A HISTORY OF BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 



straightforward habits of otters and other 

 animals. 



[Pine Marten. Mwtela martes. Linn. 



I know of no occurrence of the marten 

 the most beautiful of the British mammals 

 in Bucks, although as lately as 1891 an ex- 

 ample was seen disporting itself in a tree by 

 a gentleman entomologizing only a mile or 

 two outside the borders of the county. I 

 prefer not to indicate the locality, in case 

 there should still be an example or two left 

 there, as I have heard of specimens being 

 obtained there within tolerably recent years ; 

 and a gamekeeper near here knows the species 

 from seeing one or more examples there 

 before he came to his present situation. No 

 doubt however the locality will be fully 

 indicated in the Victoria History of the 

 county in which it is situated. Martens are 

 not mentioned in any of the churchwardens' 

 accounts of this county which I have 

 examined. I have bred five litters of this 

 species in captivity ; three of these numbered 

 three, one litter numbered two ; from the re- 

 maining litter I only reared one, but with 

 little doubt heard the voices of one or two 

 other cubs at first. The gestation is surpris- 

 ingly long, probably 103 days, but certainly 

 between 94 and 106 days. The young are 

 pure white at birth. 1 I am not aware of this 

 species having ever been bred in captivity 

 elsewhere.] 



15. Polecat. Putorius putorius, Linn. 



Bell Mustela putorius. 



Within the last five-and-twenty years pole- 

 cats still occurred if but thinly over a great 

 part of the county, and fifty years ago seem 

 to have been pretty general ; but the steel- 

 trap has nearly cleared them out, and at the 

 present time only a very few stragglers 

 remain, of which two or three are within a 

 couple of miles or so of this house at the time 

 of writing this. The following are a few 

 parishes in which I have actually heard of 

 polecats within recent years, though probably 

 not one of them contains examples at the 

 present time : various parishes round Ayles- 

 bury (Bierton, etc.), Steeple Claydon, Biddies- 

 den, Stowe, Dorton, Long Crendon, Kingsey, 

 Hedsor. Mr. J. H. B. Cowley in the 

 Zoologist, 1890, p. 178, mentions having 

 received three specimens from Bucks, namely 

 from Bierton, Waddesdon and Stoke Mande- 

 ville. Churchwardens' accounts in all parts 

 of the county prove the general distribution 

 of this species through the eighteenth century 



1 See Zoologist, 1883, p. 203 ; and P.Z.S. 1900, 

 p. 836. 



by constant entries of payments for victims. 

 In Hambleden parish the accounts 3 show 

 that between the years 1722 and 1808 

 ( = 87 years) the churchwardens paid for 330 

 polecats, or an average of 3f per year. The 

 largest number in one year was 21. Three 

 examples which I obtained in 1880 and 1881 

 from Kingsey Park were all accidentally 

 caught in rabbit-trapping, and not in traps 

 intended for vermin ; and the use of steel 

 traps for rabbit catching has probably done 

 more to extirpate polecats throughout the 

 country than all the traps intended for them 

 specially. I have had considerably over 100 

 polecats in my menagerie, inclusive of those 

 born in captivity. Of 25 litters of this species 

 born in my collection, there were born in : 



May (from the Z3rd), 4 litters = 1 6 per cent. 



June (up to the 1 5th), 12 =48 



(from 1 6th to end), 7 =28 



July (up to the 7th), 2 = 8 



and a litter of five cubs received early in July 

 were, according to my estimate, born about 

 24 May. Of these 26 litters : 



2 litters numbered 6 young 



5 



4 

 5 

 4 

 3 



3 



S 

 4 

 3 



2 \ Probably a larger 

 i / number born 

 number not ascertained. 



It is curious that a litter is not as a rule fairly 

 evenly divided as to sex ; but usually all the 

 cubs, or all but one, are of the same sex. 

 One male polecat born in my collection I 

 rescued from his cannibal mother just in 

 time ; she had eaten the other members of 

 the litter, and had already taken a bite out of 

 him. His eyes were not yet open, but I had 

 no difficulty in rearing him by my bedside. 

 He grew up perfectly tame, and was a 

 remarkably amusing pet, but he had one 

 serious failing. With prophetic acumen I 

 named him ' Snap,' and seldom has a name 

 been more appropriate, for though perfectly 

 tame and as playful as a kitten, he could not 

 resist every now and then having a good 

 hard chew at a finger. I used to let him 

 run loose on the lawn when I could look 

 after him, and at other times tethered him 

 by collar and line to a peg. Not unfre- 

 quently if left unwatched too long, I should 

 find he had slipped his collar and disappeared. 

 A Lapland dog, of the large breed such as is 

 used in Norway and Sweden for elk hunting, 

 was then set to find him for me. The dog 

 would retreat before him, and was perfectly 



1 As quoted by me, Zoologist, 1892. 



I 5 8 



