34 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



a neighbouring inn, and when cooked afforded an excellent 

 meal to the hungry hunters. Mr. Coward is disposed to think 

 that a few Foumarts might still be found in their old haunts, if 

 searched for with otter-hounds or a scratch pack. He is no 

 doubt correct in saying that the breed still exists in very small 

 numbers. I examined a very fine Foumart belonging to Mr. 

 Cairns, trapped on Weddholm Flow in October 1888, when two 

 others were killed. In December 1889 two were killed near 

 Silloth. One of these was preserved by Mr. Ismay, who found 

 the second lying dead, and too decomposed to preserve. In 

 1890 another (but a small one) was killed by a keeper at Bray- 

 ton. I was assured about the same time that a very few still 

 exist near Stapleton. 



When the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club visited Gilsland in 

 1880 they found the remains of a gibbeted Foumart. 'On 

 coming to the vicarage at Lanercost,' writes Mr. Hardy, ' the 

 feet and tail of a polecat were observed to be affixed to the 

 stable-door, — the relics not unlikely of one of the last of its race 

 in that vicinity, for in the Brampton district it occurs now very 

 occasionally.' x Of the accuracy of this latter statement there is 

 unfortunately no room for doubt. The same may be said of 

 most parts of Lakeland. It is true that I have notes of speci- 

 mens taken in localities widely apart during the last nine years, 

 but they are few in number. The era of steel traps has well- 

 nigh swept away the race of Foumarts, whose game ancestors 

 afforded such good sport to the hunters of the last century. 



The skins of Foumarts were largely utilised, even within my 

 own recollection, for muffs, boas, and other articles of feminine 

 attire. Those killed by Lindsay in the ' fifties ' went to Kendal, 

 who made about £5 a year by the skins he sold. The prices 

 that he used to receive at Kendal were eighteenpence for a dog 

 Foumart's skin, and a shilling for that of a female. The pelage 

 varies in condition seasonally. It is ragged and poor at the end 

 of the breeding season, and is in the finest condition about the 

 end of the year — e.g. in frosty weather. Considerable, variations 

 will be found to exist in the colours of any large series of 

 Foumart's skins ; there is also some difference in texture, the 

 1 B. N. C, vol. ix. p. 236. 



