108 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



being much less active in Ireland than in the Scotch Highlands, it would 

 be interesting to learn what has been the experience of others on this 

 point; e.g., whether the Scotch Hares turn white more completely and 

 earlier in the north than in the south, on the high hills than on the 

 plains. It does not seem probable that the British Islands should possess 

 three species of Hare, one of them peculiar to one of the Islands. — 

 Clebmont. 



Marten in Cumberland. — Early in November last 1 received from 

 Mr. Benson, M.F.H., a fine Marten for preservation, which had just been 

 killed by his hounds. On November 22ud he wrote me : — " The Mart 

 I sent you was killed on the 10th, when out fox-hunting on Carlinot, one 

 of the high fells between Loweswater and Ennerdale. The hounds took a 

 drag to a hole in a rock ; the huntsman put in a long stick ; as soon as he 

 touched the Mart it ran out and jumped into the mouth of a hound standing 

 near. They are getting scarce ; I think I have not killed more than six 

 during the last seventeen years I have had hounds." Another Mart was 

 killed and eaten by the hounds a fortnight afterwards, and since then a 

 third has been seen at the same place. One was seen at the head of 

 Borrowdale in the middle of January last ; so you will see there is a fair 

 stock left. — George Mawson (Cockermouth). 



[We are glad to hear from another correspondent that the Marten is 

 to be found also in other parts of the same county, where we trust it may 

 long hold its own. — Ed.] 



Wild Animals paid for by Churchwardens of Crosthwaite, 

 Cumberland. — The following short list of expenses incurred by Church- 

 wardens about the middle of last century, for wild animals in Cumberland 

 may be worth inserting in your journal : — 1750 : To Thos. Birkett for an 

 old Fox, 3s. 4d. ; to Jas. Bowe's man for one old Eagle, Is. ; to Jas. Bowe 

 for two young Eagles, Is. 1752 : to Wm. Ware for one old Eagle, 2s.; to 

 Jas. Gateskel for two young Eagles, 2s. 1753: to St. John's people for 

 twenty-one young Ravens, 3s. 6d. 1762 : for two Eagles and one Fox, 

 4s. 4d. 1 763 : for Foxes and Eagles, £1 6s. 6d. 1765 : for Foxes, 

 Eagles, and Ravens, £1 4s. 8d. This is the last entry where the Eagle is 

 named ; but the late Mr. Jonathan Otley, who lived to be above ninety, and 

 has heen dead twenty-five years, used to say that they nested in Cumberland 

 up to 1791. The Foxes named were of what we used to call the " greyhound 

 breed;" they had much longer legs than the present race, and with no 

 black upon them ; the face was also much longer — in fact, it was larger in 

 every way than the black-footed Irish one. It is now quite extinct in this 

 district, and has been for many years past. I knew the animal well. The 

 Raven, I am glad to say, is still to be seen in the county. — W. Kinsey 

 Dovkr (Myrtle Grove, Keswick). 



