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EPPING FOREST.
The Marten, which is closely allied to, but larger than,
the last-named animal, is very rare, but is believed still
to exist in the Forest. It frequents woods and lies
in the hollows of old stems. Extremely agile in its
movements, it traverses branches and leaps from bough
to bough like the squirrel. "The last killed in Essex
was trapped by Mr. Luffman, at that time keeper to
Mr. Maitland, in April 1853, in one of the Loughton
covers. I observed a living specimen near Ambresbury
Banks on 29th July 1883."—J. S. E. The Rev. W. B.
Daniel, in Rural Sports, published in 1801, says of this
animal—" Some years since one used to run tame
about the kitchen of the ' Bald Faced Stag' on Epping
Forest."
The Stoat is the next in size to the polecat of the weasel
family, and is of as sanguinary a disposition. Being the
near relative of the arctic ermine it frequently turns
partially white in winter. A pure white specimen has
been killed in the Forest.
The Weasel, the smallest of his tribe, has all the ferocity and
courage of his bigger brethren, and being even more
active in proportion to his size, works havoc among the
lesser birds and animals. I constantly see his tiny rope-
like body arched like a bridge, as he races across my
lawn, intent upon his bloodthirsty work.
Squirrel. Owing to the persecution which this popular
favourite has suffered, and the ease with which it is
hunted to death when the trees have been recently pol-