FJt/ENDS OH FOES? 191 



to the locality in which he is found, is now a 

 very rare animal in England. In point of fact 

 he has been almost exterminated. Not so very 

 many years ago he was to be found in the forests 

 that spread over the greater part of Sussex. A 

 marten was killed there to my knowledge some 

 time back. 



So common was he in the olden time that his 

 skin furnished the principal fur worn by ladies of 

 rank ; a very beautiful one it is too, when properly 

 prepared. Nearly all that is in use now comes from 

 the Continent, where the marten holds his own, and 

 is likely to do, in spite of traps and trappers. He 

 thrives there, like the wolf, because the vast tracts 

 of forest are still, comparatively speaking, thinly 

 populated ; food is there in plenty, and he makes it 

 his special study to exact toll from all small deer. 

 Hares, rabbits, squirrels contribute to the furnishing 

 of his larder, and for game-birds he has a violent 

 affection. Capercailzie, black-grouse, hazel-hen, 

 and willow-grouse, all in turn come into his death- 

 grip. On the ground, or in the trees, it is all the 

 same to him. Lady marten frequently rears her 

 beautiful kittens in the nest of some large bird of 



