132 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Northumberland (Zool. 1891, p. 450). — Mr. George Bolam, 

 of Berwick-on- Tweed, writes : — " In order to make Mr. Harting's 

 account of the present distribution of the Marten in England 

 (Zool. 1891, pp. 401—409, and 450—459), as complete as 

 possible, perhaps I may be allowed to call attention to what 

 seems to be an error in the paragraph, on p. 450, relating to 

 Northumberland. From this paragraph it would appear that 

 two Martens were obtained near North Shields in 1883, but a 

 comparison of the references given (' Naturalist,' 1886, p. 238, 

 and ' Zoologist,' 1883, p. 295) will show, I think conclusively, 

 that both these notices relate to the same animal. This, there- 

 fore, will reduce the number of occurrences for Northumberland, 

 as given by Mr. Harting, to two individuals since the year 1871. 

 In addition to these I may mention, in reference to the news- 

 paper cutting quoted by Mr. Yellowley (' Naturalist,' 1886, p. 238), 

 but passed over by Mr. Harting, no doubt as * insufficient 

 evidence,' that I have seen the specimen therein referred to, 

 and there is no doubt either as to its correct identification or as 

 to the trustworthiness of the record. It was a fine male, in 

 capital condition as to fur and otherwise, and was caught in an 

 ordinary steel rabbit-trap upon the banks of the Kiver Breamish, 

 in front of Harehope Hall, in the parish of Eglingham, North- 

 umberland, on the 28th May, 1883, by a son of Kobert Hedley, 

 the then gamekeeper upon the estate. I saw it in Hedley's 

 possession shortly afterwards, and had from him full particulars 

 of its capture. It was stuffed and set up by Andrew Hall, an old 

 mole-catcher, resident in the locality, who practises as the local 

 taxidermist ; and, like most of the specimens I have examined, 

 it has the breast of a dirty white, stained as it were with reddish 

 buff, rather than of a yellow colour. No other example was 

 known to have been killed or seen in the district for very many 

 years previously, and speculation was rife, amongst the neigh- 

 bouring gamekeepers and others, as to where this solitary 

 animal could possibly have come from. The close proximity of 

 the Cheviot Hills, however, and such sanctuaries as Chillingham 

 Park (distant little more than a couple of miles from Harehope 

 as the crow flies), as well as the extensive tracts of moorland and 

 plantation which abound in the neighbourhood, may be taken as 

 the natural explanation of the mystery with which its appearance 

 was regarded ; while the travelling capabilities of the Marten are 



