NOTES AND QUERIES. 343 



that Macleay, the birdstuffer, of Inverness, latterly obtained a supply of 

 skins that he could not procure in Scotland. I am afraid that the 

 Foumart is now quite rare in the Lake district. Even in 1883 it was 

 virtually extinct in East Cumberland. The district that it held out in best 

 was the Solway Plain, from Thrustonfield, near Carlisle, away to Wigton 

 and Maryport, including its famous stronghold, Weddholm Flow. Even 

 there, in 1883, I do not think it was as common as might be supposed 

 from Mr. Farrall's letter, though I have seen a few, killed since, it is true, 

 the last at Brayton by one of Sir Wilfrid Lawson's keepers. But people do 

 not realise the fact of its becoming rare until it is nearly banished. I do 

 not think there has been a Foumart hunt for the last five or six years even 

 in the Weddholm district. For a long time the farmers did all the vermin 

 killing on the flows and commons, and they did not trap much. But 

 Weddholm has been overrun lately by Foxes, and has for several years been 

 trapped. Hence I am afraid that even here the Foumart is nearly cleared 

 out. My latest enquiries in North Lancashire show that the Foumart is 

 virtually extinct in the south of the Lake district. To judge from the 

 "Churchwardens' Accounts" that I have seen, it must have been very 

 numerous once, and its skin was sought after for the market in 1803 — 

 perhaps earlier. I have not put my notes on this species into shape yet ; 

 but you may be satisfied that it is now unknown in most parts of the 

 Lake district. It was exterminated in the Bewcastle district within the 

 memory of Capt. Johnson, of Castlesteads ; that was by hunting chiefly, 

 judging by that old gentleman's account. One "Bill Little," an old 

 postman here, is our great local authority on Polecats. Thirty years ago, 

 he says, they were extremely common in the Thrustonfield district, and he 

 had a great experience of them. There is, or was, another old man in the 

 town who was a famous Foumart hunter, but chiefly in the Wigton district. 

 I cannot say whether he is still alive; but if there is anything that Bill 

 Little can tell about Foumarts, I shall be pleased to ask him. I saw several 

 fine Polecats in the hands of birdstuffers during my stay at Oriel (1877 to 

 1881), and these, as you say, frequented the big coverts, which also held 

 Badgers. The poor " Brock " has long been exterminated in the Lake 

 district. Odd ones do turn up from time to time, of course, but these are 

 escapes. The Pine Marten gets rarer every year, because visitors to the 

 Lake district bribe the keepers to kill specimens for them. I have seen 

 four, killed this year, all in Westmoreland; and I was lately shown 

 another that was killed in 1889 near Tebay. Its owner remarked he 

 thought it was "the last of the Westmoreland Sweet Marts." I am glad 

 to say, however, that things are not quite so bad as that. Tebay is no 

 district for the Marten — still it is going ! I think the time has come when 

 we should legislate for the preservation of our ferce natures, excepting the 

 Stoat and Brown Rat. The Tebay Marten had lost its foot in a trap. 

 The poor beast had found its way into a barn, and was worried by the 



