MARTENS, POLECATS, AND WEASELS. I09 



ideed of all our native Irish Mammals. I had at first contem- 

 lated the publication of a list of localities in Ireland where 

 le Marten has been found of late years, but an accumulation 

 f notes has convinced me that this animal is much more 

 ommon in the wooded parts of Ireland than is generally 

 ipposed, and consequently that such an article would be 

 most as unnecessary as one on the distribution in Ireland of 

 ich common Irish Mammals as the Otter or Badger. I think 

 le statement that * at one time, in all probability, the Marten 

 lUst have been generally distributed in Ireland, but as civilisa- 

 on has extended inland from the east and south, and as 

 oods have been cut down, and the country opened up by 

 always, drainage, and cultivation, so has this animal been 

 'adually driven into the wilder portions of the north and west,' 

 eeds considerable modification. No doubt the Marten is now 



ing driven out from the east and south, but it is only of late 

 lat this has been the case, and I contend that even in the 

 lore highly-cultivated parts of the eastern counties of Ireland 



would be an impossibility to name a county in which the 

 limal has not occurred recently. Taking the eastern counties 

 om north to south, Mr. Harting's own notes establish its 

 :currence more than once in Antrim in 1893, while in Down 

 gain quoting from the same article), ' amidst the wild and 

 ■oken ground of the Mourne Mountains, . . . the Marten 

 ill probably for some time yet to come defy the efforts of its 

 ould-be exterminators.' From Louth and Meath I have no 

 ■cords by me, but there is little doubt that stragglers are still 

 :casionally found in those counties, since they He quite close 

 t more favoured counties. From the small county of Dublin 

 lere is no recent record, but the outer parts of the county are 

 Dt so far from the woods of Wicklow, which are still one of 

 le strongholds of the Marten ; and even in Wexford, ' the 

 tadel county ' of Ireland, its occurrence has been noted as 



