only to game, but also to 

 poultry, for it will visit the farmyard and henroost, and in 

 one night kill many more fowls than it can eat or carry 



awav. 



I once discovered a whole family of polecats (two old 

 ones and four young ones) in a flint cairn not more than 

 fifty yards from a poultry-yard. They were tracked after 

 rain, and the stones being removed one by one, we sud- 

 denly came upon a hollow in which the whole family were 

 snugly curled up. One of the old ones escaped ; of the 

 rest, four were killed and one was taken alive. 



That beautiful animal the Marten, once so common in 

 English forests, is still to be met with in certain parts of 

 the country which are favourable for its protection, but it 

 must be regarded, at least in the south, as one of the 

 rarest of '' forest animals." The last killed in Essex, so far 

 as can be ascertained, was trapped by the present head 

 keeper of Epping Forest in April, 1853, in one of Mr. 

 Maitland's covers at Loughton. 



Did time permit, I could say a good deal about its dis- 

 tribution and habits, and the former mode of hunting it. 



The Wild Cat, which was also a beast of chase in former 

 days, is now believed to be extinct in England, as well as 

 in the southern counties of Scotland. 



Mr. Alston believes that none now exist south of the 

 northern districts of Argyll and Perthshire. Mr. Harvie 

 Brown, who has been at considerable pains to obtain in- 

 formation on the point, has come to the conclusion, from 

 statistics which he has collected, that "the wild cat is 

 now extinct throughout a large portion of Scotland, namely, 

 all south and east of a line commencing — roughly speaking 

 — at Oban, in Argyllshire, passing up the Brander Pass to 

 Dalmally ; following the boundary of Perthshire, and in- 

 cluding Rannoch Moor ; continued north-westwards to the 

 junction of the three counties of Perth, Forfar, and Aber- 

 deen ; thence across the source of the Dee northward to 

 Tomintoul, in Banffshire ; and, lastly, from Tomintoul to 

 the citv of Inverness. Northward and westward of this 



