no LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



late as June, 1892, a fact which is not at all surprising 

 when we consider that Wexford comes next to Kilkenny, a 

 county in some parts of which the Marten is still plentiful." 



Habits. — An excellent climber, the Marten during part of the 

 year is a denizen of woods and plantations ; but, as we shall 

 see below, in some districts at least is to be found in the open 

 rocky country. Occasionally it has been known to take up its 

 abode near a farmyard, and to wage war on the smaller denizens 

 thereof. As a rule four or five young form a litter, but the 

 number may vary from two to seven; and as at least two litters 

 are produced in a year, the Marten may be regarded as a 

 prolific animal, so that it is only as the result of continual 

 persecution that it is so rapidly becoming exterminated* Its 

 usual food comprises such birds as it can kill, together with 

 their eggs, the smaller mammals, and reptiles. 



Writing of the habits of these animals in the north of 

 England, Mr. F. Nicholson says that when hunted, " they 

 usually make at once for the rocks and crevices, going at a 

 great pace at first, but are soon run into unless they succeed 

 in reaching some hole in a crag where hounds and huntsmen 

 cannot follow. They fight desperately with both claws and 

 feet. When before hounds on level and snow-clad ground they 

 proceed with a succession of astonishing long leaps, often six 

 or seven feet apart. They do not usually come down to the 

 wooded parts of the country except for breeding purposes, but 

 the greater part of the year they follow the screes and higher 

 fell-ground. Though they generally come down to the woods 

 in the valleys in April ;; J May to have their young ones, 

 selecting some old Magpie's nest or Squirrel's drey for a home, 

 still they sometimes breed in the rocks near the tops of the 

 highest hills. It is only at such times that the Marten is 

 easily trapped, for, unlike the Polecat, it does not approach a 

 given spot by one track. They do not seem so suspicious of 



