264 ±HE ZOOLOGIST. 



Marten, which now — presented by its captor — is an inmate of the Dublin 

 Zoological Gardens. It is the only Marten at present in the Gardens, 

 specimens of this animal being now difficult to procure. What adds to the 

 interest of this capture is the fact that Wexford was not hitherto one of 

 the Irish counties in which the Marten was known with certainty to 

 survive ; and though the beautiful woods of Coolbawn, lying near the 

 mountain frontier of the western side of the county, afford protection to a 

 number of wild creatures more or less uncommon in open districts through- 

 out Ireland, such as the Jay and the Squirrel, no suspicion of the presence 

 of Martens in that neighbourhood had been in any way aroused until the 

 moment when the animal itself was found, taken — as Mr. Ruttledge 

 informs me — in a trap set for rabbits, in a rabbit-hole in a fence bounding 

 some tillage, aud about a hundred yards from the plantation. The Marten, 

 when it reveals its presence at all, generally does so by its depredations 

 among poultry, young lambs, &c. There having been no suspicion of its 

 proximity in the present instance shows how easily this wary nocturnal 

 creature may escape detection in any part of the country sufficiently wild 

 to afford it concealment. I have no doubt that other Martens survive at 

 Coolbawn, and elsewhere in the county. — C. B. Moffat (36, Hardwicke 

 Street, Dublin). 



Earliest use of Foxhounds. — In ■ Countrey Contentments,' by " G. M." 

 [Gervase Markham], 1615 [1st ed. 1611], the writer gives a description of 

 the Hound best suited for hunting the Fox and Badger, which is interesting 

 as showing that at this date it was no longer the universal habit to hunt 

 the fox with all kinds of dogs indiscriminately. This seems to be about 

 the earliest indication of the recognition of a Foxhound, as distinguished 

 from the varieties of hound used for chasing other game. Harrison, who 

 wrote his description of England about 1577-87 a.d., merely classes 

 together, under the name of Harriers, all the hounds used for hunting 

 " the fox, the hare, the wolf (if we had any), hart, buck, badger, otter, 

 polecat, lopstart, weasel, conie, etc.," but he does not mention the breeds 

 used lor auy of these various forms of sport. — A. Holte Macphurson 

 (51, Gloucester Place, Hyde Park). 



[The lopstart, or lobster, is a provincial name for the Stoat. As to the 

 origin of the name, see Zool. 1 884, pp. 1 12, 153, and 1888, pp. 20, 05. — Ed.J 



Polecat in Pembrokeshire. — From all I can learn from trustworthy 

 sources, the Polecat is now extinct in this county. It never was common 

 here. The last was killed in a large wood called Penkelly Wood, about 

 iifteen years ago. L learn also, from the descendant of an old sporting 

 family in Cardiganshire, that it was the invariable rule of all masters of 

 Foxhouuds never to whip them off a Marten Cat, which they hunted as 

 eagerly as a Fox. This agrees with my experience of the Marten killed 



