io8 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



indeed, in a county with so much wild country in it as Leices- 

 ter, the Marten, according to Mr. Montagu Browne, appears to 

 have been completely exterminated, although it vas at one 

 time exceedingly abundant there. It still lingers, however, in 

 Suffolk and North Devon, and, it is believed, in Epping 

 Forest, and has been lately recorded from Hampshire. In the 

 Lake district of Cumberland the species is, however, still fairly 

 common, and is regularly hunted during the winter with a few 

 couples of Beagles or Foxhounds, accompanied by several 

 Terriers. Although most numerous in Cumberland, the Marten 

 is also found occasionally in the mountainous districts of 

 Northumberland, Durham, Westmoreland, and around Furness 

 in Lancashire. It is likewise found in North Wales. 



In Scotland, Messrs. Harvie-Brown and Buckley write that 

 the Marten now appears to be scarcer than the Wild Cat, "being 

 extinct in many places frequented by the latter, but, curiously 

 enough, it has survived over a larger area up to a later date, that 

 is to say, that while the boundaries of the country at present 

 inhabited by the Wild Cat are easily defined, and are gradu- 

 ally contracting, the occurrences of the Marten are more 

 sporadic, often turning up in localities, far distant from one 

 another, where no records had previously occurred for many 

 years.'* Mr. W. E. de Winton tells me that there is no doubt 

 that it existed on the islands of Lewis and Harris up to about 

 twenty years ago. 



In Thompson's time the Marten was found all over Ireland 

 in suitable localities, but was even then becoming scarce, and 

 its numbers have doubtless considerably diminished since that 

 date, although it is not uncommon in Kerry. 



Commenting on a note relating to the distribution of the 

 Marten, by Mr. J. E. Harting, Mr. Barrett-Hamilton writes 

 that " I have been for some time collecting notes on the 

 distribution and life-history of this animal in Ireland, and 



