MAMMALIA 20 



to ye Churchwarden of Strikland Roger for 19 foule Mrt.,. 

 1 Clean Mt., and 1 Raven, £0, 3s. 8d. Pd. to Edw. Hallithown 

 for 14 ffoule Marts and 3 Ravens, £0, 2s. lOd. Pd. to ye 

 Churchwarden of Whiter well for 3 ffoule Marts, £0, 0s. Gd.' 

 In the early winter of this year, 1701, a Vestry meeting held on 

 December 26 passed the following accounts: 'Pd. to Matthew 

 Wilson for 4 foule Marts, £0, 0s. 8d. Pd. to ye Churchwarden 

 of Stricklandroger for 22 foule marts, £0s. 3s. 8d.' At the 

 Easter Vestry in April 1702 no fewer than fifty-one Foumart 

 heads were produced and paid for. At the Vestry meeting held 

 at Easter 1704 some of these trophies of hunting prowess 

 appear to have been overlooked, because there occurs a special 

 entry on the 3d of August : ' Pd. to ye Churchwarden of Grey- 

 rigg for 11 ffoule marts, being due ye last year, £0, Is. 10d.' 



At the Easter Vestry 1705 only sixteen Foumarts appear 

 to have been specified by name, the heads of ten of the num- 

 ber having been presented on the 18th of December 1704, and 

 the remaining six in the ensuing April. In 1705 a Peremp- 

 tory Day was held on Dec. 27th, when the following accounts 

 were discharged : ' Pd. to ye Churchwarden of Crooke for 1 2 

 ffoule Marts, £0, 2s. Od. Pd. to James Cock for 14 ditto, 

 £0, 2s. 4d. Pd. to Robert Smalwood for 2 Eavens and one ffoule 

 Mart, 6d.' The price never varied. Twopence was the head- 

 money set on every Foumart in this far-extending parish, and 

 this sum was paid, whether the supply of vermin was great or 

 small, until 1718, when its discontinuance was ordered. The 

 practice of paying for the heads of Foumarts did not, however, 

 become obsolete at once, because I find that eleven Foumart 

 heads were produced, and were duly paid for by the wardens on 

 the 27th of December 1725. 



No doubt the sport repaid to venturesome spirits by this 

 fleet and game little animal was in itself a sufficient inducement 

 for its organised destruction. A local journal supplies a de- 

 scription of a Foumart hunt among the Westmorland hills, which, 

 though high-flown in metaphor, appears to be an accurate 

 narrative of ' A Grand Foumart Hunt ' that took place nearly 

 half a century ago ' on the barren hills between Esthwaite and 

 Windermere.' The date fixed for the meet was the 7th of 



