282 PAST AND FUTURE OF BRITISH MAMMALS 



more creatures must follow the bear and the wolf, 

 they are the wild cat, with the marten and polecat 

 following. But it is within the range of probabilities 

 that even the first may be preserved from total extinc- 

 tion for a period not inconsiderable in the history of our 

 islands, though perhaps not appreciable in the duration 

 of a species. That martens had begun to die out in 

 Ireland in the reign of Charles I. is evident from a letter 

 of Lord Strafford's to the Archbishop of Canterbury, 

 which is not quoted in the Edinburgh. He promises to 

 send some skins, but adds : ' The truth is, that as the 

 woods decay, so do the hawkes and martens of this 

 kingdom. But in some woods I have, my purpose is, 

 by all means I can, to set up a breed of martens ; a 

 good one of these is as much worth as a good wether, 

 yet neither eats so much nor costs so much in attend- 

 ance. But then the pheasants must look to themselves.' 

 Is not this characteristic of Strafford's modernness and 

 business energy? He adds that, 'standing to get a 

 shoot at a buck, I was so damnably bitten by midges, as 

 my face is all mezled over ever since. 7 As the 

 Edinburgh Reviewer has exhibited great research in 

 tracing the physical causes which have contributed in 

 the past to kill off our larger quadrupeds, it may not be 

 out of place to recall some of the sentimental reasons 

 which in the present tend to prolong the existence of 

 the survivors. 



