158 THE PINE-MARTEN. 



not sociable beasts, two martens for every mile of 

 coast would be a comparatively dense population, 

 and the rising generations that could not claim 

 and hold a hunting-range along the crags would, 

 perforce, have to travel inland in search of their 

 fortunes. So, when the day comes that it can 

 truly be written, 'The marten no longer exists 

 except here and there among the inaccessible 

 crags of the west coast of Ireland,' then the 

 marten will indeed be a rare animal, exterminated 

 in so far as it is possible for man to bring about 

 its extermination. 



Is the marten doomed to become extinct ? In 

 Ireland, no ; but in Great Britain it is most assuredly 

 following the beaver and the wild cat. Our chil- 

 dren's children will probably read with regret 

 that 'what is considered to be the last pair of 

 wild martens existing in the Highlands,' &c. The 

 shrinkage of its home-range during the last few 

 years has proceeded rapidly. So far as I can 

 ascertain, it is eight years since the last pine-marten 

 was shot in Wigtownshire, where once it was 

 abundant; while it is entirely gone from Kirk- 

 cudbrightshire and Dumfriesshire, where it is a 

 creature unknown to the present generation of 

 gamekeepers, though comparatively familiar to 

 their fathers. The marten can be said, therefore, 

 to have gone entirely from the Scottish Lowlands, 

 or, at any rate, to have become so scarce as to be 

 undetected. In the Highlands its range is slowly 

 gathering in on every side. In England it can 

 only just be said to exist. 



Why preserve the marten ? Why preserve any 

 other gem of nature or of art ? If there is anything 

 at once tragic and pathetic in the ways of Dame 

 Nature, it is that she should have presented this 



