MAMMALS, 
77 
appear to be common on the Dunbeath Moors — only one 
old Fox appearing in the Vermin Lists, and that so long ago 
as 1875. 
Family MUSTELID^. 
23. Mantes abietum (-Ray). Marten. 
The marten appears now to be of rarer occurrence throughout 
Scotland than the wild-cat, being extinct in many places 
still frequented by the latter, bat, curiously enough, has 
survived over a larger area up to a later date ; that is 
to say, that while the boundaries of the country at present 
inhabited by the wild-cat are easily defined, and are 
gradually contracting, the occurrences of the marten are 
more sporadic, often turning up in localities far distant from 
one another, where no records had previously occurred for 
many years. The marten being extremely unsuspicious of 
a baited trap, falls an easy prey to the professional vermin- 
killer. In Assynt it is now very rare, but in 1876, in the 
Eeay Forest, one keeper had fifteen skins awaiting the 
annual arrival of the furrier's traveller. Two were got at 
Gualin in 1882, but they are very scarce there, though 
possibly less so than elsewhere in the county. In the east 
they have not been known for many years, and are almost, 
if not quite, extinct in the Tongue district. One was got 
at Inchnadamph in 1885. 
We have no record of this species from Caithness beyond 
that mentioned in the Vermin List in the Appendix. 
24, Mustela vulgaris, i. Common Weasel. 
Not so abundant as the stoat, and not, so far as is known, 
ascending the hills to any great altitude, preferring the 
proximity of houses and farmyards. 
Not nearly so abundant in Caithness as the stoat (vide 
Shearer, writing in 1871). 
