336 Wild Life in Wales 



"As cunning as a marten." Bele being the common 

 Merionethshire rendering of the name, without any quali- 

 fying adjective. Many people one meets amongst the 

 mountains will tell you of " the last marten that was 

 killed in this district," maybe five, ten, or fifteen years 

 ago ; and by all, except a few of the most knowing 

 " fox-hunters," it is regarded as already extinct : how 

 long it will be before it actually becomes so is largely 

 a question of the hunters' forbearance. 



No two nearly related animals could well differ more 

 in disposition than do the Marten and the Polecat. Held 

 in a trap, or brought to bay, the latter is bold, fierce, and 

 aggressive, to an extent not equalled by any other animal 

 in this country, except, perhaps, the wild cat. The Marten, 

 in similar circumstances, is wild, and timid, seeking only 

 to hide itself from view, and in spite of its powerful canine 

 teeth, not much more disposed to bite the hand, or stick, 

 which restrains it, than is a Squirrel. One which I came 

 upon in a trap, one day, was sitting with its tail raised above 

 its back, strongly suggestive of the attitude of a Squirrel. 

 It did not see me at once, but for some time continued its 

 occupation of biting to pieces the twisted brass wire (rabbit- 

 snare wire) with which the trap had been fastened. A 

 large portion of this (there was a long "string" of it) had 

 been nibbled into pieces half an inch, or less, in length, 

 and the trap was free ; but the weight of the latter was, 

 in itself, sufficient to prevent the poor Marten escaping 

 from the depression of the rocks in which it had been set. 



So retiring, and unobtrusive in its habits, is a Marten, that 

 one or two may easily inhabit a wood, or range of rocks, 

 for some time without their presence being discovered even 

 by a keeper. They might, indeed, escape detection alto- 

 gether, did snow never fall, for it is rarely that one is taken 

 in a baited trap casually set for Stoats, or other " vermin " ; 

 but snow carries tell-tale tracks, that often lead to the 

 undoing of the craftiest animal. For the accuracy of the 

 following story I cannot personally vouch, but give it as it 

 was told to me by an Inverness-shire man. About thirty years 

 ago, when he was with the head keeper at Braemar, they 



