

DESTRUCTION FOR SKINS AND OIL 



59 



THE MARTEN OR MERTRICK 



Once a common denizen of Scottish woods and wilds, 

 the Pine Marten (Maries martes) (Fig. 38), or Mertrick 

 in the Old Scots tongue, was in former tinles persistently 

 slaughtered for its "costly furrings." In the old laws and 

 ledgers reference is often made to the Marten's skin. It 

 was one of the valuable items of Scottish export, and a 

 regulation made in the reign of David II (1324-1371), 



Fig. 38. Pine Marten approaching extinction in Scotland. (From individual 

 killed at Kintail, West Ross, in 1886.) \ nat. size. 



imposes a "custom of 4^. to be paid on each timmer 1 of 

 mertrick skins at the outpassing." In 1424, the duty was 

 raised to 6d. on each Mertrick skin exported. 



It was possibly the fact that Martens had become rarer, 

 owing to the continual drain upon their numbers, that 

 suggested the use of their increasingly desirable skins as 



1 Timmer or Timber, a merchant's term used to denote, according to 

 kind, a number of skins. A timber of such as Martens, Polecats, and 

 Ermines, contained 30 skins, of other creatures, 130 skins. 



