160 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE 



a caste distinction in the fifteenth century; seeing that in 

 1457, the Scottish Parliament ordained "burgesses (unless 

 bailies or councillors) and their wives and daughters, and 

 clerks (unless dignitaries of cathedrals) not to wear furrings 

 of mertricks except on holiday." 



The result of such slaughter as the Marten was subjected 

 to could be in no doubt, and the history of the Marten in 

 Harris in the Outer Hebrides, as given by successive visitors, 

 well illustrates its progressive effects. In 1549 Monro wrote 

 "In this countrey of Harrey [is]. . infinite slaughter^ of otters 

 and mactickes [probably a mis-spelling for mertricks]." A 

 century and a half later, in 1703, Martin says "they are 

 pretty numerous in this Isle; they have a fine Skin, which 

 is smooth as any Fur, and of a brown Colour." Little more 

 than a century passed and in 1830 Macgillivray found that 

 it was "not very uncommon '; and less than fifty years later, 

 Harvie-Brown regarded it as almost exterminated there. 



On the mainland the same process of extirpation pro- 

 ceeded, intensified by the fact that the Marten's depredations 

 in the poultry yard and amongst game, and its occasional 

 forays against lambs and even grown sheep, led to its en- 

 rolment in the class of " vermin." The disappearance of the 

 Marten has been more rapid than that of the Wild Cat, for, 

 notwithstanding that at a late date it covered a wider 

 area of Scotland, it is now the rarer of the two creatures. 

 Dr Harvie-Brown has given a comprehensive account of its 

 history in Scotland up to 1881, and later information has 

 added little to the general truths his facts brought to light. 1 1 

 is true that the track of its disappearance is often obscured by 

 the sporadic occurrence, in districts far from their birth place, 

 of wandering individuals or pairs, which have little chance 

 of setting up successful new colonies. Yet the main drift of 

 the disappearance of the Marten is clear. 



The cultivated districts were earliest forsaken, an indica- 

 tion that pest rather than pelt determined its disappearance, 

 and indeed, vermin or rabbit traps have accounted for most- 

 of the numbers slain during the nineteenth century. A few 

 pairs may still lurk in the Cheviots, but the Lowlands of 

 Scotland are now practically deserted, although it was 

 common so far south as Kirkcudbrightshire in 1796, and 

 1 I have italicised the significant words in each passage. 



