MAMMALIA 25 



the Foumarts, he will find the relative rarity of the Pine Marten 

 evidenced in the first years of the last century : '[1700]. June 

 29. Pd. to ye Churchwarden of Overstaveley for Tow Clean 

 Marts, £0, 0s. 8d.' < [1701] Oct. 18. Pd. to ye Churchwarden 

 of Under[barrow] for 5 Clean Marts, £0, Is. 8d.' Dec. 27. Pd. 

 to Wm. Towars for 8 foule Marts, one Clean Mart, 2 Eavens 

 and one Brock, £0, 2s. 6d.' ' [1704] April. To Geo. Wilson for 

 one Clean Mart, £0, 0s. 4d.' ' [1705] April. Paid to Alec Jack- 

 son for one Marte and one Brock heads, £0, 0s. 10d.' 



In Lakeland the Pine Marten is often called the 'Sweet 

 Mart ' nowadays, but I have never heard the term ' Clean Mart' 

 employed. It has probably become obsolete. Old hunters 

 usually speak of the Marten simply as * the Mart,' but some- 

 times as the ' Crag Mart.' The latter expression is used in dis- 

 tinction to the ' Pine Mart/ which is locally supposed to be a 

 darker animal, lacking the yellow tinting considered character- 

 istic of the ' Crag Mart,' and more at home among trees. Any 

 ' Mart ' will ascend tree after tree like a squirrel if hotly pursued 

 by dogs and men. On such occasions an old Magpie's nest often 

 offers a temporary shelter, of which the ' Mart ' is not slow to 

 take advantage. Otters, if to be caught ' wick ' (i.e. alive), must 

 be ' tailed ' ; if a ' Mart ' is to be secured without injury to itself 

 or its captor, it must be ' clicked ' by the neck. On looking 

 over my notes, I find the following specimens of the Pine Marten 

 mentioned among others that have come under my scrutiny of 

 late years : One killed in 1888 near Crosby Kavensworth, 

 where two others had been trapped by the same keeper a short 

 time before ; one killed in the Patterdale district in 1889 ; two 

 killed in the Windermere country in December 1890, and 

 January 1891 ; yet another was killed at Hawswater, and sent 

 to Hope on May 6, 1891. Mr. F. P. Johnson informs me that 

 a dog and bitch were killed at Wallow Crag, near Keswick, in 

 November and December 1891. Those presented by Mr. J. W. 

 Harris to Tullie House were obtained in the Keswick district. 

 It should be remembered that though the haunts of this animal 

 are remote and difficult of access, its numbers have of late years 

 greatly decreased. * Marts ' are so much scarcer than they used 

 to be, that our sportsmen might well take a pride in preserving 



