straightforward habits of otters and other animals.
[Pine Marten. Mustela martes. Linn.
I know of no occurrence of the marten the most beautiful of the British mammals in Bucks, although as lately as 1891 an ex- ample was seen disporting itself in a tree by a gentleman entomologizing only a mile or two outside the borders of the county. I prefer not to indicate the locality, in case there should still be an example or two left there, as I have heard of specimens being obtained there within tolerably recent years ; and a gamekeeper near here knows the species from seeing one or more examples there before he came to his present situation. No doubt however the locality will be fully indicated in the Victoria History of the county in which it is situated. Martens are not mentioned in any of the churchwardens' accounts of this county which I have examined. I have bred five litters of this species in captivity ; three of these numbered three, one litter numbered two ; from the re- maining litter I only reared one, but with little doubt heard the voices of one or two other cubs at first. The gestation is surpris- ingly long, probably 103 days, but certainly between 94 and 106 days. The young are pure white at birth.[1] I am not aware of this species having ever been bred in captivity elsewhere.]
15. Polecat. Putorius putorius, Linn.
BellMustela putorius.
Within the last five-and-twenty years pole- cats still occurred if but thinly over a great part of the county, and fifty years ago seem to have been pretty general ; but the steel- trap has nearly cleared them out, and at the present time only a very few stragglers remain, of which two or three are within a couple of miles or so of this house at the time of writing this. The following are a few parishes in which I have actually heard of polecats within recent years, though probably not one of them contains examples at the present time : various parishes round Ayles- bury (Bierton, etc.), Steeple Claydon, Biddies- den, Stowe, Dorton, Long Crendon, Kingsey, Hedsor. Mr. J. H. B. Cowley in the Zoologist, 1890, p. 178, mentions having received three specimens from Bucks, namely from Bierton, Waddesdon and Stoke Mande- ville. Churchwardens' accounts in all parts of the county prove the general distribution of this species through the eighteenth century by constant entries of payments for victims. In Hambleden parish the accounts [2] show that between the years 1722 and 1808 ( = 87 years) the churchwardens paid for 330 polecats, or an average of 3¾ per year. The largest number in one year was 21. Three examples which I obtained in 1880 and 1881 from Kingsey Park were all accidentally caught in rabbit-trapping, and not in traps intended for vermin ; and the use of steel traps for rabbit catching has probably done more to extirpate polecats throughout the country than all the traps intended for them specially. I have had considerably over 100 polecats in my menagerie, inclusive of those born in captivity. Of 25 litters of this species born in my collection, there were born in :
| May (from the Z3rd), | 4 litters | =16 per cent. |
| June (up to the 1 5th), | 12 | =48 |
| (from 1 6th to end), | 7 | =28 |
| July (up to the 7th), | 2 | = 8 |
and a litter of five cubs received early in July were, according to my estimate, born about 24 May. Of these 26 litters :
2 litters numbered 6 young 5 ""5" 4 ""4" 5 ""3" 4 ""2" 3 ""1"
Probably a larger number born
number not ascertained.
It is curious that a litter is not as a rule fairly evenly divided as to sex ; but usually all the cubs, or all but one, are of the same sex. One male polecat born in my collection I rescued from his cannibal mother just in time ; she had eaten the other members of the litter, and had already taken a bite out of him. His eyes were not yet open, but I had no difficulty in rearing him by my bedside. He grew up perfectly tame, and was a remarkably amusing pet, but he had one serious failing. With prophetic acumen I named him ' Snap,' and seldom has a name been more appropriate, for though perfectly tame and as playful as a kitten, he could not resist every now and then having a good hard chew at a finger. I used to let him run loose on the lawn when I could look after him, and at other times tethered him by collar and line to a peg. Not unfre- quently if left unwatched too long, I should find he had slipped his collar and disappeared. A Lapland dog, of the large breed such as is used in Norway and Sweden for elk hunting, was then set to find him for me. The dog would retreat before him, and was perfectly
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