6 
MAMMALS OF LEICESTERSHIRE AND RUTLAND. 
a hairdi'esser, who lived in the little lane leading out of the JMarket-place, just 
above the ‘ White Swan ’ Inn. He was a taxidermist also, and I well remember 
seeing some IMartens which he had just stuffed, an adult female and two young 
ones, which, he told me, were killed a few miles away, I believe at Bradgate. 
He had the adult a long time, and used to exhibit it in his window, and was 
very fond of talking about it, declaring that it was brought to him alive. I 
also remember hearing that one was killed at Stapleford, but I did not see it, 
as it was years before I was employed by Lord Harborough.” 
Col. F. Palmer, of Withcote Hall, wrote me, in 1888 : — “ We used many years 
ago, say fifty, to have the Marten Cat in Owston Wood.” 
COMIMOK POLECAT. Pidorius fcjetidus (auct.). 
“ Foumart,” i.e., Foul Mart or ^Marten, to distinguish it from 
the Pine-Marten, which was anciently called “ Sweet Mart.” “ Fitchet.” 
Increasingly rare, and will soon become extinct. — Harley wrote : — “ Com- 
monly diffused over the county. Met with most frequently in the more densely 
wooded parts of it. Occurs not seldom in the vicinage of such woods as those 
of Oakley, Piper, Grace Dieu, and Gopsall.” 
The MS. Donation-book of the IMuseum records one presented, on 26th 
October, 1850, by Joseph Knight, Esq., of Aylestone, which IMajor Gregory Knight 
tells me was trapped at Blaby, by a gamekeeper in the employ of his late father. 
The late Mr. K. Widdowson wrote in 1885 : — “Not heard of any here for many 
years.” Elkington, a bird-stuffer, told me, in 1885, that he had not received 
one for five-and-twenty years. Johnson, keeper at Laughton Lodge, wrote in 
1885 : — “ Not trapped a Polecat for years.” Mr. Thomas Woodcock, of Eatcliflfe- 
on-the-Wreake, wrote me, in 1885, that, although he had not seen one, he 
believed he had traced them in that vicinity in snowy weather. i\Ir. W. Ingram, 
of Belvoir, wrote, in 1885: — “I cannot hear that a Polecat has been seen or 
destroyed of late years in our woods ” ; and John Kyder, Belvoir Castle, wrote 
in 1885 : — “ I have not heard of any caught of late, but about twenty-five years 
ago, Jno. Gibson, one of the Duke’s keepers, trapped one in the ‘ Frog Hollow,’ 
near the pond. I saw and handled it ; and a very fine one it was, much larger 
than any Ferret I have seen.” Writing again on 1st July, 1885, he said : — “ Two 
Polecats were trapped here three weeks ago. I did not hear of them in time 
to save them before they were spoilt, or should have sent them.” 
In September, 1885, I saw a specimen in the possession of Messrs. Warner, 
Sheppard and Wade, and was referred to Mr. W. Brooks, B.A., J.P., of Croft, who 
informed me that it was trapped in a Kabbit-warren on his estate about thirty 
years before, and was stuffed by T. Bull, his groom. Finding that the specimen 
was a desideratum, Mr. Sheppard kindly presented it to the jMuseum on 21st 
Oct., 1885. 
