PINE MARTEN IN WHARFEDALE. 73 



R. FORTUNE, F.Z.S. 



In a recently published book, ' Habits and Characters of British 

 Wild Animals,' by Mr. H. Mortimer Batten, is the following 

 interesting paragraph in the chapter devoted to ' The Pine- 

 Marten.' ' The only wild marten I have ever seen in a natural 

 state lived in some low crags in the heart of a beech wood in a 

 secluded West Riding Valley. I saw it on two occasions, and 

 each time its behaviour was identical. As I silently approached 

 the foot of the crags, it darted from a cranny somewhere 

 among the heather and ferns at the brow of the cliff, and ran 

 up the slanting trunk of a blasted mountain ash, growing 

 from a shelf. Here it crouched, tilting its head, now on one 

 side, then on the other, as it regarded me with an air of playful 

 innocence. One could not but be struck by its exquisite beauty. 

 A picture, indeed, amidst its rugged setting ; yet in those 

 bright eyes was a hint — the merest hint — of the devilish brain 

 which commanded that death-darting body. After a few 

 seconds of closest scrutiny it descended the trunk a little, as 

 though to obtain a better view ; then, like a flash, it was gone.' 



In reply to an enquiry, Mr. Batten kindly wrote as follows : 

 ' It was in January, 1914 I saw the Pine Marten. The animal 

 was in the wood Garolgone, about a mile and a quarter from 

 Burnsall village, on the down river side, left-hand bank facing 

 up. This is a hardwood forest, closely adjoined by extensive 

 coniferous forests, which cover the mountain side for several 

 miles. Garolgone is very densely timbered ; the undergrowth 

 is of bracken, briar and hazel, overhanging loose boulders of 

 all sizes, thus forming an ideal shelter for wild life of every 

 kind. It has always harboured a very large number of rabbits. 

 They are bred in the lowland pastures, and make their way 

 into these woods as summer proceeds. 



In the very centre of the wood is a low cliff of loose forma- 

 tion, overshadowed by trees, and overgrown by ferns. The 

 marten, so far as I can judge, had its home in this cliff, and 

 on being disturbed, it would mount into a mountain ash, 

 growing from the face of the cliff, and thence by means of two 

 or three leaps, would gain the brow of the cliff and disappear. 

 This wood, incidentally, is an ideal hunting ground for any 

 naturalist, as it generally contains a few rare birds, and I 

 have no doubt the marten was drawn there by the super- 

 abundance of rabbits and squirrels.' 



With reference to Mr. St. Quintin's note upon the Barmston 

 Pine Marten in The Naturalist, it is only fair to the Vertebrate 

 Section to say that they did not have this animal before them, 

 but merely a report which was emphatically ' turned down ' 

 by East Riding members, who themselves had been deceived 

 by a third party who had seen it, and reported adversely. 



1921 Feb. 1 



