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IRVINE

THE INFLUENCE OF MAN

ON

ANIMAL LIFE IN SCOTLAND

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THE INFLUENCE OF MAN

ON

ANIMAL LIFE IN SCOTLAND

A STUDY IN FAUNAL EVOLUTION

BY
JAMES RITCHIE

M.A., D.Sc. (Aberdon.), F.R.S.E.
Assistant-Keeper in the Natural History Department of the

Royal Scottish Museum
(Scottish Education Department)

CAMBRIDGE

AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1920

Quhare I misknaw myne errour, quho it findis
For charite amend it, gentil wicht,
Syne perdoun me sat safer in my lycht ;
And I sal help to smore your fait, leif brother,
Thus vailye quod vailye, ilk gude dede helpis vthir.

GAWAINE DOUGLAS, Bishop of Dunkeld.

PREFACE

THE animal life or fauna of a country is no fixed unit
of occupation, established and unchanging, but, endowed
with the plasticity of life, it carries in itself the imprints of
many influences which have played upon it throughout the
ages. The lectures contained in the following pages were
planned to unravel one important set of such influences — those
which radiate from the acts of Man — so that it might be
possible to trace the different ways in which Man's power
has worked and is working, and to realize to what degree
a fauna of to-day owes its character and composition to his
interference.

With this end in view it was necessary to select a particular
fauna of manageable compass, where the inquisition into
Man's influence could be pushed to the furthest limits ; and
several facts pointed to the fauna of Scotland as best suited
for the purpose. Nevertheless, I have not hesitated to refer
to examples of Man's influence in other countries, wherever
particular types have been strikingly illustrated, or where
influences are seen at work which help to explain effects of
causes long lost to sight in Scotland, or where, as in the case
of counter-pests, modern science has created new kinds of
interference which sooner or later are likely to be adopted
in this country.

A result of this enquiry has been to emphasize the in-
stability and changefulness of a fauna, and a word may be
said as to the general place of Man's influence in the sum
of change. Two types of changefulness affect a country's
animals — one temporary in. incidence and local in effect, a

vi PREFACE

function of circumstance ; the other persistent and general,
a function of time. Within itself a fauna is in a constant
state of uneasy restlessness, an assemblage of creatures which
in its parts ebbs and flows as one local influence or another
plays upon it. It may be that a succession of favourable
seasons breeds many field-voles, and the tide of the field-vole
race flows to its high water-mark of numbers. But this new
food-supply brings to the feast hungry owls, hawks, stoats
and others, and as the tide of the beasts and birds of prey
flows, that of the voles ebbs. Yet no sooner is the ebb
apparent than the carnivores themselves decline for lack of
food; and eventually the dead level is reached again. So
the story goes on — there is a constant ebb and flow of parts
within the whole, a fauna is in unstable equilibrium, the
" balance of nature " is never quite struck.

But while the parts fluctuate, the fauna as a whole follows
a path of its own. As well as internal tides which swing to and
fro about an average level, there is a drift which carries the
fauna bodily along an irretraceable course. While the former
adjustments depend on temporary influences, such as adverse
or favourable seasons or variations in the amount of food-
stuffs, the latter is a secular phenomenon, due it may be to
climatic changes or to the ordinary processes of organic
evolution, and leaving a slowly marked but permanent imprint
on the sum total of the fauna. The extinct animals and lost
faunas of past ages illustrate the reality of the faunal drift.

Now, part of Man's influence, where it is inconstant in
tendency, is of no more import in the long run than the
internal tides of the fauna ; but it is strikingly true that the
greater part of his influence ranks with the great secular
changes. For his interference tends to persist in fixed
directions, and so impels individuals in the fauna and the
fauna as a whole upon a definite path along which there is
no return. So sweeping are the changes wrought by Man
and so swift are they in their action that they obscure and

PREFACE vii

almost submerge the slow march of the other processes of
nature, and this difference in degree, associated with Man's
purposefulness, almost inevitably leads to a sharp distinction
being drawn between nature and man. Where, however,
this distinction has been emphasized in the following pages
the contrast is relative and not absolute, it lies between
wild nature and nature man-controlled; in our land the old
order of nature has been all but superseded by the new order
of mankind, but Man himself is still " Nature's insurgent
son."

This book has been made possible by the labours of many,
and principally of Scottish naturalists, travellers, historians
and lawmakers ; their records are the bricks of which the
structure is built. I recognize and would acknowledge my
debt to all, instancing as of special value to the student of
faunal evolution such contributions as were made by the
late Dr J. A. Harvie-Brown to the past histories of several
Scottish animals. For myself in particular I am indebted to
Dr W. Eagle Clarke for hints which led to fruitful investiga-
tion, and to Mr Oliver H. Wild for several apt illustrations.

Permission to use figures from published papers was
granted by Prof. J. Cossar Ewart, F.R.S., Dr R. Stewart
MacDougall and Mr A. Henderson Bishop ; blocks were
generously lent by the Councils of the Society of Antiquaries
of Scotland (Figs, i, 10, 12, 26, 35, 57, 60), and of the
Highland and Agricultural Society (Figs. 5-9, 13-19, 21,
72-74, 76, 81-83), by Mr Bruce Campbell (Fig. 23), Mrs
Comyns Lewer, Editor of The Feathered World (Fig. 24),
the Council of the Zoological Society of Scotland (Fig. 58),
and the Trustees of the British Museum (Fig. 68). Full
reference to the sources of these blocks is made in the
" List of Illustrations." The Director of the Geological Survey
of Great Britain allowed the reproduction of an unpublished
photograph from the Survey Collections (Fig. 56). It is
a pleasure to record my gratitude to one and all of these.

viii PREFACE

As for the remainder of the illustrations, they are from my
own photographs and drawings, those of animals being based
for the most part on specimens in the collections of the Royal
Scottish Museum. The reproduction of this extensive series
of illustrations was made possible by a very generous grant
from the Trustees of the Carnegie Trust for the Universities
of Scotland.

Most of all, the reader and myself are indebted to my
wife, Jessie J. Elliot, who has been associated with this
work from its beginning. She shared in the reading of old
books and records, has constantly been consulted during the
development of the theme, read a proof, and is responsible for
the full index.

It ought to be added that the material in the pages which
follow was presented in lecture form to general audiences in
Aberdeen in December 191 7, as a course under the Thomson
Lectureship in Natural Science in the United Free Church
College.

J. R.

EDINBURGH,
March 1920.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PAGE

INTRODUCTORY. ... . . i

I. MAN AND NATURE i

Scotland particularly fitted for our study — Methods of enquiry — Main
directions of man's influence.

II. SCOTLAND AS MAN FOUND IT 6

The arrival of man— Physical condition of Scotland— Climate and
vegetation — Animal life.

PART I

MAN'S DELIBERATE INTERFERENCE

WITH ANIMAL LIFE .... 23

CHAPTER II

THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS . .27
General effects of domestication — Lines of argument — The beginnings
of domestication.

I. SHEEP IN SCOTLAND 35

The wild ancestors of domestic sheep — Primitive Scottish sheep, the
sheep of Soay and the peat or turbary sheep of Shetland, their early
recorded histories and primitive characteristics — Modern breeds, as
illustrating changes induced by man— Improvement of wool in Scot-
land.

II. CATTLE IN SCOTLAND 49

Native wild cattle : the Urus, its distribution, characteristics and
domestication— Earliest domesticated cattle : the Celtic Shorthorn, its
introduction, characteristics and domestic status — Modern Scottish
cattle, as exemplifying the influence of man — The " Wild White Cattle,"
an offshoot from a domesticated race.

III. THE HORSE IN SCOTLAND 68

Native horses — Domesticated horses in prehistoric and early historic
Scotland — Influences which have modified the native race — Ponies of
the Hebrides — Shetland " shelties " — Horses of the mainland : Norse
influence; " Wild horses "; Breeding and interbreeding in the Middle
Ages and later — The modern Clydesdale.

x CONTENTS

PAGE

IV. SOME LESSER DOMESTICATED ANIMALS .... 86
The dog, a Neolithic introduction— Scottish dogs of the sixteenth
century — The wild boar turned swine : Evidences of the wild boar in
Scotland ; Domesticated pigs — The pigeon, its ancestry and stages of
domestication in Scotland — The barnyard fowl, its Indian ancestry;
"Scots Greys" and the Scottish "Dumpie" — The domesticated goose:
Evidences of the domestication of the wild Grey Lag in Scotland —
Sundry other domestics.

CHAPTER III

DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE . 108
Destruction of animal life a primitive necessity— its wastefulness a
development of civilization.

I. DESTRUCTION FOR SAFETY OF MAN AND HIS DOMES-
TIC STOCK . HI

Extermination of the Lynx, the Brown Bear, and the Wolf — Decline of
the Fox, the Wild Cat and lesser beasts of prey— War against Golden
and Sea Eagles, Kites, Ospreys, lesser Hawks and "ravenois foullis" —
An indirect result of destruction.

II. DESTRUCTION FOR FOOD 138

Geese and some lesser Birds— Cormorants, Rock-Doves and Kitti-
wakes— The tragedy of the Garefowl — The Gannet and the Fulmar —
"Bird-Butter" and Birds' Eggs — Fisheries — Shell-fisheries.

III. DESTRUCTION FOR SKINS AND OIL 155

Scottish skin exports — Fur Fairs— Extermination of the Beaver-
Decrease of Marten and Polecat — Rabbits and Hares — The Fox, Otter
and Badger — Destruction of Seals and Whales for Oil.

IV. DESTRUCTION OF VERMIN AND PESTS . . . .176
Rooks and Choughs — Rats, Moles and Sparrows — Rabbits and Hares —
Red Deer, Squirrels and others — The Dipper.

V. DESTRUCTION FOR SPORT 184

Disappearance of the Wild Boar — The Badger- Game beasts and
birds.

VI. DESTRUCTION FOR PLEASURE OR LUXURY . . .189
The sins of " collectors "—Bird-catching — Scottish Pearl fishing.

CHAPTER IV

PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE . . .197
General influences— Protection by law and its effects.

I. PROTECTION OF ANIMALS FOR SPORT . . . .199
Hawking and Hawks — The Quarry— "Wylde Foulys" in general —
Modern game birds— The Deer Forest : Red Deer in the Lowlands ;
Modes of Deer Protection ; Effects of Deer legislation ; Deer pro-
tection at the present day; Roe and Fallow Deer— Lesser Game,
Hares.

CONTENTS xi

PAGE

II. PROTECTION OF ANIMALS FOR UTILITY . . . .216
Food animals : Beasts and birds ; Fishes of fresh waters ; Sea fisheries ;
Mollusca and Crustacea — Protection of Fur-bearing animals: The
Rabbit ; Seals — Protection of animals as scavengers : Beasts and birds
of carrion— Protection of the farmer's friends.

III. PROTECTION OF ANIMALS FOR AESTHETIC REASONS. 229
Birds "attractive in appearance or cheerful in song."

IV. PROTECTION OF ANIMALS THROUGH POPULAR FAVOUR

AND SUPERSTITION . . 233

Favoured mammals — The poets and birds — Insects —Animal sanctu-
aries— Superstition as a protector: Sacred animals; Scottish super-
stitions protecting birds and lesser creatures.

CHAPTER V

THE DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS . 241

The significance of Introductions — Some general results.
I. ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR THE SAKE OF UTILITY . 246
Appearance and spread of the Rabbit — Effects of its introduction-
Failure to acclimatize foreign deer — Destructiveness of introductions —
Balance of Nature upset— Success depends on an even balance ; some
foreign examples — Some introduced fishes — The Medicinal Leech —
Counter-pests.

II. ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR THE SAKE OF SPORT . 264
The story of the Pheasant in Scotland— Introduction and spread of
the Capercaillie— The Great Bustard — The Red-legged Partridge-
Incidental game-birds — Some sporting fishes — Transportations: fishes,
game-birds, the Mountain Hare and others.

III. ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR AMENITY . . . .283

The Peacock— Birds of bright plumage — Gold and Silver Fishes — The
histories of the Fallow and other Deer — The American Grey Squirrel
— The return and spread of the Common Red Squirrel — The Beaver —
Transported Mollusca— " Escapes" — A new motive and its warning.

PART I.I

MAN'S INDIRECT INTERFERENCE

WITH ANIMAL LIFE . . . .301

CHAPTER VI
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST . . .304

I. SCOTTISH FORESTS IN TIMES PAST . . . .305

The Lower and Upper Forests of the Peat — Nature or Man the
destroyer — Early historical forests — Forests in the fifteenth century
and after.

xii CONTENTS

PAGE

II. CAUSES OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST . 315
The needs of the household : Fuel and Housebuilding— Incidents of
conquest- -Travelling and the merrymen of the woods — Wolves-
Industries and woodland : salt manufacture, ship-building, iron-
smelting and Scottish "bloomeries" — Agriculture and the forest—
"Acts of God" : the raging fire and the whirlwind — Final results.

III. EFFECTS OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST UPON

ANIMAL LIFE .32?

Physical changes— Immediate results— The Scottish fauna originally
a forest fauna— General effects on fauna — Some individual examples —
Distribution of the Roe Deer, past and present — Decline of the Red
Deer in range and in physique — Restriction and extermination of
Reindeer — Scottish Reindeer probably a woodland race — History of
the Elk or Moose in Scotland — Conclusions regarding the race
of Deer — Some other forest dwellers : The Urus ; Beasts of prey —
The disappearance of the Common Squirrel, of the Capercaillie, and
of the Great Spotted Woodpecker — Conclusions regarding the effects
of forest destruction.

CHAPTER VII
INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION AND CIVILIZATION . 363

I. DECREASE OF ANIMAL LIFE 365

Breaking in of waste land : Extermination of the Great Bustard ;
Reduction of numbers of Quail and other creatures ; Disappearance of
Butterflies — Reclamation of swamps : Former abundance of marshes ;
Disappearance of their frequenters and inhabitants ; Extermination
of Bittern and Crane— Interference of civilization : Toll of lighthouses
and other lights ; Railways and telegraph wires ; River barriers and
fisheries ; Pollution of rivers and estuaries.

II. INCREASE OF ANIMAL LIFE 387

Vegetable food and feeders : Man creates his own agricultural pests ;
some illustrations — Animal food and insectivorous and carnivorous
animals : Pests bring their own retribution — The refuse of civilization :
Influence of garbage on animal life.

III. DISPERSAL OF ANIMALS 397

Effects upon the spread of animals of canals, of roads and bridges,
and of railways.

IV. CHANGE OF HABITS 400

The habit of selecting a domicile— Influence of houses and of towns —
Towns and song— Towns and nesting— The food habit— Faunas of
civilization : Animals of waterworks and coal-pits.

CHAPTER VIII

CAMP-FOLLOWERS OF COMMERCE, OR ANIMALS INTRO-
DUCED UNAWARES 417

I. HANGERS-ON OF MAN AND HIS DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 420

Undesirable aliens: Fleas and Bugs; Internal parasites— Parasites
transported with live stock.

CONTENTS xiii

PAGE

II. STOWAWAYS ON SHIPS 425

Introduction, prosperity and decline of the Black Rat — Alexandrine
Rat — Arrival of the Common or Brown Rat ; colonization of interior,
abundance and destructiveness— Shipworms, Barnacles, and a Sea-Fir.

III. SKULKERS IN DRY FOOD MATERIALS . . . .434

The Cricket and Cockroaches — Imports with wheat — Imports with
flour — Aliens in biscuits, sugar, tobacco, peas and beans.

IV. FOUNDLINGS AMONGST FRUIT 447

The living freight of bananas — The apple as a smuggler- -A stowaway
in the seeds of the Douglas Fir.

V. CREATURES CONVEYED BY PLANTS AND VEGETABLES 457
Types transported by vegetables : Cabbages and faunas — Imports
with nursery stocks and living trees — With plants of the flower garden
— The tropical fauna of Scottish greenhouses — Naturalized Earth-
worms, Snails, etc.

VI. TIMBER TRANSPORTEES 467

WTood-wasps — Timber carries boring creatures — A few exceptions ;

Lizards and the Zebra Mussel — Long-horned invaders — Other beetle

immigrants.

Final Remarks : The efficiency of commerce as an importer ; A month's

arrivals from abroad.

CONCLUSION

CHAPTER IX
CHAINS OF CIRCUMSTANCE . . . .479

I. A RETROSPECT 480

The influence of man a developing factor — A contrast, the ways of
Nature and Man — Main trends of man's influence : Influences tending
to increase animal life; Influences tending to reduce animal life; In-
fluences tending to modify structures and habits.

II. SOME FINAL CONCLUSIONS 492

An increase in numbers — An increase in variety — The great change.

III. SOME INDIRECT RESULTS 498

Enumeration not the whole story — The complex of life: Rabbits and
vegetation ; Influence of sheep, goats and rabbits ; Gulls and the moor-
land.

IV. THE RECOIL UPON MAN OF HIS INFLUENCE UPON

ANIMALS . . . 506

Recoils on health : Flies and disease ; Rats and disease ; Ague in
Scotland — Recoils on prosperity : Marshes and Liver Rot ; Earth-
worms; Hive Bees — The recoil upon man's character and civilization.

INDEX . .519

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIG. PAGE

Frontispiece — Contrast between Red Deer of prehistoric times and modern Red Deer

1. Bone harpoons of Azilian type from Oronsay (Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. XLVIII,

1914, p. 97) 7

2. Elk — a former inhabitant of Scotland 15

3. Old World Lynx 16

4. Ptarmigan — once more common than Grouse in Scotland 18

5. Mouflon — a wild ancestor of domestic sheep ( Trans. High. Agr. Soc. , 191 3, p. 1 2) 36

6. Soay Sheep — a primitive domesticated breed ( Trans. High. Agr. Soc., 1913, p. 20) 38

7. Turbary or Peat Sheep — a primitive domesticated race {Trans. High. Agr. Soc.,
1913. P- *7) 42

8. Cheviot Sheep — a modern result of selective breeding ( Trans. High. Agr. Soc. ,

1915, p. 402) 44

9. Black-faced Sheep — an illustration of development in length of wool (Trans.
High. Agr. Soc., 1915, p. 402) 48

10. Front view of skull of Urus (Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. IX, 1873, P- 650) . 50
loa. Side view of skull of Urus (Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. ix, 1873, p. 651) . 50

1 1. Urus — the native wild ox of Scotland (Griffith's Edn. Cuvier's Animal Kingdom,
1827, vol. iv, p. 411) 53

12. Horn-sheaths of Celtic Shorthorn, and upper part of skull, with fragments of
skin and hair attached (Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. ix, 1873, p. 622) . . 57

13. Highland Kyloes (Trans. High. Agr. Soc., 1900, p. 167) 61

14. Aberdeen- Angus bull — a highly developed result of domestication ( Trans. High.
Agr. Soc., 1911, p. 287) 63

15. Celtic Pony, probably resembles native pony of Scotland (Trans. High. Agr.
Soc., 1904, p. 249) 71

16. Hebridean Pony — Uist race — a primitive breed (Trans. High. Agr. Soc., 1904,

P- 258) 75

17. Shetland I'ony (Trans. High. Agr. Soc., 1915, p. 400) . . . . -77

1 8. Highland Garron — probably moulded by Norse influence ( Trans. High. Agr. Soc. ,
i9°9' P- 379) 81

19. Clydesdale mare — a modern product of selective breeding (Trans. High. Agr.
Soc., 1915, p. 397) 84

20. Wild Boar and primitive Scottish type of pig . . . . . . 91

21. Large White Boar — finished product of domestication (Trans. High. Agr. Soc.,
'913' P- 38?) 94

11. Wild Rock Dove 96

23. Ancient Pigeon-House or "Doo-cot" near Leadburn (Trans. Edinburgh Field
Nat. and Micr. Soc., vol. VI, 1909, pi. Vi, photo, B. Campbell) . . -99

24. Scottish breeds of poultry — Scots Greys and Scottish Dumpies ( The Feathered
World, London) 101

25. Grey Lag Geese — a wild species domesticated in Scotland . . . . 103

26. Skull of Brown Bear from peat-moss in Dumfriesshire (Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot.,
vol. xiii, 1879, p. 362) 112

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xv

FIG. PAGE

27. Brown Bear, a former native of Scotland . . . . . . .113

28. Wolf — a Scottish scourge exterminated about two centuries ago . . 117

29. Foxes (Vixen and cubs) . 123

30. WildCat _. •--;. .. ';'••'... '• .... .'. ' . 125

31. Golden Eagle . 129

32. White-tailed Eagle or Erne, once common, now practically exterminated in
Scotland . ' 131

33. Kite or Gled, once common, now exterminated in Scotland .... 135

34. Garefowl or Great Auk (once a native of Scotland, now extinct) with its
solitary egg 143

35. Bones of extinct Garefowl from kitchen-midden at Keiss, Caithness (Proc. Soc.
Antiq. Scot., vol. xni, 1879, pp. 78, 79) . .;. .' 145

36. The decline of Tweed fisheries during fifty years (diagram) . . . .152

37. European Beaver — exterminated in Scotland 157

38. Pine Marten — approaching extinction in Scotland . . . . . .159

39. Polecat and young — approaching extinction in Scotland .... 163

40. Decline of Polecat, as shown by skins and prices at Dumfries Fur Fair (diagram) 165

41. Destruction of Rabbits/and Hares, as shown by skins on sale at Dumfries Fur
Fair (diagram) . . . . . . . . . . . .167

42. Decadence of "vermin" — Wild Cat, Marten and Polecat — through twelve years'
work of one gamekeeper (diagram) 176

43. "Catching the Badger" — from a coloured plate after Alken . . . .185

44. Artaxerxes Butterfly — exterminated on Arthur's Seat . . . . .191

45. Osprey or Fish Hawk— practically exterminated in Scotland . . . .192
46.. Peregrine Falcon — formerly protected for Hawking . : . . . 20 1

47. Scottish Crested Tit — increasing in numbers under protection . . .231

48. Little Owl — an introduction to Britain which has become a nuisance . . 255

49. Cottony or White Scale attacked by Cardinal Ladybird 2^0

50. Capercaillie — reinstated in Scotland after extermination ..... 269
jr. Blue or Mountain Hares — established in many new areas in Scotland . .281

52. American Grey Squirrel — acclimatized in many parts of Britain . . . 289

53. Common Red Squirrel — a former native of Scotland, reintroduced . . . 291

54. Some deliberate introductions to Great Britain (diagram) .... 300

55. Section of peat-moss showing relationship of prehistoric forests (after F. J. Lewis) 306

56. Remains of Upper Forest of the Peat — -roots of Fir Trees laid bare by wastage

of peat, Findhorn Valley (photo by Geological Survey) 307

57. Antlers and portion of skull of Red .Deer, unearthed in the Meadows, Edinburgh
(Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. xv, 1*881, p. 41) 335

58. Reindeer— formerly natives of Scotland — in Scottish Zoological Park (Guide to
Scottish Zoological 'Park, 1917, photo, F. C. Inglis) 339

59. Fragmentary Antlers of Scottish Reindeer of Glacial Period, found at Kilmaurs,
Ayrshire 343

60. Antlers and portion of skull of Elk, found at Airley wight, Perthshire (Proc.

Soc. Anliq. Scot., vol. ix, 1873, p. 319) 347

61. Great Spotted Woodpecker — at one period exterminated as a nesting species in
Scotland 359

62. Great Bustard — formerly a native of Scotland . .... . . 366

63. Quails — once common in Scotland, nowr scarce ...... 367

64. Bittern — banished from Scotland with the marshes . . . . 374

65. Crane — a former inhabitant of Scottish marsh-lands . . . . . 375

66. Colorado Potato- Beetles » . . . 387

xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIG. PAGE

67. Rabbits and Cultivation, correspondence between increase of agricultural activity

and of number of skins of Rabbits on sale at Dumfries Fur Fair (diagram) . 390

68. Zebra Mussels — from a mass of some 90 tons removed from a water-main at
Hampton-on-Thames (Brit. Mus. Econ. Pamph., The Biology of Waterworks,
i9'7. P- 25) 4'5

69. Some alien Cockroaches introduced into Scotland 437

70. Hessian Fly and seed-like puparia, in which form it was probably introduced

to Britain 439

71. Granary Weevil and destroyed wheat . . 441

72. Piece of Dog Biscuit perforated by Biscuit Beetles (Trans. High. Agr. Soc.,
1917, p. 151) v 444

73. Beans and Peas damaged by larvae of Bean and Pea Beetles ( Trans. High. Agr.
Soc., I9f4, p. 180) . . . ,•'.-. 446

74. Bean Beetle (Trans. High. Agr. Soc., 1914, p. 180) . ' . . . .446

75. Snowy Tree Cockroach — frequently imported with bananas ' . .' . . 448

76. Branch of Apple Tree covered with Apple Mussel Scale ( Trans. High. Agr.
Soc., 1917, p. 138) 449

77. Section of damaged apple showing larva of Codlin Moth .... 452

78. Codlin Moth 452

79. Douglas Fir Seed Chalcid . . . - . . . . . . 454

80. Douglas Fir Seeds from Peeblesshire — showing escape holes of the parasitic
Chalcid 455

8t. Steel-BlueWood-Wasp(^>^«^^Vw),male(7Va«j.^z^.^/-.^^.,i9i7,p. 134) 468

82. Steel-Blue Wood- Wasp (Sirex noctilio), female (Trans. High. Agr. Soc., 1917,

P- 134) • 468

83. Steel-Blue Wood-Wasp eating its way out of a pine stem after emerging from
pupa stage (Trans. High. Agr. Soc., 1917, p. 134) 468

84. Timberman Beetles, imported to Aberdeenshire in Norwegian pine logs . . 471

85. Some chance introductions to Great Britain (diagram) 473

86. Comparison of surface features of Scotland, before the arrival of man and at the
present day (diagram) ........... 484

87. Comparison between the livestock carried by 1000 acres of cultivated and un-
cultivated land (diagram) . . . . . . . . . . 495

88. Alteration of moorland by Gulls, West Linton 503

89. Near view of the same moorland ......... 503

90. Representation of Recoils on man's health, due to different types of his inter-
ference with animal life (diagram) . , . 513

MAPS

I. Introduction and spread of the Capercaillie in Scotland . . to face p. 272

II. Distribution of the Mountain Hare in Scotland .... ,, 282

III. The Spread of the Common Squirrel in Scotland from various centres ,, 292

IV. Distribution of Scottish " bloomeries " and slag furnaces . . ,, 320
V. Decline of Red Deer — distribution at different periods . . ,, 334

VI. Influence of man-made obstructions on Scottish Salmon Fisheries ,, 380

VII. River pollution and fisheries ,, 384

VIII. Distribution of Ague or Malaria in Scotland in the eighteenth century „ 508

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY

I. i
MAN AND NATURE

There be many strange things, but the strangest of them all is MAN..,
Earth, Mother Earth, is from everlasting to everlasting... but Man
fretteth and wearieth her; for he putteth his horse to harness, and
his ploughs go to and fro in the furrow, even as the seasons come
round. He spreadeth his snares for the silly birds ; he gathereth the
fishes of the sea in the meshes of his nets. Man surpassing in wisdom.
By craft he over-reacheth the wild beast upon the mountain, and
putteth to his yoke the long-maned steed, and the strength of the
great bison.

THOMPSON'S Sales Attici (Sophocles).

SINCE Man came to his own upon the earth, he has
exercised with little restraint the power of his new
wisdom over all created things. So widely and deeply has his
influence spread during the hundreds of thousands of years
of his wanderings, that it is wellnigh impossible to gauge
its effects or to distinguish them amidst the workings of
Nature as a whole. Change is apparent in the interrelation-
ships of the plants and of the animals of a country with
the passing of years ; but who can say that here the heavy
touch of Man alone has fallen, and that there only are subtle
traces of wild Nature, wrought out through cyclic changes,
alternations of climate, and through the processes of natural
evolution in living things ? The complications due to the
action of contemporaneous natural agencies, together with
the difficulties of obtaining evidence regarding the earlier
periods of Man's existence make the ultimate analysis of
Man's influence on Nature no simple task.

2 INTRODUCTORY

SCOTLAND PARTICULARLY FITTED FOR OUR STUDY

In some respects Scotland is particularly well fitted for
our study, mainly owing to its geographical situation and
geological history. In the first place man arrived at a
comparatively late date within its borders. There is no
evidence that the country was inhabited by the human race
until long after the period of rude stone implements, the
Old Stone Age, when man was already established in South
Britain and in the majority of the European countries in the
same latitude. His influence in Scotland, therefore, is limited
to the New or Polished Stone Period and succeeding ages,
distant enough though the first may seem to our modern
historical view.

In the second place, Scotland has undergone, and in
comparatively recent geological times, an experience unlike
that of neighbouring countries. During the Great Ice Age, it
was completely buried beneath a continuous ice-sheet, some
3000 feet thick, which effectually blotted out its earlier plants
and animals. The Scottish flora and fauna are therefore
recent acquisitions due to the immigration of living things
when the ice-sheets were dwindling or after they had entirely
disappeared. Further, owing to the fact that Scotland has
for long been bounded on three sides by a broad sea, the
fauna with which Nature stocked her at the close of the Ice
Age has remained isolated, suffering, it is true, fluctuations
which Nature has ordained or man has induced, but un-
affected by that constant immigration and emigration — except
in a few cases of the more mobile creatures, such as birds —
to which continental countries are constantly liable.

The original post-glacial fauna of Scotland may be
likened to a limited capital upon which man has traded.
So far as he has been satisfied with the natural interest of
the capital, the capital has remained as it was in the be-
ginning1, but this has seldom been the case. Often he has
trenched upon it, and at times so deep have been his
overdrafts that some items of the account have been seriously
diminished or exhausted. At other times he has added
afresh to the old capital, but in a new currency of his own
introduction. Could we but assess the original animal capital

1 We are here ignoring natural fluctuations.

MAN AND NATURE 3

which the Neolithic invaders of Scotland had at their disposal,
a great step would be made towards gaining a basis from
which to compute the influence of man upon the animal
life.

In the third place, from its small size Scotland gains
advantages in such a study ; and this partly because the
fauna of a small country is more compact, and its changes,
as a rule, are more readily marked ; and partly because
Scotland's few degrees of latitude eliminate the possibility
of temperature barriers, one of the most important and far-
reaching of the climatic influences which complicate the
fluctuations of animal life in continental areas.

And lastly, since the study of Nature gained a firm
foothold, Scotland has possessed a succession of observers
and recorders , such as few countries of similar size and
population can claim, naturalists whose labours form a solid
foundation for the accurate estimation of the later changes
in animal life.'

METHODS OF ENQUIRY

To enquire into the doings of man is to investigate
History, and the historical method enters largely into this
natural history study. The foundation of our enquiry must
be such records as the past has left us. The chronicled
history of Scotland begins with the advent of the Romans
on their northward progress through these islands in the
first century of our era, but since, at that time and for many
centuries thereafter, the records of even the great political
events, of the doings of man with man, are vague and
unsatisfactory, it need hardly be said that the dealings of
man with animals seldom encumber the written page.

Even in the " historic period " therefore, the beaten
tracks of historical knowledge have to be forsaken, and
appeal has to be made to the relics man has left in his long-
forsaken homes, to the casual pictures he has carved, often
with hand and eye of wonderful skill, to the tales of travellers,
many from foreign lands, who described the features of
Scottish animal life which struck their fancy as differing from
those familiar to them, and to the records of unusually
outstanding natural phenomena which, on occasion, our

4 INTRODUCTORY

own political historians of former days condescended to
notice.

But even the sparse and slender guide-posts of early
chronicled history fail us in the ages (seven thousand years
or more) which intervened between the coming of man to
Scotland and the Christian era. Glimpses of this long-
forgotten past can be gained only by piecing together the
evidences left by animals and man himself, from bones and
relics discovered by systematic excavation or by lucky
chance in beds of marl, in the layers of peat-bogs, in the
deposits of caves, in the kitchen-middens or refuse food-
heaps of the. early inhabitants, and in the structures built
by man for defence, or for interment of his hallowed dead.

Pictures of Scottish animal life in successive ages
having been gleaned from these varied sources, simple
comparison of one with another and with the fauna as it is
known to-day will reveal the vast changes which have taken
place. Yet still a problem lies before us — that of sifting
from the totality of change the effects due to the influence
of man as distinct from the inevitable changes wrought by
time in all Nature, animate and inanimate. In working out
this problem reference will be made on occasion in the
following pages to outstanding cases in other lands which
help to illustrate man's influence and to explain the effects
of his dominance in Scotland.

MAIN DIRECTIONS OF MAN'S INFLUENCE

Man has been described from one point of view as an
instrument of destruction and from another as a creative
agent. The truth of the matter as regards his relations
with Nature is that he is neither all in all a destroyer nor
a creator, but exercises his powers mainly as a transformer
and a supplanter. Wherever he places his foot, wild vegeta-
tion withers and dies out, and he replaces it by new growths
to his own liking, sometimes transformed by his genius for
his own use. Where he pitches his tents and builds his
cities, wild animals disappear, and woodlands and valleys
where they sported are wrested from their prior owners
and given over to the art of agriculture and to animals of
man's own choosing, as well as to a host of camp-followers,

MAN AND NATURE 5

which attach themselves to his domestication whether he will
or no. Intentionally and unintentionally, directly and in-
directly, man transforms and supplants both animal and
vegetable life. Some animals he deliberately destroys, some
he deliberately introduces, and the characters of some he
deliberately transforms by careful selection and judicious
interbreeding. Other animals find his presence uncongenial
and gradually dwindle in numbers or disappear, while others
are encouraged by his activities to increase in numbers, some-
times even to his own confounding.

I. 2

SCOTLAND AS MAN FOUND IT

Heir agane sail ye se braid planes, thair wattirrie dales : heir a dry
knowe, or a thin forrest, thair a thick wodd, all meruellouse delectable
to the eye throuch the varietie baith of thair situatione, and of the
thing selfe that thair growis.

Historic of Scotland by Jhone Leslie, 1578.

(Dalrymple's Translation.)

As a preliminary to the detailed consideration of man's
influence upon Scottish animal life, let us try to picture the
condition of the country as primitive man found it, when in
his northward wanderings his communities ventured beyond
the natural boundary of the Cheviot Hills. Only with such
a picture at the back of our minds can we hope to realize
the changes which man has wrought in the passing of time.
Before trying to gauge the extent of man's trading, we
must endeavour to assess the capital which Nature placed
in his hands to begin with.

THE ARRIVAL OF MAN IN SCOTLAND

Notwithstanding that even in the more distant stages
of the Early Stone Age, man had travelled dry-shod from
the land that is now France, across the grassy valley that
separated the main mass of Europe from its western pro-
longation which is now the British Isles, there is no sure
sign that his wanderings in Palaeolithic times ever brought
him to the southern limit of Scotland. For tens of thousands
of years he dwelt on the plains of England, leaving his
handiwork — rudely dressed stone implements of various
types which fall into a long range of stages from the early
Chellean to the late Magdalenian or Reindeer period-
scattered over those southern portions which lay clear of
the heaviest and most persistent ice-fields of the Great Ice
Age. But the northern portions of these islands, still shrouded

SCOTLAND AS MAN FOUND IT 7

in their glaciers, offered no attractions to the hunters of the
Early Stone Age, and the period of the great glaciation
seems to have long passed away, with its mammoths, woolly
rhinoceros, musk-oxen, cave-bears and lions, before man
ventured to follow the retreating glaciers northwards beyond
the Cheviots.

The earliest relics of man's handiwork in Scotland
consist mainly of implements of bone or horn, flattened
harpoon-heads, with long and well-shaped barbs on both

1.INCH.

Fig. i. Bone harpoons of Azilian type from prehistoric settlement in Oronsay. f nat. size.

sides, and rough pick-axes carved from the antlers of red-
deer. Implements of stone and flint-chips, rudely dressed,
have also been found, but their numbers are too few and
their characters too indefinite to point clearly to their place
in the recognized cultural stages of European man. The
characters of the bone implements (Fig. i) indicate in
a general way the Azilian period, a stage regarding which
little is known, although it may be placed at the open-
ing of the Polished Stone or Neolithic Age, or at any rate

8 INTRODUCTORY

between that and the definite later stages of the Palaeo-
lithic epoch. These earliest inhabitants of Scotland were
hunters, fowlers and fishers. They possessed no domestic
stock and there is no evidence that they tilled the ground
or .cultivated corn. Yet their craft furnished a well-stocked
larder, as their kitchen-middens and other relics in Scotland
show1. They gathered from the sea-shore in great variety
edible shell-fish — crabs, and mollusca such as limpets, whelks
or buckies, periwinkles, mussels, oysters, cockles, scallops
and razor-shells. The foreshore and sea-cliffs supplied them
with many kinds of birds — wild-ducks, geese, shags and
cormorants, great auks, razorbills, guillemots and gannets.
From coastal waters they obtained dog-fish and rays, sea-
breams, wrasses and the conger-eel ; and by the river-banks
and woodland glades they trapped and slew the otter,
red deer and wild boar. Nor did they disdain the blubber
and the flesh of whales and dolphins which fortune stranded
on their coasts, or the seals which basked and bred there in
abundance.

Of the personal appearance of the early settlers we can
form a just estimate from examination of the skulls and
other bones which have been preserved underground in the
neighbourhood of their habitations at the MacArthur Cave
near Oban, or of the relics in the horned and chambered cairns
which the successors of the Oban fishermen, the men of late
Polished Stone or Neolithic Age, built in scattered localities
from Galloway to Caithness and the Orkneys, to protect
and commemorate their dead. They were a short people,
their thigh-bones suggesting that the men stood about
5ft. 4 Jin. high, and the women about 5ft. i in. — some 2 or 3
inches below the standard of a modern Briton. Their lower
limbs differed from ours and resembled those of some of the
more primitive races of man at the present day, with thigh-
bones flattened, shins compressed from side to side, and the
bones of foot and ankle more compact and stouter — all
adaptations for strong and rapid movement, indicating that
the people lived an active strenuous life. In facial ex-
pression, they differed only in small degree from ourselves.
Their heads and faces were long and narrow, their foreheads

1 The following account contains references to such animals and plants
only as have been identified in Scottish deposits of the periods mentioned.

SCOTLAND AS MAN FOUND IT 9

fuller and rounder than ours, the bridge of the nose and
nostrils moderately narrow, and their eyes rather narrow and
elongated. Their jaws were square and their front teeth,
instead of overlapping as do ours, met firmly edge to edge.
So regular and healthy were their teeth, a necessity for a
primitive life, that they show only a wearing down due to
constant use, and seldom or never any signs of the decay
or caries which has given rise in our generation to armies of
dentists and the science of dentistry.

The earliest traces of these primitive peoples in Scotland
are associated with the so-called " Fifty-Foot Beach."
Their canoes, simple dug-outs of pine, have been found at
Perth in the Carse clays of this period, and frequently in
similar deposits in the Forth and Clyde valleys. Some of
their implements were left beside the remains of a whale,
stranded in these far-off days on a shore which is now part
of the fertile Carse of Stirling, and, as Dr B. N. Peach has
pointed out, their kitchen-middens lie along the ridge of the
Fifty- Foot Beach in the upper reaches of the Forth, never
occurring in the lower seaward ground — a clear indication
that at the time the refuse heaps accumulated, this Beach
was the limit of high water whither the kitchen-middeners
retired to feast upon the shell-fish collected at low tide.

THE PHYSICAL CONDITION OF SCOTLAND

What, we must ask, was the Scotland in which the
Azilian or Early Neolithic peoples settled after their wander-
ings through Britain from the continent of Europe ? As
compared with its condition at the present day, the land
was depressed relative to sea-level, all the shore area that
lies beneath a contour-line varying in -different areas from
35 to 65 feet being submerged by the ocean. Where the
coast is bounded by high cliffs, this depression would have
had little effect on the outlines of the country, but where the
land shelves gradually to the sea, as in many parts of the
Moray F'irth and in the great valleys of the Tay, Forth and
Clyde, the sea made considerable encroachments upon the
land. So it is that while the Fifty-Foot terrace is generally
represented on the west coast, as in the islands of Jura and
Mull, by a comparatively narrow ledge, cut in the cliffs by

io INTRODUCTORY

wave action during what must have been an extended
period of time, the old shore is represented in the midlands
by the Carse lands of the Forth valley, a fertile plain more
than three miles wide above Stirling, and extending as far
as Gartmore, some 1 7 miles beyond that town, and on the
Clyde by level terraces which can be traced beyond Dalmuir
on the north and Paisley on the south.

To the first-comers the inland landmarks of Scotland must
have appeared almost as they are to-day. The hills and
valleys had already been carved into their present aspect.
True, the rivers were swollen in volume and many of the
lakes, ponded back by the debris of the old glaciers, were
greater than now, while many low-lying areas, now fertile
plains, were bogs and marshy flats ; but the ice-fields of
the Great Glaciation had disappeared, although a recru-
descence of colder conditions had again clad the mountain-
tops in snow and filled the higher valleys with moving
sheets of ice.

CLIMATE AND VEGETATION

The period during which the Fifty- Foot terrace was
being carved out or levelled up by the sea was a prolonged
one, and in it Scotland underwent drastic changes of
climate. At exactly what stage in the formation of the
Fifty-Foot Beach man appeared upon our shores, it is im-
possible to say, but it is certain that the conditions which
immediately followed the retreat of the great ice-sheet had
long passed away. The Arctic climate had gradually been
replaced by one at least as temperate as that of to-day;
distinctive Arctic plants, such as Arctic Willows (Salix
repens and polaris], Arctic Birch (Betula nana), Crow-
berry (Empetrum nigriim], Creeping Azalea (Loiseleuria
recumbens], and Mountain Avens (Dryas octopetala], all
of which occurred in late glacial times on low ground at
Corstorphine in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, had
deserted the lowland valleys and followed the line of the
dwindling snowfields to the hill-tops. With the rising
temperature, forests of Silver Birch, Hazel and Alder clad
the lowlands and spread up the mountain-sides, at least to
an elevation of over 1 500 feet above sea-level.

SCOTLAND AS MAN FOUND IT 11

But these conditions too, had undergone modification
before the arrival of man in Scotland, for the Fifty- Foot
Raised Beach, which contains the earliest records of his
settlements, appears to be contemporaneous with a lower
succession of layers in our peat-mosses, the plants in which
indicate a period of decreasing temperature and of increasing
rainfall. Bogs of sphagnum moss, over which cotton-grass
waved in abundance, gradually swamped the birch woods
and buried the decaying trees under thick layers of peat.
These inhospitable conditions culminated in a return of
snowfields to the mountain-tops and glaciers to the high
valleys, and the Arctic plants again crept down the mountain-
sides. It need not be assumed, however, that the tempera-
ture which welcomed man to Scotland was very much lower
than that of the present day, for the fact that even now
snow-wreaths which are little short of permanent, lie year
in, year out, in the corries of the higher Grampians and of
Ben Nevis, indicates that a small fall in temperature would
be enough to clothe the hill-tops once more with a permanent
cap of snow and to fill the upper valleys with glaciers. Con-
ditions so forbidding, however, did not extend to the low-
lands or the coastal areas where man made his first homes.
So far as we can judge from the seeds or leaves of plants
found in lowland deposits contemporaneous with the men
of the Later Stone Age (thanks to the researches of James
Bennie and Clement Reid), a rich flora, very similar to that
of the present day overspread the valleys. The meadows
were covered with lush grass, chequered by the blossoms
of buttercups, of spear-thistles, dandelions and sow-thistles,
of the yellow ox-eye, scentless mayweed, the hemp-nettle
and St John's wort; on dry banks, coltsfoot, tormentil and
chickweed flourished ; in, or near by running water grew
the water buttercup and water blinks, mare's tail and water
milfoil ; by riversides blossomed valerian, meadow-sweet and
the red campion; the thickets were starred by the wood-
sorrel ; the bugle, dog's mercury and dock flourished in the
shade; the raspberry and bramble vied for a place with the
wild rose ; and the marshy places were enlivened with a
wealth of flower and foliage, from the showy ragged robin,
lousewort, buck bean and marsh marigold to the lesser
spearwort and marsh violet, pondweeds, rushes and sedges.

12 INTRODUCTORY

Before man had spent many centuries in our northern
land, the cold disappeared as unaccountably as it had come,
the snownelds melted, the land rose from the waves, and, as
if to make amends for its former rigour, the climate so
ameliorated that forests of Scots fir spread over the drying
peat-bogs and extended to an altitude of close on 3500 feet
up the mountain-sides, where, in our own day, 2000 feet
marks the upward limit of forest growth.

ANIMAL LIFE

What were the creatures which the first inhabitants of
Scotland found installed in its glades and forests ? For an
answer we have to enquire of the relics which have been
cherished for thousands of years in the depths of the marine
clays, of the fresh-water marls and peat-bogs which were
contemporaneous with or preceded by a short space the
coming of man, or even of the food refuse which man him-
self cast carelessly aside all unthinking that it would reveal
to his distant successors the animals he encountered and
overcame. The dregs of these deposits reveal a strange
mixture of animal types.

The native inhabitants of Scotland, with the exception
of the mobile forms, such as birds, had reached Britain from
the continental areas while the English Channel and a part
of the North Sea were dry valleys in the western extension
of Europe. The rigours of the Ice Age and its inhospitable
glaciers had cleared the land of the preglacial fauna, but as
the ice disappeared the cold climate of the later phases of
the Great Ice Age attracted an Arctic fauna, which retreated
northwards as vegetation sprang up on the heels of the
shrinking glaciers. The grassy plains which superseded the
Arctic vegetation of the great flats of clay and hillocks of
gravel deposited by the ice-fields, led another series of animals,
creatures of the plains, to make the northward pilgrimage.
While the forest conditions, which, as we have seen, pre-
ceded the first peat period and covered the land even up
to a height of 1 500 feet above sea-level, enticed still another
series, of woodland forms, there to make their homes.

Under the conditions prevailing in a continental area
where the change of climate is gradual, these three types of

SCOTLAND AS MAN FOUND IT 13

fauna form no permanent stations ; for they pass over such an
area in waves, forsaking it on a northwards trek as the cold
retreats, as easily as they entered it from the southward with
the Arctic conditions. But Britain stands in a different case
from such continental areas. Scarcely had the last of the
immigrant contingents crossed from the main mass of their
fellows on the continent, than the gradual sinking of the land
relative to the sea led to the submergence of the valleys of
the North Sea and of the English Channel, so that, as a
twelfth century troubadour quaintly sings of the latter,

That famous stretch of fertile land

Is hidden now by sea and sand,

No more will its venison grace the dish,

The ancient forest yields nought but fish.

So the immigrants to Britain were cut off from access to the
continent of Europe. The result of this isolation is plainly
to be seen in the strange assemblage of animals which
greeted man on his arrival in Scotland. The Arctic creatures,
the beasts of the plains, and the forest lovers, each ranging
northwards as the conditions which had attracted them
ebbed towards the north, were checked in their migration
by the sea-walls of northern Britain, and as a consequence
were compelled to make the best of the changes of climate
and vegetation which overtook them. Some, unable to adapt
themselves to unusual climes, had died out before the coming
of man, but representatives of each group remained to in-
dicate the successive changes of Scottish conditions in the
days before man.

It is not to be expected that the peat-bogs and other
deposits should furnish a complete synopsis of the fauna,
partly because the bones of the smaller animals are more
liable to disappear through the ordinary processes of decay,
and partly because the deposits have only in a very few
cases been systematically examined with the investigation
of their animal content in view; so that we have to be satisfied
with identifications of the remains which have appealed most
to the utilitarian excavators of peat and marl, usually the
bones of the larger animals. Even so we can furnish a fair
view of the general aspect of the animal life.

Imagine that from our fourteen million acres of culti-
vated land and mountain grazings the domestic stock had

i4 INTRODUCTORY

disappeared, that this acreage was given over to forest and
wastes, and that over this wild area the present-day denizens
of our mountain heaths and tiny woods spread in full posses-
sion. A picture arises of an old Scotland in which the wild
creatures, freed from a hopeless competition with man's
methods and advances, assorted themselves on mountain-side
and plain, in the meadows and in the forests, as their natures
determined and not as man decreed. But even such a picture
is far from complete ; for the present-day fauna is not the old
fauna. Many additions have to be made and some subtrac-
tions, if our picture of the old times is to approach accuracy.

The fauna that greeted man was a rich one. In the
meadows browsed the Reindeer, from southern Dumfries-
shire to Caithness and even in Rousay in the Orkneys.
It has long since vanished from our fauna, and is now con-
fined to the northern portions of the Old and New Worlds.
In its company the Giant Fallow Deer or so-called "Irish
Elk" (Megctceros giganteus} may still have lingered in the
southern districts, though its latest Scottish remains appear
to have been contemporaneous with the marl deposits which
preceded the formation of the great peat-mosses in our lakes.
The Wild Horse probably still scampered over the plains
of the southern lowlands, disturbing there the herds of the
great Wild Ox (Bos taurus primigenius}, which spread
throughout the length and breadth of the land. Under
tussocks of grass, Northern Voles (Aruicola or Microtus
ratticeps], now extinct in Britain, made their nests in the
company of the Common Hare and perhaps also of the last
Scottish representatives of the Arctic Lemming (Myodes
torquatus\ whose bones have been found in an Arctic de-
posit near Edinburgh, and in the Bone Cave of Inchna-
damph in West Sutherland. To-day the first is found from
northern Europe and Asia southwards to Hungary; while
the last is confined to the central mountains of Scandinavia,
whence its migrations have been a source of wonder to
naturalists for many a century. In the wilds, the Mountain
or Variable Hare made its home, and in its spring and
autumn colour-change it still betrays its former association
with Arctic conditions.

Great variety of life lurked in the shade of the forests.
The largest of existing deer, the Elk (A Ices alces] (Fig. 2)

SCOTLAND AS MAN FOUND IT

16 INTRODUCTORY

was common in the Lowlands, especially in the Tweed valley,
where its remains have been found on many occasions.
Once it ranged from Wigtownshire to Strath Halladale in
northern Sutherlandshire, but its scanty numbers are now
confined to the woodland regions of northern Europe. Of
other forest deer, Red Deer of large size (see Frontispiece),
with magnificent antlers, sometimes bearing twenty-two
points, were abundant throughout the country from Wig-
townshire to Caithness and even in the distant Orkney and

Fig. 3. Old World Lynx. | natural size.

Shetland Islands, whence they have long since disappeared.
Their degenerate descendants on the mainland are now
confined to the waste Highlands north of the valley of the
Forth and Clyde. Roe Deer, on the other hand, judging from
the few remains which have been unearthed, were scarce;
nevertheless, they must have been widely distributed, for
their bones have been found in a peat-bog at Shaws,
Dumfriesshire, as well as in a kitchen-midden, probably
of Neolithic date, on the mainland of Shetland. In the
thickets, the Wild Boar was plentiful, and occasional bones
tell of the presence of the nocturnal Badger. By the river-

SCOTLAND AS MAN FOUND IT 17

banks, Otters were to be found, and the European Beaver,
whose last surviving colonies linger on in a few localities
in Scandinavia, Russia, Germany and Austria, ranged from
Dumfriesshire at least as far north as the parish of Kinloch
in Perthshire.

Many beasts of prey followed upon the trail of the
creatures of the forests and plains. A few survivors of
the European Lynx (Lynx lynx), now all but exter-
minated except in Scandinavia, still awaited in Scotland
the coming of man, for the remains of this species have
been found by Dr Peach and Dr Home in a Bone Cave at
Inchnadamph in Sutherlandshire1 associated with relics of
human habitation. In the same cave, a tooth of a Brown
Bear (Ursus arctos) was discovered, but the distribution of
the Bear in Scottish woods must have been a wide one,
for a well-preserved skull was unearthed many years ago in
a peat-bog at Shaws in Dumfriesshire, and an eye-tooth was
once found in a Caithness broch. Of the larger beasts of
prey, Wolves were the most common, and because of their
abundance the most dangerous, and amongst the lesser
carnivores the Common Fox, Stoat and Weasel shared in
the smaller prey of the woodlands and meadows.

1 1 goes without saying that great variety of birds inhabited
the country, but their remains, owing to their small size,
have seldom been recovered from the early deposits, and
have still less often been identified with certainty. We know
that on the moorlands the Ptarmigan (Fig. 4), of Arctic origin,
was abundant, for the bones of hundreds of individuals oc-
curred in the Inchnadamph cave, where they far surpassed
in number the relics of their fellows, the Red Grouse. The
Raven occupied lowland areas which it has long since
deserted, and the Great Auk, now extinct, tenanted the
Northern and Western Isles at least as far south as Oronsay,
where its remains have been found in an early Neolithic or
Azilian kitchen-midden. The same refuse-heap yielded re-
mains of many sea and shore birds which occur in Scotland
at the present day, such as the Cormorant and Shag, Gan-
net, Guillemot and Razorbill, Gulls, Terns, Wild Ducks,
WTild Geese, the Redbreasted Merganser and the Water

1 The identification of the animal remains from this interesting cave
was made by Mr E. T. Newton, F.R.S., formerly of the Geological Survey.

Ig INTRODUCTORY

Rail. But the peat-bogs of Scotland have not yet revealed
that wealth of bird-life which has been recovered from the
peat-bogs and superficial deposits of England, knd which
includes amongst others, the Crow, Snowy Owl, Golden
Eagle, Buzzard, Pelican, Wild Swan, Eider Duck, Great

Fig. 4. Ptarmigan — once more common than Grouse in the valleys
of Sutherland, f natural size.

Crested Grebe, Coot, Bittern, Crane and Capercaillie.
Yet we know from later prehistoric and early historic evi-
dences that many of these certainly occurred at a later date
in Scotland also, and had probably already been established.
As for the smaller fauna, insects must have been plenti-

SCOTLAND AS MAN FOUND IT 19

ful, but their remains, apart from multitudes of wing-cases
of beetles, have not been recognized in the early deposits.

In the lakes, and possibly still in the rivers was abundance
of the red-bellied Char whose present-day descendants have
been imprisoned by succeeding changes of climate and
conditions in a few of the deeper lakes; and the fresh waters
swarmed with hosts of smaller fry, Crustaceans, Wheel-
animalcules or Rotifers, Water-bears or Tardigrades, and
such like, on which Char and Trout and migrant Salmon
made comfortable diet.

Of the denizens of the seas which bounded the Scotland
of early man, we have little direct evidence, but such as it
is, it indicates a temperate marine fauna very similar to that
of the present day. Apart from the contents of the estuarine
deposits contemporaneous with the Fifty-Foot Beach, we
have to depend on the refuse which Neolithic man accumu-
lated in his kitchen-middens in different parts of the country.
These, however, afford proof of a wonderfully varied sea-
fare. The earliest inhabitants of Britain, the hunters and
fishermen of the Oronsay shell-mound, varied their diet, as
Mr Henderson Bishop's recent researches show, with many
species of marine mammals, fishes, Crustacea and molluscan
shell-fish. In the refuse-heaps have been found remains of
a species of Dolphin, of the Common Seal {Phoca vitulina],
and of the Grey Seal (Halickcerus grypus] which still occurs
on the rocky shores of the Outer Hebrides; but very rarely
on the coasts of the mainland and on the Inner Islands. Of
fishes, eight species have been preserved, such as the Conger
Eel (Conger conger], the Black Sea Bream (Canthams linea-
tus], the Sea Bream (Pagellus centrodontus], the Spotted
Wrasse (Labrus maculatus], the Angel Fish (Squatina
squatinci}, the Tope (Galeus canis), the Spiny Dog-fish
(Squalus acantkias), and the Thornback Ray (Raia clavata],
Only two species of Crabs were found — the Common Edible
Crab (Cancer pagurus] and the Swimming Crab or Fiddler
(Porhtnus puber], but enormous heaps, containing thousands
upon thousands of molluscan shells, yielded a long list of 25
marine species, all of which are common on the West Coast
at the present day. The molluscan fauna of Scottish seas,
however, was not absolutely identical with that of to-day.
For example, in a shell-mound composed of refuse from

20 INTRODUCTORY

human meals, near Ardrossan on the Ayrshire coast, there
have been discovered many specimens of a top shell, Trochus
lineatus, which is now extinct in the Firth of Clyde. The
contents of other kitchen-middens show that other species,
such as Oysters, were common in localities where they no
longer occur, and that, on the whole, the forms used by
Neolithic man for food were larger than their present-day
representatives in the same neighbourhood.

Probably too, the Neolithic seas of Scotland swarmed
with herds of the larger mammals, such as can scarcely be
imagined near our coasts, now that man has persecuted and
slaughtered for centuries. At any rate, remains of Finner
Whales (Balanoptera) have been found in the Carse clays
to the west of Stirling, in some cases associated with imple-
ments of man's creation, and in situations many miles west
of any point accessible to whales, even were they likely to
venture nowadays towards the head of the Firth of Forth.
Nor can it be doubted that Seals of various species bred on
many islands and rocky portions of the coast-line which they
have long deserted, and that the Walrus, half a dozen
individuals of which were seen at different times on the
coasts of Scotland and its isles even so late as the first half
of the nineteenth century, was in Neolithic times a frequent
visitor, and may even have bred on the northern coasts.

SUMMARY

Partial and incomplete as our survey of early Scotland
must be, it yet affords a reasonably accurate picture of the
country when Neolithic man — the long-headed, square-
jawed, short but agile-limbed hunter and fisherman —
founded his most northern settlements in the British Isles
9000 or more years ago. It was a country of swamps, low
forests of birch, alder and willow, fertile meadows and snow-
capped mountains. Its estuaries penetrated further inland
than they now do, and the sea stood at the level of the
Fifty-Foot Beach. On its plains and in its forests roamed
many creatures which are strange to the fauna of to-day —
the Elk and the Reindeer, Wild Cattle, the Wild Boar
and perhaps Wild Horses, a fauna of large animals which
paid toll to the European Lynx, the Brown Bear and the

SCOTLAND AS MAN FOUND IT 21

Wolf. In all likelihood, the marshes resounded to the boom
of the Bittern, and the plains to the breeding calls of the
Crane and the Great Bustard. Yet the naturalist of the
present day, could he be transported back to these far times,
would notice strange blanks in the fauna. Many of the pests
of our modern crops and woodlands were absent, for civiliza-
tion and the easy communication of later ages have brought
multitudes of noxious insects and other plagues in their
train. We can scarcely imagine the golden days when the
crops of the husbandman were free from the ravages of the
Rabbit, and his stores secure from the depredations of Rats.
Yet so these were, for, with many another nuisance, man
introduced these pests, as he did also his domestic Oxen and
Horses, Sheep and Goats, Dogs and Cats, domestic Fowls
and Pheasants, in times that followed on the discovery of
the new land of Caledonia.

PART I

MAN'S DELIBERATE INTERFERENCE
WITH ANIMAL LIFE

PART I

MAN'S DELIBERATE INTERFERENCE
WITH ANIMAL LIFE

THE deliberate interference of man with the wild crea-
tures which possessed the land before him has become
more and more marked with the passing of time and the
development of civilization. In the primitive days, of the
simple hunter and fisherman, when the population of the
country was limited by the numbers of wild animals and
plants available for food and clothing, the effect of this
interference was at its lowest. The discovery of even a
primitive cultivation of the soil resulted in a regular increase
of food supplies and a consequent increase of population.
This was followed by the discovery that certain wild animals
could be brought under the yoke to become man's coadjutors
in the task of tilling the soil, or could be reared as a depend-
able source of food; and this discovery led again to a new
and great increase in numbers of the human race. To the
needs of this vast and still multiplying population, far out-
numbering the stock which a wild country could support,
can be traced most of the influences which have played
directly upon animal life in Scotland. Domestic stock had
perforce to be increased in numbers, its useful qualities
improved ; the undefended flocks and herds had to be pro-
tected from beasts and birds of prey and smaller vermin,
against which a war of destruction and often of extermina-
tion had to be waged. Other creatures of the wilds were
slaughtered for the value of their carcases as food, or their
pelts as clothing; others again were introduced or protected
because of the services they rendered man as a grower of
crops, or of the pleasures they afforded him as a sportsman.
The following chapters endeavour to trace the main effects
of man's direct interference with animal life in Scotland,
though it must be kept in mind that there can be no direct

26 DELIBERATE INTERFERENCE

interference without indirect results, for, since by Nature's
laws the animal world is no loose aggregate of living things,
but a closely woven fabric of interdependent lives, man's
crude meddling many a time brings in its train changes he
little thought of, his snapping of a thread in the fabric
deranges more than he could have dreamed, the pattern of
the whole.

CHAPTER II
THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

GENERAL EFFECTS

THROUGH long ages man wandered upon the plains
of the Old World, content if he could meet the needs
of the day by the primitive arts of the chase and of fishing.
Much experience had been gathered by the race of men
before the irresponsible hunter and fisherman settled down
to the responsibilities of the herdsman. Nevertheless so
many years have gone since our common domestic animals
were led by the hand of man from the wilds to the fold, that,
as the learned Dr Campbell admitted long ago, "it is no easy
Matter to penetrate so far through the Gloom of Antiquity
as to discern any Thing distinc.tly on this Head." Yet it is
easy to imagine that the breaking in of animals for his own
use raised civilized man from the slough of barbarism, in
which still flounder those races to whom the art is even now
unknown. By the labour of his Oxen, land beyond his own
powers of cultivation was brought under crops; his Horses
relieved him of the tedium of the march and transported his
goods to fresh fields; his Sheep supplied him with clothing;
and the constant presence of his flocks and herds banished
the distractions of the morrow's food supply. So his mind,
freed from immediate anxieties, turned to new pursuits, and
the care of his living possessions stimulated a sense of
responsibility and a sympathy with and forethought for their
welfare and improvement.

No influence has been more potent in changing the
surface features of Scotland and in altering the relationships
of the wild life of the country than this forethought bred of
the care of domesticated animals. To supply his stock with
pastures, man has levelled forests, drained swamps, and
turned the wildernesses of mountain and moor into fertile
grazings. To gain for them scope and security, he has
restricted the wild fauna and has destroyed beasts and birds

28 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

of prey, which once found easy victims throughout the
length and breadth of the land. But these results followed
indirectly upon the attainment of domestication and the
gradual increase of domesticated animals, so that they may
be more properly dealt with in a future chapter. The direct
influence of man, with which we are more immediately con-
cerned here, is limited to the effects he has wrought in the
animals he has brought under control, to the changes of
temperament and habit, of structure and of function which
by long ages of careful breeding and selection he has induced
in the creatures which he chose to share the land with him.

LINES OF ARGUMENT

It is generally agreed that the greater share in the original
domestication of animals was accomplished by the Aryan
races of the Old World, though the American Indians brought
under subjection the alpaca and the llama, the guinea-pig and
muscovy duck, and possessed a host of cultivated plants, in-
cluding some of such importance, as maize, potatoes, tomatoes,
kidney beans, pineapples and strawberries, tobacco, quinine,
cascara sagrada and cocaine, cotton and rubber. It is also
generally stated that our familiar domestic animals were first
broken in in that convenient home of mysteries — the East —
and that thence they were carried by the Neolithic peoples in
their wanderings across western Europe. It seems probable,
however, that there may have been many centres of domes-
tication in countries where wild Oxen and Horses, wild Boars
and Sheep, wild Geese, Ducks and Pigeons were common.
At any rate, in the case of Scotland, there is evidence that
the early domesticated animals were half-wild creatures,
roaming at large in the woods and on the hills, exposed to
peculiarities of soil and climate, and in some cases to ad-
mixture of blood with the wild representatives of their races.
So that, even if our domestic herds and flocks sprang from
stock transported by the men of the New Stone Age from
the continent of Europe before the English Channel yet
existed, they must soon have assumed distinctive territorial
characteristics. That in these later days of careful and
selective breeding, Scottish domestic animals possess features
of their own is shown by breeds of such world-wide repute
as Clydesdales amongst horses, Aberdeen-Angus, Ayrshires

GENERAL EFFECTS 29

and Galloways amongst cattle, Cheviots and Black-faces
amongst sheep. These distinctive features, it need scarcely
be said, are due to the deliberate influence of man; and so
great changes has he wrought by his forethought and experi-
menting that in the realm of domestic animals he may almost
be looked upon as playing the role of creator.

In endeavouring to illustrate the influence of man on
domestic animals from the Scottish point of view, it is
desirable that we limit ourselves to the discussion of such
creatures as inhabited the country on his arrival, or such as
show characters peculiarly Scottish. A few of the wild
creatures he almost certainly domesticated within our own
borders, while of the remaining domestics he most likely in-
fluenced some from the time of their arrival, even if they did
not form a native nucleus of his domestic stock.

The changes in the habits and temperaments, functions
and structures of the creatures subjugated by man, will be
most easily appreciated by a comparison of these character-
istics, so far as they can be estimated, in the wild prototypes
and in their later domestic modifications.

THE BEGINNINGS OF DOMESTICATION

The domestication of wild animals must have been a slow,
and in its early stages, to a great extent, an involuntary
process. Probably it began along one line with the con-
gregating of certain kinds of animals in the vicinity of
inhabited sites, where they found an abundant and constant
supply of food in the refuse cast by primitive man on his
kitchen-middens. In the case of the less dangerous animals,
these encroachments would gradually be tolerated by the
human inhabitants, partly because familiarity breeds con-
tempt, and partly because of the value of the raiders in
removing evil-smelling garbage. We can easily imagine
steps whereby some form of Wolf or Jackal, through associa-
tion and growing familiarity with man, became a sort of
half-tolerated, half-domesticated Pariah Dog, driven aside
half-heartedly by man, but constantly returning to feed on
the refuse of the streets ; and from this a further step which
led to its definite recognition as a constant and valuable
companion which might be trained to subserve the purposes
of its guardian, and on account of its usefulness became
worthy of some care and protection.

30 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

Along another line and with another kind of creature,
domestication may have arisen from the chance capture of
young animals, which, treated in the first instance as pets,
became closely associated with their captors' families] feeding
and' even breeding in semi-captivity, so that they too in the
course of a few generations fell into the ways of domesticated
things.

Although it is generally stated that the domestication of
animals began with the men of the Neolithic or Polished
Stone Age, recent investigations indicate that even in the
later stages of the Palaeolithic cultures, a few animals may
have been trained to definite uses. At Saint Marcel, Indre,
in deposits containing relics of Magdalenian culture, was
found a stone pendant bearing on one side the representation
of a deer, probably a Reindeer, at a gallop, and on the other
side lines which represent very fairly the runners and cross-
stays of a sledge. It seems no unwarrantable assumption
to regard the figures on the two sides as related to each
other, for Palaeolithic engravers frequently carried their
artistic motives around the surfaces of the bones or antlers
on which they worked. So it has been surmised that the
Magdalenians had led the Reindeer captive, and harnessed
it to a sledge. Other Palaeolithic sculptures have been
discovered in France, whereon representations of wild Horses
bear lines round nostrils and neck and other markings, which
have been interpreted by M. Piette as halters and rude
harness. It seems possible, therefore, that the secrets of
the domestication of animals had been tapped before Neolithic
man made his great conquest of the animal world.

The earliest inhabitants of Scotland seem to have
possessed no domestic animals ; for the shell-mounds of the
Azilian or early Neolithic settlers in Oronsay yielded traces
of none to the careful examinations of Mr Henderson Bishop
and Mr Ludovic Mann, notwithstanding that abundance of
bones of wild creatures, including those of Red Deer, Boar,
Otter and several species of marine mammals, were dis-
covered. But Oronsay is an island lying in the western seas,
and it may be said that its isolation nullifies any conclusions
regarding domestic stock drawn from its relics, since it would
be impossible to transport animals of any size across the
straits that separate the island from the mainland. While
it must be admitted that the ultimate decision as to the first

GENERAL EFFECTS 31

appearance of domestic animals in Scotland must rest upon
detailed investigations on the mainland, it seems to me that
the evidence afforded by Oronsay cannot be ignored, for ex-
cavations by Mr Symington Grieve in the neighbouring and
contiguous island of Colonsay have shown that at an early
period Sheep and Oxen were familiar to the inhabitants.
Yet remains of Oxen are absent from the oldest deposit in
Colonsay. (See Table, p. 33.)

The mainland yields scanty evidences of the status of
the animals of early Neolithic times, but here also the
indications are against the presence of domestic stock.
Antlers of Red Deer, dressed by man, have been found
associated with stranded Whales in the Carse of Stirling and
near Kincardine-on-Forth, but no implement manufactured
from a bone of any domestic animal has been recovered.
In the upper bone layer of the Bone Cave of Allt nan
Uamh, near Inchnadamph, Sutherlandshire, Dr Peach and
Dr Home found traces of man's presence, in burnt stones,
hearths, burnt and split bones, and sawn antlers of Reindeer.
In the same deposit with these were remains of many wild
animals including Red Deer and Reindeer, but no trace of
domestic animals. I mention Deer in particular because, if
early Neolithic man could catch these swift and wary animals
for food, there is little likelihood that domestic animals, had
they been known, would have escaped. Similar testimony may
be gathered from some of the earliest kitchen-middens. In the
Bone Cave at Duntroon, Argyllshire, in an extensive shell-
mound buried 1 2 feet below the surface on the promontory of
Stannergate near Dundee, and in a kitchen-midden found at
a depth of 4 feet near the North Sutor, Cromarty, remains of
Red Deer have been found, associated in the last case with
antlers of Roe Deer, but in no case with traces of domestic
animals. The food refuse in the places mentioned, which have
been chosen in widely separated areas, represent the accumu-
lations of long ages of human occupation, and it seems fair to
suppose that had domestic animals been known, some relics of
their existence could scarcely have avoided a last resting-place
in the kitchen-midden. The absence of such evidences is the
more striking when it is recalled that there are not wanting in
the same neighbourhoods similar but later deposits yielding
abundant proof of the presence of many domestic creatures.

That the people of the later Neolithic period were well

32 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

acquainted with the majority of our present-day types of
domestic animals is abundantly clear from the bones which
have been found in the chambered or horned cairns; but at
what precise stage of Neolithic culture these were introduced
or subjugated is difficult to decide, owing to the impossibility
of placing such heterogeneous deposits as kitchen-middens
in a connected chronological sequence. One point seems
tolerably clear, however, that all our domestic animals did
not appear in Scotland at one and the same time. I have
gathered a definite impression from examination of the
records of kitchen-middens of Neolithic date that while
the remains of Oxen, Sheep and Pigs are common and are
often found together, those of the Horse and Dog are either
rare or absent. But this may be partly accounted for by
the different frequencies with which the animals were
used as food. The evidence most satisfactory in dealing
with such a question is that derived from long occupied
sites of human habitation, where excavations have been
carefully planned and carried out with the object of inter-
preting the separate periods of occupation indicated by
distinct layers of debris. Such excavations afford most
valuable chronological information, but unfortunately few
Neolithic sites in Scotland have been investigated with the
necessary precision. One series of excavations may be
cited — Mr Symington Grieve's explorations in the shell-
mound of Caisteal-nan-Gillean on Oronsay and in the Crystal
Spring Cavern of Colonsay — on account of the actual in-
formation it yields, and as an illustration of the method
which will decide the sequence of the introduction of domestic
animals and of prehistoric culture in general. Mr Grieve's
researches show that in both the shell-mound and the
neighbouring cave, distinct layers or periods of occupation
can be traced in the deposits, and that the formation of the
shell-mound was begun and completed some time before the
cave settlement was formed. The two together, therefore,
supply a series of successive strata covering a long period
which begins in early Neolithic times. Moreover, since
passage dryshod can now be made between Colonsay and
Oronsay at low tide, and since even in Neolithic times their
separation could only have been slight, the two islands may
be regarded as a geographical unit from a faunistic point of
view.

GENERAL EFFECTS

33

What information do the strata yield? Mr Grieve dis-
tinguishes three series of layers — lower, middle and upper
— in both accumulations. The lower layer in the mound
is the oldest, and obviously the superimposed layers in the
shell-mound, and following upon that, in the cave, belong
to more and more recent periods of occupation.

When man first arrived in Colonsay, domestic animals
were absent, but Red Deer were abundant, although they
became scarcer with the continued presence of man. Their
bones are plentiful in the lowest layer of the shell-mound, but
decrease in number in the middle and upper layers, while
only one fragment of an antler was discovered in the cave,
and that in the lowest stratum. Along with the Red Deer
occurred the Wild Boar, which also became extinct, so far
as we can gather, before the later strata were formed. It is
represented by several bones throughout the mound but
occurs only in the lowest stratum of the cave. The Sheep
seems to have been the first domestic animal introduced, for
it is represented by a single bone in the highest layer of the
shell-mound, and its* remains become common in the layers
of the cave. Then followed the Ox, in the middle and upper
layers of the cave, where some bones were found embedded in
the stalagmite which encrusted the cave floor. Lastly came
the Horse, represented by bones solely in the upper stratum
of the cave and on the surface of the floor. No traces of the
Dog were found.

The results of this very interesting excavation may be
scanned at a glance in a simple tabular statement :

SUCCESSION OF ANIMAL LIFE IN ORONSAY AND COLONSAY AS REVEALED
BY KITCHEN-MIDDENS

Strata

Red-deer

Wild Boar

Sheep

Cattle

Horse

Crystal Spring (Upper

X X

XXX

X

Cavern, -JMiddle

XX

X X

Colonsay (Lower

X

X

X

Caisteal-nan- (Upper

X

X

X

Gillean, ^Middle

X X

x

Oronsay " (Lower

XXX

X

x present. xx common.
R.

xxx abundant. blanks indicate absence.

34 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

No excavation on the mainland has afforded so complete
a series of successive occupations of early date. In the three
layers of the MacArthur Cave discovered near Oban in 1 894,
a site of very early Neolithic culture, the bones of Oxen were
found at all levels, those of the Pig in the lowest and highest
strata and those of the Dog in the highest layer. In a rock-
shelter near West Kilbride in Ayrshire, described in 1879,
three floors of occupation were also distinguished ; bones of
Sheep, Oxen and Red Deer were found at all levels, the re-
mains of a Dog were discovered between the oldest and
middle floors, and those of a Horse between the middle and
most recent floors. Goat remains were also found, but their
definite location in the series of deposits was not noted by
the excavators. Professor Clelland of Glasgow University,
who examined the animal remains, came to the conclusion
that the earliest inhabitants of this rock-shelter used the
Sheep as food.

There are many difficulties in the way of drawing definite
conclusions regarding the appearance of domestic animals,
from such observations as have been made. The sequence
on an island such as Colonsay may not apply to the mainland;
for various reasons, the remains of some animals may find
their way more readily into the kitchen-midden than those
of others; and there is difficulty in distinguishing between
the bones of the early domesticated animals and their wild
representatives. But my own opinion, founded on such
evidence as I have been able to gather, is that the domestic
animals which first appeared in Scotland were Sheep and
Oxen, and of these the Sheep was probably the earlier. Then
followed in doubtful sequence the Dog, the Pig, the Goat, and
perhaps last of the larger domestic animals, the Horse. The
domestication of the Pigeon, Duck and Goose, and the intro-
duction of poultry and other foreign fowls belong to a period
much later than the Neolithic Age when all the larger and
more important domestic animals made their appearance.
In the succeeding pages, I propose to indicate the changes
which man has wrought in the domestic animals which are
most interesting from the Scottish standpoint.

II. I

SHEEP IN SCOTLAND

ALTHOUH a large-horned wild sheep (Ovis savini] was a
native of Eastern England in the early days of the Great
Ice Age, no remains of sheep have been found in the inter-
glacial deposits of Scotland, nor in the post-glacial beds
of clay, marl mosses and peat-hags which were formed
ere Neolithic man reached the northern confines of Britain.
This absence of remains may in part be accounted for by the
fact that sheep in a wild state prefer rocky fastnesses, and
are little likely to have been entrapped in the bogs which
yield so many skeletons of deer and wild oxen ; but so far as
fossil evidence goes, it seems probable that sheep were absent
from the host of animals which invaded Scotland when the
ice-fields of the Pleistocene Age disappeared, and were
unknown in the country until they were introduced by
herdsmen of Neolithic culture. Nevertheless the sheep of
Scotland present so many interesting and unique features,
and have been, even since the Middle Ages, so famous for
their wool, that, as Bishop Leslie said of them in the sixteenth
century, they may "nocht be slipit over with silence."

The uniqueness of Scottish sheep lies in that in the
small compass of our northern kingdom there survive two
forms of outstanding interest — types of the earliest known
domesticated stocks. In other countries these early races
have disappeared owing to improvement and continued cross-
breeding, so that the modern breeds give only the vaguest
hints as to their wild ancestors. But in the fastnesses of
Scotland, in the uninhabited isle of Soay in the North
Atlantic, and in the isolated Shetlands, there still exist two
breeds which are living links with the past — that in the former
being a close relative of the Wild Mouflon of Corsica and
Sardinia, that in the latter representing the domesticated
"peat sheep" which the Neolithic peoples made familiar over
the greater part of Europe.

3—2

36 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

THE WILD ANCESTORS OF DOMESTIC SHEEP

The wild blood which has gone to form our Scottish breeds
seems to be mainly that of the Mouflon (Ovis ^musimori)
(Fig. 5), the last wild remnants of which are confined to
Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily, and of the Asiatic Urial (Ovis
vignei]. These wild species more resemble goats than sheep
as we are accustomed to think of them. They are extremely
active and agile, moving from one ledge to another when pur-

Fig. 5. Mouflon — a wild ancestor of domestic sheep, y1^ nat. size.

sued, with such sureness and rapidity that they are almost un-
approachable. In both species the rams carry heavy, wrinkled
horns which curve backwards and then down and forwards
in a fine regular sweep, but while the ewes of the Mouflon
are hornless, those of the Urial bear short upright goat-like
horns. Differences in size and colour also distinguish the
two species: the Mouflon race stands 27^ inches at the
shoulder, the Urial 32 inches; while in both the hair on the
body is short and close with a thick underwool, the general

SHEEP IN SCOTLAND 37

colouring of the Mouflon is foxey-red and that of the Urial
reddish-grey or fawn in summer, and in winter greyish-brown.
In both, the under parts of the body, the sides of the short
tail, the rump and the lower parts of the legs are white. In
both species also, the rams bear a short mane on the neck
and a goat-like beard, but the beard of the Mouflon is con-
fined to the lower part of the throat and chest, while that
of the Urial extends from the chin to the chest and in old
rams is white in front and black behind.

In what respects has man influenced these creatures of
nature in adapting them for his own use?

THE SHEEP OF SOAY

The sheep of Soay (Fig. 6, p. 38) may be regarded as an
early stage in the domestication of the Mouflon, though in
the characters of some of the ewes and in the offspring which
he has raised by cross-breeding, Professor J. Cossar Ewart
detects an admixture of Urial blood. Indeed the sheep of
Soay may be taken as an illustration of how little the habits
and characteristics of domesticated animals alter from the
wild state, where they are freed from close association with
man, and are not subject to his constant interference. In the
uninhabited isle of Soay, one of that group of rocky islands
which lies out in the Atlantic 40 miles west of the Outer
Hebrides, and of which St Kilda is the greatest, the remnant
of a once widely distributed race of sheep finds a congenial
home. There they live a wild life, seeing man once or twice
a year at most, when some of the St Kildans endeavour to
gather their sparse crop of wool by hunting them down with
dogs. When they were established on this island no man
knows, but they belong to a large-horned race which was
widely spread in Europe in the Bronze Age, was represented
in the Swiss lake-dwellings, in the settlements of the Romans
in Britain, and was identified by Professor Ewart from the
Roman Camp at Newstead near Melrose. To their inac-
cessible habitation we owe the survival of these last repre-
sentatives of a great race.

The name "Soay" itself is said to be a Norse word
signifying " Sheep Island," and for many centuries the
peculiarities of the Soay sheep, as compared with the more

38 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

familiar domestic breeds, have been recognized by Scottish
writers. In the early half of the sixteenth century (1527)
Hector Boece, the Bishop of Aberdeen, drew attention to
this curious breed.

Beyond thir His [i.e. beyond Hirta or St Kilda] is yit'ane uther He,
bot it is not inhabit with ony pepill. In it ar certaine beistis, nocht far
different fra the figure of scheip, sa wild that they can nocht be tane but
girnis [except with snares] : the hair of them is lang and tallie, nothir like
the woll of scheip nor gait. (Bellenden's Translation, 1536.)

Fig. 6. Soay Sheep — a primitive domesticated breed presen
only in Scotland. % nat. size.

The unnamed isle is evidently Soay. I have no doubt
that at this period the island of St Kilda was inhabited by
the same race of sheep, for of it Boece says,

This last He is namit Hirta, quhilk in Irsche is callit ane scheip; for
in this He is gret nommer of scheip, ilk ane gretar than ony gait buk [goat
buck], with hornis lang and thikkar than ony home of ane bewgill1, and his
lang talis hingand down to the erd.

1 The original reads "cornua bubulis crassitudine sequa, sed longitudine
aliquanto etiam superantia" — with horns equal in thickness to oxen horns,
but exceeding them even considerably in length.

SHEEP IN SCOTLAND 39

Another description of the Soay sheep of the sixteenth
century is very interesting and rather amusing on account of
the perplexity into which these strange goat-sheep threw the
writer, Bishop Jhone Leslie of Rosse. His account, published
in Rome in 1578, is here given in the translation made by
Father Dalrymple in 1596 :

Neist this [the island of "Hirth" or St Kilda] lyis another He, hot nocht
inhabited, quhair nae kynd of cattail is fund, excepte sum verie wylde,
quhilkes to cal scheip or gait, or rathir nouthir scheip nor gait, we knawe
not, nor wat we weil: forby thair wylde nature, nathir haue thay wol lyke
a scheip; nathir beir thay hair lyke a gait, bot for nane of the twa [literal
translation: but they have something between the two], I can nocht tel
quhat.

These accounts lay hold of the main features of the
strange Soay sheep as they still exist — the wild nature, the
goat-like carriage and movement, the "tallie" or drab colour,
the hair overlaid by wool, the long, curved and massive
horns. Boece's reference to " long tails " is most likely an
error of description, but may indicate that a character in-
duced by earlier domestication has been lost during the
intervening four centuries of wild life, for to-day the tails of
Soay sheep are as short as those of their wild ancestors.
To these characteristics it may be added that the Soay sheep
are less than they once were and are gradually becoming
smaller, so that, instead of being "gretar than ony gait buk,"
if we are to believe Boece, they are now regarded by Mr
H. J. Elwes as the "smallest aboriginal sheep now known
to exist as a pure breed."

How then has the influence of man told on ancestral
characters in this early stage in the domestication of the
sheep? The characters of the domesticated race are still
essentially those of the wild Mouflon, whence it mainly
derived its inheritance, for Professor Ewart finds no marked
difference between Soay sheep and the Mouflon in skeleton,
horns or throat fringe. The size is somewhat less, due no
doubt to scanty fare, and to long confinement on a small
island and consequent close interbreeding. The predom-
inance of hair in the Mouflon has been replaced by a
predominance of wool in the Soay race, whose coat was
recently declared by Mr H. Sanderson, Galashiels, a manu-
facturer of tweeds, to be "finer in the staple than any other

40 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

wool grown in Scotland at the present time," though its
shortness makes it difficult to spin alone. The fleece is a
uniform pale brown or fawn instead of the patchy foxey-red
of the Mouflon, though Soay lambs still retain th^ ancestral
tint. Thus slight are the changes wrought on the characters
of the wild stock by an early stage in domestication, as shown
by Scotland's unique inheritance on the island of Soay.

THE PEAT OR TURBARY SHEEP OF SHETLAND

As Soay sheep represent, in the main, the influence
of Mouflon ancestry, so the rare examples of Peat Sheep,
which till recently occurred in Shetland, and which rank with
them as survivors of one of the two earliest domesticated
races of sheep, show the predominance of Urial blood.

Of the two races, the Turbary or Peat Sheep (Fig. 7,
p. 42), with long slender limbs and erect goat-like horns in the
ewes, is the older, at least as regards central and north-
western Europe, for Professor Ewart has stated that the
Neolithic peoples of these parts seem to have had no other
domestic breed.

In Scotland sheep bones occur in kitchen-middens asso-
ciated with dressed flints, and these bones, in the few cases
where they have been carefully examined, have been found
to belong to a "slender-legged variety." Bones of sheep
have also been found in the Neolithic chambered cairns of
Orkney; and in Caithness in similar structures there have
occurred remains attributed to " sheep or goat " — a natural
alternative on the part of the excavator, if, as I suspect, he
had observed skulls bearing the erect goat-like horn-cores
which are typical of the " Turbary " race of sheep. There
is ground for believing, therefore, that even in Neolithic
times the Turbary or Peat Sheep (Ovis aries palustris] was
widely distributed in Scotland.

• In most of the excavated sites of later ages in Scotland,
these slender-limbed, goat-horned sheep have been repre-
sented. They occur in lake-dwellings or crannogs of Bronze
and subsequent periods, in underground "Eird" or "Picts"'
houses, in Roman camps, in hill-forts and in the brochs in-
habited well into the early centuries of our era. Probably
they contributed largely to the great flocks of small dun-

SHEEP IN SCOTLAND 41

coloured sheep which spread over Scotland in the Middle
Ages and later, and were the wonder of the early travellers
in our country. Witness the exclamation of Don Pedro de
Ayala, Ambassador from Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain
to James IV of Scotland in the fifteenth century, regarding
the " immense flocks of sheep" which he found "especially
in the savage portions of Scotland" or the description by the
Scottish chronicler, Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie, who in the
sixteenth century states that :

there was great Peace and Rest a long Time ; wherethrough the King
[James V] had great Profit, for he had ten thousand sheep going in Ettrick
Forest.

Already however there must have been a considerable
amount of crossing in the Scottish flocks, for numerous in-
dividuals appeared possessing supernumerary horns, the rams
carrying four and sometimes six, and even the ewes up to
three and four. This peculiarity especially struck the Italian
doctor, Cardan, who, induced to come to Scotland to offer
medical advice to Hamilton, Archbishop of St Andrews,
took the opportunity of making a tour of the country. Sheep
with four horns, he wrote in 1552, were frequent, but not
like those he had seen at Milan, for the Scottish sheep had
one pair curved and the other pair straight.

More detailed is the account of Bishop Leslie of Rosse,
published in Rome in 1578 (Dalrymple's translation, 1596):

Tuedale [Tweeddale] notwithstanding because of the gude Wol in
quhilke it abundes by all vthiris sulde nocht be slipit oner with silence.
In this cuntrie ar fund, evin as with thair nychtbouris, that sum of thame
are knawen to haue four or fyue hundir, vthiris agane aucht or nyne hundir,
and sum tyme thay ar knawen to haue a thousand scheip '. The scheip
indeed ar litle, and homes thay beir lyke rames ; bot the yewis twa, thrie
or four, and the Ramis at sum tymes sax: Thay beir verie schorte tailis, as
schorte as the tail of ane hine [hind]. In tendirnes of thair flesche thay
ar lyke the cattel that ar fed in the rest of the south cuntreyes of the
Realme, bot farr excelis thame that feid in the pastoure of the nerrest
cuntreyes. The cause is thocht to be this, that the knowis of thir cuntries
abundes in a certane schort and bare grase, quharin scheip properlie delytes.

1 This sentence is a serious mistranslation of the original, which reads
" quorum alii quatuor aut quinque, alii octo aut decem nonunquam millia
ovium habere noscantur "— some of whom are known to have sheep four
or five others eight, nay even on occasion ten thousand in number.

42 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

It shall be shown when we come to discuss the influence of
domestic stock on the wild fauna of Scotland that the in-
tensive cultivation of sheep which resulted in these enormous
flocks in Tweeddale and the neighbouring parts was one of
the chief factors in banishing Red Deer from the Lowland
hills.

What were the characteristics of the ancient " Turbary "
race which for thousands of years, from Neolithic times to
the Middle Ages, formed the main part of the domestic sheep
of the Scottish peoples, and how had domestication and the

Fig. 7 Turbary or Peat Sheep (ewe)— a pr
only in Scotland.

tive domesticated race preserved
nat. size.

rude selective breeding of the older periods affected the
characters of the wild Urial whence they seem to have
obtained the greater part of their inheritance?

We can scarcely do better, in supplementing the charac-
ters derived from the skeletal remains of the Neolithic
kitchen-middens and of the later prehistoric and early his-
toric deposits, than make appeal to the last representatives
of the Turbary race which till recently lingered in the isolated
islands of Shetland.

The chief difference in general appearance was one of
size, for while the domestic Turbaries still retained the slender
limbs and light agile build of the Urial, they stood only

SHEEP IN SCOTLAND 43

some 22 inches high at the shoulder, as against the 32 inches
of the wild Urial of the present day. The Scottish Lowland
breeds in the sixteenth century still retained the short tails
characteristic of the wild species, as Leslie noted, and even
to-day the Shetland survivors possess short tails with only
thirteen vertebral bones in contrast to the twenty or more
tail-vertebrae found in modern improved British breeds. In
another and significant respect the Turbary sheep retained
the Urial characters, for, in contrast to the hornless ewes
of the Mouflon, their ewes possessed a pair of light erect
goat-like horns, very different from the heavy, curved but
not spiral horns of the rams. But in one respect, other than
size, the domesticated race differed materially from its wild
ancestors, and that in regard to its coat. For whereas the
wild species possesses an undercoat of wool concealed
beneath a longer coat of fawn hair, in the Turbary sheep,
the wool, though still short and fine, predominated over the
hair, if we can judge from the Shetland survivors, and was
of pale brown colour, known as "moorit."

CHARACTERISTIC IMPROVED SCOTTISH BREEDS

The characteristics of the races of domestic sheep which
first appeared in Scotland having been summarized, it remains
to indicate the changes which selection of suitable stock and
careful in-breeding and crossing have wrought in typical
improved breeds of the present day in Scotland, such as the
Cheviot Sheep of the south country uplands and the High-
land Black-faced Sheep (Figs. 8 and 9, pp. 44 and 48). It
says much for the reality of man's influence in altering the
characters of his domestic stock, that in little more than
three-quarters of a century, since Youatt described the
"Black-faced Sheep," in 1837, and Low the "Black-faced
heath Sheep," in 1842, local conditions, different modes of
treatment and to some extent crossing with other breeds have,
according to Professor Wallace, split the breed into "at least
seven very distinct sections which might rank as breeds."

The Highland Black-faces and the Cheviots of to-day
differ in several important respects from the primitive domes-
tic breeds. As a rule, neither Cheviot ewes nor rams have
horns, though the latter may possess a smooth pair with a

44 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

simple curve. On the other hand, both sexes of Black-faces
almost invariably carry horns which spring horizontally from
the skull and are curved ; but those of the ram are especially
luxuriant, the horns being rough, strongly ridged; And form-
ing corkscrew spirals, the forward directed points of which
have frequently to be cut in old rams to allow them to feed
comfortably. Professor Ewart regards these peculiar horns
in the Black-face as evidence of the presence in the breed
of the blood of the Argali (Ovis ammon) — the magnificent

Fig. 8. Cheviot Sheep — a modern result of selective breeding.
(Champion, Highland Show, 1914.)

wild sheep of the Pamirs, Tian-Shan and Altai Mountains
of Asia.

In both Cheviots and Black-faces, the tail is much longer
than that of wild sheep, but while in Black-faces it reaches
not lower than the hocks, in Cheviots it is so abnormally
lengthened that it is found advisable to dock it.

Both breeds have gained in size of body as compared
with the primitive domestic races of Scotland. But though
the Cheviot is the larger and heavier of the two (a fat tup
weighing at least 200 Ibs. live weight), the Black-face is the

SHEEP IN SCOTLAND 45

hardier, and makes a living more successfully on the heathery
moors of the Highlands. Modern breeds also show the in-
fluence of man's selection in a subtle quality — that of fattening
rapidly when placed on suitable pasture — a quality absent
in primitive Scottish breeds.

Comparison with the ancestral forms and early breeds
shows that in a very important respect a great advance has
been made, for the coat of hair, furnished by Nature, has
been almost altogether subordinated to the development of
the original undercoat of wool. In both breeds the pre-
dominant colour is white in place of an ancestral shade of
brown, but while in the Black-face the wool is long, loose,
shaggy and rather coarse, in the Cheviot it is shorter, closer
and finer. In both breeds, it is unnecessary to add, a fleece
far exceeds in weight those of the primitive races of domes-
ticated sheep.

IMPROVEMENT OF WOOL IN SCOTLAND

Perhaps no single character in the domesticated races
of animals affords so clear a demonstration of man's con-
tinuous influence as the wool of sheep. Even in a limited
area like Scotland, the results point convincingly to the
power of selection. It must be remembered that in the
earliest days of civilization the flesh of domestic sheep was
seldom used for food though the milk was drunk. The main
value of sheep lay in furnishing fleeces which, prepared as
skins, formed the clothing of barbarian tribes. Almost in our
own era Caesar described the Briton as clothed in the skins
of animals, of which no doubt the sheep was the chief; and
Pliny the Younger says of his own time and country, as
translated by Philemon Holland:

Sheepe likewise are in great request, both in regard they serve as sacri-
fices to appease the Gods, and also by "reason of their fleece yielding so
profitable a use : for even as men are beholden to the boeuf for their prin-
cipal food and nourishment which they labour for, so they must acknowledge
that they have their clothing and coverture for their bodies from the poore
sheepe.

Even from the outset of the domestication of the sheep,
therefore, there was strong inducement for the herdsman to
improve the quality of the fleece. In the wild species from
which the domesticated breeds of sheep have sprung, the

46 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

undercoat of fine wool is invariably shorter tha'n even the
close outer crop of coarser hair, and the general colour varies
from foxey-red to fawn. Since it is clearly an advantage for
clothing that the softness and heat-retaining properties of
the fleece should be increased, early selection tended to the
lengthening of the woolly undercoat; so that even in the
primitive domesticated breed represented by the Soay sheep,
the natural proportions are reversed, and while the hair is
rather under 2 inches long, the wool reaches a length of
2 J inches. Nevertheless Soay fleeces average under a pound
in weight, and at the present day are considered scarcely
worth shearing.

Excavations in early human sites of occupation, though
they yield evidence of the presence of sheep, give no
indication of the nature of their coat, so that we have to
content ourselves with a few quotations from historical
records. Already in the twelfth century, a great wool in-
dustry had been developed in Scotland, for in the reign of
David I, woollen cloth was manufactured on a large scale
in many of the villages, and the enumeration among the
burgher classes, of weavers, "litcters" or dyers, and pullers
indicates manufacture of some skill and delicacy. In several
directions the improvement, of the fleece had progressed, in
an increase in the length of the wool, in its fineness, and in
its colour. Boece in the sixteenth century writes enthusiastic-
ally about the quality of the Scottish product :

Quhat may be said of our wol? quhilk is sa quhit [white] and smal [fine],
that the samin is desirit be all peple, and coft [bought] with gret price,
speciallie with merchandis quhair it is best knawin [known]. Of this wol is
maid the fine skarlettis with mony uthir granit and deligat [grand and
delicate] clothis. (Bellenden's Translation.)

And in the following century, William Lithgow, who travelled
over the southern parts of Scotland in 1628, says of Galloway
wool that it was better than any he had seen in Spain.
" Nay," he writes, " the Calabrian silk had never a better
lustre or a softer gripe than I have touched in Galloway on
the sheep's back." Truly in these days, it was "Galloway
for woo'." It need hardly be said, however, that all wool was
not of this high standard, witness the estimate of Aberdeen-
shire wool by Schir Robert Egew, Chaiplan to My Lord
Sinclair, who in his account of his stewardship in 1511 writes:

" SHEEP IN SCOTLAND 47

Item thar wilbe of tendit woll this yeir of your scheep Fyve stane. It
will gif ilk stane, vij schillings and that is ane gud price for Buchane woll
considering the ter1 that is in it.

The demand for Scottish wool in the following century
in countries beyond the borders is some index to the im-
provement that had taken place, and to the estimation in
which the Scottish product was held. From a charter found
in the Charter Chest of the Earl of Mar and Kelly, Professor
Hume Brown quotes the average annual exports for the years
1611 to 1614 "Of Woll, 10,374 staneis wechte at ^5 the
stane, ^5 1^,870."

While in most countries and on the mainland of Scotland
throughout the centuries, selection was constantly made with
the object of attaining a high standard of white wool, for no
other reason it would seem than that fashion favoured white-
ness, a curious and reverse tendency is to be noted in the
island flocks where fashion favoured coats of many colours.
In 1794, Dr James Anderson wrote :

In all the remote parts of Scotland and the isles where sheep have been
in a great measure neglected, and allowed to breed promiscuously, without
any selection, there is to be found a prodigious diversity of colours; and,
among others, dun sheep, or those of brownish colour tending to an obscure
yellow, are not infrequent... It is for this reason, and to save the trouble of
dyeing, that the poor people in the Highlands propagate black, and russet
and brown, and other coloured sheep, more than in any country where the
wool is regularly brought to market.

The tendency of fashion to guide the influence of man and to
regulate the colour of the fleece is still dbminant in Shetland
and amongst the breeders of Shetland sheep. Three types
of Shetland shawls are in demand — a brown, a white and a
grey, the last colour being also used as an edging to shawls
of one of the other colours. The result has been that owing
to deliberate selection for the purpose of meeting this de-
mand three colours of fleece have come to predominate in
the Shetland breed — a "black" or brown variety (known
as " moorit," said to be from a Norse word signifying
"moor-red"), which still retains the colour of the primitive
domesticated breed, a fine snowy white variety, and a bluish
grey variety known as "Sheila," having. longer and coarser
wool.

1 ter, probably the Aberdeenshire dialect word for turf; and in this
connection, therefore, signifying grass, earth or, generally, dirt.

48

THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

In modern times, with increased attention to the care of
flocks and to breeding, the rate of improvement in the
qualities of the fleece has been even more strikipg. In the
wild species, the wool is hidden beneath short hair; in
modern improved breeds, so successfully has fine wool been
encouraged at the expense of the rougher hair that it is
almost or quite impossible to distinguish any hair amongst
the wool. The wool of the primitive Soay breed is shorter

Fig. 9. Black-faced Sheep — an illustration of development in length of wool.
(Champion, Highland Show, 1914.)

than 3 inches and the fleece averages under one pound in
weight; often enough the shaggy wool of a Black-face trails
upon the ground and the average fleece of a good hill flock
weighs from 4^ to 5 pounds, while a Cheviot ram. may bear
a fleece of 10 to 12 pounds weight.

The parti-colours of the wild species have been replaced
by a coat of uniform colour, and in most breeds the original
shades of brown have been eliminated in favour of white wool.

II. 2

CATTLE IN SCOTLAND

THE farmer's family, according to Hesiod, one of the
earliest writers on agriculture, consisted of the Husband, the
Wife and the Ox, the Minister of Ceres. The ox was the
"constant Companion of Man in the Labours of the Field,"
as well as the mainstay of the food supply of the early
communities. On account of these particular uses to which
cattle were put, the influence of man has had a less striking
effect on the outer aspect of oxen than on that of the wool-
bearing sheep. Yet for us the ox gains an additional interest
in that at an early stage the domestication of oxen was
probably more intimately connected with Scotland than that
of sheep. For there can be no doubt that when Neolithic
man reached these lands the forests still sheltered herds of
wild cattle which here or elsewhere formed a nucleus of our
domesticated breeds.

THE NATIVE WILD CATTLE OF SCOTLAND

In the time of the Ice Age, perhaps even of the earlier
Forest Bed of Norfolk, there appeared an Ox of large size,
the great Urus (Bos taurus primigenius] (Figs, to and 11,
pp. 50 and 53), which before the close of the Ice Age had
spread from the north of Scandinavia to Sicily and from the
Siberian Steppes to the west of Scotland. For many centuries,
under climatic conditions of great diversity, it inhabited the
Scottish plains. When the snows of the Ice Age disappeared
from the Lowlands in one of the mild interludes which
broke the severity of an Arctic climate, and a coat of
verdure spread over the plains, the Urus made one of the
small band of animals which ventured into the southern
counties of Scotland in quest of new pastures. Its earliest
Scottish remains have been found in interglacial deposits near

50 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

Crofthead in Renfrewshire, where they were associated with
bones of the Giant Fallow Deer or " Irish Elk" and of the
Horse, as well as in the valley of Cowden Burn, in the same

Fig. 10. Front view'of skull of Urus, the native wild ox of Scotland,
from Fifeshire. f nat. size.

Fig. 10 a. Side view of above skull of Urus. \ nat. size.

county. In the marl deposits formed on the floor of the
lakes which succeeded the Glacial Period, skulls and other
bones of the Urus have been commonly found from Wigtown-
shire to Caithness, although the headquarters of the race, as

CATTLE IN SCOTLAND 51

indicated by the frequency of its occurrence, appears to have
been in the plains of the eastern coast, especially in the
valleys of the T»weed in Roxburghshire, of the Tay in Perth-
shire, and in the flat lands of Caithness. Even in later ages,
the Urus was still common throughout Scotland, for its
remains are abundant in the peat-bogs which accumulated
under conditions of great humidity about the time of and
subsequent to the arrival of the first Neolithic settlers in
Scotland. At this period the headquarters of the race
appears to have been in the Lowlands, for although isolated
records occur as far north as Belhelvie Moss in Aberdeen-
shire, the majority-of the remains have been recovered from
Ayrshire, Berwickshire, and particularly from the higher
grounds drained by the Tweed and its tributaries.

The subsequent history of the Giant Ox in Scotland is
one of gradual decline, and it is reasonable to assume that
the dwindling of the great herds was connected with the
appearance of man in the country. Nevertheless, the Urus
lingered on in association with man in Scotland for many
centuries, being gradually driven northwards into the wilds,
until within the confines of the northern counties it finally
disappeared. Its remains have been found in juxtaposition
with relics of Neolithic man from the Clyde Valley to
Caithness: in the former case near the mouth of the Kelvin,
in laminated beds of silt where many dug-out canoes,
hollowed from solid trunks of oak, have been found, and
in the latter, in "horned cairns" belonging to the later
period of the Polished Stone Age, at Camster, Ulbster and
Clythe. During the succeeding two thousand years, till
approximately 1000 B.C., it may have lingered in the Low-
lands of Scotland, for in 1781 six skulls were found in a
"merle moss" at Whitmuir Hill, Selkirkshire, in the
neighbourhood of many " brass axes." The writer of the
Statistical Account of the parish of Selkirk actually states
that along with the skulls was found "a Roman spear with
which these animals were destroyed," but this statement is
more than doubtful, for Professor Ewart has found no trace
of the Urus amongst the abundant animal remains of the
Roman Camp at Newstead near Melrose. It is almost safe
to assume, therefore, that long before the Romans invaded

southern Scotland, in the early centuries of our era, the

J *

4—2

52 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

•pressure of civilization had driven the survivors of the
Giant Ox beyond the bounds of the Scottish Lowlands.

Nevertheless it appears still to have survived in the
northern parts of the kingdom, for remains which seem to
be identical with those of the marls and peat-bogs, have been
found in underground buildings or "Eird" houses apparently
belonging to the period of the brochs or "Pictish Towers,"
at Skara in Orkney and in an ancient mound at Keiss in
Caithness, as well as in a broch itself, at Kintrawell beyond
Brora in Sutherlandshire. There is some reason to believe,
therefore, that the Broch Period, lasting towards the ninth
or tenth century, saw the last wild British survivors of
this great race of cattle, long before they had disappeared
from the dense forests of Central Europe, where they were
believed by Professor Nilsson to have existed in a wild
or half-wild state even to the beginning and middle of the
sixteenth century, many years after the exploits of the
redoubtable Siegfried in the woods of Worms, sung in the
Niebelungen lied:

Then slowe the dowghtie Sigfried a Wisent1 and an Elk,

He smote four stoute Uroxen and a grim and sturdie Schelk2.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE URUS

There is no Scottish written evidence to guide us in
determining the characters of this Scottish wild ox, for
the only definite relics of its existence are the bones of
the prehistoric and early historic deposits. Their evidence,
however, is clear as regards the general character of the
animal. Its bones in every respect, in their proportions,
contours and even in the details of their ridges and muscle-
impressions, agree so closely with those of recent oxen
as to show that the Urus was in reality no more than a
variety of Bos taurus. In one striking respect the skeletal
remains differ — in size. From a skeleton which he compared
with that of a recent ox, Principal Sir William Turner
estimated that the Urus must have easily stood six feet
high at the shoulder, a size sufficiently great, though not
to be compared with Caesar's exaggerated description of

1 Bison.

2 Red Deer, or perhaps the now extinct Giant Fallow Deer.

CATTLE IN SCOTLAND 53

the Uri in the Hercynian Forests — " magnitudine paullo
infra elefantos " — ' in size little less than elephants.' The horn-
cores, borne on the massive, flat-fronted skull (Figs. 10 and
loo), a third larger than the skulls of domestic cattle, indicate
that the horns were of great length, even larger, it is said,
than those of the long-horned breed of cattle found in the
Campagna of Rome.

As regards colour, there is little trustworthy evidence,
and for want of better we must appeal to an oil painting,
supposed to represent the Urus, which was discovered in
Germany about a century ago by Major Hamilton Smith :

We found an old painting on pannel of indifferent merit in the hands
of a dealer in Augsburg, which represents the animal, and judging from the
style of drawing, etc., may date from the first quarter of the sixteenth
century. It is a profile representation of a bull without mane, but rather
rugged, with a large head, thick neck, small dewlap entirely sooty black,
the chin alone white, and the horns turning forward and then upward like
the bull of Romania; pale in colour with black tips. In the comer were
remains of armorial bearings, and the word Tkur in golden German
characters. We made a sketch of the figure.

Fig. ii. Urus — the native wild ox of Scotland, -fa nat. size.

The sketch formed the basis of a plate in colour in
Griffith's edition of Cuvier's Animal Kingdom, and this is
here reproduced (Fig. n). In one. point fossil evidence
testifies to the accuracy of the painting, for a horn, found in
peat in Pomerania, was pale horn-coloured with a black tip.
Probably the Urus was of a dark reddish-brown colour

54 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

verging on black, with long, black-tipped horns, and with
hair short and comparatively smooth, except on the forehead
where it was long and curly.

One other character of the Urus is worth recording in
view of its modification in the domestic breeds derived from
this wild race — namely, its temperament. Caesar said of
the Uri inhabiting the Hercynian forest of Central Europe
" Great is their strength and great their speed ; they spare
nor man nor wild beast on whom they may cast their eyes."

THE URUS AND DOMESTICATION

Notwithstanding that man lived for many centuries in
Scotland in company with Wild Oxen, he seems to have
made little or no progress in domesticating them. This may
have been due in part to an exceptionally wild strain in
the Scottish race, and in part to the fact that there was
little inducement for him to break in a new race of cattle,
since he had brought with him to Scotland a smaller and
more amenable breed, the Short-horned Celtic Ox (Bos
taurus longifrons}, which had already been domesticated
on the continent. It is not surprising, therefore, that
kitchen-middens of Neolithic and later ages yield many
bones of the smaller domesticated breed, but afford little
evidence of the presence or domestication of the Urus, a
creature of the wilds and remote fastnesses. Unfortunately,
however, in the majority of the early excavations, examina-
tion of the animal remains was of a more or less cursory
nature, bovine bones being simply recorded as "oxen," with-
out attempt to arrive at a critical estimation of their further
significance.

It seems very unlikely that two closely related races of
cattle could exist in the limited area of Scotland without
a certain infusion of wild blood into the domesticated stock;
and it is just possible that some of the larger ox remains
found along with the bones of the Short-horned Celtic Ox
in the Roman .Camp at Newstead as well as in other Roman
settlements, and the few Urus-like skulls of the brochs, may
represent more or less remote descendants of crosses between
the Urus and the Celtic Shorthorn. It is possible also that
the sixteenth century "wild" White Cattle of the Caledonian

CATTLE IN SCOTLAND 55

Forest may have been direct descendants of the Urus,
though the weight of evidence seems to show that their
relationship is more distant, and that they are rather the
offspring, which have run wild, of a breed domesticated from
the Urus. Whether or not the blood of the indigenous cattle
of Scotland may still linger in direct lineage in our modern
stock through cross-breeding with the Celtic Shorthorn, it
is generally allowed that the Urus, domesticated perhaps
on the plains of Europe, is the ancestral form of the larger
breeds of cattle in Britain at the present day.

THE EARLIEST DOMESTICATED CATTLE OF SCOTLAND— THE
CELTIC SHORTHORN

Not until the Ice Age had passed away did there appear
on the plains of Europe a small race of cattle which formed
the nucleus of the earliest domesticated breed. There is
no evidence that this small race, the Longfronted Ox, or,
as it is commonly called, the Celtic Shorthorn (Bos taitrus
longifrons], existed in Scotland at any period before the
time of man's arrival. Its remains have been found in river
gravel of doubtful age, near Currie at the northern end of
the Pentland Hills, and in 1870 there' were discovered
bones of several of these oxen, which, before cities and
villages were dreamt of, had been entrapped and engulfed
in the shell-marl of the Nor' Loch which formerly lay in the
hollow now occupied by the Princes Street Gardens,
Edinburgh. Even in the later peat deposits remains are
exceedingly scanty, though they are distributed in bogs from
Roxburghshire to Ross. Indeed, in Scotland the history of
the Celtic Shorthorn traces a course exactly the reverse of
that of the Great Wild Ox, for while the latter is abundantly
represented in the early deposits and decreases with the
coming of man until it disappears, the former is absent from
the early deposits and increases with the spread of Neolithic
man until it occurs throughout the length and breadth of the
land.

The Celtic Shorthorn does not appear to have been
known to the earliest settlers in Scotland, who, as we have
seen, left traces of no domestic animals, yet it appears in
the deposits of very early Neolithic times. Horns character-
istic of the Celtic Shorthorn were discovered in 1816 near'

56 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

the surface of the clay of the Fifty Foot Beach in the Tay
Valley at Blair Drummond in Perthshire, and bones have
been found in the deposits which have yielded Neolithic
dug-out canoes in Rutherglen near Glasgow. Adtually as-
sociated with the handiwork of men of the Polished Stone
Age, skulls and bones have been found in caves and shell-
mounds on the Ayrshire coast, in kitchen-middens, as in
Oronsay and in the MacArthur Cave at Oban, as well as
in the chambered or horned cairns of late Neolithic Age at
Canister, Ormiegill near Ulbster, Garry whin near Clythe and
Hill of Bruan, all in Caithness, and in a chambered cairn at
Loch Stennis in Orkney.

In Scotland, then, the Celtic Shorthorn appeared in the
Neolithic period, shortly after the first settlement of man in
North Britain, and this, together with the fact that its re-
mains are most frequently found in deposits accumulated
on the sites of human habitation, point to its presence as a
domesticated animal which had followed in the train of the
men of the Polished Stone Age from the regions of the south.

There can be no doubt of its close relationship to man
in subsequent ages, for its remains have occurred in almost
every prehistoric site of occupation which has been excavated
in Scotland. In the Bronze and Iron Ages, which together
extended to the beginning of the Christian era, it was
common, and the numerous herds of cattle, "pecoris, magnus
numerus," observed by Caesar on his arrival in Britain just
before the first century of our era, and remarked upon in
his Commentaries, belonged to this race. According to Pro-
fessor Boyd Dawkins, it was the only breed in existence
in Britain at the time of the Roman Conquest. In spite of
the fact that the Romans almost certainly brought with them
new races of cattle from the Continent, the Celtic Shorthorn
still predominated in Roman and Romano- British settle-
ments in Scotland, as at Newstead near Melrose, Traprain
in Haddingtonshire and Inveresk near Musselburgh, and
remained for long the only domestic cattle of the native
population. Its importance as food to the inhabitants of
Scotland during or shortly after the period of Roman occu-
pation is indicated by the contents of the refuse-heap of a
cave at Borness in Kirkcudbrightshire, excavated in 1875,
for there the recognizable ox-bones numbered 1 1 12, as con-

CATTLE IN SCOTLAND

57

trasted with 630 bones of Sheep, 26 of Red Deer, and three
of the Horse.

There is no need to detail its history in later times, —
it is sufficient to say that the bones of the Celtic Short-
horn have been found in plenty in the Scottish crannogs or
lake-dwellings, as at Loch of Dowalton in Wigtownshire,
Lochlee and Lochspouts in Ayrshire, and Isle of Eriska in
Argyllshire ; in cave deposits, on the south coast at St
Medan's and St Ninian's Caves in Wigtownshire and
Borness Cave in Kirkcudbrightshire, on the east coast

i

Fig. 12. Horn-sheaths of Celtic Shorthorn and upper part of skull with horn-cores and with
fragments of skin and hair attached, found deep in Irish bog — relics of a primitive
domesticated race of cattle. \ nat. size.

at Wemyss in Fifeshire, and on the west in caves on
the Ayrshire coast ; in duns or hill-forts from Tiree to
Burghead ; in underground "Eird" or "Picts' " houses even
in the outer islands, on the mainland of Orkney near
Kirkwall and at Skara, and in the outer Hebrides in Harris;
in kitchen-middens or shell-mounds and in the " Pictish
Towers " or brochs throughout the length of the land. The
Celtic Shorthorn was therefore the one well-defined race of
domestic cattle familiar to the Scottish peoples till the close
of the broch period towards the ninth or tenth century of
the Christian era, and probably it remained dominant to a
much later day.

58 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

CHARACTERS OF THE CELTIC SHORTHORN

What was the nature of this domestic race, which, for some
6000 years, was outstanding in the history and development
of the early peoples of Scotland ? Two sets of characters
infallibly single out its bones from the remains of other
cattle — those of its skull and those of its .limbs. The skull
was long and narrow, more like that of a deer than of a
modern ox, and the forehead had a median ridge, a
prominent bony crest, and carried two short tapering
horns, about nine inches long, curved gently forwards and
downwards. The limbs also were deer-like in character, the
bones being slender in proportion to their length, as
compared with those of modern oxen. From the skeleton,
Professor Nilsson estimated that the Celtic Shorthorn "was
5 feet 4 inches long from the nape to the end of the rump-
bone, the head about i foot 4 inches, so that the whole
length must have been about 6 feet 8 inches." The skeleton
indicates that the Celtic Shorthorn was a long-bodied but
light and agile ox, well-fitted to protect itself by speed of
limb from the many beasts of prey of the Scottish forests.

A few fortunate finds give a clue to the nature and
colour of its coat. On a skull found in an Irish bog and having
the characters of the Celtic Shorthorn, Dr John Alexander
Smith found part of the skin and hair still attached (Fig. 1 2).
The hair was of rough shaggy nature like that of Highland
Kyloes (Fig. 13, p. 61), and was of dark red or brownish tint.
Confirmatory evidence is furnished by the contents of the
strange masses of "bog butter" which, stored in wooden
kegs or wrapped in skin or birch bark, have been found
often at considerable depths below the surface in peat-
mosses in the counties of Argyll, Inverness, Banff, Moray,
Sutherland and in the islands of Skye and North Yell.
The apparent age of these butter masses suggests the
probability that the butter was made from the milk of the
Celtic Shorthorn. The butter invariably contains abundance
of cow-hairs, and these are always red in colour. Again,
Dr Joseph Anderson in 1878 discovered on a dagger of the
Bronze Age, found in a large sepulchral cairn at Collessie in
Fifeshire, a mass of agglutinated hairs, remains of the hide
which covered the wooden sheath of the dagger; and these

CATTLE IN SCOTLAND 59

under the microscope showed " the same appearance and
structure as the dark hairs of a Shetland cow taken from
one of the rivlins or Shetland shoes of untanned hide in the
Museum [of Antiquities in Edinburgh]."

Although nothing is known from written records re-
garding the nature of the early domestication of cattle in
Scotland, the bone remains seem to point to the wild
or half-wild nature of the herds. In the first place, the
limb bones are those of an active mobile creature, and this
activity could only mean that the cattle were not restricted
in any serious degree, but ranged over large areas and
depended on their movements for escape from the Brown
Bears and Wolves which shared the forest with them. In
the second place, in the Scottish bone deposits which I have
examined, and which range from Neolithic times to a
period when Christianity was already firmly established on
the east coast, the large majority of the remains of the
Celtic Shorthorn are those of young animals, as the presence
of milk-teeth and of bones not completely ossified clearly
shows. This I take to mean that the inhabitants found it
easier to slay the young than the old animals — that indeed
adult animals were hard to slay, for other things being
equal, their greater food value should have made them
preferred, and their bones to preponderate in the refuse-
heaps. The indications are that the cattle were captured
by a sort of hunting which found the young animals ready
victims, and therefore that the herds of the Celtic Short-
horn were little better than wild.

It may indeed be said that part of the influence of man
upon domestic cattle has been expended in gradually
narrowing their range of freedom, and with this, their
activity, so that from the lean muscular oxen of the wilds,
the fat ox of the stall has been developed. The pro-
cess of enclosing has been a gradual one, as old Scots
Laws demonstrate, 'for the "Leges Forestarum " generally
ascribed to William the Lion (A.D. 1165-1214) invoke
penalties upon cattle found straying in the King's forest — a
superfluous provision had the cattle been enclosed or even
carefully herded. That they were not so herded even in
the seventeenth century is shown by the fact that it was
found necessary in 1686 to pass a law that cattle should be

60 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

herded in winter as well as in summer to prevent de-
struction of plantations and enclosures. And as everyone
familiar with the history of Scottish agriculture during the
past two centuries knows, it is only within comparatively
recent times that open "out fields" and "in fields" gave
place to the enclosed fields of the present day.

MODERN SCOTTISH CATTLE AS EXEMPLIFYING THE
INFLUENCE OF MAN

The domesticated breeds of cattle existing in Scotland
at the present day fall into two distinct groups : a small
type, of which the Highland Kyloes may be taken as
examples, and a large and heavy type such as the
Aberdeen-Angus and Shorthorn breeds. Now the two races
from which all the modern Scottish breeds have sprung are
the Great Ox or Urus — Bos taurus primigenius — and the
Celtic Shorthorn ; but so distant is the ancestry, so mixed has
been the breeding in an effort to obtain new and better stocks,
and so potent has been the influence of man in perpetuating
the characters of his choice, that it is impossible with
certainty to attribute any modern breed to its originator.
At the best, we can only say that probability lies in the
suggestion that the Celtic Shorthorn, the only domestic
race of the early Celts, was, with its owners, ultimately
driven into the refuges of the mountains and islands by
the influx of Romans and Saxons, and there probably gave
rise to the characteristic mountain and island breeds — the
Highland Kyloes and Shetlanders; while the lowland races
became more and more permeated by the blood of the
larger cattle derived from the great Urus, which the invad-
ing peoples brought with them from the Continent. Thus
at one pole of the Scottish breeds the cattle of the West
Highlands approach most closely the type of the Celtic
Shorthorn, while the Shorthorn and Aberdeen-Angus show
the largest proportion of the blood of races which owe
their ancestry to the Urus. Of other well-known Scottish
breeds, the old established Galloways seem to share in great
part the same origin as the Highland Kyloes, and the
Celtic Shorthorn had also much influence in the moulding
of the extinct Orkney and original Shetland breed, as well

CATTLE IN SCOTLAND

61

as of the Ayrshires, though in the last case, even in compara-
tively recent times, there has been a great admixture of
Urus blood through crossing with modern Shorthorn and
other races.

In spite of these complexities of descent, there yet
stand out clearly several main lines along which man has
influenced the characters of the original races.

Of all the modern breeds, the Highland cattle, in their
build, in the nature and colour of their coat, and in their

Fig. 13. Highland Kyloes (cow and calf) — a primitive domesticated breed
("Mhaldag," First Prize, Highland Show, 1886).

habits, approach most closely to their wild prototypes.
They still retain the hardiness which one would expect in
the descendants of a race inured to the climate of Scotland
for many thousands of years, and in the very picturesquene-.s
of their long shaggy coats and bushy forelocks they suggest
the unimproved creatures of the wild. A description by
Bishop Leslie, published in 1578, of the "fed" or domesti-
cated "ky, nocht tame," which in his day ranged the
mountains of Argyll, the very area from which the most
characteristic of modern Highlanders are derived, gives

62 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

point to the comparison, for there can be no doubt that he
refers to the Kyloes of the sixteenth century :

In the mountanis of Aargyl, in Rosse lykwyse, and sindrie vthiris places,
ar fed ky, nocht tame, as in vthiris partes, hot lyke wylde hartes, wandiring
out of ordour, and quhilkes, throuch a certane wyldnes of nature, flie the
cumpanie, or syght of men: as may be seine in winter, how deip saeuir be
the snawe, how lang saevir the frost ly, how scharpe or calde how evir it
be thay nevir thair heid sett- vnder the ruffe of ony hous. Thair fleshe of a
meruellous sueitnes, of a woundirful tendirnes, and excellent diligatnes of
taste, far deceiues the opiniounis of men, that nevir tasted thame.

But how great have been the changes in most other
breeds. The Giant Urus, six feet high at the shoulder, has
been reduced to the much smaller proportions of the modern
Shorthorn and Aberdeen-Angus (Fig. 14, p. 63). His long
graceful limbs, which gave him a speed surpassing that of
most of the animals of the prehistoric forests, have, at the
demand of the market, become reduced and embedded in
an over-developed body in which have been lost the supple
lines of the wild ancestor.

In colour no less than in form, man's selection has
worked great changes. In place of the uniform dark reds,
browns or blacks of the primitive races, modern breeds
range through white and shades of yellow, red, brown, red
and black, black and white, to unbroken black. Even such a
strange freak of colouring as a broad white band like a white
sheet tied round the animal's black body, has become per-
petuated in the definite race of "belted" or "sheeted"
Galloways. It is surprising in how short a period such
colour changes may take place under man's guidance. At
the beginning of last century, the Aberdeen- Angus breed
contained individuals of the most div erse colours, brindled,
red and black, black and white, red, brown and yellow. Yet
to-day the only recognized colour of pedigreed stock is black.

Horns, too, have been modified through man's selection.
Not only are their sizes and shapes more varied, but in
Aberdeen-Angus and Galloways, they have actually been
bred out of existence. That the polled or hornless condition
did not originate in recent times is shown by a polled skull
identified by Professor Ewart from the Roman Camp at
Newstead; and it is said that the first historical reference
to polled cattle was made in the ninth century when King
Kenneth MacAlpine (A.D. 844-860) in promulgating the laws

CATTLE IN SCOTLAND 63

at Scone in Perthshire, specifically mentions "black homyl,"
in modern Scots "humle" or "humlie," that is to say, horn-
less cattle. Yet the creation of a polled race under man's
influence seems to one familiar with the slowness of nature's
processes, a thing of marvellous celerity; for even in the
middle of the eighteenth century, a large proportion of pure-
bred Galloway cattle had horns of considerable length, and
the complete disappearance of horns since that time is simply
due to the efforts of breeders to meet the demands of English

Fig. 14. Aberdeen-Angus bull — a highly developed result of domestication.
("Metaphor," Champion, Highland Show, 1910.)

graziers, who, compelled to drive their purchased herds a
considerable distance across the borders, found that horns
merely contributed to accident and damage, and accordingly,
when possible, selected hornless individuals.

Other characteristics, less apparent than the external
-features just described, have suffered change under domestica-
tion, for man's influence-extends even to traits of character
and to the deeper physiological activities. How can we com-
pare the untameable ferocity of the Urus of Julius Caesar's
day with the docility of the large modern breeds, or the

64 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

wildness of the Celtic Shorthorn, adults of which were seldom
captured by our prehistoric predecessors, with the mildness
of Ayrshires and Galloways ? This loss in character may be
connected with the increased weight of body and general
lassitude of mind bred by a sheltered existence, and these
have been fostered by the gradual reduction of the free-way
of -the herds until their exercise is confined to the narrow
limits of an enclosed field. The breed of the mountains —
the Highlanders — still retains more than any other the spirit
of the wild.

A curious development, to which much attention has been
paid since the improvement of cattle became a science, is that
of early fattening, and the extraordinary tendency of some
breeds to gain flesh rapidly and at an early age, speaks
wonderfully of the power of human selection. Of all breeds
the Shorthorn seems most to have developed the tendency
to early maturity. The official weights of the prize-winners
at the National Hereford Shorthorn Show at Kansas in 1900
afford an excellent illustration of this trait. The average of
eight prize-winners is given in each case. While heifers
under six months old averaged 571 pounds, the weight at
a year was 810 pounds, at two years 1270 pounds, and cows
at three years or over weighed 1 806 pounds. At six months,
a bull averaged 588, at a year 966, at two years 1467, while
at three years or over the weight averaged 2298 pounds.
It is a striking fact, emphasizing the significance of artificial
improvement, that the breed which comes most slowly to
maturity for the market is that which remains nearest in
type to the original stock — the West Highland — for in reach-
ing its maximum of weight the Kyloe lags about a year
behind most of the other British breeds.

In a last subtle respect domestication has had an as-
tonishing effect — in the development of the milk-supply of
cows. So utterly has nature been circumvented in this
respect that records, gathered in 1905 by the Fenwick
Society from 18 dairies in the south of Scotland, comprising
443 cows, show that the lactation period ranged from thirty-f
eight to nearly forty -six weeks, and that the annual yield
per cow averaged 875 gallons of milk.

CATTLE IN SCOTLAND 65

THE WILD WHITE CATTLE OF SCOTLAND

An account of the cattle of Scotland cannot be concluded
without some reference to the ancient White Cattle of the
parks, though from the point of view of domestication, they
are neither flesh nor fish, neither the wild progenitors of
our domestic stock nor a direct link in the cjiain between
indigenous oxen and modern breeds. Yet they have a
romance of their own. There can be no doubt that this fine
race, with all the characteristics of its modern descendants,
existed in the woods of Caledonia at a very early date :

Mightiest of all the beasts of chase,
That roam in woody Caledon,
Crashing the forest m his race,
The Mountain Bull comes thundering on.
Fierce, on the hunter's quivered band,
He rolls his eyes of swarthy glow,
Spurns with black hoof and horn the sand,
And tosses high his mane of snow.

SIR WALTER SCOTT.

To-day the remnants of the White Cattle are preserved in a
few parks of which the chief are in Scotland, and in these
they have developed into more or less distinct races; but
Harting in his account of British Wild White Cattle refers
to twenty-two herds enclosed at one time or another by
Royal assent, and Rev. John Storer, in his Wild White
Cattle of Great Britain, records as many as "forty localities
where wild white cattle or their domesticated descendants
are proved to have existed."

Our earliest historians regarded these White Cattle —
"spotless bulls," as Ossian calls them, with their strange
black muzzles, ears and hoofs — as truly wild, though it is
curious that all their early accounts seem to refer to animals
kept more or less under protection in woods and parks. "The
great wood" of Chillingham in Northumberland is referred
to as early as 1220, and in records of the year 1292, wild
cattle are distinctly mentioned as inhabiting it, though their
distinctive features are not specified. The earliest description
with which I am acquainted is that of Hector Boece, pub-
lished in 1527, which in Bellenden's translation runs:

At this toun [Stirling] began the gret wod of Calidon. This wod of
Calidon ran fra Striveling throw Menteith and Stratherne to Atholl and

66 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

Lochquhabir as Ptoleme writtis in his first table. In this wod wes sum time
quhit bullis, with crisp and curland mane, like fiers lionis; and thoucht
thay semit meik and tame in the remanent figure of thair bodyis, thay wer
mair wild than ony uthir beistis, and had sic hatrent aganis the societi and
cumpany of men, that thay come nevir in the woddis na lesuris.quhair thay
fand ony-feit or haund thairof: and, mony dayis efter, they eit nocht of the
herbis that wer.twichit or handillitt be men. Thir bullis wer sa wild, that
thay wer nevir tane but slicht and crafty laubaur: and sa impacient, that,
<iftir thair takingf thay deit for importable doloure. Als sone as ony man
invadit thir bullis, thay ruschit with so terrible preis on him, that thay dang
him to the eird, takand na feir of houndis, scharp lands, nor uthir maist
penetrive wappinis. '

King Robert the Bruce is said to have endangered his life
in hunting the white bulls of Torwood, for one being " sair
wundit be the hunteris, it ruschit feircelie on the king, how-
beit he had na wappinis in his hand to debait himself fra the
dint theirof." Yet by the service of a retainer he escaped.

Even in the sixteenth century, however, the White
Cattle were exceedingly few in number, for Lindsay of
Pitscottie concludes his account written in years preceding
1565, by stating that "because the flesch was pleasant and
daintie to the mouth, the haill race of them almost is ex-
tinguished," and Bishop Leslie, writing only a few years
later (1578) is still more doubtful of their survival, which
was vouched for only by hearsay: "In quhilke ["Tor
Wod," the Caledonian forest], onlie, eftir the commoune
speiking, war the quhyte kye fund, of quhilkes now restes
verie few or nane." (Dalrymple's Translation.) Leslie's
account of the "kye, oussin [oxen] and wilde bullis" is
worth quoting from the same translation, on account of the
description and quaint Scots expressions:

In this Wod war nocht onlie kye bot oxne and Bules snawquhyte with
a mane thick and syde, quhilke thay beir lyke the mane of a lyone. Thay
mairouer war sa cruel and wylde that frome mankynde thay abhored in sik
a sorte that quhateuir thing the handis of men had twechet, or the air of
thair mouthis had blawne vpon or endet as we speik, frome al sik thay
absteined mony dayes thaireftir. Farther, this oxx or Bull was sa baulde,
that nocht only in his yre or quhen he was prouoked walde he ouircum
horsmen, bot euin feiret he nathing nathir tyred he, commonlie al men to
invade baith with homes and feit ye the dogis, quhilkes with vs ar maist
violent, he regardet nocht bot walde elate him with his cluifes or kaithe
him on his homes. His flesche was all girsslie bot of a trim taist. He was
afortymes a frequent beist in this Torr Wod, but now consumed throuch
the gluttonie of men only in thrie places is left, in the Park of Striuiling,
the Wod of Cummirnalde and of Kinkairne.

CATTLE IN SCOTLAND 67

It is quite clear from these and other contemporaneous
descriptions, that however numerous and truly wild the
White Cattle may once have been in Scotland, and there
is no evidence on these points except the hearsay of the
"commoune speiking," they were scarce enough in the six-
teenth century, when they were already the guarded inmates
of parks. The latter point is emphasized in a document of
1570 recording a charge brought against retainers of the
Regent Lennox of having

slain and destroyed the deer in John Fleming's forest of Cumbernauld,
and the white kye and bulls of the said forest, to the great destruction of
police and hinder of the commonweal; for that kind of kye and bulls has
been kept there many years in the said forest, and the like was not main-
tained in any other part of the isle of Albion, as is well known.

During the intervening four centuries the numbers of
White Cattle have been increased through careful protection
and breeding, until there are now several well-known races,
but the early records have some bearing on the controversy
as to the origin of the race as a whole.

It is impossible and would be profitless to enter here
into the details of this controversy. It is sufficient to say
that it is held on the one hand, that the White Cattle are
the direct descendants and representatives of the Wild Urus
(Bos taurus primigenius] which inhabited the wilds of Scot-
land from prehistoric times till perhaps even the days of the
brochs or " Pictish Towers"; and that, on the other hand,
such high genealogy is denied them, and they are said to be
descendants of a domesticated race of the Urus, .which were
preserved on account of their peculiarities of colour, and
were allowed the run of the Scottish forests. There is little
reliable evidence, as the quotations given above show, that
the White Cattle had ever a wide distribution in Scotland,
and the early bone deposits are silent as to their presence.
Indeed, the evidence, in strong contrast to that regarding
the Urus and the Celtic Shorthorn, rather points to their
presence only as animals more or less under protection in
limited reserves; on the whole, the latter of the two con-
trasted views seems to be favoured by the weight of opinion
at the present day.

5— :

II.

THE HORSE IN SCOTLAND

With flying forelock and dishevelled mane,

They caught the wild steed prancing o'er the plain,

For war or pastime reined his fiery force.

"THE Horse in his Nature is as gentle and docile, as in
Appearance he is a noble, majestic and well-proportioned
Animal, but his peculiar Excellencies are determined by the
Service for which he is designed," wrote Dr John Campbell
in his Political Survey (1774), and therein he epitomizes
the influence of man, for he goes on to say, "We require
Horses for various Purposes, and to suit these they must
have various Properties, indeed so various, that what are
regarded as Excellencies, in some, would be Defects in
others." Our present problem lies in endeavouring to discover
in what ways in Scotland man has played upon the struc-
ture and nature of Horses for his own "various Purposes."

THE HORSE NATIVE IN SCOTLAND

It has often been taken for granted that the Horse, like the
Celtic Shorthorn and the Sheep, first made its appearance in
Scotland in the train of the herdsmen immigrants of the New
Stone Age; but long before man placed his foot in these
northern regions, their plains were the sporting grounds of
herds of wild native horses. Whether the primitive horses
whose remains have been found in the Forest Bed of Norfolk,
ever made their way to Scotland, it is impossible to say, for
the glaciers of the Ice Age have long since scoured away pos-
sible evidences of that highly probable invasion; but ten bones
of small horses were discovered during the cutting of a line
of railway near Crofthead in Renfrewshire, in a series of de-
posits five feet below a layer in which were found remains of
the Giant Fallow Deer or "Irish Elk " (Megaceros giganteus]
and of the Urus (Bos taurus primigenius}. There can be

THE HORSE IN SCOTLAND 69

little doubt that the horses represented in this deep deposit
entered Scotland during one of the milder inter-glacial periods
which broke the continuity of the Age of Ice.

Deposits of later date also afford evidence of the presence
of horses at an early stage in the development of modern
Scotland. Bones of two horses, along with those of the Wolf,
the Reindeer and the Fox, were discovered in a rock fissure
of post-glacial age in the Pentland Hills; the marl mosses
of Forfarshire, according to Lyell, entomb many of their
remains; and the bones of horses were found in 1868 em-
bedded at the depth of between six and eight feet in a peat-
moss at Balgone near North Berwick. I have seen in the
Hunterian Museum in Glasgow a lower jaw and cannon-
bone found, probably in the river-gravels of the Clyde, during
excavations in Stockwell Street, Glasgow. These later relics,
however, have scarcely the same significance as those of the
Crofthead deposits, for it is possible that some of them may
represent the domesticated herds of the Neolithic inhabitants.

What was the nature of the horse which inhabited
Scotland before the coming of man ? The Crofthead bones
were said to represent an animal with the essential char-
acteristics of the horse (Eqims caballus), but a third smaller
than ordinary horses of to-day. The solitary cannon-bone
of the Stockwell Street horse shows that it belonged to
a slender-limbed race, for its length is seven times its
breadth (the length being 238 mm. and the width at the
middle 34 mm.), a characteristic feature of a type of small
horse, designated by Professor Cossar Ewart the desert or
plateau type. This race frequented the valleys of Italy in the
preglacial Pliocene Period, and in Glacial times wandered
over the plains of France, and thence into the still-connected
land of Britain. From the remains found in various parts
of W7estern Europe, a fair estimate can be made of the
appearance of the Scottish predecessor of the domesticated
races. It was a small animal, as horses go, from about i2'2
to 14 hands, that is 50 to 56 inches, high at the shoulder,
with long slender limbs. Its head was small, its face fine
and narrow, with a straight profile. Of the colour of its coat
and the nature of its mane and tail, there is naturally no
direct evidence from the prehistoric remains, but Professor
Ewart is of opinion that it was closely related to a modern

70 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

type which he has designated the Celtic pony (Equus agilis
celticus] and which attains its most characteristic development
in the small yellowish dun, long and strong maned, short
docked, shaggy ponies of northern Iceland (see, Fig. 15).
These lack any trace of "chestnuts " or callosities on the inner
surface of the hind legs, of "ergots" or fetlock callosities
on all legs, and possess highly specialized tails with a thick
bunchy tail-lock which develops in winter and shields the
thighs from rain and storm.

Did this slender-limbed graceful horse which predomi-
nated on the plains of the Glacial Age — the "plateau" type
of Ewart (Equus agilis] — survive in Scotland at the advent
of man 2 If man did find it when he first settled on the coasts
of North Britain, did he succeed in taming it and turning it
to his own uses, or did the Neolithic wanderers bring with
them from the continent, horses already domesticated, which
were to form the foundation of our modern breeds ?

To these questions it is impossible to give dogmatic
answers, mainly owing to the scant examination given to
the treasures of many an early Scottish excavation yielding
animal remains. But the presumptive evidence is strong
that the "plateau" horse was domesticated in this or another
country, and formed part of the domestic stock of the people
of the New Stone Age, for small slender-limbed horses have
been characteristic of Scotland from time immemorial. That
the horse still existed in Scotland just prior to or con-
temporaneous with the arrival of the Neolithic peoples, is
hinted at by the discovery of bones, of what particular race
of horse has not been determined, in the Fifty- Foot Raised
Beach at Shewalton near Irvine in Ayrshire. This Fifty-
Foot Beach, it will be remembered, is that which has yielded
the earliest evidence of man's appearance in Scotland, and
though it contains, in its development on the east coast,
skeletons of Whales and implements manufactured from Deer
antlers and used by man, it has hitherto afforded no indica-
tion of the presence of domestic animals.

THE HORSE IN SCOTLAND

THE HORSE IN PREHISTORIC AND EARLY
HISTORIC SCOTLAND

Neolithic man in Scotland, however, was acquainted with
the horse, as is clearly shown by the occurrence of charac-
teristic bones in the shell-mound settlement at Ardrossan,
and in the late Neolithic horned or chambered cairns of
Caithness at Ormiegill near Ulbster, Garrywhin near Clythe
and Hill of Bruan, and in the chambered cairn at Loch
Stennis in Orkney.

Fig- 15. Celtic Pony (in rough winter coat)— probably bears close resemblance
to the native pony of Scotland. ^V nat- size-

In later ages, the horse became more and more familiar
to the Scottish races, as is revealed by the frequency with
which its remains appear in contemporaneous deposits. In
Scottish crannogs or lake-dwellings it is rarely found, though
where its remains occur, as at Lochlee near Tarbolton in
Ayrshire, they indicate a "small variety." In the few clearly
defined deposits of the Bronze and Iron Ages in Scotland,
the horse is represented, but by no means universally nor
so frequently as oxen or sheep. Passages have often been

72 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

quoted from Julius Caesar and other Roman historians, to
show that on the arrival of the Romans, the Britons possessed
active horses of great speed and dexterity. Furthermore, that
they had domesticated them in considerable numbers is shown
by the statement that "Cassivelaunus, when he dismissed his
Army, retained four thousand of his Chariots to harass the
Romans when they attempted to forage." The men of
Caledonia were equally well supplied with small active
horses, for Tacitus in his Life of Agricola recounts that at
the Battle of Mons Graupius, somewhere to the north of
the Tay,

the intermediate space between both armies was filled with the charioteers
and cavalry of the Britons, rushing to and fro in wild career, and traversing
the plain with noise and tumult.

That the Romans themselves added races of their own
to the ponies already established in Caledonia, is clearly
demonstrated by Mr James Curie's and Professor Cossar
E wart's researches at the Roman station of Newstead near
Melrose; for

in addition to well-bred ponies under 13 hands at the withers, the auxiliaries
who held the Border fort during the first century had 14 hands horses as
fine in head and limbs as modern high-caste Arabs. In all probability, the
better bred horses, measuring about 14 hands, belonged to the cavalry and
mounted men (about one in four) attached to the infantry regiments, while
the coarse-headed animals of more powerful build (measuring nearly 15
hands) were as a rule used for transport.

In the centuries following the Roman occupation, the
native settlements all tell of the presence of a small domesti-
cated race of horses, the bones of which, with those of other
domestic animals, occur in Romano-British settlements, as
at Borness Cave in Kirkcudbrightshire; in underground
"Picts"' or "Eird" houses, at Kildrummy in Aberdeenshire
and even in the outlying islands as at Nisibost in Harris; in
hill-forts, as at Dunsinane in Perthshire; occasionally in the
"Pictish Towers" or brochs, as at Keiss in Caithness, and
Burray and Sandwick in Orkney; and in shell-mounds and
kitchen-middens of various periods down to the sixteenth
century pre- Reformation accumulations of the monastery and
nunnery of lona.

Examination of the remains and- records of many refuse-
heaps of man shows clearly that the horse never became so
common or so widely distributed as oxen or sheep, and that

THE HORSE IN SCOTLAND 73

amongst the tribes of cave-dwellers who frequented caverns by
the sea, and subsisted mainly upon the shell-fish of the beach,
it was almost unknown. In one of the few caves in which
it has been found — that at Borness in Kirkcudbrightshire
— three horse bones were identified as against 630 bones of
sheep and 1112 of cattle. In interpreting such evidence as
the deposits yield, however, it is well to keep in mind that the
bone heaps as a rule represent the remains of human food,
and that although in early times horse-flesh was commonly
used as food, in later times it was proscribed by Christians
and ceased to be used about the year 1000 of our era.

INFLUENCES WHICH HAVE MODIFIED THE NATIVE RACE

It is unfortunate that little is known of the finer racial
characteristics which the relics of the bone deposits might
have yielded to expert scrutiny. As regards the majority of
the prehistoric and early historic periods the most we can
say is that the horses were invariably small in size, and were
yet strong, hardy and active. Much can be learned, however,
by reading backwards, as it were, from the representatives
of modern breeds, and from their present-day developments
tracing the influences which have played upon them.

In the endeavour to eliminate the results of the later
influence of man upon animals by discovering the modern
races which most nearly approach in character to the original
indigenous forms, it is a safe rule to begin the search in those
.areas most remote from the centres of cultivation and civiliza-
tion. In discussing the sheep and oxen of Scotland we have
seen that the primitive breeds, like the earlier races of
man himself have been gradually ousted from the highly
cultivated lowlands by newcomers, and have been driven to
the strongholds of the mountains and outlying islands. This
rule which governs the distribution of the primitive Highland
cattle and the old Hebridean, Orkney and Shetland sheep,
holds also for horses — the horses which survive at the
present day in the Hebrides and in Shetland offer the nearest
approaches to that native race or races which peopled Scot-
land in days before the arrival of man. To these island races
we appeal in order to discover the minimum effects of man's
influence on modern Scottish breeds.

74 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

THE PONIES OF THE HEBRIDES

A characteristic race of small horses, now approaching
nearer and nearer to extinction, is still to be found in the
outer islands on the west coast. As its characters show, the
race is one of great antiquity; and since the isolation of
the islands is sufficient almost to eliminate chances of any
considerable cross-breeding, we can safely assume that the
bones of a very small horse found in an ancient underground
"Picts"' or "Eird" house at Nisibost in Harris are those of
the earliest known representative of the Hebridean race.
Perhaps from the same ancient line were descended the
horses whose remains were found by Mr Symington Grieve
in the upper strata of the Crystal Spring Cavern in Colonsay,
where they had evidently been used as food, for the bones
of young animals were more plentiful than those of adults.

Early historic references to the horses of the outer isles
are few in number. In 1549, Monro noted that amongst
the western isles there

layes ane little ile, half ane myle lang, callit be the Eriche, Ellannaneache,
that is in English, the Horse isle, guid for horse and uther store, pertaining
to the Bishope of the iles.

Martin Martin, in 1703, said of Lewis that

the Horses are considerably less here than in the opposite continent, yet
they plow and harrow as well as bigger Horses, tho' in the Spring time they
have nothing to feed upon but sea-ware.

Of the St Kilda individuals the same writer says merely
that they are "of a lower size than in the adjacent Isles," a
diminutiveness no doubt due to the severe conditions of their
life on this isolated and storm-swept island. In 1876 the
horses of St Kilda had become extinct, though at that time
middle-aged men could still recall their former presence.
Even in 1764, when Macaulay described them, they were
verging on extinction for, said he, "all the horses of St Kilda
are only ten, including foals and colts, they are of a very
diminutive size, but are extremely well cast, full of fire and
very hardy."

The Hebridean ponies are commonly of a brownish-black
or a foxey-red colour, though there are occasional duns and
greys, and one race, that of Uist, like the ponies of the Faroe
^Islands, is distinguished by a striking silvery mane and tail

THE HORSE IN SCOTLAND

75

(Fig. 1 6). They bear a coat of thick rough hair, are of small
size, only 50 to 54 inches (12-2 to 13-2 hands) high at the
shoulder, and in the old, almost extinct race of Barra, have
fine limbs, and rather large heads with straight profile and flat
nose. In this Hebridean race Professor Ewart considers
that we have "a remnant of a very old and once widely
distributed variety, the origin of which is never likely to be
revealed."

Fig. 16. Hebridean pony — Uist race — a primitive breed approaching
extinction. ^ nat. size.

Yet the Hebridean race, primitive as are many of its
features, has not escaped the later influence of man, for
Mr J. H. Munro Mackenzie, a close student of Highland
ponies, considers that some of its members on Mull, Tiree,
Skye and Uist, and parts of the western mainland,

show a very strong cross of Arab blood, which is believed to have come by
Spanish Armada horses, or Arab chargers brought home by Highland
officers. The ponies have beautiful heads and good shoulders : are good
all over; famous for staying through long journeys under heavy weights
and on poor keep.

Individuals of dun or grey colour generally show most

76 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

trace of Arab blood, and their height at the shoulder ranges
from 54 to 58 inches (13*2 to 14/2 hands); so the results of
the cross are still apparent in size as well as in build.

SHETLAND PONIES

No race of horses stands higher in the affection of the
Scottish people than the " Shelties " or " Shulties " of the
Shetlands (Fig. 17). Their neatness and grace no less than
their gentleness and docility have contributed to this popu-
larity, and to these they add the distinction of long lineage.
Strangely enough, though remains of horses are common
in prehistoric and early historic dwellings in Orkney, relics
of the early horses of Shetland have come to light in only one
excavation — in the kitchen-midden of the " Pictish Tower"
or broch at Jarlshof, Sumburgh, explored in 1911; but these
Professor Ewart regards as sufficient to indicate a pony of
ancient type not more than twelve hands high — the earliest
known representative of the "sheltie." The characteristics of
the early race are indicated in a figure of a small horse sculp-
tured in relief on the early Christian monument of Bressay,
which probably belonged to a period between the ninth and
eleventh centuries. The evidence of these discoveries makes
it tolerably certain that Shetland had its native race of ponies
before the invasions of the Norsemen in the ninth and suc-
ceeding centuries. However closely the prehistoric pony of
the Shetland Isles may have approached in character the
slender-limbed Celtic pony of the Ice Age, it is clear that the
incursions and settlement of the Scandinavians must have
influenced its later history. For with them they brought
their own Norse ponies, small, hardy, stout-limbed, yellow-
dun animals, which, reared under similar stern conditions of
food and climate, would be able to survive in islands which
have proved fatal to most other introduced breeds. So it
came to be that before written history took up the tale of
the shelties, the original race of the "plateau" type already
contained an admixture of Norse blood of the heavier
"forest" type.

The earliest description with which I am acquainted is
that of Jerome Cardan, an Italian doctor, who spent a few
weeks in Scotland in the summer of 1552, and was struck

THE HORSE IN SCOTLAND

77

by the very characters which Shetland ponies still pre-
eminently exhibit — diminutiveness and docility. The islands
of Shetland, he writes, possess " equi exiles et asinis quasi
similer tarn patentia quern magnitudine." One other quota-
tion may be made, because, although written more than
200 years ago, it exactly describes the ponies of the present
day, and shows incidentally how persistently these natives of
the stern kingdom of Shetland have retained the characters
bequeathed them by their " plateau " and "forest" ancestors.

Fig. 17. Shetland Pony. ("Sovereign," Champion, Highland Show, 1914.) ^V nat- size.

In his Brief Description of Orkney, Zetland, Pight land-
Firth and Caithness, published in 1701, the Rev. John
Brand writes in his breathless style of the people of Shetland :

They have a sort of little Horses called Shelties, then which no other
are to be had, if not brought thither, from other places, they are of a less
Size than the Orkney Horses, for some will be but 9 others 10 Nevis or
Handbreadths high, and they will be thought big Horses there if eleven,
and although so small yet are they full of vigour and life, and some not so
high as others often prove to be the strongest, yea there are some, whom
an able man can lift up in his arms, yet will they carry him and a Woman
behind him 8 miles forward and as many back; Summer or Winter they

78 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

never come into an House but run upon the Mountains in some places in
flocks, and if at any time in Winter the storm be so great, that they are
straitened for food, they will come down from the Hills when the Ebb is
in the sea, and eat the Sea- Ware (as likewise do the Sheep).... They will
live till a considerable Age as 26, 28, or 30 Years, and they wijl be good
riding Horses in 24 especially they'll be the more vigorous and live the
longer if they be 4 years old before they be put to Work. These of a black
Colour are Judged to be the most durable, and the Pyeds often prove not
so good; they have been more numerous then now they are, the best of
them are to be had in Sanston and Eston also they are good in Waes and
Yell, these of the least size are in the Northern Isles of Yell and Unst.

The Coldness of the Air, the Barrenness of the Mountains on which
they feed and their hard usage may occasion them to keep so little, for if
bigger Horses be brought into the Countrey, their kind within a little time
will degenerate; And indeed in the present case, we may see the Wisdome
of Providence, for their way being deep and Mossie in Many places, these
lighter Horses come through when the greater and heavier would sink
down: and they leap over ditches very nimbly, yea up and down rugged
Mossy braes or hillocks with heavy riders upon them, which I could not
look upon but with Admiration, yea I have seen them climb up braes upon
their knees, when otherwise they could not get the height overcome, so that
our Horses would be but little if at all serviceable there.

This Lilliputian breed, which still retains the wild habit of
movingin droves, and of which the smallest recorded specimen
was only 26 inches high at the shoulder, while the average
is only 40 inches, is the nearest modern representative of
the small race which in prehistoric days and for long ages
inhabited the mainland of Scotland. Yet the effects of man's
interference are evident in the diversity of its individuals,
for while some are still slender-limbed riding ponies, others
have assumed the thick-set characters of diminutive draught
horses.

Examination of the horses of the mainland will show
how much further the influence of man has gone in modifying
the characters of the original race.

THE HORSES OF THE SCOTTISH MAINLAND

In the opening portion of this account, the nature and
distribution of the horses which inhabited Scotland in pre-
historic and early historic days has already been indicated ;
the present section shall therefore be devoted mainly to an
account of the methods and results of man's influence on the
primitive types. It may be stated in a sentence that the
modes of influence are the ordinary means of the breeder —

THE HORSE IN SCOTLAND 79

the careful selection of the best of his stock, and the inter-
mixture of new blood derived from races possessing qualities
more desirable for the immediate purpose in view; and that
the general result of man's influence has been an increase in
size, and in specialization for particular forms of labour. It
would simplify the intricacies of the history of the mainland
horses if the reader were to keep in mind that the founda-
tion upon which subsequent developments were built was
that race of small, active, strong and hardy horses which
the Romans found yoked to the chariots of the Caledonians
at the battle of Mons Graupius, in the sixth year of Agricola's
conquests in North Britain — the 85th year of the Christian
era.

We have already seen that the researches at the Roman
station at Newstead, conducted by Mr James Curie, led to
the discovery that the Roman legionaries brought with them
horses larger and heavier in build than the native Scottish
race. There is little likelihood, however, that this importa-
tion of what was probably the "bad and ugly " native German
breed known to Caesar, would exert a deep influence upon
Scottish horses, for the Roman occupation was limited in
space and in time.

NORSE INFLUENCE

It was a different matter with the invasions of the
Scandinavian peoples in the ninth and succeeding centuries,
for they formed permanent colonies and amalgamated with
the native races in a way which the Romans never did. One
result of this close contact is apparent in the influence the
Norse peoples exercised upon the Scottish breed of ponies
through their own characteristic horses. The Norse horses
(Equus caballus typicus] were greater in stature than the
Scottish native race, they were heavier in build, were of a
yellow-dun colour and were noted for their intelligence and
tractability. Their heads were short and broad with promi-
nent eyes, their neck and shoulders heavy, their quarters
rounded, their tails low-set, their limbs short, sturdy and large-
jointed, and their hoofs broad. "In neck and shoulders,
trunk and limbs," says Professor Ewart, "the Norse variety
may be said to be intermediate between a true pony and a
small cart-horse of the Suffolk type." To the influence of

80 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

this "dcelehest" or valley horse, as Mr Leonhard Stejneger
calls it, from the interior of Norway, we probably owe the
characteristic horses of the Scottish uplands — the Highland
"Garrons" (Fig. 1 8), which average between 14 and 15 hands
high, and are, according to Professor Robert Wallace,

unequalled hill ponies for staying power at slow speed, sure-footedness,
and for carrying heavy loads of deer or smaller game on rough hillsides
and mountainous places, and bearing the sportsman to the shooting
ground.

"WILD HORSES" IN HISTORIC TIMES

There are several references in early Scottish litera-
ture to the presence of " wild horses " which existed in the
Highlands even to the early part of the seventeenth century.
Boece (1527) says of them (as translated by Bellenden)
" Beside Lochnes, quhilk is xxiv milis of lenth, and xii of
breid, ar mony wild hors," and in another place:

In all the boundis of Scotland, except quhair continewall habitation of
peple makis impediment thairto, is gret plente of.. .wild hors...Thir wild
hors ar not tane but [except by] crafty slicht; for, in time of winter, the
landwart peple puttis certane tame cursouris and maris amang thir wild
hors; and, be thair commixtioun and frequent cumpanie makis thaim so
tame, that thay may be handileit.

The Forest of Birse in Aberdeenshire, also sheltered a herd
of wild horses in 1 507 as the Records of the Sheriffdom of
Aberdeen (vol. I, pp. 106-7) show, and it is known that there
inhabited the hills of Sutherland till after 1545, a herd of
"wild meris, staigs and folis" which was established as
belonging in right to Sutherland of Duffus, when the Bishop
of Moray laid claim to the herd. Again as late as 1618,
Taylor the Water Poet alleges that he saw "wild horses,"
along with "deere, wolves, and such like," in the " Brea of
Marr."

Boece indicates that these "wild horses" were something
different from the ordinary "cursouris" of his time, and it
can be no rash step to assume that they were either native
ponies, or crosses between these and the Norse horses, which
in the unenclosed state of Scotland had, like representatives
of the Park or Fallow Deer (see p. 285), run free and become
established in the wilder districts.

May it not also be that the many Highland traditions
of mythical yellow horses with bristling manes and flowing

THE HORSE IN SCOTLAND 81

tails, and a touch of Satanic elusiveness, are simply vague
memories harking back to the last survivors of the yellow-
dun native and Norse horses of the wilds ? Certainly in
some cases the traditions are localized in areas, such as
the Forest of Birse, or Loch Lundie in Sutherlandshire,
where wild ponies are known to have roamed at will in cen-
turies not long gone.

Fig. 18. Highland Garron — probably moulded by Norse influence. "Braulin,''
Champion, Highland Show, 1908. ^ nat. size.

BREEDING AND INTERBREEDING

While a natural admixture of blood was taking place
between the horses of the Norse invaders and those of the
invaded land, primitive attempts were also being made to
improve the races at hand, by a rough and ready method
of selective breeding. This early system offers one easy ex-
planation of the origin of " wild " herds. The oldest reference
to Scottish horse-breeding of which I am aware, is contained
in the Charter of Kelso whereby, before 1 200 A.D., Gilbert
de Imfraville granted the monks of Kelso a tenth of the
foals bred in his forest, and studs. The horses were bred by

R. 6

82 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

being let loose in the forest, where the foals ran wild for
three years, until they were broken in. The best horses
were selected and kept apart in the parks about the Baron's
castle. Can there be any doubt that this system of forest-
run horses — the silvestres equi possessed by the Kings as
well as by their Barons — gave rise to the "wild horses" of
later centuries ?

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the selective
breeding of horses in Scotland became more general, but
with one main end in view, the building up of a race fitted
for carrying a horseman and the accoutrements and impedi-
ments of war. There is yet no trace of the development of
a heavy agricultural breed, for still " the slow team 6f steers
reluctant " pressed the yoke and the horse was reserved for
the lighter toils of carrying the fruits of the harvest to mill
or market. There was nevertheless considerable store of
horses in the country, for every burgess had to keep in
stable, ready for the public service, a horse worth 20 shillings ;
and the export to England so increased that in 1396, King
David Bruce felt compelled to put a heavy tax — one sixth
of the value — upon each horse exported, lest the country
should become impoverished of an essential adjunct of
war. Similar and more stern restrictions on export were
passed periodically by Parliament during the succeeding
centuries.

Already in the fourteenth century, the persistent selection
for war-horses had resulted in the differentiation of two
breeds, for at the battle of Halidon Hill in the reign of
King Robert Bruce, Froissart, who was present and describes
the whole Scottish army of 3000 men as mounted on horse-
back, mentions that the knights and squires rode coursers
but the peasants small horses. Yet, more than a hundred
years later, Aeneas Silvius, the Pope's Nuncio, describes
our horses as mostly small-sized pacers, that were never
dressed by brush nor comb.

In the beginning of the fifteenth century, there was
inaugurated a new policy — of improving the old breed by
the infusion of new blood of good quality from abroad.
From this time on, two distinct and divergent tendencies
are observable in the policies of the Kings : one towards
improving the quality of horses as regards speed, the other

THE HORSE IN SCOTLAND 83

towards increasing their size. Probably with the former end
in view, James II (1437-1460) brought mares from Hun-
gary, as Bellenden puts it, to "mend the breed," while his
successor, James III (1460-1488), aiming at size, imported
the "Great" or "War" Horses of England, which Sir Walter
Gilbey regarded as the forerunners of the modern Shire.
James IV (1488-1513), favouring the swift and lightly
built horses of the hunt and race-course, brought to Scotland
the best of the horses of Spain and France, as well as heavier
horses from Poland; whereas James V (1513-1542) "seeing
the Realm standing in much Peace and Tranquillity," as
Lindsay of Pittscottie relates :

rejoiced at the same thinking daily that all Things should increase more
and more: To that Effect gart send to Denmark, and bring more great
Horse and Mares, and put them in Parks, that, of their offspring, might be
gotten to sustain. Wars in Time of Need.

James also applied to Gustavus of Sweden for heavy horses,
and in the "Black Acts" of 1535, enjoined that "in order to
raise the size of the native breed in Scotland all manner of
persons should plenish their studs with stud mares and great
stallions."

So, on the whim of a ruler, the pendulum swings from,
one might almost say, quality to quantity and back again:
at one time Henry VIII of England sends Scotland "small
but well-proportioned " Spanish Jennets and African Barbs;
at another time the Magnus Equus or Dextrarius — the
English Great Horse or War Horse — becomes the type
to mould the race.

So the work of selecting and interbreeding and improving
has gone on from the sixteenth century, gradually raising
the quality as well as the stature jof the heavy breeds till it
has reached its climax in the evolution of the Clydesdale.

A MODERN SCOTTISH BREED— THE CLYDESDALE

The Clydesdale of to-day stands as an example of the
power of man's influence over the characteristics of the horse.
Compare it with the prehistoric ponies of Scotland which
probably formed the basis of its evolution : they stood little
over 48 inches high at the shoulder, the Clydesdale stands
64 inches and sometimes exceeds 68 ; their build was fine and

6—2

84

THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

light, the Clydesdale's is heavy and expresses the concentra-
tion of power; their strength in dragging the light chariots of
the Caledonian warriors was accounted marvellous for their
size, the Clydesdale can haul the heavily laden waggons
of the farmer with an easy vigour; their nature was' wild, the
temper of the Clydesdale should be docile and mild.

From a minute examination of their external charac-
teristics, as well as of the less patent features of the skeleton,
modern investigators have come to the conclusion that the

Fig. 19. Clydesdale mare— a modern product of selective breeding. " Dunure Chosen,"
Champion, Highland Show, 1914. ^V nat. size.

heavy breeds have inherited their qualities from several
widely different original stocks;- from the original "plateau"
or moorland type, which inhabited Britain in interglacial
times — short of stature and fine of limb, with small fine head,
narrow and almost straight in profile ; from a " forest " type,
large and coarsely built, with short broad face — a prehistoric
dweller in the forest-land of Central Europe; and from a
long-faced, long-limbed, "steppe" type, which in preglacial
times lived in the upland valleys of the East.

However this may be, the influence of man is singularly

THE HORSE IN SCOTLAND 85

manifest in the history of Scottish horse-breeding, selecting
here and rejecting there, bringing now one race, then an-
other from across the seas to " mend the breed," till inch
after inch up to a cubit is added to the stature, and the first
clear step made by the incoming of the Norse pony is
capped by the importation of the great black Flemish
stallion of Lochlyoch which about 1750 founded the race of
Clydesdales.

II. 4 m
SOME LESSER DOMESTICATED ANIMALS

OF the lesser animals which have shared man's protection
in return for services demanded of them, some have fallen
under his influence to a much greater extent than others, but
there are few which do not exhibit in some character or
other, the effect of his control. It is possible to discuss here
only those which have been brought into closest touch with
the civilization of Scotland.

THE DOG

Mastiff, greyhound, mongrel grim,
Hound or spaniel, brach or lym,
Or bobtail tyke or trundle-tail.

Whatever their characters be, dogs one and all owe their
parentage to wild species of the races of Wolves and Jackals.
Their origin is lost in the haze of ages ; some 3000 to 4000
years B.C., the Egyptians had their distinct breeds, and
the Lake-dwellers of the Swiss valleys possessed a domesti-
cated form of the Indian wolf. The chances are, therefore,
that the Neolithic immigrants to Scotland brought with them
dogs already domesticated; but the difficulty of distinguish-
ing between the bones of the early wolf-like dog and the wolf
itself, tends to obscure such information as might be gleaned
from the prehistoric deposits of Scotland. I have already
shown that the first comers to Scotland possessed no do-
mestic animals, but bones attributed to early dogs have been
found in river gravel near Currie in Midlothian, and buried
in peat on Morbhaich Moor near Tain in Ross-shire. It is
highly probable, moreover, that the dog was familiar to the
people of the late Neolithic period in Scotland — some 2000

SOME LESSER DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 87

years before our era — for in 1870 Dr Joseph Anderson re-
cognized the bones of dogs, along with those of other domes-
ticated animals, in the horned cairns of Ormiegill and Garry-
whin in Caithness; and in 1885, a skilled anatomist, Dr J.
G. Garson, of the Royal College of Surgeons of England,
identified remains of the dog from the chambered cairn near
Loch Stennis in Orkney.

In later days the dog became more common. It occurs
in the Roman deposits at Newstead; the early Christians
carved its figure upon their symbol stones ; in a few under-
ground " Picts' " or " Eird " houses its remains have been
found— jaws of dogs at Kildrummy in Aberdeenshire, and
bones at Nisibost in Harris ; shell-mounds and kitchen-
middens of various ages contain its bones, at Kirkoswald in
Ayrshire and near Seacliff in East Lothian, where several
dogs " of a large size" were represented, even to the six-
teenth century refuse-heap in the cloisters of the Nunnery
at lona, which revealed the presence of a small dog, probably
a pet of the inmates. The caves and rock shelters tell of
the presence of the dog, not only by actual remains as at
St Cyrus, at Oban, at St Ninian's Cave in Wigtownshire, and
in the rock-shelter at West Kilbride, where Prof. Clellancl
identified bones as belonging to an individual as large
as a shepherd's dog of to-day, but also, as at the Wemyss
Caves of Fife, by the abundant traces of tooth-marks and
chewed ends of bones of food animals, which leave no doubt
that a carnivore was constantly present on the rubbish heap
of the settlement. In the brochs, covering a period almost
to the ninth century, the dog is by no means common, though
it has been found in Sutherland (Cinn Trolla), Caithness
(Kettleburn and Keiss) and Orkney, but an interesting
feature of the broch remains revealed both at Keiss and
Kettleburn, is that two breeds of dogs were in the pos-
session of the inhabitants, some bones indicating "a large
species, larger than a pointer, others being of smaller dogs."

Even if it be admitted that the dog reached Scotland a
domesticated animal, it seems nevertheless true that the
Scottish peoples paid much attention to and exercised con-
siderable influence on its development, a fact to be correlated
with another, that, as Boece tells, "the Scottis...set their"
ingine [ingenuity] to precell [excel] all uthir pepill in the

88 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

craft of hunting." Laws were made regulating the breeding
of hunting dogs, and watch-dogs were held in such esteem
that an Act of David I (1124-1153 A.D.) demanded that a
man who slew another man's house-dog should watch on
his midden a year and a day, and should be responsible for
any loss during that time.

The result of such attention was that at an early date,
according to the ancient writers, Scotland came to possess
dogs peculiarly her own. " Bloodhounds were known in
England at least as early as 1570," wrote Mr R. Lydekker,
but many years earlier the "sleuth " was a familiar Scottish
dog. It is impossible to deal here with the many influences
of selection and cross-breeding brought to bear in the crea-
tion of new races. It will be enough to indicate the main
results of the earlier Scottish influence as recounted by
Hector Boece in 1527.

In Scotland ar doggis of mervellus nature: for abone the commoun
nature and conditioun of doggis, quhilkis^ar sene in all partis, ar thre
maner of doggis in Scotland, quhilk ar sene in na uthir parts of the warld.
The first is ane hound, baith wicht, hardy and swift. Thir houndis ar
nocht allanerlie feirs and cruell on all wild beistis, bot on thevis and
ennimes to thair maister, on the same maner. The secound kind is ane
rache, that sekis thair pray, baith of fowlis, beistis and fische, be sent and
smell of thair neis. The thrid kind is na mair [larger] than ony rache; reid
hewit, or ellis blak, with small spraingis of spottis: and ar callit be the peple
sleuthoundis. Thir doggis hes sa mervellus wit, that thay serche thevis
and followis on thaim allanerlie be sent of the guddis that ar tane away;
and nocht allanerlie findis the theif, bot invadis him with gret crueltie,
and thoucht the thevis oftimes cors the watter, quhair thay pas, to caus the
hound to tine the sent of thaim and the guddis, yit he serchis heir and
thair with sic deligence, that, be his fut, he findis baith the trace of the
theif and the guddis. The mervellus nature of thir houndis wil have na
faith with uncouth peple; howbeit the samin ar richt frequent and rife on
the bordouris of Ingland and Scotland. Attour it is statute, be the lawis of
the Bordouris, he that denyis entres to the sleuthound, in time of chace
and serching of guddis, sal be haldin participant with the crime and thift
committit.

Bishop Leslie (1578) adds further details regarding the
first — clearly an early deerhound — that it is "gretter than
ane tuelfmoneth [twelvemonth] aide calfe ; and this sorte
commonlie huntis the gretter beistes, as ye sail sie, athir
the harte or the wolfe." Leslie also describes several other
Scottish races of "senting dogs" and "slwthhundes," and
concludes, "Of the varietie of Messen dogs, wc quhilkes

SOME LESSER DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 89

gentle women vses to recreate thamselfes, althoch be mony
and infinite, I will nocht heir make mentione."

These quotations are sufficient to show that Scotland
took its share in that marvellous juggling with the endow-
ments of nature which, from two or three wild species, of
similar shape and character, equally ferocious, bloodthirsty
and deceitful, has created the docility, gentleness and faith-
fulness of the deerhound and the " toy," dogs that bark
and silent dogs, dogs that rely upon their sight and dogs
that, as Boece quaintly says, rely upon the "sent and
smell of their neis [nose]," dogs whose ears are their chief
guide, dogs that point the game and dogs that retrieve it,
dogs that depend on length of limb and dogs that depend on
strength of jaw, dogs for the fray and dogs for the home.

THE WILD BOAR TURNED SWINE

" Swine, though never esteemed for their Beauty, in their
Nature rather disagreeable," nevertheless possess a special
interest, since there can be little doubt that they belong to
the limited number of domesticated animals which were led
from the forest to the fold within the bounds of Scotland.
And Scotland can show, better than most countries, the steps
of that sorry progress.

Th'e Wild Boar (Sus scrofa] (Fig. 20, p. 91), common in
the great forest areas of Europe, especially in the woods of
the Vosges, as well as in Asia and North Africa, was at one
time also a common denizen of the forests of Britain. Its
remains have been found in peat at Balgone in Haddington-
shire, as well as in the marl mosses ; and numerous tusks,
found amongst the food refuse of the prehistoric peoples
of Scotland, tell of the far-off times when

The sad barbarian, roving, mixed

With beasts of prey, or for his acorn meal

Fought the fierce tusky boar.

At each period of early Scottish development, it is re-
presented. The frequent occurrence of its bones in the
Neolithic chambered and horned cairns of Caithness and
Orkney ; in cave deposits, as at Colonsay, where its
gradual extinction can be traced; in kitchen-middens and
shell-mounds; in crannogs or lake-dwellings, as at Lochlee

90 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

in Ayrshire, Black Loch in Wigtownshire, and the Loch of
Forfar ; in the Roman station at Newstead ; and in the
brochs of Orkney and Caithness — these show that it was
a common article of food even to about the ninth century of
our era. There are many references in tradition and in
place-names to the presence of the wild boar in Scotland:
"Swinton" and the neighbouring "Swinwood" in Berwick-
shire, clearly hint at a time when the district was overrun by
its herds. The town of St Andrews stands upon the "Cape
of Boars " — Muckross ; the village of Boarhills lies a few
miles along the coast to the south-east, and in the Boar's
Chase in the neighbourhood, a district eight miles wide by
about four in breadth, the Kings of Scotland made sport of
the ancestors of the domestic pig. History tells us too, how,
in the twelfth century, King Alexander I " dotat [presented]
the Bairrink, because ane bair [Scots for boar~\ that did gret
injurie to the pepyle was slain in the said field," or as Wyn-
toun puts the story of Bellenden :

That land thai oysyd all
The Barys rayk all tyme to call,
Wes gyvyn on that condytyowne
To found there a relygyowne.

Not many years passed before the persecution of the
boar by royal and less noble hunters led to its gradual dis-
appearance. The accounts of the Sheriff of Forfar for the
year 1263 bear witness to a charge made in that year, for
4^ chalders of corn for the support of wild boars, porci sil-
vestres" which are grouped with the King's horses and dogs
— an indication that life was less easy than formerly for the
wild boars in the forests of Strathmore.

From this fine creature of the primeval forest,

That cruell boare, whose tusks turned up whole fields of graine
And wrooting, raised hills upon the levell plaine,

man in his wisdom has bred the common swine. When the
transformation was wrought in Scotland I have been unable
to determine, for there is little to distinguish the odd bones
of the early domestic pig from those of its wild ancestor, but
the process must have been a gradual one. I believe, how-
ever, that this very indistinctness of the early remains, and
the ease with which the wild boar can be domesticated — for
if wild pigs be taken young from their mothers they become

SOME LESSER DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 91

92 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

nearly as domesticated as the hereditary domestics — together
with the presence of a primitive breed of pigs in the Western
Highlands and Islands, give good grounds for supposing
that the prehistoric peoples of Scotland domesticated their
own pigs.

DOMESTICATED PIGS IN SCOTLAND

It is clear that at whatever early age the domestication
of the pig took place in Scotland, for many centuries its
herds were allowed to roam at large, picking up what food
the forest yielded in the autumn, and encouraged to glean
probably not too precarious a living by performing the work
of scavengers in the towns and villages. Their enthusiasm
in this latter labour made them in the end such a nuisance
that the Assize of Haddington felt compelled, on the i2th
of July 1530, to check their activities, for under that date

The Sys [Assize] ordains that the hangman sail escheit to hymself all
swyne doggs and catts at he fyndis one [on] the gait [street] fra this nycht
furcht [forward].

And this statute not having the desired effect of clearing off
the roving herds, the Council further ordained : " Penult of
Octr. 1543 — Item all muk to be put off the Gait and all
swyne to be put off the Towne." The estimation in which
the pig was held, and its domesticated quality about this
time, may be judged from the then Food Controller's price,
fixed in 1551, when young swine ("gryse") were valued at
i8d. each, less than the price of a couple of capons (is. each)
and little more than the price of a goose (is. 4^.).

The ancient " Leges Forestarum," generally attributed
to the reign of William the Lion (1165-1214 A.D.), but
perhaps of somewhat later date, give evidence of the roving
nature of the early herds of swine ; for while they provided
that proclamation should be made in the parish kirk that
swine as a rule were prohibited from entering the forest,
they summoned burghers and husbandmen to bring their
herds in the autumn to where oaks abounded, so that the
king might benefit from the pannagium, a payment in kind
due for pasturage on the feasts of acorns — the Crown
claiming the best of ten swine and the forester a hog.

What became of these wild, roving, worthless Scottish

SOME LESSER DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 93

pigs? In the Highlands and Islands of Scotland there
existed till after the middle of the nineteenth century a race
of pigs of primitive character (Fig. 20, p. 91). They are
generally spoken of as domesticated pigs which had run wild,
and under natural conditions had reverted towards the type
of the wild boar. But there is no definite evidence that they
were ever anything better than they became, and I prefer to
regard them as survivors of the early stages of domestication,
which, like the primitive breeds of Sheep, Oxen and Horses,
had been driven by the advances of civilization to the refuges
of the outlying parts of our island. In many ways they re-
sembled the wild hogs from which they sprang, and in this
their interest lies, for they are a stepping-stone between the
Wild Boar and the Common Pig.

Look at their characteristics as Prof. D. Low found them
in 1845. Like their wild ancestors they had erect ears, an
arched back with coarse bristles along neck and spine, and
they were of dusky brown colour. They retained many
wild habits, foraged for themselves on heath-clad hills or
moors, grubbing up the roots of plants with their strong-
snouts, devouring, when they could find them, eggs and
young of hill-birds, such as Plovers and Grouse, and even
defenceless new-born lambs. Like the wild boars of north-
eastern France to-day, they were the plague of the cultivated
lands, now raiding potato-fields, now destroying corn crops.
Lastly, they resembled wild pigs in their general build,
having the small bodies and long legs of creatures whose food
and safety depend upon their activity.

Similar primitive pigs existed also up to the latter half of
last century in Shetland and in Orkney, where the small huts
which used to afford them shelter on the moors may still be
seen. It is interesting to recall that the hair of the Orkney
pig was so long that the men of Hoy, as Rev. Geo. Low
tells (i 774), preferred it for making the ropes on which they
risked their lives collecting birds' eggs on the cliffs; for the
elasticity of the swines' hair rope hindered it from cutting
on sharp rock edges, though this advantage was somewhat
counterbalanced by a proneness on the part of the rope to
untwist, to the destruction of its human burden.

Yet domestication had its influence even on this primi-
tive breed : the simple pigs of the Highlands and Islands

94 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

fed by day instead of keeping to the hours of twilight and
night preferred by their wild ancestors; they were more
sociable, too, for the male kept with the herd instead of
retiring periodically to his solitary lair, as the wild boar does;
and though the Highland pigs were wilder and more active
than Lowland breeds, they never had the ferocity, the
strength, nor the swiftness of the wild animals, which can
keep pace for a time with a horse at speed.

Nevertheless it is a far cry from the primitive Highland
race to the modern improved breeds of to-day (Fig. 21).

Fig. 21. Finished product of domestication — Large White Boar, "King of the Groves,"
Champion, Highland Show, 1912.

By reducing his domesticated pigs' activity, by supplying
food far more abundant than the wilds yield, by selecting
such as fell in with his views of what a pig ought to be,
and by cross-breeding the descendants of the European
Wild Hog with the Chinese breed of the Wild Indian Pig,
Sus indica, man has profoundly modified their appearance
and habits. Their bodies have increased in length as well
as in depth, their legs have shortened and become more
spread to bear the heavy bulk ; their ears, no longer given
to catching the first whisper of danger, have flapped uselessly
across the ear-opening ; their noses, no longer required for

SOME LESSER DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 95

strenuous grubbing, have sunk backwards upon their faces as
the face muscles have degenerated ; the skull has changed
profoundly; the tusks of the male, no longer tested in savage
duels, have dwindled ; and the food canal, exercised by over-
much food, has lengthened. Even habits have changed : the
domestic pig feeds by day, the male no longer seeks solace
in seclusion, the female bears more young at a birth and
bears them more frequently, the descendants of the hard-
living boar of the forest have become the types of gluttony.

THE PIGEON

The dow

Heich in the lift full glaide he gan behald,
And with hir wingis sorand mony fald.

GAWAIXE DOUGLAS.

Amongst domesticated birds none other has taken so dis-
tinctive a place in Scottish life as the pigeon. To Charles
Darwin we owe a clear demonstration of the fact that
the innumerable and extraordinary varieties of modern
domesticated pigeons owe their origin one and all to the
Rock Dove (Columba livia] (Fig. 22, p. 96). With this
great variety of form due to man's influence I do not
propose to deal, the curious reader will find it described
and discussed in full in Darwin's Plants and Animals iinder
Domestication. Here, confining myself to the Scottish aspect
of the subject, I shall endeavour to show that in Scotland the
wild Rock Dove was domesticated, and shall give some
account of the significance of the early domesticated race.

The Rock Dove was at one time a common dweller on
the sea-coast of Scotland, and although constant slaughter
has reduced it in some areas almost to extinction, it is still
to be found from St Abbs' Head to the Orkneys and Shet-
land, in the Hebrides and on the West coast, in places
where exist caves suitable for its tenancy. In these deep
caverns, the "doo-caves" familiar to many a district, the
Rock Doves congregate in flocks, roosting on the ledges
within, and there also building their slight nests during the
long breeding season from March to September. From the
caves they issue during the daytime to feed upon the farmer's

96 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

grain or to render him good service by destroying grubs and
the seeds of weeds.

Among pigeons, the Rock Dove is distinguished by the
fine bluish-grey tints of the upper parts of its body, which
shade into a pearl-grey spreading from the under surface
to the tail feathers, tipped with leaden grey. The throat
glistens with metallic purple and green; but the most strik-
ing and distinctive markings are the white rump and two
black bars across each wing. The birds are rather less than

Rock Dove — ancestor of Scottish dove-cot "doos." $ nat. size.

a foot in length, almost a third smaller than the familiar
Wood Pigeon. Those who have no opportunity of seeing
the true Rock Dove in its native haunts can form an ex-
cellent idea of its colouring and characteristics from many
of the half-wild pigeons of our larger towns ; for the inter-
breeding of domestic pigeons run wild, frequently results
in a "throw-back" to the original type. Such blue-grey
reversions to the Rock Dove type can be seen any day
in the streets of Edinburgh.

There are many reasons for supposing that successful

I

SOME LESSER DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 97

efforts were made, and that at a very early date, to bring
the Rock Dove under the influence of man in Scotland.
These early efforts resulted in the formation of a primitive
domesticated race — the pigeon of the "doo-cots" — which
with little variation is found in almost all the maritime
countries of the Old World. The steps by which the Rock
Dove became the dovecot pigeon of Scotland were of the
simplest nature and show how close was the relationship
between the two:

It is probable that at first Rock Doves themselves were
killed in quantity for food, but that indiscriminate slaughter
threatened the birds with extinction, as in recent times in
Fair Isle, and that wise men, observing the danger of rough
and ready methods, resolved to encourage the multiplication
of this useful bird. So in the very caves frequented by the
Rock Doves, pigeon-holes were built and the original "doo-
cave " became a primitive pigeon-house accommodating
increased numbers of breeding birds. Of seven caves in
the parish of Wemyss in Fife, hollowed by a former sea in
rocks now far above high water mark, four "were long ago
fitted up for pigeon houses." The Rock Doves which in-
habited these had taken a first step towards domestication.

Man led them to a second step by the erection of
independent pigeon-houses after his own design. It is
impossible to trace the actual sequence of the erection of
pigeon-houses, which, in all their differences of shape, and
with all their conveniences of entrance and of innumerable
nesting holes, still retain the hollow darkness of the ocean
caverns. Nevertheless it is highly probable that the first
pigeon-houses were erected along the coast near the "doo-
caves," like those which crest the cliffs in the neighbour^
hood of the famous pigeon-caves of St Abbs or that which
faces the "doo-caves" of Wemyss. As the pigeons became
more and more accustomed to their artificial homes, became
indeed distinctive "doo-cot" pigeons, the pigeon-houses
would gradually extend along the coast to areas uninhabited
by wild Rock Doves, and farther and farther inland. So
many districts even far from the sea possessed one or more
of these curious structures. Yet the coastal origin of the
Scottish pigeon-house, and by implication, the coastal origin
of its first tenants, are still indicated by the distribution of the

98 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

"doo-cots": for while they are thickly scattered in coast-
wise parishes and counties — Fife alone 'possessed 360, with
36,000 pairs of breeding birds — they diminish in numbers
with increasing distance from the sea, until in the Highlands
they are exceedingly rare.

If evidence other than the history of the dovecots them-
selves were required to show that the Scottish dovecot-
pigeon owes its ancestry to the Rock Dove, it is suggested
by the fact that Rock Doves are easily tamed. Professor
Macgillivray of Aberdeen has recorded that he completely
tamed a Rock Dove in the Hebrides; Darwin relates that
there are several records of those pigeons having bred
in dovecots in the Shetland Islands, and that for more than
twenty years Colonel King of Hythe kept in his dovecot
the progeny of young wild birds taken in the Orkney Islands.

The dovecot pigeons themselves give good evidence of
their ancestry, for they bear close resemblance to the wild
species, and although they vary in the darkness of their
plumage and in the size and thickness of their bill, they do
so little more than Colonel King's Rock Doves did after
twenty years of dovecot life. Further, although many of
them have chequered wings due to the presence of large
dark spots on the sides of each feather, in this respect they
exactly resemble a chequered variety of the Rock Dove
which occurs in Orkney and Islay.

In view of the interest of this primitive domesticated
pigeon, I may be permitted to give a short account of its
significance in Scotland, based mainly upon a paper by
Mr Bruce Campbell in the Transactions of the Edinburgh
Field Naturalists' Society.

When the Rock Dove first became a "Doo-cot" Pigeon
it is impossible to say, but by the fifteenth century the
pigeon-house was valuable enough to be reckoned along with
"cunningares" or rabbit-warrens, as deserving the protection
of the law. So it was ordained in 1424 that breakers of

mennes Orchardes, steallers of frute, destroyers of Cunningaires and Dow-
cattes...sall paie fourtie shillings to the King for the unlaw and assyith
[indemnify] the partie skaithed [harmed].

But if the breaking of the doo-cot was one sin the taking of
"ony foules of utheris Dowcattes" was another, and was
"to be punished as thieft" (1474).

SOME LESSER DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 99

As doo-cots became more common and the "breakings
of Dowcattes" increased, the fine was raised in 1503 so that
the unlaw thereof be ten pound, to-gidder with ane amendis to the partie,
according to the skaith. And gif bny Children, within age, commit ony of
thir things foresaid, [for children then were as they are now, the] Fathers or
Maisters sail pay... or else deliver the said Child to the Judge, to be leisched,
scourged, or dung, according to the fault.

Fig. 23. Ancient Pigeon-House or " Doo-cot" near Leadburn, Midlothian.

To the ordinary mind these penalties would seem sufficient
to deter any potential "doweatte breaker," but that they did
not supply sufficient restraint subsequent legislation clearly
shows. In 1567 shooting "dows" with gun or bow was
forbidden under pain of forfeiture of moveables, or for the
first fault 40 days imprisonment, and for the second loss of
the right hand; and the climax of severity was reached,
when in 1579, James VI ordained that, in addition to paying

7—2

ioo THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

"the avail of the skaith done," the offender was to pay for
the first fault "ten punds," for the second "twentie punds,"
for the third fault "fourtie punds" and

in case the offendours be not responsall in guddes...he sail' for the first
fault be put in the stokkes, prison, or irones auct [eight] dayes, on bread
and water: And for the second fault, fifteene dayes... and for the third fault
hanging to the death.

These Acts, some of which were repealed only in 1906,
clearly imply that proprietary right in the dovecot pigeon
was becoming more definitely recognized, and that the
keeping of pigeons was becoming more and more common :
that indeed the domesticated status of the pigeon of the
dovecot was rising. So rapidly did dovecots increase in
number, and so grievous was the destruction of grain caused
by their inhabitants — the 36,000 pairs of breeders in the
360 dovecots of Fife are said to have consumed 3000 to
4000 bolls of wheat a year — that in 1617 the law put a check
upon their erection, ordaining that only one dovecot should
be allowed to each estate of the yearly rental of ten chalders,
a chalder being equivalent to almost eight Imperial quarters.

The heydey of the dovecot is long gone by, for farmers
found that their wheat was of more value than many pigeons
(in Roxburgh in 1813 the birds could be bought for from
is. 6d. to 2s. 6s. a dozen), and this together with the trans-
forming of much arable land to pasture, and the decrease in
the acreage of pease, emptied many a dovecot of its tenants.
So it came to he that most of the pigeon-houses fell to ruins,
and while in some counties a few remain to hint at a time
when the primitive domesticated race of pigeons swarmed
in the land from Dumfries to Caithness, in others even
the place where they stood is forgotten — how many Aber-
donians of to-day are aware that for more than two centuries
the ground now occupied by Union Terrace was spoken of
only as the "Dove Cott Brae ?"

Although in England there have been evolved charac-
teristic races of such divergent breeds as Pouters, Carriers,
and Tumblers, I am not aware that Scotland has given rise
to any breed other than her own simple "doos."

SOME LESSER DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 101

THE BARNYARD FOWL

Though clock,
To tell when night draws hence, I've none,

A cock
I have, to sing how day draws on;

A hen
I keep, which, creeking day by day,

Tells when
She goes her long white egg to lay.

HERRICK.

At what early period of their civilization the people of
Scotland added the fowl to their domestic wealth is unknown,

Fig. 24. Scottish breeds of poultry — Scots Greys (to right), and Scottish Dumpies
(to left). About TV nat. size.

although it was found in Britain by Julius Caesar in 55 B.C.
In any case as the varieties of the barnyard fowl have arisen
from the Red Jungle Fowl (Gallus bankiva] of India and
south-eastern Asia, and as it was there domesticated more
than a thousand years before our era, there would be little
need to mention it in connection with Scotland, were it not
that in our land the influence of man has created two peculiar
local races.

The least distinctive of these — the Scots Grey (Fig. 24) —
is a bird with upright and graceful carriage, moderately long

102 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

legs, and plumage finely barred in black and white like that
of a Barred Rock. The shape of the bird and its sprightly
bearing suggest something of the style of English Game.
The Scots Grey has been called the Scottish "Dorking,"
but its appearance suggests rather that it may 'correspond
to an early stage in the evolution of such a breed as the
Dorking. It may indeed be a developed representative of
the early progenitors of the Dorking breed (itself perfected
in our Islands), a surviving link with the undeveloped
poultry of the good old days, which sold at ^d. each (as at
Braemar in i 567). The carriage of the Scots Grey is that of
the Jungle Fowl, but how great a change has transformed
the reds and golden yellows of the wild bird into the sober
chequer of the domesticated stock.

Even greater divergences from the wild stock mark the
second distinctive Scots breed — the Scottish Dumpie(Fig. 24)
— in which the plumage is also of a sombre grey due to fine
alternating bars of darker and lighter colour, but in which
the agile pose and graceful build of the Jungle Fowl have
been entirely lost in a maximum of clumsiness and awkward
bulk. For it is distinctive of Scottish Dumpies that their
bodies are large, deep and remarkably long, and that this
great bulk is carried on shanks of extreme shortness, rarely
exceeding an inch and a half in length. Domestication has
led to an extraordinary increase in productiveness, for
the egg-laying of even the poorest breeds is a marvellous
tribute to the selective influence of man, when contrasted
with the limited clutches of seven to twelve eggs laid once
a year by the ancestral Jungle Fowl. Comparison of the
wild Jungle Fowl of eastern Asia with a typical Scottish
Dumpie shows the surprising power which man has wielded
over size and structure in perfecting the domesticated fowl.
As great change he has wrought in colouring of plumage
also. It must not be inferred, however, that this comparison
implies that the changes were all wrought in Scotland. This
is not so, since in Scotland the Dumpie and the Scots Grey
as well, were evolved, not directly from their original wild
ancestor, but through the intermediary of some domesticated
race imported from the East.

SOME LESSER DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 103

THE DOMESTICATED GOOSE

Far abune the Angus straths I saw the wild geese flee,

A lang, lang skein o' beatin' wings, wi' their heids towards the sea,

And aye their cryin' voices trailed ahint them on the air.

VIOLET JACOB.

From these very Wild Geese that in former ages fre-
quented Scotland in "innumerable droves" the Scottish
peoples have created that gabbling brood, the "grave, un-

Fig. 25. Grey Lag Geese — a wild species domesticated in Scotland.
Illustration from Solway specimens. TV nat. size.

wieldy inmates of the village pond." And how little the
change has meant in transformation of shape or habits ; for
of all his domesticated stock, geese have perhaps most re-
sisted the selective influence of man.

Like the dovecot pigeon, the goose has been domesti-
cated in many countries, but there is general agreement that
our ordinary breeds of domesticated geese are descendants
of the wild Grey Lag Goose (Anser anser) (Fig. 25) which is
common in northern Europe and Asia, though in the former
continent its numbers are now much reduced. In Europe the

104 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

summer haunts of the Grey Lag are mainly confined to the
north_from northern Scotland to Iceland, Scandinavia and
Russia— but in winter it descends to warmer regions on the
western and southern coasts of the continent. It is the
largest of our wild geese, a fine bird with a general grey
and brown plumage on the upper surfaces, shading backwards
into ashy grey and into creamy white on the under parts.

Several facts suggest that the Grey Lag was domesti-
cated in Scotland. In the first place it is a frequent winter
visitor to Scotland, generally arriving from its northern
breeding haunts in September and November, and remaining
with us over the colder months. More important, it still
breeds here, in Ross-shire, Sutherland, Caithness and in the
Outer Hebrides, and it is moreover the only kind of wild
goose which nests in Scotland. Even so, it was at one time
much more common both as a resident species and as a visitor
than it is to-day. So we gather at any rate from its relative
price as established in a controlled food list of 1551, where
the value of a "wild guse of the great bind" — a Grey Lag —
is fixed at 2s., while i8</. is the value set upon the smaller
kinds, "claik, quink and rute" — the Barnacle Goose, the
Golden Eye Duck and the Brent Goose. Besides, even so
late as the latter half of the eighteenth century it was still
breeding in the fens of England.

In the second place, the Grey Lag is easily tamed, so
that its suggested domestication in Scotland need imply no
special skill on the part of its domesticators. The Lap-
landers regularly tame the wild Grey Lag; and there are
several instances of individuals captured young or hatched
from eggs having become half-domesticated in various parts
of Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland. In the last named
country there is a numerous colony of semi-domesticated
Grey Lag Geese which has been in existence since about
1700 at Castle Coole, near Enniskillen, and only in this con-
dition does the species breed in Ireland. In Scotland well-
known flocks were established in 1 886 in South Harris, and in
1888 at Blair Drummond. The birds paired and nested and
hatched their broods year in, year out, in perfect contentment.
In fact our wild geese show a particular aptitude for losing
their wild identity even with slight encouragement, and I
have seen a Pink-footed Goose, which had been found injured

SOME LESSER DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 105

and had been cared for, moving and feeding contentedly with
a flock of farm ducks.

In the last place there is historic evidence that in the
sixteenth century (and how much earlier no one can tell)
the people of Scotland did actually tame and domesticate
some kind of wild goose. I quote from Father Dalrymple's
translation of Bishop Leslie's Historic (1578), this very in-
teresting passage indicating the abundance of the wild birds
and the method adopted for taming them.

In fauour of the reidar, I thocht gude, heir of the geis to speik a few
wordes, for thair meruellous multitude in our cuntries, cheiflie in the west
yles and lykwyse for the raritie and fewtie or scant of sum of thame in
vthiris cuntries.

Excepte the Solande geise, of quhilkes afor we haue maid mentione,
how thay ar bredd at hame; with vs vthir sax kyndes of geis ar funde,
quhilkes only in thrie things ar fund to differ, to wit, in the sownde of thair
voce, in gretnes of thair bodye, and taist of thair fleshe, quhilkes al ar seine
in innumerable draues to flie to thir farthest lies, in the spring of the yeir,
eftir midday [Lat. a meridie — from the south] and thairfor, this opinions
of thame is hajdne, that athir in thir westir lies, or in Grundlande, quhen
toward the South anothir land is no' knawen, thay big thair nestis. Sum
of thame no'-withstandeng, throuch a certane craft, ar allured and prouoked
to remane amang the lochis, and myrie places and amang the hathir and
mures, amang ws, quhil thay haue laid thair eggis, and clekit thair burdes:
for sum of thame, quhilkes w' nettis ar takne, thair wingis ar clipit, and fed
in the hous, quhil thay be tame : Thaireftir out and in frilie thay flie and
swome, and nocht only returnes hame agane, to thair accustumed and vsed
fude, bot lykwyse thay bring vthiris with thame of thair awne kynde, as
called to the banquet and commone feist with thame selfes, quhilkes quhen
thay haue baytet, thay at last leir thame to sit, without al feir in the mid
feild, and yardes, and plane places; and haldes thame stil besyde thame as
neir nychtbouris, quhil al thair nestis be bigit, and thair young clekit.

Perhaps as a result of this easy domestication, geese
seem to have been remarkably abundant in parts of Scotland
in the seventeenth century, for Lowther during his tour in
1629, discovered that the Scots

have good meat, fish, flesh and fowl in great store, but dress it not well;
in the South it is as dear as in the South of England, but in the north,
about Dumbarton and thereabouts wondrous cheap, a goose for 4d, and so
proportionably of other things.

It is possible, however, that these were wild geese.

Having given reasons for suggesting that Scotland was
one of the countries in which the Grey Lag Goose was
domesticated, let us glance at the influence which domestica-
tion has had upon the nature of the wild species. As we

106 THE DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS

might expect, the colour of the plumage has changed, for the
common goose seldom shows the varied browns and greys
of the Grey Lag, although it ranges from dusky grey to pure
white, the latter colour being almost invariably assumed
by aged ganders. Selection for the table has led to an
increase in the size and depth of the body, and this, added
to compulsory inactivity, has brought with it increasing
inability to fly and the exaggerated waddling walk of a
creature whose weight has outgrown the intentions of its
limbs. Selection for egg-laying has resulted in a great in-
crease of productiveness, for the clutch of five to eight eggs
of the wild goose is insignificant compared with the year's
produce of the domesticated breeds.

SUNDRY OTHER DOMESTICS

The domestication of the Common Duck probably
stands in similar relationship to Scotland as that of the
Goose. It is agreed that the wild species whence sprang
the "clam'rous duck" that "on the brink of her foul puddle
quacks" is the common "wild duck" of our Islands — the
Mallard (Anas boscas)1. The abundance of this species as
a resident throughout Scotland, and the ease with which it
can be tamed suggest that, like the goose, it may have been
domesticated in our country at an early date. The influences
that have played upon the duck in domestication have had
effects similar to those referred to in the case of the goose,
changes in the colour of plumage, increase of body, decreased
power of flight, an exaggerated waddling walk and enormous
increase in egg-production compared with the clutches of
eight to twelve eggs of the wild bird.

The Turkey and the Guinea Fowl — the former descended
from a wild Mexican species (Meleagris mexicana], the latter
from East Africa (Numida ptilorhynca], were introduced
to Scotland in a domesticated state, and have shown no
distinctive changes under our care.

Domesticated Rabbits, descended from the common
wild Rabbit (Lepus (Oryctolagus) cuniculus), which itself
was introduced to Scotland ultimately from south-western

1 So evident was the relationship in the early days of its domestication
that the domestic duck is actually termed (in Munimenta GUdhallae
Londonensis) a "dunghill Mallard."

SOME LESSER DOMESTICATED ANIMALS 107

Europe (see p. 247) owe none of their peculiarities to Scottish
influence. Such is true also of our Cats, descended from
the Egyptian Wild Cat (Felis ocreata], although in the
Highland areas there has probably been some admixture of
blood with our own wild species (Felis sylvestris], especially
in former times when the Wild Cat was more common than
it is to-day.

The Goat, offspring of the Wild Goat (Capra aegagrus]
of the Mediterranean Isles, Asia Minor and Persia, notwith-
standing its early introduction to Britain, and -its former
abundance in the Scottish Highlands, has suffered at our
hands no change worthy of remark; and the same may be
said of the Ferret, long regarded as a domesticated variety of
the Common Polecat (Mustela p^tiorius} but recently found to
be related to the Polecat of Turkestan and Siberia (Mustela
eversmanni}.

Hive-Bees are domesticated in the sense that man houses
and cares for them, that he feeds them in winter, and has
exercised his limited powers of selection and interbreeding
in perfecting the race. Ordinary hive-bees are little altered
derivatives of the Wild Bee (Apis mellifica} of southern
Europe. They were domesticated by the early Greeks, and
were common throughout Europe at an early date. There
is no record of their introduction to Scotland, but in the
sixteenth and subsequent centuries many Acts were passed
by the Scottish Parliament protecting bees from the "stealers
of hives, and destroyers thereof." As the first reference to
Bees which I have found in these Acts occurs in 1503, it is
probable that they were becoming common in Scotland only
towards the close of the fifteenth century. Their appearance
in some of the islands belongs to a much later date. In
Orkney they were so little known at the end of the seven-
teenth century that Mackaile can record the exploit of a youth
who "stopt the skep (which a lady had taken thither from
Angus) with a piece of a peat" on the plea that he found
the Bees all flying away; and it was not till 1909 that Lewis
was stocked with its present race of Hive- Bees, previous
importations having become extinct. By frequent introduc-
tions of fresh blood from Italy and other parts of Europe man
is constantly endeavouring to influence the nature and
increase the productiveness of the Hive- Bee.

CHAPTER III

DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION
OF ANIMAL LIFE

The Hart, the Hynd, the Dae, the Rae,

The Fulmart and false Fox,
The beardit Buck clam up the Brae,

With birssy Bairs and Brocks:

Sum feiding, sum dreiding,

The Hunter's subtle snairs,
With skipping and tripping

They play it them all in pairs.

The Cherrie and the Sloe.

NO other aspect of man's interference with the animal
world bulks so largely in the imagination as his deliberate
destruction of life. It is not that he has thus exterminated
more creatures than have been banished by the felling of
the woodland or the reclamation of moor and marsh ; it is
scarcely that the effects of gun and snare are more deadly
than the removal of breeding places and the destruction of
food supplies. Rather it is that the indirect influences are
gradual in their working, that man's attention is fixed upon
the fields which prosper under his care or the forests that
fall under his axe, while the creatures which inhabited them
wane and disappear unnoticed. But deliberate destruction
is prompt, obviously merciless and final.

It has not always been so. In the earlier periods of
man's development, in the days of the hunters of the Old
Stone Age, the slaughter of animals was a necessity for
protection as well as for food. But this was no uneconomic
slaughter. It is true that wild animals were trapped in
numbers in hidden pits, and it is true that in the aggregate
many animals were killed, for more than two thousand
molar teeth of the Mammoth have been found gathered

DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE 109

together at the Palaeolithic settlement at Predmost in
Moravia, and the broken bones of Horses, left over from
many a feast, form a solid mass 100 yards in length and
ten feet high at the Palaeolithic station of Solutre, in the
Rhone Valley. Nevertheless primitive weapons almost
limited the destruction to the absolute necessities of the
sparse population.

The essence of the question of uneconomic slaughter is
a simple one of capital and interest, where the breeding
stock of any race of animals may be regarded as the capital
and the year's young as the annual interest. So long as
destruction is kept within the limits of the yearly interest
and depreciation of capital is made up, all is well with the
race, but so soon as the full interest is usurped and the
capital stock begins to be entrenched upon, then the race is
on the downgrade of reduced numbers, and, provided the
destruction is kept up, of final extinction.

Several causes led to growing intensity in the slaughter
of wild animals. The first in time was probably the domes-
tication of wild creatures, and the consequent necessity for
their protection. So the casual slaughter of prowling-
marauders developed into enmity and a blood feud against
the larger beasts and birds of prey, an enmity which
increased as feudal rule decayed and the people gained
a new will and new powers to protect the crops and herds
which their labours had created. In the second place,
increased perfection of weapons and the invention of powder
and the gun placed in man's hands new powers which he
was not slow to use to the utmost. Many creatures have
been banished from different areas of Britain since "weapons
of precision " made their appearance, and nothing could
witness more clearly to their influence than the fact that
after the general disarming of the peasants of Poland by
the Russian Government there was an enormous increase
in the number of Wolves. In our own country similar
effects have followed upon the absence of guns during the
Great War, for never in the memory of man have the
creatures of the wild, Deer and Rabbits, birds of prey, Stoats,
Weasels and other "vermin," been so abundant as they are
to-day.

The third and most fatal stage in the development of

i io DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

destructiveness belongs to the. greed of gain. Reckless de-
struction regardless of waste has followed upon the discovery
of a profitable commodity. Garefowls or Great Auks
were slaughtered by thousands on account of theic oil and
feathers and their bodies were burnt in great fires ; the
Buffaloes of North America and the Wild Cattle of South
America were slain by millions, the former for their skins and
tongue, the latter for their hides and horns, and their carcases
were left to rot upon the plains. So too, and in even less
worthy cause, the Egret has been slaughtered for its "osprey
plumes," and precious birds all the world over for their
brilliant plumage. And what is one to think of the wasteful
slaughter proceeding at the present day in the islands of
South Georgia, where, for the sake of their oil, Whales
innumerable are being killed and their flensed carcases cast
adrift, so that in the neighbourhood of the whaling stations
masses of festering flesh spread solid for miles out to sea ?

Many human motives have given rise to serious deple-
tion of the animal world, and the chief of these I have
endeavoured to illustrate from the Scottish point of view in
the pages that follow. But the general warning must be
added that a hard and fast classification must be looked
upon only as a guide to clearness, that motives are seldom
unmixed — that the creature slain in sport may also be used
as food, just as the bird killed for the sake of its flesh may
also yield valuable feathers and oil.

It ought also to be added that in the balanced order of
nature the slaughter of one animal means invariably the
increase of another. The unrestricted killing of Seals on the
Pribilof Islands, off Alaska, increased the yield of the skins
of the Blue Fox, which were valued at ,£3000 to ^4000
annually, but since seal-killing was restricted on the high
seas in 1911 and prevented in the Islands since 1912, the
output of fox skins has greatly diminished, owing to the
lack of carcases upon which the foxes depended for food.

The steps of the decadence of an animal due to deliber-
ate slaughter, or to any other cause, can be traced in stages,
first of reduction of numbers, second of curtailment of range,
and lastly of extermination.

III. I

DESTRUCTION FOR SAFETY OF MAN AND
OF HIS DOMESTIC STOCK

COEVAL with his search for food began man's active
defence against his fellow-dwellers in the wilds, but it was
hardly till his wealth and welfare became centred in domestic
flocks that his destruction began to tell upon the animal
world. Then his energies, directed against marauders, fell
heavily upon the beasts and birds of prey, until with in-
creased perfection of weapons, he drove one and then
another to extinction within the limits of his homeland.
His influence in this respect can best be traced by following
the stories of some of the creatures which fell under his ban.

BEASTS OF PREY
THE LYNX

The Northern Lynx (Lynx lynx] (cf. Fig. 3, p. 16), once
a native of the greater part of Britain, and now confined to
the forests of northern Europe although a close relative is
found in Asia, makes but one appearance in Scottish history,
when it shared with Neolithic man the wilds of western
Sutherlandshire. The bones found by Drs Peach and Home1
in the Bone Cave of Allt nan Uamh near Inchnadamph,
in deposits containing blackened and burnt hearthstones
of Neolithic fires, vouch for its presence in the early days,
but of its occurrence and disappearance written history
makes no mention. It seems to have died out at a far
distant period, and the probability is that man, in defence
of his flocks, hastened its extermination in Scotland.

1 Identified by Mr E. T. Newton.

112

DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

THE BROWN BEAR

Few of us can have imagined the possibility of en-
countering a Brown Bear in the forest glades of Britain,
yet our forerunners in the land frequently enjoyed that
experience in the far-off days when

In yon withered bracken's lair
Slumbered the wolf and shaggy bear.

At the present day in Europe the Brown Bear (Ursus
arctos) (Figs. 26 and 27) is mainly confined to the
forests of Scandinavia, Russia, Hungary and the Pyrenees,
but in former days it was a common inhabitant of Great
Britain and Ireland. In Scotland, where it lingered longest,

Fig. 26. Skull of Brown Bear from peat-moss in Dumfriesshire. \ nat. size.

it ranged over the whole land from Dumfriesshire, where
many years ago a well preserved skull and a rib were found
in a peat moss at Shaws, to Sutherland and Caithness. The
only direct evidence of its association with man in North
Britain is afforded by the discovery of a tooth in a broch
at Keiss, for the canine tooth found in the bone cave near
Inchnadamph in Sutherlandshire lay in a deposit lower than
that containing traces of the presence of man. Yet in York-
shire the Neolithic cave-dwellers of Settle considered the
flesh of the Bear a suitable article of food, and its presence,
as late as Roman times, is indicated by bones found in
refuse-heaps at Richmond in Yorkshire, at Colchester in
Essex, and even so far south as London, as well as by the
discovery in the Roman camp of Cilurnum or Chesters on

DESTRUCTION FOR SAFETY OF MAN AND STOCK 113

the Tyne-Solway Wall of a tooth of a large Bear, the per-
forations in which hint that the slayer wore the relic as a
badge of prowess. "}

The assumption is a fair one that if the Bear existed in
England at the time of the Roman occupation it was also
present in the much wilder country of Scotland, and side-
lights of history support this idea. In the years after
the Roman occupation of Britain, Caledonian Bears were
well known in Rome, whither they were transported over-

Fig. 27. Brown Bear, a former native of Scotland (illustration from individual
in Scottish Zoological Park, Edinburgh). ^ nat. size.

seas to make sport in the amphitheatre. Malefactors bound
to a cross were exposed to the attacks of these savage
denizens from far-off Scotland, as Martial reminds us,

Hanging on no slim cross, Laureolus
His naked body to a Caledonian bear
Thus proffered1.

That the Bear still survived in Scottish woods after the
Roman legions had gone, both archaeology and tradition

1 "Nuda Caledonio sic pectora praebuit urso,
Non falsa pendens in cruce, Laureolus."

1 14 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

suggest. The canine tooth found with other refuse in the
Broch of Keiss in Caithness probably belongs to a period
succeeding the Roman conquest, for brochs appear to have
been unknown to the historians of Rome. Yet,, assuming
that it is the relic of a native animal, it indicates the presence
of the Bear only in a vague period ranging down to the ninth
or tenth century of our era. Tradition is even less definite
as to date. Leslie in 1578, speaks of the "Tor-wood" or
Caledonian forest as a place

quhair in lyke maner war sa mony wylde bares [' ursos '] that, as the aide
wryters make mentione, than being full ['repertissimam '] is now nocht ane
(even as our nychbour Inglande has nocht ane wolfe, with quhilkes afore
thay war mekle molested and invadet).

And Camden, in his Britannia (1607), says of Perthshire :

This Athole is a country fruitful enough, having woody vallies, where
once the Caledonian forest (dreadful for its dark intricate windings and for
its dens of Bears, and its huge thick-maned bulls) extended itself far and
near in these parts.

Almost to our own day, Gaelic tradition has carried the
memory of the great Magh-Ghamhainn — the " paw-calf "-
a " rough dark, grisly monster, the terror of the winter's
tale"; and highland legends, such as "The Brown Bear of
the Green Glen" recorded by Mr J. F. Campbell, and occa-
sional place names, such as Ruigh-na-beiste, the Monster's
Brae, and Toll-nam-biast, the Hole of the Monsters, may
possibly perpetuate the tradition of the last survivors of
Scottish Bears.

When did the Bear disappear from amongst the animals
of Scotland ? Attempts have been made to show that the
Clan Forbes owes its name to the slaughter of a Bear by
the chieftain, Ochonchar, the founder of the clan, whose sur-
name, bestowed upon him for his prowess, became Forbear
or Forbeiste. Pennant states that a Gordon, on account of
his valour in killing a fierce Bear in 1057, was ordered by
the King to carry three Bears' heads on his banner. It has
even been stated that "in an ancient Gaelic poem ascribed
to Ossian, the hero McDiarmid is said to have been killed
by a Bear on Beinn Ghielleinn in Perthshire." But in each
of these cases a wild Boar and not a Bear was the animal
concerned, and the confusion has apparently arisen through
the resemblance to "Bear" of the old Scots spelling and

DESTRUCTION FOR SAFETY OF MAN AND STOCK 115

pronunciation of Boar, which was "Bare." It is highly
probable that a similar confusion of terms led Col. Thornton
to state in 1804 that Lord Graham had turned out a few
"wild Bears" on the island of Inchmurrin in Loch Lomond,
and that the record of Inchmurrin Bears which has found its
way into literature is a false one. All that we can say,
therefore, is that the Brown Bear seems to have been
present in Scotland after the early centuries of our era, and
may have existed till the ninth or tenth. Since there were
no changes in climate or food supply sufficient to account
for its disappearance, the assumption is that man's inter-
ference led to its extermination.

THE WOLF

Of all the great beasts of prey which harassed man in
Scotland, the most troublesome was the Wolf (Canis htpiis]
(Fig. 28, p. 1 17), which long survived its associates, the Lynx
and the Brown Bear. Many bones attributed to Wolves have
been found in early settlements, from the Neolithic cave-
dwellings of Ayrshire to the times of the brochs and of
kitchen-middens of later date, as well as in rock fissures such
as that on the Pentland Hills. Yet the story of the Wolf in
prehistoric Scotland is an obscure one. For although an odd
relic, such as a jaw bone I have examined from a deposit in
Ayrshire, probably indicates the presence of the Wolf in the
land before the arrival of man, the bones of later ages are
apt to be confused with those of domesticated dogs, brought
with them by the early Neolithic peoples during their north-
ward wanderings.

Fortunately the obscurity of this period in the Wolf's
history in Scotland is of little real significance, since actual
remains found in a dozen and more widely scattered English
and Welsh counties, show how general its distribution
must have been, and the abundant historical evidence of its
presence in Scotland in much later times, gives good ground
for supposing that in prehistoric days also, it was a common
denizen of the woods.

It is impossible here to give in detail the recorded his-
tory of the Wolf in Scotland from the legendary times when
Dorvadilla, the fourth king of the Scots, who, according

1 16 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

to the story, reigned two centuries before the Christian era,
" ordaint," according to Boece,

he slayer of ane wolf to have ane ox to his reward, pure elders persewit
this beist with gret hatreut, for the gret murdir of beistis done be the sarnin.

tThere is the less need for such a detailed history since a very
complete account of the Wolf in Scotland appears in Mr
J. E. Harting's British Animals Extinct within Historic
Times, and in Mr R. S. Fittis's Sports and Pastimes of
Scotland. I shall content myself, therefore, with tracing
the main stages of man's interference with this ravager of
the flocks.

Throughout all the ages the Wolf was reckoned a grievous
pestilence, and even the popularity of a King reflected in
some degree his attitude towards this plague. Thus when,
as Boece tells, Edeir, a Scottish contemporary of Julius
Caesar visited "all the boundis of his realme," his

passaige was the mair plesand to his nobillis, that he was gevin to hunting;
for he delitit in no thing more than in chais of wild beistis, with houndis
and rachis, and specially of wolffis, for they ar noisum to tame bestiall.
This regioun, throw the cauld humouris thairof, ingeneris wolffis of feirs
and cruel nature.

The fierceness of Scottish Wolves is attested by many an
old story. Witness that of the pursuit of Malcolm II in
1010 in the forest of the Stocket, on the bounds of the
city of Aberdeen, when the monarch was saved from a
Wolf only by the presence of mind of a younger son of
Donald of the Isles, who was rewarded for his timely aid
by a present of the neighbouring lands of Skene. Even to
the islands the scourge extended, for Arnor, the Earl's skald,
tells in the Orkneyinga Saga, that after the Battle of Water-
firth between the invading Norse and the islanders of Skye,
in the eleventh century,

There I saw the grey wolf gaping
O'er wounded corse of many a man.

Many methods were employed to keep the Wolves in
check. It is significant that in the eleventh century, during
the reign of King Alexander, when most of the wild
creatures were reserved for the royal chase, no one was
forbidden to hunt outwith forests and warrens for Wolves ;
and that from the twelfth century the monks of Melrose were
prohibited from hunting and from setting snares in their

DESTRUCTION FOR SAFETY OF MAN AND STOCK 117

lands of Eskdale, except only for the Wolves. Such casual
measures of restraining the wolf plague were soon found to
be inefficient, and more drastic means had to be enforced.
In 1283 King Alexander III made an allowance to his
Treasurer for payment of " one hunter of .wolves " at
Stirling. But even professional hunters proved insufficient,
and at last in the fifteenth century the law invoked the aid
of the barons, an Act of James I in 1428 requiring
that ilk baron within his barony in gaynande time of the year sail chase
and seek the quhelpes of Wolves and gar slay them, ...and that the barons
hunt in their baronies and chase the Woolfes four times a year, and als oft
as onie Woolfe beis seen within the barony.

Fig. 28. Wolf — a Scottish scourge exterminated about two centuries ago. T\ nat. size.

Under pain of forfeiting a wedder, the tenants were to "rise
with the baron" who was to pay to "the man that slays the
Woolfe in his barony and brings his head to the baron, twa
shillings."

Even the efforts of the barons were unavailing, and the
scope of the hue and cry was broadened not many years
later, when in 1457, the inhabitants of the whole countryside
were compelled and coaxed by penalties and payments to
attend the wolf-hunt at the call of the sheriff, baillies or
barons :

1 18 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

item it is ordanyt for the distruccione of wolfes that in ilk cuntre quhar
ony is, the sheref. or the bailyeis of that cuntre sail gadder the cuntre-folk
thre tymes in the yer betwixt sanct marks day [April 25th] and lamess
[Lammas— August ist] for that is the tyme of the quhelpis and quhat evir
he be that ryss [rise] not with the sheref or bailye or barone within himself
[in his area] he sail pay unforgeuin a wedder as is ordenyt in the aulde act
maid thairapone. And he that slays ane wolf than or ony uthir tyme he
sail haif of ilk hous-hald of that parochin that the wolf is slayne within jd
[one penny].... And he that slays ane wolf sail bring the hede to the sheref,
bailye or barone and he sail be dettor to the slaar for the soume forsaide1.

A few records of the payment of head money still exist :
on the 24th October 1491, the Treasurer of Scotland paid
55. "to a fellow that brought the King [James IV] two wolves,
in Linlithgow."

The necessity of raising a general hue and cry after
marauding Wolves led to the general establishmentof kennels
of wolf-hounds and even to the definition in leases of the
duties of tenants on that score. So the monks of Coupar-
Angus Abbey in a lease of part of the lands of Innerarity
in 1483, bound the occupier to "obey the officers rising in
the defences of the country to wolf, thief, and sorners,"
and many leases enforce the maintenance of "ane leash of
good hounds, with ane couple of rachis [wolf hounds] for tod
and wolf."

In spite of all such enactments, the effective destruction
of the Wolves seems to have rested mainly on the personal
idiosyncracy of the landowners, so that, while good service
was rendered by an occasional bright spirit such as the
Lord Hugh Eraser's lady, " a stout bold woman " as the
Wardlaw MS. informs us, who in the latter half of the
fifteenth century, " purged Mount Capplach [on the border
of the Beauly Firth] of the wolves," yet the plague increased
till it reached a climax in the sixteenth century.

Contemporary historians are at one in describing the
abundance of Wolves and the terrible devastation wrought
amongst flocks and herds by the savage marauders, and in so
doing, they picture a Scotland wild beyond the imagination
of the present day.

"In all boundis of Scotland," wrote Boece, in effect, in 1527, "except
thay partis quhair continewall habitatioun of peple makis impediment thairto,

1 It is interesting to recall' that these Scottish Acts "For the distruc-
cione of wolfes " were repealed only in 1906.

DESTRUCTION FOR SAFETY OF MAN AND STOCK 119

is gret plente of haris, hartis, hindis, dayis, rais, wolffis....The wolffis ar
richt noisum to the tame bestiall, in all partis of Scotland, except ane part
thairof namit Glenmores, in quhilk the tame bestiall gettis litill damma^e
of wild bestiall."

And half a century later, Bishop Leslie of Rosse found no
diminution in the plague:

our nychbour Inglande has nocht ane wolfe, with quhilkes afore thay war
mekle molested and invadet, bot we now nocht few, ye contrare, verie
monie and maist cruel, cheiflie in our North cuntrey, quhair nocht only
invade thay scheip, oxne, ye and horse, bot evin men, specialie women with
barne, outragiouslie and fercelie thay ouirthrows.

In spite of the interference of .man, the wolf plague
had increased beyond the limit of toleration. In her Book
of Highland Minstrelsy, Mrs D. Ogilvie gives a vivid
account of the sufferings to which the natives of north-west
Sutherland were subjected.

The lean and hungry wolf,

With his fangs so sharp and white,
His starveling body pinched

By the frost of a northern night,
And his pitiless eyes that scare the dark

With their green and threatening light.

He climbeth the guarding dyke,

He leapeth the hurdle bars,
He steals the sheep from the pen,

And the fish from the boat-house spars ;
And he digs the dead from out the sod,

And gnaws them under the stars.

And so at last the inhabitants of Ederachillis were com-
pelled to carry their dead across the sea to the lonely and
isolated island of Handa, there to lay the poor bodies in
peace, far from the reach of the prowlers of the night.

In this sixteenth century, King James V in 1529 and
Queen Mary in 1563, witnessed the destruction of numerous
Wolves in royal hunts held in the forests of Athole, but
there is no mention of Wolves in the account of the royal
chase organised by James V in Ettrick Forest in 1528.
Apparently Wolves had already been extirpated from the
Lowlands. Yet at this very time so dangerous had travelling
become in the Highlands that, according to tradition, the
great pine woods of Rannoch and Lochaber were almost
impassable on account of their savage tenants, and hospices,
hospitals, or "spittals" as they were called, were erected on

120 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

the forest tracks to give refuge to wanderers, caught by
nightfall in outlying districts. The site of one of these
refuges is commemorated in the name of the "Spittal" of
Glenshee, in Perthshire.

The direct interference of man with the Wolf in Scotland
failed in its object : hereditary lords and legal governors were
as impotent in face of the wolfish breed as were the suffering
country people themselves. But where direct slaughter failed,
indirect attack banished the Wolves from Scotland, for in
the end it became evident that piece-meal slaughter must
give way to an extensive destruction of the woodlands in
which the Wolves lurked and multiplied in safety. So began
that great burning of the forests, the memory of which is
still kept fresh in the traditions of many a Highland glen
(seep. 318).

And now the Scottish race of Wolves was doomed. It is
true a few survivors lingered in woods that were left. In the
early years of the seventeenth century, Wolves were hunted
in the neighbourhood of Stirling and in Assynt, and in
Breadalbane each tenant had to make every year four
spears for wolf-hunting; in 1618, Taylor, on his "Pennyles
Pilgrimage," saw in the "Brea of Marr," "wolves and such
like creatures, which made me doubt that I should never see
a house again"; the "Accompt Book" of Sir Robert Gordon,
Tutor of Sutherland, mentions, in 1621, "sex poundis
threttein [thirteen] shillings four pennies gieven this year to
thomas gordoune for the killing of ane wolf, and that conforme
to the acts of the countrey," and the same diarist a few years
later, specifies the Wolf in his list of the wild creatures of
Sutherland. Yet before the end of the century, the Wolf had
been all but exterminated. The last Wolf in the north-eastern
counties was slain in Kirkmichael Parish, Banffshire, in 1644;
the last in the wilds of Perthshire was killed by Sir Ewen
Cameron of Lochiel at Killiecrankie in 1680, and about the
same time one was killed in Forfarshire. But they probably
lingered a little longer in the wilder and more wooded
districts, for persistent tradition records that so late as 1743
a Wolf, which had slain two children on the hills by the
Findhorn, was tracked and killed by a Highland hunter,
Macqueen by name.

So the Wolf disappeared from Scottish hills, though many

DESTRUCTION FOR SAFETY OF MAN AND STOCK 121

place names scattered throughout Scotland, even in the low-
lands whence man first banished it, still tell of its former
presence and abundance1.

THE Fox OR TOD

In the old laws the Fox ( Vulpes vulpes] (Fig. 29, p. 123)
keeps disreputable company with its cousin the Wolf, and
though both were equally warred against, the smaller animal,
as is the rule, has outlived its congener. The general dis-
tribution of the Fox throughout Scotland at the present day
belies the efforts that have been made to extirpate it, yet
its numbers are much reduced from those of former days,
when it was reckoned with the Wolf as an evil genius of
"tame bestiall."

There's a tod aye blinkin' when the nicht comes doon,
Blinkin' wi' his lang een an' keekin' roond an' roon',
Creepin' by the fairmyaird when gloamin' is to fa',
And syne there'll be a chicken or a deuk awa' —
Aye, when the guidwife rises, there's a deufc awa' !

VIOLET JACOB.

There could be only one end to such iniquity — persistent
pursuit and destruction, and for many a long year this has
been the fate of the Fox in Scotland. Even in the thirteenth
century, special hunters were chosen to keep its ravages in
check, for in 1288, in the days of the Maid of Norway, the
Court Chamberlain paid 525. \c>d. to two park-keepers and
one fox-hunter at Stirling. The fox-hunter long remained
an institution in Scotland, but his efforts fell short of the need,
and other means had to be taken to keep Foxes in check.
One such method was the offering of a reward to a fox-slayer :
a Statute of James II enacted, in 1457, that "quha evir he
be that slays a fox and brings the hede to the schiref, lorde,
barone or bailye, he sail haif vjd [sixpence]." But persuasion

1 Witness a few names gathered at random : in southern counties, such
names as Wolf-gill in Dumfries, Wolf-hope, Wolfelee, Wolf-cleugh in Rox-
burghshire, the Wolf Craigs on Baddingsgill Burn on the southern slopes
of the Pentland Hills, Wolfstan in Linlithgow; in more northern districts
Wolf-crag on the shoulder of the Ochil Hills, Wolfhill in Perthshire, Wolf-
hole in the parish of Birse, Aberdeenshire ; and in the Gaelic lands, Toul-
vaddie or Toll-a'-mhadaidh — the Wolfs Hole, the names of many burns,
as Allt-mhadaidh and Allt-a'-choin uidhre — Burn of the Dun Wolf, and
lochans such as Loch-a'-mhadaidh and Lochan-a'-mhadaidh-riabhaich — the
Loch of the Brindled Wolf.

122 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

had to be reinforced by compulsion, and conditions were laid
down in many sixteenth century leases similar to those
imposed upon David Ogilvy, when in 1552 he received the
lands of Glenisla from the Abbot of Cupar, that he should
"nurice ane leiche of gud howndis, with ane cuppil of rachis
for wolf and tod," and he and other tenants were bound "to
be readdy at all tymes quhene we charge thame to pas with
ws or our bailyies to the hountis." Every farm of any size had
to keep its fox-hounds, and in many districts the fox-hunter
became a regular official paid partly by the landlord and
partly by the tenants. The latter supplied him with farm
produce and entertained him and his dogs during a specified
number of nights in the year, according to the extent of land
held. In addition, the huntsman received a special fee for
every Fox slain by his hounds.

Hector Boece held all such endeavour in disdain and
commended a simple recipe learned of the good men of

Glenmores, in quhillc the tame bestiall gettis litill dammage of wild bestiall,
speciallie of toddis; for ilk hous of this cuntre, nurisis ane young tod
certane dayis, and mengis [mixes] the flesche thairof, eftir that it be slane,
with sic meit as thay gif to thair fowlis, or uthir smal beistes. And sa mony
as etis of this meit ar preservit twa monethis eftir fra ony dammage of
toddis; for toddis will eit na flesche that gustis [tastes] of thair awin kind;
and, be thair bot ane beist or fowle that hes nocht gustit of this meit, the
tod will cheis it out amang ane thousand.

But the practice of Glenmore apparently did not hold
good in other parts, since in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries annual fox-hunts were the rule throughout the land.
To these all the neighbours gathered — that in Strathmore
was opportunely convened by the church beadle as the
congregation retired from divine service — and for several
days Foxes were hunted high and low. In many parts of the
country, Sutherlandshire, Aberdeenshire and Dumfriesshire
among others, societies for exterminating Foxes were formed,
and in the district around Golspie in the closing years of the
eighteenth century, according to the Old Statistical Account,
"upwards of ,£100 sterling is yearly expended for the purpose
of extirpating that noxious animal'that kills young deer and
sheep and moorfowl." Such concerted efforts made serious
inroads upon the native stock. In five parishes of Aberdeen-
shire in the district of Braemar 634 were killed in the ten
years beginning with 1776; in Sutherlandshire, on the estates

DESTRUCTION FOR SAFETY OF MAN AND STOCK 123

I24 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

of Langwell and Sandside, 546 were killed in seven years
from 1819 to 1826, and on the Duchess of Sutherland's
estates 193 were killed in the three years from March 1831.
to March 1834.

Other inducements beside the protection of stock, have
helped to bring Reynard to book, for the value of its skin,
especially in the older days, was no mean consideration
(see p. 1 68) and at the present day live Foxes are exported
from certain districts of .Scotland to stock the coverts of
English hunting counties. Yet in spite of all, notwithstanding
that his numbers have been sadly diminished, the Fox still
holds his ground, and there are few counties which cannot
boast many occupied earths. From the islands, however, it
has been banished, and none now exists on Mull, where
tradition relates that it survived before the middle of the
eighteenth century.

THE WILD CAT

In the struggle against the wiles of man, the Wild Cat
(Felis silvesfris) (Fig. 30, p. 125) has been less fortunate
than the Fox. At a time not very remote it too roamed
over the whole of the mainland, and in earlier days even
found a home on the islands, as in Bute, whence I have
identified bones from the prehistoric settlement of Dunagoil.
The increasing cultivation of land and need for more strin-
gent protection of flocks, as well as the growing regard paid
to the preservation of the smaller game of the countryside,
were certain to tell heavily upon so fierce and persistent a
marauder as the Wild Cat. From England man has driven
it, as from the Lowlands of Scotland, and even in the High-
lands its range is now severely restricted. Thanks to the
labours of Dr Harvie- Brown, the steps of its decadence in
Scotland can be traced with some precision.

From the great industrial areas and centres of population
it first disappeared. No tradition remains of its presence in
the busy midland valleys between the Firths of Forth and
Clyde: there it has been long extinct. Yet in the wilder
lands on either side, it held its ground till recent times. In
the counties marching with the Solway and with the English
border, it was common at the commencement of the nine-
teenth century, but about 1830 it had gone from the former,

DESTRUCTION FOR SAFETY OF MAN AND STOCK 125

leaving only such place names as Wild Cat Wood and Wild
Cat Craigs to commemorate its presence, while in the border
counties the last Wild Cat was slain in Berwickshire near
Old Cambus in 1849. Here too its former presence is per-
petuated in such place names as Wulcatt Yett, Cat-leeburn,
and Cat-cleugh in Roxburghshire ; indeed there is scarcely a
county but has such traditional record of its presence, though
this evidence must be accepted with caution on account of the
possibility of confusion with the Marten " Cat."

Fig. 30. Wild Cat (from a West Inverness-shire example). ^ nat. size.

About the time that it was being exterminated in the
Lowlands, the Wild Cat was also hard pressed in the counties
bordering the midland valley, and in the more open counties
along the east coast. In 1842 it was already extinct in most
of the parishes of Stirlingshire, though it still survived in
Strathblane. A solitary pair, killed in Glendye in 1850, was
the last of the Kincardine breed. In Aberdeenshire, 44 were
killed in the ten years succeeding 1 776 in five parishes about
Braemar, yet in the Don Valley the last was killed near Alford
Bridge only in 1862, though in the wilder Glen Tanar it
survived till 1875. In the woodlands along the southern
shores of the Moray Firth its general disappearance may be
placed about 1830, when an individual was killed at Cawdor

126 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

in Nairn. But in this area also odd individuals may have
lingered in the more secluded woods till a later date, for
about 1860 the Forest of Dairy near Forres yielded an
example.

Even in the wilder counties where one would 'imagine
that abundant shelter might have been found, the same
decades saw the gradual disappearance of the Wild Cat.
In Perthshire the last in the Athole district was trapped in
1857 ; in 1863 or 1864 the last south of Glen Dochart was
killed upon Ben More ; the last loiterer in Glenshee, at
Dalnaglar about 1870; and now they have been exterminated
throughout the whole of that mountainous county, even to
the wilds of Rannoch. In Argyllshire, the shores of Loch
Awe saw the last of the race in 1864, although a few
miles away, in Glen Orchy, an individual appeared in 1899.
Glenmore in Inverness-shire has lost the Wild Cat since 1873,
in which year also a solitary example was killed in East
Ross, where the species was already extremely rare. An
individual, however, is said to have been killed at Edderton
on the south of the Dornoch Firth so recently as 1912.

The rapidity of the extermination of the Wild Cat during
a comparatively short space of years in country highly
adapted for its preservation is a matter for wonder, and says
much for the skill and determination with which it has been
tracked. In Sutherlandshire on the Duchess of Sutherland's
estates, a reward of 'half a crown was paid for each head,
and between March 1831 and March 1834, 901 Wild Cats,
Martens and Fulmarts were killed ; in the grounds of
Dunrobin six Wild Cats were slain between 1873 and 1880;
and in the districts of Assynt and Durness, while a keeper
killed twenty-four Wild Cats in seven years from 1869 to
1875, in the following five years he obtained only two (see
Fig. 42, p. 176), and a colleague who, in the four years
1870 to 1873 killed ten individuals, killed only four in the
following seven years to 1 880.

Since then the Wild Cat in Scotland has proceeded
rapidly upon the path to extermination, and there is little
likelihood of its ever regaining lost ground outwith those
fastnesses in the forests of western Ross and Sutherland,
of Inverness and Argyll to which it has been driven by the
hand of man.

DESTRUCTION FOR SAFETY OF MAN AND STOCK 127

LESSER BEASTS OF PREY

Lesser noxious animals, such as Martens, Polecats, Stoats
and Weasels have, like their greater brothers, suffered on
account of their habits, but as some have been killed rather
for their fur and because of their enmity to game, they will
be referred to in the sections which follow.

BIRDS OF PREY

In a land given over to the simple rule of agriculture,
birds of prey, of necessity, follow the same hard track of
slaughter and extermination trod by beasts of rapine. In the
old days Scotland was well plenished with birds of prey
that afforded sport for kings, and, because of their service
in the amusement of the court, were protected with all the
rigour of feudal law. " Of fowlis sic as leiffis of reif [live by
rapine]," wrote Boece in the sixteenth century, "ar sindry
kindis in Scotland, as ernis [eagles], falconis, goishalkis,
sparkalkis, marlyonis, and sik lik fowlis." But of these how-
few remain in anything like their former abundance, and how
many have altogether disappeared. A few examples will illus-
trate the progressive effect of man's deliberate destruction,
which on occasion was insisted upon by law (see p. 217).

THE GOLDEN EAGLE

Grateful as the presence of the most magnificent of our
native birds, the Golden Eagle {Aquila chrysaetus] (Fig. 31,
p. 129) may be to the lover of nature, it is little wonder
that farmers and crofters of former days waged incessant
war upon it. Old records contain many complaints of its
destructiveness. "The Eagles [of the islet of Lingay in
the Outer Hebrides]," wrote Martin in 1703, "are very
destructive to the Fawns and Lambs, especially the black
Eagle1 which is of a lesser size than the other."

The flight of the Eagle was strong and the countryside
over which its depredations extended was vast. This also
hastened its downfall. The natives of an island adjoining
Island Saint or Island-more (Ellan-Shiant or Ellan-Mhuir)
in the Outer Hebrides told Martin that the Eagles

1 The universal name for the Golden Eagle in Gaelic-speaking districts
is lolar-d/ntb, the black eagle, or simply Ani-eun, the Bird.

128 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

never yet killed any Sheep or Lamb in the Island, though the bones of
Lambs, of Fawns and Wild-Fowls are frequently found in and about their
nests, so that they made their Purchase in the opposite Islands ;
and Mr Robert Gray was informed by an observer that he
had seen the Eagles of South Uist "coming almost .daily from
Skye with a young lamb each to their eaglets" — a distance
of about twenty-five miles.

Such misdemeanours could not pass unnoticed, so the
tale of Dr Patrick Graham regarding southern Perthshire
in 1806, might be taken as an epitaph of the eagles through-
out the country.

" The black eagle," he says, " has built her eyrie from time immemorial in
the cliffs of Benivenow [Ben Venue in Aberfoyle]; but by the exertions of
the tenantry, who suffered much loss from her depredations on their flocks,
the race is now almost extirpated."

No wonder that the Golden Eagle had all but disappeared
in view of the terrible slaughter of its slow-breeding stock.
In five Aberdeenshire parishes, clustering about Braemar,
70 Eagles were slain in the ten years from 1776 onwards;
on the estates of Langwell and Sandside in Sutherlandshire,
295 old Eagles and 60 young Eagles and eggs were destroyed
in the seven years between 1819 and 1826; and rewards of
one guinea and ten shillings each respectively brought to
book 17 1 old Eagles and 53 young and eggs on the Duchess
of Sutherland's estate in the same county in the three years
1831 to 1834.

The island of Hoy in the Orkneys, to which, about the
middle of the seventeenth century, an Eagle is said to have
carried unhurt from the mainland a swaddled child, has long
been deserted, for a price rested upon the bird's head
(see p. 1 30). So the Golden Eagle, which about two hundred
years ago built in Derbyshire, and a hundred years ago had
its eyrie amongst the Cheviot Hills, has been banished to
the lone islands of the Inner and Outer Hebrides and to the
Highlands of the mainland. Fortunately a new sense of the
aesthetic value of the Eagle's magnificence has arisen to save
this noble bird from extermination, and a wise protection
has recently led to a gradual increase of its numbers and
extension of its range. At the present time, however, its
eastern limit may be traced in the wilds of the Grampians
at the head of the Dee, and its southern outposts in the
forests of northern Perthshire.

DESTRUCTION FOR SAFETY OF MAN AND STOCK 129

i'30 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

WHITE-TAILED OR SKA EAGLE

A harder fate has fallen upon the Sea Eagle or Erne
(Haliaetus albuilla) (Fig. 32, p. 131). Greater than its
"Golden" cousin, it is no less destructive. Of the Outer
Hebrides, Martin said in 1703 "There are Eagles here
[Harris] of two sorts, the one is of a large size and gray
colour, and these are very destructive to the Fawns, Sheep
and Lambs." Of Shetland he wrote:

There are likewise many Eagles in and about these Isles which are
very destructive to the Sheep and Lambs.... The Isles of Zetland produce
many sheep, which have two or three lambs at a time ; they would be much
more numerous, did not the Eagles destroy them.

And Brand writing of Shetland about the same time (1701)
records that

There are also many Eagles, which do great prejudice and hurt to the
Countrey ; for the Lambs they will lift up in their Claws, and take whole
to their nests, and falling down upon the Sheep, they fix one foot on the
ground and the other on the sheep's back, which they having so apprehended,
they do pick out their eyes, and then use the Carcases as they please.

Few of the sufferers were content to save their flocks by
the simple charm used by the islanders, who, says Brand,

when they see the Eagle catching or fleeing away with their prey, use a
Charm, by taking a string, whereon they cast some knots, and repeat a
form of words, which being done, the Eagle lets her prey fall, tho at a great
distance from the Charmer, an instance of which I had from a Minister
who told me, that about a month before we came to Zetland, there was an
Eagle that flew up with a Cock at Scallmuay, which one of these Charmers
seeing, presently took a string (his garter as was supposed), and casting
some knots thereupon with the using the ordinary words, the Eagle did let
the Cock fall into the sea, which was recovered by a boat that went out for
that end.

So troublesome was this frequenter of the sea-cliffs that
rom very early times a price rested upon its head in
Orkney, witness an act passed at Kirkwall in 1626:

Anent Slaying of the Earn — It is statute and ordained... that whatever
persone shall slay the earn or eagle1 shall have of the Baillie of the parochine
where it shall happen him to slay the aigle 8^. from every reik [inhabited
house] within the parochine, except from cottars that have no sheep, and
20 shill. from ilk persone for ilk earn's nest it shall happen them to herrie ;
and they shall present them to the Baillie, and the Baillie shall be holden
to present the head of the said earn at ilk Head Court.

1 The words may include both the White-tailed and Golden Eagle.

DESTRUCTION FOR SAFETY OF MAN AND STOCK 131

Fig. 32. White-tailed Eagle or Erne, once common, now practically exterminated in
Scotland. (From a Hebridean example.) J nat. size.

9—2

i32 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

At a later date, the reward seems to have been commuted
into a fixed payment, for Laing in 1806, in his Voyage to
Spitsbergen, records that "a premium of three shillings and
fourpence is obtained for killing one of these eagles ["Earne-
eagles"]; and smaller premiums are given for lulling less
destructive birds."

Nevertheless for a long time the Sea Eagle seems to have
held its ground with wonderful tenacity, and it is evidence
of the extraordinary rapidity with which a widely distributed
and common species may be exterminated that so late as
1871 Robert Gray, in his Birds of the West of Scotland,
should say of it, "Being a much commoner bird in Scotland
than the preceding species [the Golden Eagle], the Sea Eagle
has never been at any time in the same danger of extinction."
Yet in half a century, man has practically extirpated the Sea
Eagle in Scotland. The breeding places on Ailsa Craig and
I slay have long been deserted, Orkney is forsaken, and Skye,
where under sixty years ago a keeper killed fifty-seven
eagles in nine years, now harbours not a single individual.
Even in Shetland, where on the tiny island of Vemantry
the tenant told Low, about 1774, that he had killed seven
in a short time, the death-knell of the Sea Eagle has been
rung, for the male of the last pair was killed some years
ago, and since then the

old female has returned year in, year out, to the old nest each spring to
gaze out over the wide horizon and wait. In the spring of 1916 she was
still alive at her post "just hanging about the old place as usual," solitary
for the rest of her days '.

It is possible that the species still breeds in its last out-
post, the Outer Hebrides, but at best a few years will
probably see the end of the White-tailed Eagle of Scotland.

VANISHED AND VANISHING HAWKS

Hawks should perhaps be regarded as pests and vermin
rather than share a place with their nobler kin as destroyers
of domestic stock, but for the sake of unifying the treatment
of the birds of prey I include them here. In proportion to
their number, they have suffered heavily at the hand of man.

1 Since these words were written this aged White-tailed Eagle of North
Roe has disappeared. It ceased to visit its old haunts in the season of 1918,
having probably died- -the last, it is said, of the Sea Eagles of the Shetlands.

DESTRUCTION FOR SAFETY OF MAN AND STOCK 133

The GOSHAWK (Astur palumbarius], mentioned by Boece
in the sixteenth century as a Scottish "fowl of reif," and till
the middle of the nineteenth century said to be a regular
breeder in the forests of northern Scotland— of Darnaway
in Morayshire and Rothiemurchus in Inverness-shire — can
no longer be reckoned a native of the British Isles.

Like the Sea Eagle, the KITE or GLED (Milvus milvus)
(Fig. 33, p. 135) exemplifies how frail is the security of
numbers when man sets his hand to interfere. It is almost
impossible to believe that a bird once so common that its
vast numbers in the streets of London excited the wonder
of foreign visitors in the reign of Henry VIII, should have
suffered so grievously that in 1905 the few survivors in the
British Isles could be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Yet so it is, and the love of the "greedy gled " for the
poultry yard had much to do with the warfare which has all
but exterminated it.

And other losses too the dames recite, '

Of chick and duck and gosling gone astray,

All falling preys to the swooping kite :

And on the story runs from morning, noon and night.

CLARE.

It was once a common bird in Scotland, breeding not
only in the wilder areas, but even in counties so far south
as Stirlingshire and Ayrshire. By the middle of the nine-
teenth century, however, it had been driven to the solitudes
of Perth, Inverness, Banff and Aberdeen shires. From there
also it has been banished, though here and there a Clach-a-
chambain or "Gled Stone," such as that at the head of
Glen Brierachan near Pitlochry, marks a well-remembered
perching place of the Gled. From Scotland, and from
England as well (except in Herefordshire, on the Welsh
border), the Kite has been utterly extirpated, and now only
a few survivors linger on in Wales, where from the miserable
remnant of five birds known to exist in 1905, stringent pro-
tection has been fortunate in slowly increasing its numbers.

Less fortunate has been the OSPREV or FISH HAWK (Pan-
dion haliaetus] (Fig. 45, p. 192), which a hundred years ago
was so abundant in Scotland that naturalists did not trouble
to record its haunts. At the end of the eighteenth century,
it probably bred regularly 'so far south as Dumfriesshire,

i34 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

for in a pamphlet entitled Observations on Mo/at, and its
Mineral Waters, published in 1800, T. Garnett wrote :

This lake which is called Loch Skeen, is noo yards in_ length, and
about 400 in breadth ; there is a little island where eagles bring out their
young in great safety, as the water is deep, and there is no boat on the lake.
The water of this lake abounds with very fine trout1.

In 1806, Dr Patrick Graham recorded its presence on
the southern confines of Perthshire, "The Osprey or Water
Eagle, builds her nest in some of the lofty trees in Inchma-
homa." It is known also that it frequented the island of
Inch Galbraith in Loch Lomond, an islet in Lake Menteith,
Loch Awe, Loch Maree and similar places. But these sites
have long been deserted.

In the twentieth century its breeding places have been
confined to the counties of Inverness and Sutherland, but
even here, in spite of all efforts at protection, there has been
no security. Loch Askaig has been untenanted since 1911,
while Loch-an-Eilein, whose ruined castle, built on an islet,
had been a regular nesting-place for a hundred years, has
been deserted since 1 902 (see p. 192). A pair of Ospreys bred
in 1916 in Scotland, in a place that shall be unmentioned,
but they are the last of a banished race.

The ranks of other Scottish birds of prey have also been
thinned by man, though till now they have escaped the final
catastrophe of extinction ; but decrease in numbers and limi-
tation of range surely mark the steps of a decadence of which
extermination is the end. One cannot think of the persecu-
tion which in the case of the PEREGRINE FALCON (Falco
peregrinus), has replaced the protection of former times,
without wondering how this fine hawking bird could survive,
were the ranks of Scottish breeding birds not reinforced
annually from the Continent. The numbers of the HEN
HARRIER (Circus cyaneus] have seriously dwindled in Ire-
land, and in Scotland it has been driven to the Orkneys and
Outer Hebrides, and to the fastnesses mainly of the northern
mainland. The COMMON BUZZARD (Buteo buteo] has dis-
appeared from Ireland, though it still nests in the Inner
Hebrides and in the west and central Highlands of Scotland
and very rarely in the Outer Hebrides and Orkney. The

1 Situation and name indicate the " Water Eagle "; the little rocky island
is a typical nesting-place for the Osprey, as Dr W. Eagle Clarke tells me.

DESTRUCTION FOR SAFETY OF MAN AND STOCK 135

HONEY BUZZARD (Pernis apivorus] has been known to breed
as far north as Aberdeenshire and Ross-shire, though it can
now no longer be reckoned a native of the land.

Fig- 33- Kite or Gled, once common, now exterminated in Scotland. (From a
Dumbartonshire example.) \ nat. size.

Even the lesser Hawks have suffered. The records ot
old vermin lists offer abundant evidence of the slaughter

1 36 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

carried on in former days. In the parishes of Braemar,
Crathie, Glenmuick, Tulloch and Glengarden, near the head
of the Dee in Aberdeenshire, the ten years 1776 to 1786
saw the death of " 2520 Hawks and Kites"; the estates of
Langwell and Sandside in Sutherlandshire in the seven years
1819 to 1826 yielded 1115 Hawks; and the Sutherland
estates in the same county in the three years 1831 to 1834,
1055 Hawks. To what extent such persecution has ulti-
mately affected their numbers, it is not easy to say, though
no better proof of their reduction below Nature's standard
is needed than the fact that since the Great War has called
gamekeepers from forest and moor to the field of battle, many
districts have seen such a revival of Sparrow- Hawks, Kestrels
and Merlins as has not been known in living memory.

"RAVENOIS FOULLIS"

fhese birds also, the RAVEN (Corvus cor ax] and its
relatives, did much damage in their day to young lambs
and the feathered inhabitants of the farmyard. They too
have been subjected to long and steady persecution. One
has only to compare their numbers and habits in former days
and to-day to realize how much the "ravenois foullis" have
suffered at the hand of man.

In the sixteenth century Ravens and others of the race
of crows were common in the streets of the large towns,
where, as I shall show hereafter, they were encouraged and
actively protected for the value of their work as scavengers
(p. 224). Even in the streets of Edinburgh and Leith they
went about their disagreeable task unmolested, witness
Wedderburn's account of the events which followed upon
the ellipse of the sun in 1 597 :

The peiple with gryt fair fled aff the calsayis [causeways] to houssis
mourning and lamenting, and the crawis and corbeis and ravenois foullis
fled to houssis to our steple and tolbuith and schip tappis, maist merveul-
ously affrayit.

Now, Carrion Crows and Ravens, once so common, are
birds rarely to be seen; from the streets they have been
driven to the wilds and to rocky fastnesses in the Low-
lands^the Highlands and the Islands of Scotland. "Vermin
Lists " again reveal the secret of the disappearance. In the

DESTRUCTION FOR SAFETY OF MAN AND STOCK 137

five parishes on Deeside already mentioned, 1347 Ravens
and Hooded Crows were killed in the ten years from 1776
to 1786; in two estates (Langwell and Sandside) in Suther-
landshire, 1962 were slain in seven years from 1819 to 1826;
and on the estates of the Duchess of Sutherland in the same
county, the three years 1831 to 1834 saw the death of 936
Ravens, for each of which the reward of two shillings was
paid.

AN INDIRECT RESULT OF -DESTRUCTION

The slaughter of beasts and birds of prey for the pro-
tection of domestic animals has not been one-sided in its
effects, for a natural result has been the indirect protection
and inordinate increase of smaller fry whose welfare lay out-
with the intentions of the slayers. These smaller beasts and
birds have benefited enormously by the disappearance of
their natural enemies. This, as well as active protection,
may account for the increasing numbers of many small birds,
but it is also responsible in part for the multiplication of such
pests as Rabbits and Rats. The 'seriousness of the Vole
plague, which in the early nineties of last century ravaged
a wide district in the Scottish Lowlands, has also been attri-
buted in some degree to the disappearance of creatures which
under natural conditions form an efficient curb to overwhelm-
ing multiplication. How will these lesser vermin fare now
that war has given their enemies an unforeseen opportunity
to increase ? Naturalists- will be fortunate if the answer
leads to a fresh consideration of the influence of birds and
beasts of prey upon lesser pests, and to a more reasonable
slaughter on the part of the protectors of the poultry yard
and the game covert.

III. 2

DESTRUCTION FOR FOOD

ALTHOUGH the destruction of animals for his own safety
was a primitive necessity for man, it can scarcely have
preceded in time destruction of wild creatures for the sake
of their products. The men of the Old Stone Age were
hunters by nature. Upon animals they depended in great
part for their food, and when clothing was invented, the skins
of wild beasts formed a simple and efficient protection from
the elements. The bone needles of the later Solutrian de-
posits of France indicate that in those early (Palaeolithic)
days the art of stitching skins was already known.

When the tribes of the much later Azilian culture reached
Scotland, the arts of hunting and of the use of skins for
clothing were already of long standing, and although refuse
heaps show that our earliest settlers subsisted largely upon
fish and molluscan shell-fish, there is evidence that the
larger animals also fell to their spears. As we shall see,
however, the effective interference with animals useful on
account of their products, belongs to a much later period of
civilization.

At all times animals large and small have been slain for
food, but as other motives have entered into the pursuit of
many, and especially of the larger creatures — sport in part
determining the chase of such as the Red Deer and the
Boar, their blubber that of Seals, and their skins that of
Hares and Rabbits — these will be mentioned in the sections
which follow, leaving for present consideration some of the
lesser food creatures. Fortunately, no native of Scotland,
unless it be the Garefowl, against which other influences
were at work, has suffered the fate of Steller's Sea Cow
(Rhytina stellert\ which in the course of less than thirty
years (between 1741 and 1768) was totally extirpated, simply
because it formed a convenient food for the hunters and
traders of Bering's Island.

DESTRUCTION FOR FOOD 139

GEESE AND SOME LESSER BIRDS

The reduction in numbers of the Grey Lag Goose has
already been referred to (p. 104), and I would only mention
here that the process of extermination is even now to be
seen in the north of Scotland, its last native breeding resort
in the British 'Isles. Here the native breeders are annually
reinforced by large numbers of immigrants, as many as 500
having been seen on the wing at once. But the value of the
bird as food, and the damage it causes to the crofters' crops,
have combined to reduce its numbers, for when the old
birds are moulting and the young are unable to fly, all take
readily to the sea and are then easily slain by fishermen,
sometimes organized in parties. As a result the number of
breeders is decreasing year after year.

The highly specialized method of capturing Geese and
Ducks by a system of trap nets or decoys has also accounted
for great numbers of these birds. In the thirty-five years
following 1833, 95,836 wild fowl were taken from the decoy
of Ashby in Lincolnshire and in a single season in the
eighteenth century the decoys near Wainfleet captured
31,200 Ducks. The total slaughter caused by decoys and
by driving Ducks must have been prodigious before the
marshes were reduced by reclamation ; but fortunately these
deadly devices never gained foothold in Scotland.

Small birds have been and are an easy prey and a
favourite food in many countries. To-day we deplore the
slaughter of small migrating birds in the European lands bor-
dering the Mediterranean Sea. Quails are netted by the
ten thousand when they land on the shores of Europe on
their spring migration from Africa — in 1898, 270,000 were
sold in the Paris markets — and Larks are killed by the
hundred thousand. The War has intensified the slaughter,
for in May 19 1 6 it was reported that the peasants of southern
Hungary, unable to buy meat at the prices ruling, were
killing song-birds, and that the woods were being rapidly
denuded of their bird population. Large numbers of lesser
birds, Larks, and even Thrushes and Blackbirds, still find
their way to Leadenhall market in London, and strings of
Starlings are said to be on sale daily in the market at Louth
and in other market towns ; but the trade in edible songsters

140 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

has long since disappeared in Scotland. Yet in the old days
the birds of the field and moor made a generous contribution
to the Scot's table. I need hardly do more in support of
this statement than quote, omitting the "tame meat," the
provisions wherein an Act passed in 1551 by the Scots Par-
liament, "statute and ordained " that

the wilde meat and tame meat under written be sauld [sold] in all times
cumming of the prices following, that is to say the crane [probably the
heron] five shillings; the swan five shillings; the wild guse of the great
bind [size] twa shillings ; the claik, quink and rute, the price of the peece
foure pennies. Item, the plover and small mure fowle, price of the peece
auchteene pennies ; the black cock and grey hen, price of the peece six
pennies; the douzaine of powtes twelve pennies. Item, the quhaip [curlew]
sax pennies. ...Item, the woode cocke foure pennies. Item, the dousane of
laverocks [larks] and uthers small birdes, the price of the dousane foure
pennies. Item, the snipe and quailyie [quails] price of the peece twa
pennies. . . .

Bishop Leslie in 1578 also refers to the abundance and
utility of Larks : "of Pertrikis in sum cuntreyes [i.e. districts]
ar gret abundance, bot of Laferokis [larks] ouer all far
gretter, in sa far as that xii. for a frenche sous they cum-
mounlie sell." The "Northumberland Household Book" of
1512 shows that the Percys did not disdain such small fare
as "Seegulles," "Styntes," "Snypes," " Redeshankes," " Kyr-
lewes," "Seepyes" [Oyster catchers], "Knottes," "Dottrells,"
"Smale Byrdes" and "Larkys," provided always "thay ar
in Season."

At a much later date the lesser birds made contribu-
tion to feasts, even of Royalty, for at a banquet given by
the City of London to George III in 1761, the Second
Service included dishes of Ortolans or Buntings, Quails,
" Notts," " Wheat Ears," Woodcocks, Teal and Snipes.
Moreover it was no insignificant destruction of wild birds
that satisfied the table of former days. Glance at the pro-
vision made for the great feast at the "intronization" of
George Nevelle, Archbishop of York, in 1466, which in-
cluded

Swannes, cccc. ; Geese, MM ; Plovers, iiii. C. ; Quayles, C. dosen ; of
the fowles called Rees [Reeves], CC dosen ; In Peacockes, C. iiii. ; Mal-
lardes and Teales, iiii. M. ; In Cranes, C. iiii. ;... Pigeons, iiii. M. ;...In
Bittors, C. iiii. ; Heronshawes, iiii. C. ; Fessauntes. CC. ; Partriges, v. C. ;
Woodcockes, iiii. C. ; Curlews, C. ; Egrittes, M.

Apart from making use of resident native birds our

DESTRUCTION FOR FOOD 141

predecessors did not hesitate to take toll of temporary
immigrants. Brand in 1701 tells us that in Caithness
"Especially there is a kind of Fowls called Snowflects [Snow
Buntings] which resort to this Countrey in great numbers in
February, they are about the bigness of a Sparrow, but
exceeding fat and delicious ; they flee in flocks, thousands
of them together, many of which the Inhabitants do kill and
make use of. They use to go away in April and are thought
to come from the West Highlands."

CORMORANTS, ROCK-DOVES, AND KITTIWAKES

Larger fry claimed the attention of coastwise dwellers,
especially where caves afforded shelter to innumerable hordes
of birds. Take for example Macaulay's description of the
slaughter of Cormorants (P halacr ocorax] and Rock Doves
(Columba livid] at " Hawskeir," an island near North Uist
in the Outer Hebrides:

On the west side of the rock are two remarkably large caves, of a con-
siderable height : To these a vast multitude of sea cormorants retire every
evening. Here likewise they lay their eggs and foster their young. The
method practised by the islanders for catching fowls of this kind, while
secured within such fastnesses, is far from being incurious, though abund-
antly simple, nor is the pastime at all disagreeable.— A band of young
fellows make a party and after having provided themselves with a quantity
of straw or heath, creep with great caution to the mouth of the cave which
affords the game, armed with poles light enough to be easily wielded : This
done, they set fire to the combustible stuff and raise an universal shout ;
the cormorants, alarmed by the outcry, frightened by a glare so strange,
and offended by the smoak, quit their beds and nests with the greatest
precipitation, and fly directly towards the light : Here the sportsmen, if
alert enough, will knock down a considerable number of them, and together
with the cormorants, whole coveys of pigeons.

At Fair Isle, as Dr Eagle Clarke has recorded, a similar
method of catching Rock Doves was employed, but there a
sail was hung over the mouth of the cave before a lantern
was lit within, and the birds making for the entrance flew
against the sail, and falling to the ground, were picked up
by the hunters. So many were thus slain year after year
that, Dr Eagle Clarke tells me, no Rock Dove is now to
be seen on the island, although other causes, such as the
decrease of cultivated ground and the recent introduction of
the gun by the lighthouse-keepers, have contributed to its
disappearance.

i42 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

Even the Kittiwake (Rhyssa tridactyla] found its ad-
mirers in former times: Sir Robert Sibbald (1684) reckoned
it "as good meat as a partridge," and the fishermen and
inhabitants of coastwise villages used it largely as food even
towards the end of the eighteenth century. At this period
Pennant found that it was used in Aberdeenshire, near the
Bullers of Buchan, as a whet for the appetite before dinner,
and tells a story of a stranger to the custom, who on en-
countering for the first time this appetiser, as he thought,
declared with some warmth after demolishing half a dozen
savoury Kittiwakes that he had eaten sax and was not a
bit hungrier than when he started. But the Kittiwake has
survived the gourmets of the Aberdeenshire coast.

Sea-birds formed the staple food of many a coast dweller
in the days before travelling facilities had broken down the
barriers of isolation. To this we owe the tragedy of the
Garefowl in Scotland.

THE TRAGEDY OF THE GAREFOWL OR GREAT AUK

The Garefowl or Great Auk (Alca impennis] was a large
bird, its flesh was good for food, its fat supplied oil for light,
and its feathers were soft and useful. It lived in great
colonies, as the Penguins of the southern oceans do to-day,
its wings were too small for flight, and the bird was stupidly
docile. So it was that when the voyagers to the coast of
North America found it in abundance, they made of it an
easy prey. At first the Garefowls were knocked on the head
with clubs, but the process became too laborious, and finally
planks and sails were run ashore and the defenceless birds
driven on board the boats by the ton weight, .so that the
boats were often in danger of being swamped. At first the
Garefowls were skinned, their feathers kept, and their
bodies salted down like herrings and packed in barrels for
food. But such is the ruthlessness of man, that latterly
thousands more were captured than could be stored, the
valuable feathers were plucked off and the bodies burned for
fuel ; even when no profit could be made by killing them,
the poor birds were tortured and burned alive for the amuse-
ment of the barbarian crews bred by European civilization.

Is it any wonder then that this bird, so abundant on the

DESTRUCTION FOR FOOD i43

Atlantic coasts of North America that in 1540 a voyager
loaded his two vessels with dead Garefowls in half an hour
and had, besides the birds eaten fresh, four or five tons to

Fig. 34. Garefowl or Great Auk (once a native of Scotland, now extinct) with its
solitary egg. (From example in Royal Scottish Museum.) J nat. size.

put in salt, should have been exterminated there in the early
years of the nineteenth century?

144 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

In Scotland there is no record of such heinous slaughter
as darkens the path of the early exploiters of the natural
wealth of America. Yet here too, the simplicity and defence-
lessness of the Garefowl made for its ultimate disappearance.
Causes other than its food value operated against ft. It was
unable to fly and perforce had to nest upon the seashore,
where eggs and young lay exposed to the easy attacks of
beasts and birds, as well as of man. Its solitary egg told
against it, for this slow multiplication offered no chance of
recuperation from the destruction which dogged the Gare-
fowl's landward migrations.

All that is known of its history in Scotland marks the
stages of decay — reduction in numbers through man's de-
liberate destruction, curtailment of range, and final extermina-
tion. When man first reached Scotland the Garefowl was
widely distributed upon the coast of Britain. Its remains
have been found in the Cleadon Hills of Durham, and the
early immigrants of Azilian culture who settled in Oronsay
made use of it for food, as their kitchen-middens clearly show.
Even in early historic times it occurred in regions whence
it had long disappeared before written history takes up its
story; for its bones were discovered in a refuse-heap, prob-
ably of the Broch period, in the ancient harbour-mound at
Keiss in Caithness.

So long ago as 1684 it was recorded from the Outer
Hebrides, and here only and in the Orkney Islands are
definite records of its having bred in Scotland. Apart from
a few odd references its story is mainly connected with
St Kilda, where it used to arrive in considerable numbers in
the spring time, seeking the shore from its winter home on
the wide sea, in order to lay its solitary egg and hatch its
young. One can trace in the accounts of successive visitors
to the island its gradual reduction in numbers, for it was
slain for its flesh, its oil and its feathers, until it became
a rare and occasional visitor and at last disappeared. Sir
George M'Kenzie of Tarbat in an account sent to Sir Robert
Sibbald, apparently before 1684, merely mentions the "Gare-
Fowle" amongst other common sea-birds of St Kilda, as if it
merited no special description. It seems still to have been
common in Martin's time, since his account of his visit to
the island in 1697, faithfully describes the Gairfowl, first

DESTRUCTION FOR FOOD

H5

among sea-birds, "being the stateliest as well as the largest
Sort." It is probable that Martin saw many alive, for he
says that "it comes without Regard to any Wind, appears
the ist of May and goes away about the middle of June"
and his own visit to St Kilda extended from ist of June
almost to the end of the month, the period when the islanders
would be most actively engaged in collecting the birds for
their winter stores. Yet in the account of St Kilda in his

Fig. 35. Bones of the extinct Garefowl from kitchen-midden at Keiss, Caithness. £ nat. size.

i. Upper portion of beak 2. Right and left wing bones (humeri) (inverted).

3. Right and left leg bones (tibio-tarsi).

Description of the Western Isles of Scotland, published in
1703, Martin mentions only the Solan Goose and the Fulmar
as being the most important of all the birds to the inhabitants.
Perhaps already the Garefowl had fallen from its rank with
these birds, although in Martin's own opinion in 1697 it took
its place with them in the island's economy.

A few years later, the minister of St Kilda, Rev. Mr
A. Buchan, in an account written between 1708 and 1730,

146 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

though not published till 1773, mentions the Garefowl as
still a visitor to the island ; but while he describes the more
abundant and useful sea-birds in detail, he passes lightly
over the Garefowl, whose importance to the islanders had
apparently greatly diminished with its shrinking numbers.
Before the next recorded visit to St Kilda was paid, the
Garefowl, from being a regular visitor had become a mere
straggler to the island, appearing now no longer in May to
breed, but as a wanderer in July. In 1758 the Rev. Mr
Kenneth Macaulay visited the island and in his description,
published in 1764, makes mention of

a very curious fowl sometimes seen upon this coast — The men of Hirta
call it the Gare-fowl, corruptly, perhaps, instead of Rare-fowl.... It makes
its appearance in July. The St Kildeans do not receive an annual visit from

this strange bird It keeps at a distance from them, they know not where,

for a course of years.

Here the records of any regular sort of visitation of
St Kilda by the Garefowl cease, and a few more exceedingly
casual appearances complete the story of its existence. A
specimen was captured alive off the island in 1821 or 1822,
a few years after the last individual had been taken in the
Orkneys on Papa Westray in 1813. And with an individual
captured on St Kilda in 1840, the history of the Garefowl
in Scotland comes to an end. It may have lingered on for
a few more years in Iceland or the Faroe Islands, but about
1844 or 1845 the Garefowl disappeared from the world of
living things.

THE GANNET AND THE FULMAR

Fortunately not all the sea-birds upon which the in-
habitants of the isles depended for food have met the fate
of the Garefowl. No bird could well have been more useful
to the St Kildans than the Gannet or Solan Goose (Sula
bassana), whose oil and feathers were of inestimable value,
and whose carcases, to the number of over twenty thousand,
were preserved annually for winter fare. Of St Kilda and
its neighbours, Soay and Boreray, Martin wrote in 1703,

The largest and two lesser Isles... abound with a Prodigious number of
Sea-fowl from March till September, the Solan Geese are very numerous
here in so much that the Inhabitants commonly keep yearly above twenty
thousand young and old in their little stone Houses of which there are

DESTRUCTION FOR FOOD 147

some hundreds for preserving their Fowls, Eggs, &c. They use no Salt for
preserving their Fowl, the Eggs of the Sea Wild-Fowl are preserved some
months in the Ashes of Peats, and are astringent to such as be not
accustomed to eat them.

Even on the small area of the Bass Rock as many as 1300
Gannets were slaughtered yearly in the latter half of the
eighteenth century, their products being valued at some
^120; and the destruction of man has altogether driven this
interesting bird from Lundy Island, a former haunt on the
coast of Wales. That the Gannets caught on the Bass were
widely used for food is indicated by the following advertise-
ment from the Edinburgh Advertiser of Aug. 5, 1 768 :

"SOLAN GOOSE.

"There is to be sold, by JOHN WATSON, Jun. at his Stand at the Poultry,
Edinburgh, all lawfull days in the week, wind and weather serving, good
and fresh Solan Geese. Any who have occasion for the same may have
them at reasonable rates."

The reasonable rate was about "twenty-pence apiece," but
the old birds were said to have had a flavour too rank and
fishy for the average palate, so that only young or newly
fledged chicks were commonly eaten. They "used to be
considered as excellent provocatives."

The Fulmar Petrel (Fulmarus glacialis], a bird which
is annually increasing its range at the present day, also paid
heavy toll at the hands of the people of St Kilda.

"Can the world" said one of the most intelligent inhabitants to the
Rev. Mr Macaulay in 1758, "exhibit a more valuable commodity ? The
Fulmar furnishes oil for the lamp, down for the bed, the most salubrious
food, and tfce most efficacious ointments for healing wounds, besides a
thousand other virtues of which he is possessed which I have not time to
enumerate. But to say all in one word, deprive us of the Fulmar, and St
Kilda is no more."

"Of the fowls themselves," Macaulay tells us, "every family
has a great number salted in casks for winter provisions, and
the amount of the whole is about twelve barrels." At the
present day the Fulmar has entirely replaced the Gannet in
the economy of St Kilda.

i48 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE
"BIRD-BUTTER" AND BIRDS' EGGS

The value of the sea-birds was greatly increased by the
fat they yielded, which in the hands of the St Kildans was
converted into a highly nutritious butter-substitute, — a kind
of bird-butter. Martin has described how they manufactured
the fat of their sea- fowls into " their great and beloved
Gatholicon, the Giben, i.e. the fat of their fowls, with which
they stuff the stomach of a Solan Goose, in fashion of a
pudding."

"This Giben? he says, "is by daily Experience found to be a sovereign
Remedy for the Healing of Green Wounds.... They boil the Sea-plants,
Dulse and Slake, melting the 'Giben' upon them instead of Butter.... They
use this 'giben' with their Fish, and it is become the common Vehicle that
conveys all the Food down their Throats."

In the earlier days, when the Great Auk was abundant, its
capacious stomach seems to have been preferred as a re-
pository for the bird-butter, on the same ground that the
Greenlanders found it to be the most efficient float for their
harpoons.

The destruction of birds' eggs for food has also had some
effect upon the bird population. A sixteenth century manu-
script in the Advocates' Library in Edinburgh (MS. 31. 2. 6)
states of the inhabitants of St Kilda that "thair daily
exercitation is maist in delving and labouring the ground,
taking of foullis and gaddering their eggis, quharon they
leif for the maist pairt of their fude," and Martin calculated
that during a three weeks' residence on the island, the
members of his own boat's crew and that of the Steward
collected "Sixteen Thousand Eggs of Sea-Fowl." The
cliff-climbers of Shetland and Orkney, too, were renowned
for the success, as for the hardihood of their raids. But the
effect on birds which frequent every ledge of a suitable
rocky coast in numbers innumerable, is less patent than that
upon land birds which occur in more limited numbers. The
Times of 1871 recorded that so ruthlessly were Lapwings
robbed of their eggs, which as a delicacy commanded $d. to
6d. each, that, at that time, the bird was almost exterminated
in the north of England, and the Statutory Orders protecting
Lapwings' eggs at the present day are a sign of the reality
of this destruction throughout the country.

DESTRUCTION FOR FOOD 149

FISHERIES

Since the days when the Azilian wanderers from Europe
cast on their refuse-heaps in Oronsay the remains of the
Wrasse and the Sea- Bream, the Conger Eel, the Spiny
Dog-fish and many another, the wealth of our seas has been
increasingly purloined on behalf of man. The extent of
Scottish sea-fisheries was the constant wonder of early
travellers from other lands. "It is impossible to describe
the immense quantity of fish. The old proverb says already
'Piscinata Scotia'/' wrote Don Pedro de Ayala, ambassador
from Ferdinand and Isabella, in 1498 ; and so also the
Italian, Ubaldini, in 1529:

They have besides. ..an incredible quantity offish from all parts of the
island and especially when one goes more towards the North, — in such
fashion, that the people of the Island being unable to consume so much
fish, furnish and load infinite ships every year for France, Flanders, Zeland,
Holand, and Germany, and inland even, and even into other and more
distant countries, but for the delight of richer, greedy or more gluttonous
men.

It is little to be wondered at, therefore, that our own
historians found it difficult adequately to describe the re-
sources of our seas. Leslie (1578) says the "Lochis or
bosumis of the Sey" are "copious in herring miracolouslie,"
so that, as the Wardlaw chronicler mentions a hundred years
later, "the greatest hearing sold for twopence, at least a
penny, the least, two farthings, the hundred. No such penny
worth in the world."

"As tuecheng [touching] vthiris fishes," continues Leslie, "I can nocht
tell, gif in ony place in the warlde, athir be mair varietie or mair abundance,
of sum kyndes, baith freshe and salt water fishe."

The abundance offish led to extraordinary slaughter, in
which foreign vessels played no little part. It is on record
that in one year three thousand busses or small fishing
smacks were known to have been employed by the Dutch
in the herring fishing in Shetland, beside those fitted out
by the Hamburghers, Bremeners and other northern nations;
and in recent years the number of fishing craft working
round the Scottish coasts has exceeded 10,000, while the
amount of fish landed outruns eight million hundredweights.

What the ultimate result of such destruction has been
upon the apparently inexhaustible resources of the sea, it is

i5o DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

difficult to gauge. The herring shoals which used to frequent
many of our sea-lochs seem to have disappeared, and in a
limited area, such as the North Sea, there can be little doubt
that the stocks of various kinds of fishes have been reduced
in numbers, as well as in size of individuals. Many "of man's
engines of destruction have contributed to this result. Since
the introduction of the otter-trawl in the deeper water, the
daily catch of Plaice has continually fallen off, and in inshore
fisheries such implements as the shrimp-trawl have been
responsible for the destruction of hordes of small fishes, the
promise of years to come. In half an hour's shrimping in
the Mersey, Mr J. T. Cunningham found many young fishes
among his 56 pints of Shrimps — 10,407 Flounders, 375
Lemon Soles, 169 Hake, 70 Ling, and 12 Soles.

In the more limited fisheries of our rivers, the results of
man's destruction are less dubious, although here pollution
of rivers and the creation of obstacles to migration have
combined with active slaughter to reduce the stock. Think
of the massacres which every year overtake Salmon on their
migration from the sea. Stoddart gives a vivid description
of such a killing, which took place near Melrose in 1846,
when

upwards of three hundred breeding fish writhed and bled on the prongs of
a single leister [a type of three-pronged fork, famous in the annals of Border
poaching,] and at least six thousand which had escaped the toils of the
Berwick fishermen and formed the hope and stay of future seasons of
abundance, were cut off by means of the deadly instrument, along the
course of the river [Tweed].

But the river slaughter is insignificant compared with the
destruction caused by fixed nets and other "engines" which
ensnare the Salmon on their journeyings along the coast or
in estuaries in search for a suitable stream.

For many hundreds of years the present methods of
catching fish immigrating to our rivers from the sea have
been practised ; and for almost as many years discussions
have raged as to the ultimate effect of these methods upon
the fish stock of stream and river. Asa rule the destruction
of migrating fishes in nets and fixed engines at the mouth
of a river, has been held to influence adversely the migrant
stock, since many of the Salmon on which the bounty of
a future season depends fail to reach the spawning grounds.

DESTRUCTION FOR FOOD 151

So even in the reign of Robert Bruce we find statutes
forbidding the use of "fixed engines," and an Act of 1424
(James I) decreed

that all cruives and yaires set in fresche watteris, quhair the sea filles and
ebbis, the quhilk destroyis the frie of all fisches be destroyed and put awaie
for ever mair.

The Royal Commission on Salmon Fisheries in 1902
reached the same conclusion as to the definite results of
nets and fixed engines upon the fisheries of certain rivers.
The evidence is vague and contradictory, but it seems to
show that there is a gradual decrease in the numbers of
Salmon in the upper waters of some netted rivers and in the
estuaries of others, the latter point being strikingly indicated
by the decline in the number of applications for net fishing
licences in certain districts of England and Wales. Besides,
there is fairly clear evidence that in some areas the im-
migrant fishes are unable to reach the upper waters and the
spawning grounds until the nets are off, and that the
permanent or temporary removal of nets to allow easy access
to the river has resulted in improvement of the fisheries.

It is not so much the actual numbers of immigrating
fishes destroyed by man that count, though this in itself
affects the stock of the river, but that many mature fishes
are prevented from reaching the spawning grounds to the
prejudice of the stock of future seasons.

A result undoubtedly due, in part at any rate, to man's
interference can be seen in the general decline in the catch
of grilse, especially marked since the opening of the nine-
teenth century. At that time the catch of grilse in Tweed
alone was occasionally a hundred times greater than the
catch for the whole of Scotland to-day, and, wrote Mr W. L.
Calderwood in 1916, "in a period of twenty years it never
fell below a figure thirty times as great as the present day
catch for the whole of Scotland." The economic standing
of the Tweed fisheries gives a clear indication of the decline
due to destruction, for whereas in 1807 the rents of the
Tweed fishings amounted to ,£15,766, in 1860 their value
had fallen to a little over ,£4000. The accompanying
diagram illustrates the results of fifty years fishing at the
mouth of the Tweed by the Berwick Salmon Fisheries
Company. In the diagram the annual total catch, as well

152

DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

as the catch of Salmon and Trout separately, are shown, the
annual average being struck for five-yearly periods. Part
of the extraordinary decline, from an average of 109,971
Salmon and Trout in the period 1842 to 1846 (in 1842 the
numbers reached i48,93O,)toless than 4O,oooin the 'seventies,
is rio doubt due to restrictive legislation controlling the size
of mesh of salmon nets, but this still leaves much of the fall-
ing off to be explained.

TWEED FISHERIES

DURING FIFTY YEARS

1842-46 47-51 52-56 57-61 62-66 67-71 72-76 77-81 82-86 87-91

Fig. 36. The Decline of Tweed Fisheries, as shown by the statistics of Trout and
Salmon caught during fifty years. Each column indicates the average annual catch in a
period of five years. Dotted columns indicate number of Trout caught; lined columns,
Salmon : solid columns, total catch of Trout and Salmon.

The figures at tops of columns show actual numbers caught; those at bottom the five
yearly periods.

In other countries also, destruction is proceeding apace:
in 1913 on the Pacific coast of the United States of
America, 140,000,000 Salmon were slain for food, and the
gross value of canned salmon packed in North America in
1916, amounted to ,£8,708,527.

Take again the case of a close relative of the Salmon
and Trout— the Char (Salvelinus alpinus and its races).

DESTRUCTION FOR FOOD 153

This beautiful fish is a native of our deeper lakes, which it
entered, a migrant from the sea, at the close of the Ice Age,
and where it has been impounded by subsequent changes
in the volume of rivers and in the configuration of the surface
of the country. The Char is an excellent food fish, and has
long been netted in many lochs. I give only one instance
of the destruction of Char in Scottish waters. A few years
ago, Mr Campbell, a well-known inhabitant of Kirigussie,
told me that in his young days (he mentioned about the
years 1860 to 18/0), Char were so common in Loch Insh,
Inverness-shire, that when they came up the river Spey to
spawn — a custom peculiar to Loch Insh Char, and probably
a relic of the old migratory habit which still characterizes
Char in Scandinavia — enormous numbers were netted and
snared with a simple ring of brass upon a long stick. He
himself with two companions, on one occasion netted in
the Spey, in a few hours during the night, as many Char as
the three fishers could carry home. The fish were pickled
with salt and preserved for winter use. Nowadays Char are
by no means so plentiful in Loch Insh, and there can be
little doubt that the great slaughter regularly inflicted upon
them at spawning time has been a cause of their decline.
In several other lakes they have been entirely extirpated
within the memory of man.

SHELL-FISHERIES

The extent to which our coasts have been rifled of their
molluscan shell-fish, since the times when the products of
the sea-shore formed the staple food supply of our Neolithic
forerunners, can scarcely be realized. At the present day,
taking 1913, the last completed year before the War, as a
standard, Mussels, Clams or Scallops, Periwinkles and a few
others to the amount of 126,468 hundredweights valued at
.£16,662, were gathered on the Scottish coast for food or
bait, and to these must be added 1,316,100 Oysters valued
at ,£4757. Many of our common shell-fish could successfully
withstand much greater depletion, but some have been
clearly affected by man's destruction. " Hard by the town [of
Leith]," wrote Lowther in 1629, " be oysters dragged which
go to Newcastle, Carlisle and all places thereabouts, they be

154 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

under 3^. the 100" ; and in 1794 the oyster-beds opposite
Prestonpans formed the chief fishery of that port, the ten
oyster boats seldom returning without 400 or 500 Oysters
each. But, in spite of protection, the oyster-beds of the
Forth have long ceased to be worth working and have now
almost disappeared. Our forefathers who accumulated the
kitchen-middens of past times lived largely on Oysters on
several parts of the coast (as in Easter Ross) where Oysters
are now scarcely to be found.

In Co. Clare, Ireland, the consumption of the Warty
Venus Shell (Venus verrucosa] was so great that at one
time, according to Mr Damon, the species was almost ex-
terminated there.

Land-shells, because of their more limited numbers, seem
to have suffered even more severely than the denizens of
the sea. It is on record that in the kitchen-midden of an
ancient underground house in N. Ronaldshay in Orkney,
great numbers of the Banded Garden Snail {Helix nemoralis]
were discovered. But the Banded Garden Snail is now
extinct on the island. So great did the consumption of the
large Roman Snail {Helix pomatid] become in France, where
during the season 50 tons were sent daily to Paris alone,
that its serious depletion in numbers compelled the French
Government to protect it by law, and close seasons were
instituted when it was illegal to gather or eat the desirable
morsel.

Crustacean shell-fish have likewise suffered from the
zeal of man. In 1913, Scottish coasts supplied the table
with 681,059 Lobsters, and 2,213,866 Crabs, and as a result
of constant harrying, and in spite of protecting laws, the
numbers, as well as the average size of Lobsters have fallen
off in many places.

DESTRUCTION FOR SKINS AND OIL

IT is only in recent years that the value of fur-bearing
animals to mankind has been estimated at its real worth,
and that ruthless slaughter has been replaced by endeavours
to preserve and encourage the multiplication of creatures
whose coats are valuable commercial assets to their native
countries. There was no such farsightedness in Scotland
of the old days ; fashion and profit were the only guides,
and the result was a persistent destruction, which, sometimes
outpacing natural reproduction, contributed to the curtail-
ment of range or even to the extermination of our few native
fur-bearing animals.

In former times Scotland held a European reputation for
its skins. What animals contributed to this fame, and
suffered on its account ? Boece, in the sixteenth century,
tells us that

King Ewin biggit ane othir toon on the river of Nes, quhilk is yit namit
Innernes [Inverness], quhair sum time wes gret repair of marchandis,
quhilkis come out of Almany to seik riche furringis; as martrikis [Martens],
bevaris [Beavers] and siclike skinnis quhilkes aboundis in that regioun.

In another place he mentions the coveted creatures in rather
greater detail :

Beside Lochnes, quhilk is xxiv milis of lenth, and xii of breid, ar mony
wild hors ; amang thame, ar mony martrikis, bevers, quhitredis [Stoats or
Ermines], and toddis [Foxes] ; the furringis and skinnis of thaim are coft
[bought] with gret price amang uncouth [foreign] marchandis.

And of the people of Orkney, Leslie said in 1578 that part
of "thair riches consistes...in the skinis of wilde beistes."

Further light is thrown upon the traffic in Scottish skins
by an analysis of the customs duties levied upon exports.
The Ayr manuscript, written in the days of King Robert
Bruce, in a chapter on " Peloure or Peltry'' enumerates
along with the commoner skins of Tod, Whitret, Mertrick
and Cat, those of Beaver and Sable, perhaps foreign skins re-
exported, as well as hides and Deer skins. And at the Port
of Leith in 1482, among the taxed articles are mentioned

156 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE*

skins of Calf, Goat, Kid, Rabbit, Polecat, Otter and Badger.
Many varieties of skins of domestic animals contributed to
the exports— fleeces of sheep, skins of "shorlings," lambs
and "futfallis" (lambs that die just after birth), goat skins
and calf skins, kid skins and salt hides, but sifch skins
scarcely entailed slaughter other than food requirements
made necessary. Of the skins of wild animals the chief annual
exports in the early years of the seventeenth century, as shown
in an important paper from the charter chest of the Earl of
Mar and Kellie, were

hairt hyddis [Red Deer skins] 91 daicker1 extending, at £20 the daicker,
to ^iSjo2; rea [Roe Deer] skynnis, 240, at i6s. the pece, ^186'-'; tod
skynnis, 1012, at 405-. the pece, ^2024; otter skynnis, 44, at 4os. the pece
;£88 ; andcuneing [Rabbit] skinnis, 53,234, at £6 the hundreth, ^3194.

Apart from this considerable export of Scottish skins,
many changed hands within the country at local fairs, of
which the annual " Fur Market " of Dumfries was typical.
Here there was on sale every February, the year's produce
of Dumfriesshire, of the Shire or Stewartry of Galloway, of
the counties of Ayr, Lanark, Peebles, Selkirk, Roxburgh,
and even of Cumberland and Northumberland; Hare skins,
sometimes to the number of 70,000 ; Rabbit skins, in one
year as many as 200,000; Fitches, Foumarts or 'Polecats, on
one occasion 600 ; and skins of Otters, Badgers, Foxes and
Cats as the supply offered.

The constant drain upon the wild inhabitants of the
country for the sake of their skins, cannot but have told
upon their numbers. Yet so complicated is the influence of
man that the ultimate effects are not always easily to be
traced. On the one hand, new opportunities of increase in
numbers, afforded by the development of cultivation of the
soil, more than compensated for the destruction of Hares
and Rabbits, while on the other hand, their destructiveness,
real or fancied, hastened the decrease of " vermin " such as
the Marten and Polecat, the Otter, Badger and Fox.
Nevertheless an account of the histories of a few typical
fur-bearing animals in Scotland will give some indication of
the effects of continued persecution.

1 A daicker or daker— Lat. decuria, from decem— comprised 10 hides.

I trust that the charter-writer's statistics are more reliable than his
arithmetic in these cases.

DESTRUCTION FOR SKINS AND OIL

157

THE BEAVER

Rarest and most interesting of all Scotland's fur-bearers
was the Beaver (Castor fiber] (Fig. 37). Of its presence
throughout the country in days long gone by, there is
indubitable evidence, for its remains have been found in
the deposits of ancient lakes in which it disported itself
before man's advent to North Britain. From the Solway to
Perthshire in these days the Beaver was common. Its

Fig. 37. European Beaver — exterminated in Scotland, j1^ nat. size.

remains have been found in Dumfriesshire, and in a peat
moss at Kimmerghame in the parish of Edrom, Berwick-
shire, many bones were discovered in 1818 together with a
well preserved skull. Linton Loch in Roxburghshire has
also yielded a Beaver's skull, preserved in Kelso Museum,
and in the marl of the loch of Marlee, in Kinloch parish,
Perthshire, a skeleton was discovered of which the skull and
one of the haunch bones were presented to the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland in 1788. Of its continued presence
in the Lowlands during man's tenancy of the country the

158 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

evidence is equally clear, for in two prehistoric settlements
in Ayrshire — a shell-mound at Ardrossan and a cave shelter
at Cleaves Cove, Dairy — the bones of the Beaver have
been discovered amongst the miscellaneous contents of the
kitchen-middens. In historical times there are few references
to its presence, yet we cannot but believe that it existed in
the less frequented rivers almost till the middle ages. There
are Gaelic traditions telling of the presence of Dobhran-
losleathan — the Broad-tailed Otter — in many parts of the
Highlands, and it is said to have been plentiful at one time
in the district of Lochaber in Inverness-shire.

In the twelfth century, Giraldus Cambrensis, who found
Beavers in Wales, recorded that he had been informed that
they still existed in one river in Scotland, and in the early
half of the same century " Beveris " are included in a list of
animals whose skins were subject to export duty in the
reign of David I (1084-1153). I have already quoted
passages in which Boece mentions it as occurring in Loch
Ness (p. 155), and though it is possible, as has been suggested,
that Boece was recording only some vague tradition that
had reached his ears, yet many of his statements, it seems
to me, have met with unnecessary scepticism, and I see no
reason why the Beaver may not have lingered on in the
wilds of Inverness-shire even to the sixteenth century, since
many others of our decadent creatures found there a safe
retreat. If so, it could not long have survived the date of
Boece's record ; and in the light of its history here as in
other countries, it is safe to attribute, its extermination to
the destructiveness of man. I know no case which illustrates
more clearly how a single whim of fashion can affect the
creatures of a land even far distant, than the history of the
Beavers of North America (Castor canadensis]. So long as
beaver fur was used on a large scale for the making of hats,
the Beaver was so keenly hunted that it was threatened
with extinction, but the invention of the silk hat, in ousting
the 'beaver,' resulted in an immediate increase in the
numbers of American Beavers, and in their reappearance
in places they had long forsaken.

DESTRUCTION FOR SKINS AND OIL

59

THE MARTEN OR MERTRICK

Once a common denizen of Scottish woods and wilds,
the Pine Marten (Maries martes) (Fig. 38), or Mertrick
in the Old Scots tongue, was in former tinles persistently
slaughtered for its "costly furrings." In the old laws and
ledgers reference is often made to the Marten's skin. It
was one of the valuable items of Scottish export, and a
regulation made in the reign of David II (1324-1371),

Fig. 38. Pine Marten — approaching extinction in Scotland. (From individual
killed at Kintail, West Ross, in 1886.) \ nat. size.

imposes a "custom of 4^. to be paid on each timmer1 of
mertrick skins at the outpassing." In 1424, the duty was
raised to 6d. on each Mertrick skin exported.

It was possibly the fact that Martens had become rarer,
owing to the continual drain upon their numbers, that
suggested the use of their increasingly desirable skins as

1 Timmer or Timber, a merchant's term used to denote, according to
kind, a number of skins. A timber of such as Martens, Polecats, and
Ermines, contained 30 skins, of other creatures, 130 skins.

160 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

a caste distinction in the fifteenth century; seeing that in
1457, the Scottish Parliament ordained "burgesses (unless
bailies or councillors) and their wives and daughters, and
clerks (unless dignitaries of cathedrals) not to wear furrings
of mertricks except on holiday."

The result of such slaughter as the Marten was subjected
to could be in no doubt, and the history of the Marten in
Harris in the Outer Hebrides, as given by successive visitors,
well illustrates its progressive effects. In 1549 Monro wrote
"In this countrey of Harrey [is]. . infinite slaughter^ of otters
and mactickes [probably a mis-spelling for mertricks]." A
century and a half later, in 1703, Martin says "they are
pretty numerous in this Isle; they have a fine Skin, which
is smooth as any Fur, and of a brown Colour." Little more
than a century passed and in 1830 Macgillivray found that
it was "not very uncommon '; and less than fifty years later,
Harvie-Brown regarded it as almost exterminated there.

On the mainland the same process of extirpation pro-
ceeded, intensified by the fact that the Marten's depredations
in the poultry yard and amongst game, and its occasional
forays against lambs and even grown sheep, led to its en-
rolment in the class of " vermin." The disappearance of the
Marten has been more rapid than that of the Wild Cat, for,
notwithstanding that at a late date it covered a wider
area of Scotland, it is now the rarer of the two creatures.
Dr Harvie-Brown has given a comprehensive account of its
history in Scotland up to 1881, and later information has
added little to the general truths his facts brought to light. 1 1
is true that the track of its disappearance is often obscured by
the sporadic occurrence, in districts far from their birth place,
of wandering individuals or pairs, which have little chance
of setting up successful new colonies. Yet the main drift of
the disappearance of the Marten is clear.

The cultivated districts were earliest forsaken, an indica-
tion that pest rather than pelt determined its disappearance,
and indeed, vermin or rabbit traps have accounted for most-
of the numbers slain during the nineteenth century. A few
pairs may still lurk in the Cheviots, but the Lowlands of
Scotland are now practically deserted, although it was
common so far south as Kirkcudbrightshire in 1796, and
1 I have italicised the significant words in each passage.

DESTRUCTION FOR SKINS AND OIL 161

odd examples were killed in Ayrshire in 1876 (Maybole)
and in 1878-9 (Minnoch Water). From the midlands too
it has gone. It was "rare" in Stirlingshire at the end of the
eighteenth century, and the last wanderer to Dumbartonshire
was killed at Arrochar in 1882, the last to the kingdom of
Fife near Dunfermline in 1873. It has been driven even
from the wilds of southern Perthshire, which ceased to be
an important breeding ground about the 'fifties and 'sixties
of last century, although odd stragglers were seen up to 1880,
when one was killed at Balquhidder.

The east coast also has been deserted. The last recorded
example in Forfarshire was slain about 1860. In Aberdeen-
shire the Marten has been driven to the wilds of Strathdee
and Strathdon, for although a straggler was found at Gourdas
in Fyvie in 1894, the last individual on the coast was killed
at Ellon in 1874. The southern border of the Moray Firth
was abandoned many years previous to the appearance of
a pair of wanderers near Burghead about 1868.

In the more northern counties the Marten still retains
a hold, but in reduced numbers which find sanctuary in the
protected wilds of the deer forests. The last remnant of a
once universally distributed and flourishing race has been
pressed backwards and ever backwards by the persecution
of mankind, till it now finds itself concentrated in the forests
and moors of the central Highlands, in Sutherland, Ross
and Inverness and perhaps in Aberdeen, Perth and Argyll.
From the wilder breeding centres of these districts the
Marten still ranges occasionally into new territory (an in-
dividual appeared at Colintraive on the Kyles of Bute in
1914), but such wanderers invariably meet a fate unworthy
of their venturesomeness, and the Marten, first pursued for
its skin and later for its transgressions, has already trodden
far upon the path to extinction.

THE POLECAT OR FOUMART

The history of the Polecat (Mustela putorius] (Fig. 39,
p. 163) or Foumart (this Old English and Scottish equiva-
lent meaning Foul Marten, from the atrocious smell of the
creature) runs parallel with that of the Marten. Once an
abundant and universally distributed denizen of Scottish

1 62 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

wilds, it was hunted first for its skin, and later on account
of its love of poultry and game. This, and especially its
fondness for Rabbits, has led to its undoing.

In the old days its skin was an export of some value, the
export duty of 4^. on each timmer1 of Ferret skins imposed
in the reign of David II (1324-1371) being raised, in 1424,
to "8^. to be paid on each ten fulmart's skins, called fethokis,
exported." In the country's fur markets, too, it held an
important place, and the influence upon its welfare of man's
interference can be clearly traced in the dwindling numbers
of skins offered for sale, as well as in the rising prices paid
for skins by traders at local fairs. At the annual Dumfries
Fur Fair, the contemporary records of which, from 1816 till
1874 when the Fair ceased, were collected by Mr R. Service,
there were exposed for sale in 1829 400 Foumarts' skins, in
1831 600 and in the following year, they were, as the con-
temporary account puts it "a drug on the market." Yet in
1856 the numbers had fallen to 240, in 1860 to 168, in 1866
to 12 and from 1869 till the Fair ceased there were "no
foumart skins on offer."

The diagram (Fig. 40, p. 165) shows graphically the effect
of constant slaughter on the numbers of Foumarts collected
throughout the Lowlands of Scotland, and, equally instructive,
the gradually increasing price which the skins commanded,
for although the trend of fashion and demand may account
for minor fluctuations, there can be little doubt that in the
main the rising value is to be associated with the growing
scarcity of the animal. The price is reckoned upon "the
furrier's dozen" which consisted of

twelve very best full-sized skins, or a greater number of small-sized or
secondary quality, or torn skins, so that a "dozen" sometimes really con-
sisted of twenty or thirty or more of inferior skins.

The fixing of prices according to the "furrier's dozen," has
the advantage, from our point of view, of practically eliminat-
ing price fluctuations due to the quality of the skins. The
general rising tendency of the values, as plotted in the graph,
is apparent; before 1850 twice only did the price reach 2os.
and sometimes it fell to 1 2*. a dozen, after 1 850 it fell beneath
the 2os. standard only twice, and in one year ranged from
425-. to 45.?. The steady and gradual rise is still more marked
1 See footnote p. 159.

DESTRUCTION FOR SKINS AND OIL 163

1 64 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

when the extremes are eliminated by the simple method of
taking the average of five consecutive prices.

The slaughter, begun on account of the value of its pelt,
was continued, in part by design, because of its, thieving
tendencies, and in part by accident; for after the. Rabbit had
been introduced and encouraged by man, the Polecat found
in it an easy prey, and, congregating where Rabbits most
abounded, fell an easy victim to the steel traps of the rabbit-
catchers.

How, in face of such misfortunes, does the Polecat
stand in Scotland to-day ? The records of its occurrences up
to 1 88 1 have been collected by Dr Harvie- Brown.

In the south of Scotland it is almost if not quite extinct.
Its general disappearance from Berwickshire may be placed
about the 'sixties of last century, though one was seen near
Linhope in 1880; the last Roxburgh example on record
was caught in Liddesdale in the winter of 1879-80; in
Dumfries one appeared on the lands of Glenlee in 1892,
the only one heard of in the county for upwards of twenty-
five years; an example killed in Troqueer parish in 1880
was probably the last of the Kirkcudbrightshire race. In
Ayrshire, the Polecat was regarded as almost extinct in
1 88 1 ; in Lanark none have been heard of since about 1860;
and the last Renfrew example on record was killed in 1868.

In the midlands it has fared no better. In Haddington
the last example recorded was shot near North Berwick
about 1860: in Midlothian none have been seen since "a
number of years prior to 1 880" (Fala Hill) ; a stray wanderer
to Kinneil in 1886 completed the Linlithgow tale; in Stirling
and Dumbarton, where they were once so plentiful that one
could be caught at any time, a solitary survivor was seen at
Garden in the winter of 1 879-80. Kinross has been deserted
since 1860, Fife since 1880, when one was seen at Falkland.
Southern Perthshire and the Loch Awe district of Argyll
have been forsaken since 1860, though in the wilder parts
of the latter county, in Sunart and Ardnamurchan, 50 were
killed between 1870 and 1880.

Only a rare straggler now occurs along the east coast.
There have been none in Forfarshire since 1860. Except
for a casual wanderer such as that killed in a glen near
Peterhead in 1894, and notwithstanding the fact that in two

DESTRUCTION FOR SKINS AND OIL

165

years about 1863 and 1864, one keeper killed 30 on a single
estate (Littlewood) on Donside, and that 57 were killed in
five parishes on upper Deeside in ten years from 1 776, Aber-
deenshire has ceased to be tenanted since about 1870.

The same tale has to be told of the southern border of
the Moray Firth. A Polecat appeared at Whitewreath, four
miles south of Elgin in 1898, but its fellows had been
exterminated before 1880. In all but the wilder parts of
Inverness it is extinct, though less than a hundred years ago
it was so common that in three years (1837-40) Glengarry
alone furnished 109 individuals.

600

500

_cu

Efl

g 400

$ 300
Hi

I 20°

5
5

100

/ O^r "a drug in the market'
; * >" below average''

/ V\

IX

43/6
40/-

30/- '*

25/- I

5:
20/- .£

151-
12/-

1830 1835 1840 1845 1850 1855 1860- 1865 1870 1875

Fig. 40. THE DECLINE OF THE POLECAT; as shown by the dwindling
numbers of skins and rising prices at Dumfries Fur Fair. Numbers of skins are indicated
on the left, prices per furrier's dozen on the right. Broken line indicates skins on sale;
thin unbroken line, prices recorded; thick unbroken line, five-yearly averages of prices.

The graph of skins is based on available numbers only, the remarks inserted are from
the Market Reports of the Fair.

Even in Ross-shire it is now seldom seen, the example
last recorded having occurred at Leckmelm in 1902. In the
wilds of Sutherlandshire the Polecat has longer kept a foot-
ing: in 1912 one was seen at Lairg near Loch Shin, and
at Inchnadamph the years between 1880 and 1889 yielded
seven, and 1890 to 1899 eighteen individuals. It is hardly
necessary to add that the islands have been long deserted,

though Monro wrote in 1549 "Oronsay quhair there is

mayne laiche [low] land, full of hairs and foumarts."

1 66 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

The conclusion is clear that the curve of the decadence
of the Polecat shown for the Lowlands of Scotland, applies
with slight shiftings of dates to the country as a whole, and
that this creature, once a universal native of ^Scotland,
and now a rare dweller in the wilds of Ross, Sutherland,
and Inverness, is balanced on the brink of extinction, to
which it has been driven by the persecution of man.

Of Scottish skins there were none that ranked in value
with those of the Beaver, the Marten and the Foumart, yet
several other creatures suffered in less degree for their pelts.
Among these were Rabbits and Hares, and, in order of
descending importance, the Fox, the Otter, and the Badger;
but the destructiveness of these creatures, as well as the
demand for their pelts, accounts in great measure for their
persecution.

RABBITS AND HARES

In a future chapter (p. 247) I shall discuss the intro-
duction of the Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus] to Scotland,
but it may not be out of place to remind the reader that
this native of south-western Europe was brought to Scotland
and planted in warrens throughout the country, mainly on
account of the value of its skin. This in former times far
exceeded the value of its flesh, and commanded a price
varying from half-a-crown to three shillings, according to
its quality and size. In early times there was considerable
foreign demand for rabbit skins, so that a Scottish law of
1424 imposed a duty of \id. on every 100 "cuning" skins
exported. In the beginning of the seventeenth century the
Scottish export exceeded 53,000 a year. In the same century
a great stimulus was given to the use of rabbit and hare
skins when, in 1621, the wearing of "castor" or beaver hats
was forbidden by law, except to the highest in the land
to whom the special privilege of wearing "beaver" was
granted in 1672, and when, following upon this prohibition,
a further statute, of 1695, granted authority for making hats
of rabbit and hare skins. For this purpose the underwool
or down alone was used, but the whole pelt also was made
into muffs and tippets, and was used for lining robes. So
great was the demand for skins that in the middle of the

DESTRUCTION FOR SKINS AND OIL

167

nineteenth century a Parliamentary Report estimated the
annual consumption of rabbit skins in England at 30,000,000.
In Scotland a great trade in the fur of Hares1 and Rabbits
was carried on at the local fur markets, Rabbits in southern
Scotland being classed, in order of decreasing value of skin,
as "warreners, parkers, hedgehogs and sweethearts," accord-
ing as they lived in warrens, pleasure parks, had no fixed
abode, or were tame. At the Dumfries Fur Market as
many as 70,000 hare skins and 200,000 rabbit skins have
been on sale in single years, but even such figures give no
idea of the constant drain upon the numbers of these animals
caused by the steady demand for fur.

200,000 sold

during winter

of 1871

100
«. 90

1 so

o 70

H 60

| 50

$ 40

§ 30

.5 20

& 10

0

1822 1825 1830 1835 1840 1845 l%5° l855 !86o 1865 1870 1874

Fig. 41. THE DESTRUCTION OF RABBITS AND HARES; as indicated by
the numbers of skins on sale at Dumfries Fur Fair.

Numbers of skins shown on right and left ; years below ; dotted line, Rabbit skins ;
unbroken line, Hare skins.

The position of the commencement of Prothero's " Golden Age " of British Agriculture
is indicated.

In the above diagram I have represented graphically the
numbers of hare and rabbit skins offered at the Dumfries
Fair from the early years of the nineteenth century till the
market came to an end about 1874.

The graph clearly shows that during these years
Rabbits in the Lowlands did not suffer ultimately in
number through the persecution of man, as one would have
expected, but that on the contrary, while Hares showed a
gradual decline till 1849 and then a steady rise till 1860, the

1 Almost altogether skins of the Common Hare (Lepus europaeus), but
perhaps also a few skins of Z. timidus, the Mountain Hare.

i68 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

numbers of Rabbits increased more than fourfold, an ex-
traordinary contrast to the rapid decline which marked the
history of the Polecat in the same area. The increase of
Rabbits is especially striking when one recollects that at the
beginning of the century they were comparatively few in
the south-western Lowlands, for the Agricultural Survey of
Dumfriesshire states that in 1812 "a few rabbits are to be
found, but hardly worth mentioning. There is no regular
warren." The increase of these grass-eaters is to be definitely
associated with the increasing supply of food afforded them
during a period which, from 1837 onwards but especially
after 1853, was marked by steadily increasing agricultural
activity throughout Scotland (see also p. 390).

It is worth noting also that the graph may afford some
evidence of that antipathy between Rabbits and Hares to
which I shall allude elsewhere (p. 253); for it is known
that locally in Scotland, as in New South Wales, where
exceptional increase of Rabbits has taken place, the Hares
have been driven out. The close agreement, for the greater
part, between the motions of the two curves may indicate that
only very large numbers of Rabbits adversely affect the
welfare of Hares.

THE FOX OR TOU

Of the destruction of the Fox ( Vulpes vulpes] on account
of its evil ways, I have already spoken, but it is well to
remember that the value of its skin acted like a price upon
its head in encouraging more strenuous pursuit. In the
fourteenth century an export duty of fourpence was levied
on each timmer of skins (see footnote, p. 159) and this was
raised, in 1424, to sixpence on every ten "tod" skins ex-
ported. In the beginning of the seventeenth century the
skins exported (valued at 40^. apiece) numbered 101 2 a year,
no inconsiderable slaughter when there is added to it the
number traded within the country, and when the limited
extent of the native stock is taken into account.

THE OTTER

The demand for the skins of Scottish Otters (Lutra
lutra] has been long on the downgrade. The Otter skins
which were exported in the early seventeenth century — the

DESTRUCTION FOR SKINS AND OIL 169

annual export averaged only some forty-four skins — fetched
"40?. the pece" but thereafter the price seems gradually
to have fallen. About 1800, according to the Dumfries
Courier vt February 2ist, 1829, a Dumfries dealer who pur-
chased sixty otter skins from a single individual, paid close
on 305-. each for them; but the statistics of the Dumfries
Fur Market show that from 1829 to 1869, when otter skins
ceased to be forthcoming, the price averaged rather under
los. a skin, and although it rose in 1840 to i$s., it frequently
fell so low as 55. and 6^., and touched its lowest ebb of 35-. to
6s. in 1866.

Nevertheless in the early days of trading the export was
sufficiently great to warrant the imposition of a customs duty,
which was modified from one halfpenny "on ilk otyr" in the
fourteenth century, to sixpence on every ten otter skins
exported in the fifteenth. In later times Scottish otter skins
were mostly forwarded to London, where they were manu-
factured into gaudily decked purses for export to Africa, but
apart from this, the demand was chiefly a local one.

The destruction of Otters for their fur, because of their
raids upon Salmon and Trout, and for sport, has made inroads
upon their numbers, occasionally attributed to other causes.

"The Ottars, also Seals or Seiches, and other such Sea-creatures," wrote
Brand in 1701 concerning Orkney, "are very numerous but now their
number is so much diminished, that not one of Twenty is to be seen, and
they have found several of them lying dead upon the Shore ; some hence
observing that the Judgments of GOD as to scarcity of suitable Provisions
to these Creatures are upon the Waters also."

The Dumfries Fur Market gives clearer evidence of their
gradual decline, for while 1829 saw 50 skins on sale, and
1831, 226, thereafter the greatest number recorded was 36
(1863), and after falling to six in 1866, otter skins ceased
to appear three years later. As the prices, which during
these forty years remain wonderfully steady despite an
occasional large rise or fall, give no indication that the
falling off was due to lack of demand, it is reasonable to
conclude that it may represent a real decline in the numbers
of Otters in the Scottish Lowlands, whence the supply of
the market was drawn.

The tale of a single "vermin" list will indicate the penalty
paid by the Otter for its depredations in fishing streams. On

i;o DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

the Duchess of Sutherland's estates in Sutherland, during
the three years from March 1831 to March 1834, a reward
of five shillings offered for each head was paid on 263 Otters.

THE BADGER OR BROCK

In Scotland the decadence of the Badger (Miles miles]
is to be accounted for by a multitude of influences which told
severally and directly against it. It was hunted for sport, it
was caught for baiting, it was destroyed for its destructive-
ness, it was killed for food, and its skins were a marketable
commodity. Of all these direct influences the value of its
skin was probably that which least influenced its welfare, for
in Scotland the skins never created any great demand, and
I mention the Badger here simply because the skins, which
sold at some $s. or 6.?. each, made an occasional appearance
at the Dumfries Fur Fair up to about the middle of the
nineteenth century.

The case of the Badger, however, is typical of most of
the fur-bearing natives of Scotland, and in concluding an
account of the influence of the trade in skins upon the
Scottish fauna, I would emphasize again that skins alone
seldom formed the whole object of the persecution to which
their possessors were subjected, but that other and varied
objects, and especially the protection of game and minor
domestic stock, combined to intensify the pursuit of most of
the fur-bearers. In Scotland there is no instance of that
single-mindedness arid intensity of destruction which led to
the slaughter by single ship's crews of 57,000 Fur Seals in
1800 during the short season in South Georgia, and of at
least 74,000 in Australia in 1804, and which on account
of their skins has almost exterminated Fur Seals in the
Southern Hemisphere. In Scotland motives have been
more complex, but the results if less striking have been no
less fatal to the races of fur-bearing animals.

DESTRUCTION FOR OIL

In discussing the creatures destroyed for their fat or oil,
we are reminded once more that a rigid classification of the
motives which have led to the slaughter of animals conveys
only part of the truth. While the fat of many a creature was

DESTRUCTION FOR SKINS AND OIL 171

manufactured into oil, — during centuries a necessity for light
and heat to the dwellers on the more remote parts of the
coast, — the flesh was often used as food. In particular the
Solan Goose and Fulmar were invaluable in supplying both
food and oil to the natives of their haunts, especially in the
isolated outer islands. The inhabitants of the Bass Rock, in
the beginning of the nineteenth century, were accustomed
to obtain ten gallons Scots of oil drawn from the fat of
the Solan.

For the most telling illustrations of ruthless and deadly
destruction of oil-bearing creatures, the enquirer must look
beyond the coasts of Scotland. In 1868 a few American
whaling ships turned their attention to the Walrus (Odobenus
rosmarus\ which yields about 20 gallons of oil, and finding
it an easy prey, each ship accounted for from 200 to 600
individuals. The result was that in succeeding years more
ships followed suit, so that in 1870 the American whaling
fleet is believed to have destroyed not fewer than 50,000
Walruses1. At the same time American traders were pursuing
with easy energy the Penguins of the southern Ocean, so
that small vessels specially fitted out for the work returned
after a six weeks' cruise with 25,000 to 30,000 gallons of oil,
and this, since eleven birds yield only a gallon, represented
a slaughter of some 300,000 birds to each ship. Or take the
case of the Turtle: Bates, in his Naturalist on the Amazon,
records how its eggs are collected for the oil they contain,
and estimates the destruction at 48,000,000 a year.

Although Scotland can instance no such appalling de-
struction of life, nevertheless the demand for oil proved a
constant drain upon her more slender resources.

SEALS

So long ago as the days of St Columba, the Monastery
of lona reserved for itself a small island lying off the coast,
whereon a colony of Seals was protected in order that the
monks should be furnished with food and with oil to lighten
the dark days of winter (see p. 222). On other parts of the
coast, also, regular seal fisheries -were engaged in in former
times, for we learn, from a charter of David I to the

1 This destruction was reflected in our fauna, for since the middle of
the nineteenth century the occasional appearance of the Walrus on the
coasts of Scotland has ceased.

i72 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

Monastery of Dunfermline, that on the east coast Seals
were objects of trade even in the twelfth century. Both
the Common Seal (Phoca vitulina) and the Grey Seal
(Halichcerus grypus) were objects of pursuit, but as a rule
fisheries on the east coast were concerned with the former,
and on the west coast and amongst the islands most often
with the latter. At a later date, in the neighbourhood of
North Uist, the slaughter was reckoned sometimes at 320
individuals a year. Here as elsewhere, the flesh of the Seal
as well as its oil was used, the former being preserved for
winter food. Martin tells how the men of "Heiskir" caught
the Seals in a narrow channel between that and a neighbour-
ing island, by means of a net of horse hair ropes, "contracted
at one end like a Purse," and gives a detailed account of a
seal-hunt in the Outer Islands, as he observed it about the
opening of the eighteenth century.

On the western coast of this Island [of Heiskir] lyes the Rock Cousmil,
about a quarter of a mile in circumference, and it is still famous for the
yearly fishing of seals there in the end of October. . . .These Farmers [probably
the men of N. Uist] man their Boat with a competent number for the
business, and they always imbarque with a contrary wind, for their security
against being driven away by the Ocean, and likewise to prevent them from
being discovered by the Seals, who are apt to smell the scent of them, and
presently run to sea.

When this Crew is quietly landed, they surround the passes, and then
the signal for the general attack is given from the Boat, and so they beat
them down with big staves. The Seals at this On-set make towards the
Sea, with all speed, and often force their passage over the necks of the
Stoutest assailants who aim always at the Forehead of the Seals, giving
many blows before they be killed, and if they be not hit exactly, on the
Front, they contract a Lump on the forehead, which makes them look very
fierce, and if they get hold of the staff with their Teeth, they carry it along
to sea with them. Those that are in the Boat shoot at them as they
run to Sea, but few are catched that way. The Natives -told me that
several of the biggest seals lose their Lives by endeavouring to save their
young ones, whom they tumble before them towards the Sea. I was told
also that 320 Seals, Young and Old, have been killed at one time in this
Place.... The Natives Salt the Seals with the ashes of burnt Sea Ware and
say they are good Food, the vulgar eat them commonly in the Spring time
with a long pointed Stick instead of a Fork to prevent the strong smell
which their hands would otherwise have for several Hours after. The
Flesh and Broth of fresh Young Seals, is by experience known to be
Pectoral, the Meat is Astringent and used as an effectual remedy against
the Diarrhoea and Dysenteria; the Liver of a Seal being dry'd and
pulverized and afterwards a little of it drunk with Milk, Aquavita, or Red
Wine is also good against Fluxes.

DESTRUCTION FOR SKINS AND OIL 173

Some of the Natives wear a Girdle of the Seals Skin about their middle
to remove the Sciatica, as those of the Shire of ABERDEEN wear it to remove
the Chin-cough

The Seal, tho' esteemed fit only for the Vulgar, is also eaten by Persons
of Distinction, though under a different name, to wit, Hamm.

Sixty years later, Macaulay, describing the same sealing
ground, adds

that the fat of the Seals, is by the people, to whose share that perquisite
falls, converted now into oil and sent to market. But in that writer's
[Martin's] time, and for ages immemorial before, this, together with the
flesh of these animals, was eaten either fresh or salted.

And in 1830 Macgillivray could still write of "Gaskir [or
Haskeir] twelve miles from Harris" that "great numbers are
killed upon it annually, upwards of a hundred and twenty
having been destroyed in one day."

Close on two hundred years before Martin wrote of the
Outer Hebrides, "Jo. Ben." (perhaps the Bellenden who
translated Boece's History] described, in a Latin manuscript,
a very similar seal-hunt which in the sixteenth century took
place annually at "Selchsskerry" in the Orkneys, and even
in 1795, Low in his Fauna Orcadensis relates that "a ship
commonly goes from this place once a-year to Soliskerry
[Suleskerry], and seldom returns without 200 or 300 Seals."

Now the significance of the number of Seals killed
depends not upon its intrinsic greatness, but upon its relation
to the annual increase of the stock which inhabits the hunting-
grounds. There can be no doubt that the slaughter of
former days in Scotland exceeded the natural increase and
trespassed upon the breeding stock of Seals. The result has
been that the Seals of Scotland have been greatly reduced
in number, a result especially evident in the case of the
larger and more valuable species, the Grey Seal. This fine
creature, the object of the seal-hunts at Haskeir in the Outer
Hebrides, and amongst the Orkney and Shetland Islands,
is thought to have been at one time the commonest seal
on the east coast also. Its bones have been found in a
kitchen-midden on Inchkeith, and at an early Christian
settlement in Constantine's Cave near St Andrews. But
its numbers have been so reduced that it is now seldom
seen on the east coast, and the stock throughout the whole
of Scotland where it was once very numerous has been

1/4 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

estimated to have fallen to less than 500 strong. So
threatening did .the outlook for the unprotected Grey Seal
seem to be that in 1914 a Parliamentary Bill became law,
making it illegal to destroy the Grey Seal between October r
and December 15, a period covering the breeding time of
the species, under penalty for every offence of ^5 for the
slayer and £10 for the owner of the boat employed.

WHALES

Five hundred years ago, Whales were abundant in every
ocean. Even the Mediterranean Sea furnished a regular
fishery which has long since died out for lack of Whales to
slay. And although the actual hunting of the larger and
more valuable species, the Greenland or Right Whale
(Bal&na mysticetus] and the Sperm Whale {Physeter macro-
cephalus], was never carried on systematically in the
immediate neighbourhood of the Scottish coasts, the Scottish
fauna is the poorer for the destruction that was visited upon
these wanderers of the ocean in distant parts.

In this destruction Scottish vessels and Scottish mariners
played their part. At Peterhead the whale fishery was
started in 1788 and in less than a hundred years, to 1879,
had accounted for the capture of 4 195^ Whales yielding
30,975 tons of oil (a ton measuring 252 gallons) and 1549
tons of whalebone, apart from a total of 1,673,052 Seals,
yielding another 20,913 tons of oil. At Dundee the fishery
commenced in 1790, and up to 1879 there were captured
4220 Whales, yielding 32,774 tons of oil, and 1640 tons of
whalebone, together with 917,278 Seals, yielding 10,464 tons
of oil.

And this is no more than a drop in the bucket. In the
thirty-eight years from 1835 to 1872, the American whaling
fleet is credited with having captured or destroyed 292,714
Whales. The story of trie more valuable W'hales can be read
with no uncertainty in the statistics of the whaling industry:
a gradually decreasing catch and following upon this a
reduction in the numbers of ships that set out for the
whaling grounds, so that the United States fleet, which
numbered some 730 vessels in 1846, had fallen off to 218 in
1872 — such facts tell of the pitiful decline of the great ocean
wanderers.

DESTRUCTION FOR SKINS AND OIL 175

Now the Sperm Whale and the Whalebone Whales are
so scarce that they no longer offer a profitable fishery in
our northern waters, and attention has been turned to species
which formerly were passed by in contempt.

On the coasts of Scotland, before the war, the whaling
stations of the Outer Hebrides and of the Shetlands, manned
by Norwegian fishermen, accounted for hundreds of Rorquals
(Bal&noptera) a year; and here as well as in the Southern
Oceans, where in the Falkland Islands group, 9429 Whales
were slain in the season of 1913-14, the slaughter is bound
to bring even these flourishing species of the Whale stock
near extinction, if legislation does not speedily protect them
by close seasons or other devices. Rorquals or Finners are
slain entirely for their blubber, and in South Georgia the
carcases are set adrift to rot in the sea, so that huge decaying
masses are said to lie for miles round the different stations.
But in these lean days the attention of the Food Controller
might with profit be drawn to the fact that in the seventeenth
century the people of the Western Isles of Scotland found
by experience that Whales supplied nourishing food, for this
Martin was assured of, "particularly by some poor meagre
people who became plump and lusty by this Food in the
space of a week; they call it Sea Pork." Their method of
capturing the "Whales," probably the Pilot or Ca'aing
Whale — the Round-headed Porpoise (Globicephalus melas]
— was of the simplest. A school having been sighted

the Natives employ many boats together in Pursuit of the Whales chasing
them up into the Bays, till they wound one of them mortally and then it
runs ashore, and they say that all the rest follow the track of its Blood, and
run themselves also on shore in like manner ; by which means many of
them are killed. About five years ago there were fifty young whales killed
in this manner, and most of them eaten by the common People.

Of Whales it may be said that inordinate destruction
compelled by the greed of gain, has far outrun the natural
increase of the race, so that all the oceans of the world have
been impoverished, and the seas of Scotland have shared in
the loss, being deprived of many a visitor such as, in the
old days, made a chance pilgrimage from the northern ocean.

III. 4

THE DESTRUCTION OF VERMIN
AND PESTS

IN the gamekeeper's "larder" or "museum," that miscel-
laneous collection of fresh bodies and dried skins nailed
round the girth of a tree or tacked to a doorpost, we have
a tangible epitome of the destruction of vermin. The assort-
ment of Stoats, Magpies, Hooded Crows, Jackdaws, Weasels,
and alas, Owls, must be so familiar to every lover of the
country, as to make it unnecessary here to enter into the

70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80

Fig. 42. Decadence of "Vermin" — Wild Cat, Marten and Polecat — through twelve
years' work of one gamekeeper. The numbers are indicated on the left, the years beneath.

details of the slaughter. Many of the creatures mentioned
in other connections in this account of man's destructiveness
have been allotted a place on the vermin lists — Eagles,
Foxes, Wild Cats, Martens, Polecats, Ravens and Hawks, —
and it cannot but be that, where keepers are employed
mainly with the view of destroying vermin for the sake of
game, a serious falling off in the original stock is likely to
follow. The result of a single keeper's efforts offers a sum-
mary of the whole, and, as represented in the diagram above,
shows how rapidly regular trapping may lead to the reduction
or disappearance of our native animals. In twelve years the
Marten may be regarded as having been exterminated in

THE DESTRUCTION OF VERMIN AND PESTS 177

this keeper's beat, in Assynt in Sutherlandshire, the Wild
Cat was reduced to the verge of extinction, and even the
Polecat showed an ominous uncertainty of tenure.

Of lesser vermin the slaughter has at all times been great
since universal game-preserving became the fashion. On
the estates of Langwell and Sandside in Sutherlandshire, in
seven years from 1819 to 1826, Carrion Crows and Magpies
to the number of 2647 were slain, in addition to 1799 Rooks
and Jackdaws; while in three years from 1831 to 1834 on the
Duchess of Sutherland's estates in Sutherland, 1739 Carrion
Crows and Magpies were destroyed.

ROOKS AND CHOUGHS

Some of the lesser vermin are miscreants steeped in
crime. The Rook was no less vehemently denounced by the
farmer of the fifteenth century than by his successor to-day.
Even the Scottish Parliament took up the cudgels against
it, and by a curious method sought to keep this thief in
check. For seeing that "ruks bigande in kirke yards,
orchards, or treis does gret skaithe apone cornis," a statute
of 1424,

ordanyt that thai that sik treis pertenys to, suffer on na wyse that thai birds
fle away. And whar it beis tayntit [known] that thai bige and the birds be
flowin [flown], and the nests be fundyn [found] in the treis at Beltane, the
treis sal be forfaltit [forfeited] to the King.

A later law, of 1457, also provided for the destruction of
Rooks, Crows and other birds of prey which injure corn and
game ; and at the present day every country district is
familiar with the annual "crow-shoot" whereby an endeavour
is made to limit the numbers and destructiveness of the Rook.
The Chough also has suffered from the zeal of the
vermin-killer. At one time it seems to have been widely
distributed even in inland districts. Leslie makes undoubted
reference to it, when, as Dalrymple translates his Latin,
he says :

Sche is said to be fund in ane only He, in the sey cost besyde Cornwale
foranent [over against] the Realme of France, bot with ws [us] this fowle
[Lat. corniculam, little crow] may be seine with neb and feit of purpur
hew, nocht only in ane place, that only is thocht to be fund in Cornwale of
sum. [The Latin adds, " whence we give it its name," i.e. Cornish Crow.]

i;8 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

In inland localities, which it has now altogether forsaken,
the Chough nested down to the eighteenth and even to the
nineteenth century. The following facts are summarized
from Mr J. H. Buchanan's account of the Chough in Scot-
land. In the midlands it occurred in Glenlyon in "Perthshire
in 1769, in 1795 there was a pair or two on the Campsie
Fells and records exist of its presence on the Ochil Hills
and on the Clova Hills of Forfarshire. In the Lowlands
it frequented the Corra Linn Fall on the Clyde about 1770,
and the last individual from an inland breeding-place was
shot at Crawfordjohn in Lanarkshire in 1834.

On the cliffs of the coast as a rule it held its own to a
later date, but from most of these also it has disappeared.
On the east coast it has been found at Dunrobin in Sutherland-
shire and at St Abbs in Berwickshire, but even in 1851 all
but a single pair had forsaken the fastnesses of the latter
neighbourhood. On the west coast its former haunts are
better known, for in the secluded places of that wild shore it
is making its last stand in Scotland. It has gone from the
parishes of Kilbrandon and Kilchattan, and of Giga and
Cara in Argyllshire, where the writers of the Old Statistical
Account knew it. On the island of Lismdre on Loch
Linnhe, where flocks existed at the opening of the nine-
teenth century, it is extinct. The majority of the islands
have been deserted: Skye, Raasay, the Long Island, where
it still existed about 1830, Tyree, Rum, Mull, Colonsay,
lona and Arran (where the last pair was shot in 1863), on
all of which it once had harbourage, know it in its numbers
no more. On a few islands of the Inner Hebrides, especially
on I slay, and on the coast near the boundary of Ayrshire
and Wigtownshire, it retains its last feeble hold in Scotland,
but without generous protection its race in the northern
kingdom is doomed, a result in great part due to the exertions
of the game-preserver, and a penalty ill-becoming one of the
most interesting of " vermin."

Other creatures are slaughtered in immense numbers
on account of their harmfulness, though the fact that many
remain pests,- indicates that their numbers are not seriously
on the wane. Most of the following belong to this category.

THE DESTRUCTION OF VERMIN AND PESTS 179
RATS, MOLES AND SPARROWS

Rats have been slain by the hundred thousand in Indian
and American cities on account of the damage they do and
of the bubonic plague which they carry; and in our own
land single farms and country villages have on occasion
accounted for many thousands of these notorious thieves.
As, however, this aspect of its multiplication will be con-
sidered in the discussion of the Rat's introduction to Scotland
(see p. 431), the subject need not be more than mentioned
here.

The damage caused by Moles, since cultivation by in-
creasing their food multiplied their numbers, must be great
and their destruction by professional mole-catchers on a
corresponding scale. I have no means of estimating the
annual slaughter in Scotland, but Mr O. H. Wild tells me
that in April 1918 he saw the dead bodies of some 750
individuals hung along a hundred yards of fence at Aberlady
railway station — the result of three weeks' trapping on farms
in the neighbourhood by a single mole-catcher. To this
collection bodies were still being added at the rate of twenty-
five a day.

The Common Sparrow has been slain in its thousands
on account of its devastation in cornfields and gardens.
Sparrow Clubs have been formed in many districts, especially
in England, for the reduction of the pest, and during the
War the Government issued special orders for its destruc-
tion. In three years the Tring Sparrow Club accounted for
39,058 individuals; the Ixworth Sparrow Club slew 14,669
in 1915, and the Slimford Rat and Sparrow Club killed in a
few years 84,590 vermin and destroyed 17,201 Sparrow's
eggs.

RABBITS AND HARES

Just as man has created the sparrow pest by the in-
creasing perfection of his tillage, so in Scotland he has also
created the hare and rabbit nuisance. Since the Rabbit
escaped from the warrens to which it was introduced, and
took to living wheresoe'er it pleased, and upon whatsoever
of the farmer's crops it could most readily obtain, it has

1 80 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

become an unmitigated pest, against which, in these days
of increased demand for home-grown food, emergency
legislation has done well to set its hand (see p. 215).

3 The history of the Hare as a pest is of more than ordinary
interest, because at common law the Hare is regarded as
ground game, and as such was at one time protected — so
strictly that in 1707 the shooting of Hares by any person
whatsoever was prohibited under a penalty of 20 pounds
Scots. Such a law at so late a date can mean nothing else
than that the Hare was an animal comparatively rare. The
gradual development of the misdeeds of the Hare can be
traced from successive statutes, which point to an extraor-
dinary increase in numbers contemporaneous with the agri-
cultural activity of the nineteenth century, which began about
1837. The first law aimed against the Hare was passed in
1848 and permitted "all Persons at present having a Right
to kill Hares in Scotland, to do so themselves, or by Persons
authorized by them, without being required to take out a
Game Certificate." Judging from the statistics of the Dum-
fries Fur Market (see Fig. 41, p. 167), this permission,
coming at a time when agriculture was about to reach its
highest development in the nineteenth century (1853 to
1862), seems to have resulted in an intensified slaughter of
Hares, which finally caused a falling off in the stock. Still
the Hare remained a burden greater than the farmer could
bear, and for his benefit there was passed in 1880 "in the
interests of good husbandry" the Ground Game Act which
gave the tenant equal rights with the proprietor to kill and
take ground game on his holding. The immediate result of
this breaching of the privileges of the Game Laws is in no
doubt — the Hare suffered so greatly in numbers that in the
Lowlands of Scotland it was threatened with extinction, and
over all, the slaughter was so excessive that in 1892 the
Hares' Preservation Act was passed, granting the perse-
cuted creature a measure of protection by instituting a close
season from March till July.

THE DESTRUCTION OF VERMIN AND PESTS 181

RED DEER, SQUIRRELS AND OTHERS

Other creatures, beginning their course innocent of
serious evil, have, through excessive increase in numbers,
developed into formidable pests. The Red Deer with the
Rabbit and Hare have been the objects of emergency legis-
lation during the years of the War (see pp. 212 and 215),
and the Squirrel shares with them unenviable notoriety. In
another place (p. 295) I have indicated the rapidity of the
Squirrel's spread and multiplication in the northern counties,
following upon its introduction at Beaufort Castle on the
Beauly Firth in 1844, but of recent years its increase there
has been phenomenal. The Highland Squirrel Club was
formed in 1903 to counter the devastation wrought in the
woods of eastern Ross-shire, part of Sutherland, and that
portion of Inverness north of the Caledonian Canal. The
results of its activities are astounding, when it is recollected
that three-quarters of a century ago the Squirrel was un-
known in the district. During the fifteen years up to the
end of 1917, 60,450 Squirrels had been killed; in 1903 alone
4640 were destroyed, in 1907 6628, and 1909 provided a
record of 7199 individuals1. The price paid for tails by the
Club varied from $d. to \d,

With such nuisances no sympathy can be felt, although
the destruction of Owls, which themselves are pest destroyers,
and of Stoats and Weasels, which probably do almost as much
good by their enmity to rats and mice as they do harm, is
regrettable; but there is one so-called pest regarding the
destruction of which the naturalist can have nothing but
regret — the little Dipper or Water Ouzel.

1 On account of the interest of this warfare against the Squirrel in the
North. I give the annual numbers of squirrels killed since the Club was
started, from lists kindly sent me by Mr A. H. Duncan, the Secretary :

1903 4,640 1907 6,628 1911 3)°56 I9I5 2,601

1904 3,988 1908 3,197 1912 3,679 1916 2,692

1905 3>43i i9°9 7,!99 I9r3 3.283 1917 3,998

1906 4,007 1910 4,235 1914 3,816

182 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

THE DIPPER OR WATER OUZEL (Cinclus clnclus]

For years this lively little bird, whose presence brightens
the stretches of many a dull stream and river, has been an
object of persecution on the ground that it destroys the
spawn of salmon and other fish. On the Spey the slaughter
of a Water Ouzel during the fishing season used to be
rewarded by bestowing upon the slayer the right to fish
salmon with the rod during the close season — an iniquitous
provision which has dropped into desuetude, but not before
the number of Dippers had been seriously reduced. On the
Sutherland estates of the Duchess of Sutherland a reward
of 6d. used to be paid for each Dipper slain, with the result
that from March 1831 to March 1834 "548 King's Fishers"
were slaughtered, "King Fisher" being a local name for
the Water Ouzel; and for the six years between 1873 anc^
1879 the vermin list of the Reay country, also in Sutherland,
included "368 Water Ouzels." Regret at the slaughter of
an interesting bird is intensified by the knowledge that its
actual food is not so much the spawn of fishes as the larvae
of dragon flies and water beetles, which themselves commit
serious havoc among the spawning beds. A little knowledge
of Natural History is a dangerous thing.

It is no simple matter to reach an estimate of the influence
of man upon the numbers of vermin and pests, but every
dweller in the country and especially in game-preserving
districts knows that the destruction is no light one. That
the enemies of game, be they real or fancied, have been
reduced below the standard which Nature sets, is shown by
the unwonted increase of such "vermin" during the War
years, when gamekeepers have been called from their wonted
beats. Will the increase of the game-preserver's "vermin"
affect some of the smaller pests ? Can there be any doubt
that there is a close relationship between the decrease of the
beasts and birds of prey and the increase of the creatures
upon which they were accustomed to feed ? Has the game-
preserver not been too ready to shoot and too reluctant to
spare; has he not brought to earth such pest-destroyers
as the Honey Buzzard, the Kestrel and the Owls, simply
on the hearsay of a bad name?

THE DESTRUCTION OF VERMIN AND PESTS 183

But new ideas of the value of a native fauna have taken
root and already bear promising fruit. The success of a game-
drive is not everything. There must be balanced against
the bag of grouse and the head of pheasants and partridges,
the majesty of the eagle's flight, the grace of the kestrel's
hover, the lithe movements of the marten in the forest and
of the ermine in the coverts. And who will say that the
beauty of nature is to be filched from the countryside for the
sake of the bag of game ?

III. 5
DESTRUCTION FOR SPORT-

"The Scottes " wrote Holinshed, "sette all their delighte in hunting
and fowling, using about the same to go armed in jackes and light iesternes
with bowe and arrows, no otherwise than if it had been in open warre, for
in this exercise they placed all the hope of the defence of their possessions,
lands and liberties."

FROM very early times the law, as well as the national taste,
encouraged the chase in Scotland, and we should therefore
expect to find here clear evidences of the effect of sport upon
animal life.

Destruction for sport is, however, less inimical to animal
life on the whole than one might suppose, for over-destruc-
tion must mean in the long run the death of the sport itself.
Consequently the risk of over-destruction is modified by the
introduction of various modes of protecting the animals
hunted, a subject which I have discussed in another chapter.
Yet, in spite of protection, sport has resulted in the decrease
in numbers and even in the total or local extermination of
some members of the fauna.

THE WILD BOAR

The occurrence and the decline of the Wild Boar have
already been mentioned (p. 89), and I would only recall
that in spite of the fact that its chase was strictly preserved
to the royal court and the great landed nobles, it was ex-
terminated in Scotland probably in the early years of the
seventeenth century.

THE BROCK OR BADGER

The Brock (Meles meles} has long been ranked with the
Wolf as an object worthy of the chase.

" Throuch thir woddis " Dalrymple translated Leslie, " the gretter parte
of the nobilitie hes thair maist recreatione in hunting with the sluthe-hundes,
for that, this recreatione hes our countrey men ather in the feildes to hunte
the hair and the fox, or in the sandes and water brayes the Brok, or in the
mountanis the Wolfe, or the Wilkatt."

Yet the Badger seems to have maintained its ground
with great persistence in spite of hunting and harrying, for

DESTRUCTION FOR SPORT

185

1 86 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

even during the nineteenth century it was so common that
many a parish had its " brockair " or brock-hunter, and in
several counties it was even sought after for food, Badger
hams being preserved for winter use. Dr Campbell wrote
in 1774 that the Badger is

hunted and destroyed whenever found ; and being by Nature an inactive
and indolent Creature, is commonly fat, and therefore they make his hind
Quarters into Hams in North Britain and Wales.

In the Spectator of Sept. 29, 1917, a correspondent'gives
many recipes for cooking the Badger, which are said to have
been familiar to his mother as practised in the Outer
Hebrides1.

The sportsman, hunter, baiter and the ham factor must
have reduced its numbers, but the Badger is a shy nocturnal
creature whose earth is not always readily found. Indirectly
rather than directly man has wrought its doom, for a great
blow to its existence in Scotland seems to have fallen with
the extension of cultivation in the latter half of the nine-
teenth century, and especially with the feverish cutting of
woodland and breaking in of waste ground which accom-
panied the agricultural boom of the 'fifties and 'sixties.
These processes destroyed many a safe refuge, and exposing
the Badger to the attacks of man, exterminated it from many
a district where it was once common. There is probably no
county in Scotland where it is not much rarer nowadays
than it was a century ago, and although at the present day
it still occurs in the wilder parts of the Highlands, in the
Lowlands it has become exceedingly scarce as a native of
the soil, many of the examples now recorded being no more
than escapes from confinement or their descendants.

GAME BEASTS AND BIRDS

The history of the more important game creatures has
been traced in the chapter dealing with their protection, and
since the stringency of protection is a measure of the inten-
sity of destruction, the account there given illustrates suffi-
ciently the trend of the slaughter due to sport.

1 While the recipes may be correct, the locality seems to be at fault,
for, according to Alston and Harvie-Brown, Badgers are unknown in the
Outer Hebrides.

DESTRUCTION FOR SPORT ^187

It must be remembered, however, that influences are
complex and that while a widespread influence, like the
destruction of woodland, was the main factor in causing the
decline or extermination in Scotland of such as the Red
Deer and the Reindeer, yet sport also contributed to their
disappearance, for we have the evidence of the Orkneyinga
Saga that even in the twelfth century journeys were made
from distant parts expressly for the purpose of hunting the
Red Deer and the Reindeer in the uplands of Caithness and
Sutherland. The results of excessive sport have been shown
nowhere more clearly than in the United States of America,
where, before protecting laws had been introduced, the native
carnivores, deer and game birds of many States had been
brought to the verge of extinction.

So also causes other than sport told hardly upon certain
of the game creatures. The Great Bustard and the Bittern
were chased and hunted and are exterminated, yet the evi-
dence seems to show that sport had much less to do with their
disappearance in Scotland than had the cultivation of waste
places in the case of the former (see p. 366) and the reclama-
tion of marshes in the case of the latter (see p. 374). Such
at least I take to be the indication of the unsuccessful
attempts to re-establish the Great Bustard in Britain, now
that all question of active destruction is eliminated.

The use of game birds as food further combined with
the destruction of sport to accentuate the reduction of their
numbers, witness the declaration of the Statute of 1600,
heralding the imposition of new and heavier penalties against
illegal dealing in* game — one hundred pounds to be paid by
both buyer and seller if they were "responsal in gudes," and
if they were not that they be " scourged throw the burgh or
town where they shall be apprehended." Regarding the
profiteers of the seventeenth century, this Act alleges that

diverse and sundry persons, having greater regard of their gaine and
commodity whilk they purches by the selling of the said wyld-fowle to sik
persons wha prefers their awne inordinat appetite and gluttony either to
the obedience of the said lawes or to the recreation that may be had by
the direct slaying of the samine, hes used all the saids indirect meanes in
slaying of the saids wyld fowles and beastes, whereby this country being so
plentifully furnished of before is become altogether scarce of sik waires1.

1 My italics.

188 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

ji

Whether one ought to include the great slaughter of
Ducks, Geese and Swans, which in earlier days and to a
lesser extent to-day, is carried out by such murderous
weapons as punt guns — which still survive in Scotland in
the Moray Firth and in the Solway — as mainly destruction
for food or as destruction for the sake of sport, I leave my
readers to decide. In either case the result from the point
of view of animal life is the same — the reduction in number
of the immigrant Ducks, Geese and Swans which seek tem-
porary harbourage in our sheltered creeks.

III. 6

DESTRUCTION FOR PLEASURE OR
LUXURY

THERE is a type of animal slaughter, widespread in most
countries, which has nothing of the spirit of sport, and is
not animated by the utilitarian element that has led to
most of man's destructiveness. It is notoriously exhibited
in the yearly massacres of birds of gay plumage, in order
that, at the behest of fashion, the human race may flaunt
their stolen plumes. What this massacre means few can
realize. In 1913, the last completed year before the War,
there were offered in the London salerooms 12,850 oz. of
" osprey " feathers, representing a slaughter of about 77,000
individuals of the harmless heron-like Egrets (Ardea egretta
and A. candidissima], as well as 19,125 Osprey wing quills;
16,211 White Crane wing quills ; quills of Bustard, 10,800,
and of Condor, 48,321 ; the skins of Emus, 1233, of White
Terns, 5321, of Crowned Pigeons, 1 1,478, and of Smyrnian
Kingfishers 162,750.

The destruction for pleasure and luxury is no faddist's
hallucination, and it pays no regard to the rarity, interest or
usefulness of its quarry.

In Scotland such revolting butchery as the tropical forests
witness has had no place, yet in less obvious, but scarcely
less deadly ways, the same craving after pleasure or luxury
or possession has affected some of our native animals. Three
types will illustrate the point — the collector, the bird-catcher,
and the pearl-fisher.

THE SINS OF "COLLECTORS"

It is regrettable, but necessary, that reference should
have to be made to a type of destruction which has taken
place under the guise of the study of Nature, the fruit of an
inordinate desire for possession, which sets numbers before
real' nature study. Yet we cannot close our eyes to the fact

ipo DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

that the collector of specimens has caused or has hastened
the extermination of several members of the old fauna.

Upon the head of the entomologist lies the guilt of the
extermination of the English "Large Copper" Butterfly
(Chrysophanus dispar), whose head-quarters were in the
Whittlesea Meer of Huntingdonshire. There persistent
collecting of the caterpillars by persons young and old,
abetted by an unusual flood, exterminated about 1850 a
creature so abundant twenty years before that visitors who
had seen it never dreamed of its extinction.

The methods and occasional intensity of the entomolo-
gist's pursuit are well illustrated in the case of the Artaxerxes
Butterfly (now regarded as the variety artaxerxes of Polyom-
matus agrestis], which was first discovered and described
from Arthur's Seat near Edinburgh — for long the only known
locality. Here the Artaxerxes (Fig. 44) was so common that
collectors flocked from all parts to plenish their collections,
with the result that in 1844 it was said that "all the English
cabinets and the principal foreign ones, are now abundantly
supplied from that locality." But collecting did not stop when
moderate demands had been met. Still collectors flocked to
the crags above Duddingston Loch, as Mr William Evans
has informed me, from the season's beginning to the season's
end, not only capturing the butterfly on the wing, but
collecting pupae and- caterpillars for subsequent develop-
ment, and even plucking those leaves of the Rock Rose
on which the eggs had been laid, towards the same end
of stocking the collections of Europe and of the world with
Artaxerxes when the imago appeared. The result of such
persistence could have been in no doubt in the case of so
local a form. The last specimen was found in 1868 — Arta-
xerxes was exterminated from its world-renowned home on
Arthur's Seat. It was not due to the foresight of collectors
that other localities in Scotland have since been discovered
which carry on the tradition of the existence of the Artaxerxes
Butterfly.

Birds have suffered even more than Butterflies. The
St Kilda Wren (Troglodytes hirtensis) was so persecuted
after the discovery of the unique character of this inhabitant
of the lonely island, that in a most destructive raid in the
spring of 1903 it was believed, according to Sir Herbert

DESTRUCTION FOR PLEASURE OR LUXURY 191

Maxwell, that "every egg was taken on the principal island,
and many of the parent birds were shot," to satisfy the brisk
trade at high prices created by their rarity. So a special law
had to be enacted in 1904, protecting it from the collector's
gun and the nest-harrier. In England the extinction of
other birds — threatened by the increase of cultivation — has
been ensured by the zeal of the collector. Amongst such we
may safely reckon the Red Night Reeler or Savi's Warbler
(Locustella luscinioides] of Norfolk and Lincolnshire, ex-
terminated about 1849, the Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa
limosd] and the Black Tern (Hydrochelidon nigra) of the

Fig. 44. Artaxerxes Butterfly (upper and under sides) — exterminated on Arthur's Seat.
Natural size.

Norfolk Broads, the former of which finally disappeared
between 1829 and 1835, and the latter in 1858.

It is an unfortunate paradox, which must remain from
the nature of the case, that just when the creatures he
envies require protection most, the collector's enthusiasm
rises and his efforts redouble. He seldom exterminates a
species from the beginning, but when other causes have
threatened the existence of a creature, he puts a seal upon
its doom. It was only when the Kite became a rare bird
that he turned his attention to it and its eggs, and now the
most careful protection can scarcely outwit the fate he has
decreed for its last British survivors in Wales.

192 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

So too with the Osprey in Scotland. The brunt of its
disappearance also must be borne by the collector; for even
when it was reduced to a few pairs he harried its nest time
and again, until one site after another was forsaken. The
later history of the Loch-an-Eilan Ospreys in -Inverness-
shire is a tale of ruthless persecution. There are many
blanks in the records, but it is surprising that where the

Fig- 45- Osprey or Fish Hawk— practically exterminated in Scotland, f nat. size.

Ospreys were actively protected by the proprietor, and
where secrecy was a first aim of the harrier, so many of the
records which have survived should reveal the latter's nefari-
ous deeds. In each of the successive years 1848, 1849, 1850,
1851 and 1852, the eggs were taken, and in the latter year
the nest was twice harried. Is it any wonder that in the
following year the Ospreys forsook for the time being their
old site in the Loch?

Wherever the birds sought harbourage, whether they

DESTRUCTION FOR PLEASURE OR LUXURY 193

moved to Loch Morlich or Loch Gamhna, the egg-stealer
pursued them. From 1843 to 1899, when the last pair built
at Loch-an-Eilan (although individuals were seen up to 1902),
there are definite records that the Ospreys nested in twenty-
four years in that or the other two Lochs mentioned, and there
are records as definite that the nests were harried and the
eggs taken on fifteen occasions! The wonder surely is that the
Speyside Ospreys survived this heartless persecution so long.

BIRD-CATCHING

The barbarous habit of keeping wild birds in cages for
the beauty of their plumage or the sweetness of their song
must also be pilloried from the point of view of interest in
our native fauna. The toll taken by professional bird-
catchers is common knowledge to the frequenter of bird-
shops, but it is perhaps not realized how seriously their
depredations affect the numbers of certain kinds of wild birds.
It is supposed that in recent years bird-catching has been
on the decrease, but the lists of cases tried in court and re-
sulting in proof of guilt, show that the practice is still very
common, and the numbers of bird-catchers who escape the
law, as the naturalist who is familiar with favoured bird re-
sorts in Scotland knows, is out of all proportion greater than
the numbers convicted.

Take only one or two cases in illustration of the results
of this trade in living flesh and blood. It is on record that
in January 1895, when a late migration brought great num-
bers of Twites, Linnets, and Red-polls to the shores of
eastern England, one bird-catcher netted, in four successive
days, 70, 130, 220, and 330 Linnets. And in the winter
of 1900 another expert caught 140 Siskins one morning
before breakfast, on a decayed lettuce patch. In recent
years the London market has considered a supply of 400
dozen Linnets a week in October a small average, and 600
dozen has been reached.

The case of the Goldfinch is even more pitiful. These
graceful and beautiful birds frequent, in flocks, patches of
teazle or thistles, and remain attached to a patch until all
the food afforded by the seed-heads has been consumed. It
is a practice of some bird-catchers to plant teazle in their

i94 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

gardens for the sole purpose of attracting Goldfinches, and
of capturing one bird after another until the constancy of
the flock is rewarded by its total extinction. In 1860, the
annual average of Goldfinches caught in the neighbourhood
of Worthing is said to have been 1 1 54 dozen, but the supply
— and how can one wonder — has fallen off, and to replace
it Goldfinches have been imported in large numbers from
Germany.

The pity of it all is that not only are the birds removed
from surroundings and localities they would adorn with their
wild grace and beauty, but that the cost of the process in
bird life is so appalling, for the female birds are in many
cases killed as they are netted, since they do not sing, and
of birds consigned to the market, fewer than half live even
to delight the ears and eyes of man, since it is said that
60 per cent, die miserably within a fortnight after they have
traversed the short distance between the bird-catcher and
the trader of the bird-shop.

SCOTTISH PEARL FISHING

As a last example of the influence of fashionable pleasure
upon Scottish animals, take the case of the insignificant
Freshwater Pearl Mussel {Margaritifera margaritifer).
Through many centuries the fame of British pearls has spread
beyond the limits of our islands, for Suetonius alleges that
the hope of enriching himself with them helped to induce
Julius Caesar to venture across the Channel; and in the
times of the Venerable Bede (673-735) tnev were a valu-
able British commodity. In the twelfth century there was
a European market for Scottish pearls, and in the sixteenth
Bishop Leslie says of them :

in Laudien Land [the Lothians] farther, and lykewyse in vthir prouinces
with ws ar funde Gemis,...to wit... the Margarite in gret number... the
Margarite is baith welthie {lit. abundant] and of a noble price. Thay in-
deid schawe a schyneng brichtnes, notwithstanding mair obscuir than thay
quhilkes ar brocht in frome the Eist. In freshe water buckies nocht
pleisand to the mouth, na lesse than in salt water buckies growis the
Margarite.

In 1560 "large handsome pearls" were exported from Scot-
land to Antwerp, and in 1620 there was found in the Kelly
Burn, a tributary of the Ythan in Aberdeenshire, a fine pearl

DESTRUCTION FOR PLEASURE OR LUXURY 195

which was carried to King James VI by the Provost of Aber-
deen, and became one of the Crown jewels. The Provost
was rewarded for his trouble by being presented with "twelve
to fourteen chalder of victuals about Dunfermline, and the
Customs of Merchant's goods in Aberdeen during his life ";
the pearl-fishers were rewarded by an order of the Privy
Council passed in 1621, proclaiming that Pearls found within
the Realm belonged to the Crown, and appointing conser-
vators of pearl-fisheries in several counties, including Aber-
deen, Ross and Sutherland. The Aberdeenshire conservator
was specially commended in that "he hath not only taken
diverse pearls of good value, but hath found some in waters
where none were expected."

The Scottish pearl-fishery caused an appreciable reduc-
tion of Pearl-mussels in the rivers. In his ''Tour" (1771)
Pennant records of the Tay and Isla that

there has been in these parts a very great fishery of pearls got out of fresh
water muscles. From 1761 to 1764, ;£ 10,000 worth were sent to London and
sold from los. to £i. 6s. per ounce.... But this fishery is at present exhausted,
for the avarice of the undertakers. It once extended as far as Loch Tay.

The destruction of the Pearl-mussel brought to an end
for the time being the pearl-fisheries of Scotland; and they
were not revived till about 1 860, when a German merchant,
Moritz Unger, travelled through Ayrshire, Perthshire, and
Aberdeenshire, buying up-all the pearls that could be found.
With the valuable stock he then acquired, he reawakened
the demand for Scottish pearls, and created afresh the pearl-
fishing industry. I have often spoken with an old fisher on
the Don in Aberdeenshire, who, first encouraged by Unger
and later by two other traders, Selig and Aaron, spent
the summer, year after year, when the river was at its
lowest, " at the pearls." The prices paid by these itinerant
pearl- dealers ranged from $s. to js. a grain. Now, owing
to its rarity as well as to the increased appreciation of the
liquid beauty of the Scottish pearl, the value has reached
from £i to £10 a grain, according to quality and size. A
small collection of half a dozen Tay pearls bought for the
Royal Scottish Museum from Unger in 1859 for £12 is to-
day valued at over ^50.

The result of the new demand was that the more acces-
sible shallows of pearl rivers were soon denuded of their

13—2

196 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

Mussels, for the methods employed were of the most ruthless
kind, all the Mussels found being opened and destroyed on
the chance that a pearl might lurk within. The shallows
have become almost entirely unproductive, and of recent
years attention has • been turned to the deeper waters.
The climax of destruction was reached in 1913, when
two bands of fishers set out with motor bicycles and col-
lapsible boats, and, touring the country, harried rivers far
and near. The financial result repaid their exertions: one
large and fine pearl obtained was valued at ^300, and the
total proceeds covered the cost of bicycles and transport and
secured an ample margin of profit. But the outcome is that
many a river and burn has been almost cleared of its Pearl-
mussels. A few such raids and the famous Pearl-mussels of
Scotland, already sadly reduced in numbers, will be almost
exterminated and the Scottish pearl-fishery doomed.

CHAPTER IV
PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

To birds man gives his woods,
To beasts his pastures, and to fish his floods.
For some his int'rest prompts him to provide,
For more his pleasure, yet for more his pride.

POPE.

IT is fitting that an account of man's destructiveness in the
realm of animal life should be followed by the kindlier
theme of his protection of the lower creatures, for the two are
inseparably united. In the world of living things, as in our
physical environment, the natural law holds, that every action
produces an equal and opposite reaction; and so destruction
of one animal as a rule entails the protection of another,
just as protection of one species involves the destruction of
its enemies. The sportsman aims at protecting his game,
and, as we have seen, reaches his end by destroying the
beasts and birds of prey; but his action is more comprehen-
sive than his intention, for he protects not only the objects
of his sport, but the myriads of smaller vermin which also
contribute to the food of the creatures he destroys.

It is less my intention to discuss here, however, such
undesigned results of the protection of animal life than to trace
the more direct consequences which have followed upon a
deliberate policy of protection. These direct consequences,
it need hardly be said, are as a rule, an increase in numbers of
the creatures concerned, and frequently an extension of their
range to new areas. They may involve so great a multiplica-
tion of animals desirable from one point of view, say that of
the sportsman, that from another point of view, say that of
the farmer, the protected creature becomes a nuisance, and
protection has to give way to destruction. But in most
cases protection does little more than preserve its sheltered
favourites in numbers approximating to their natural pro-
portion in the fauna: it does little more than compensate
for the destructiveness of man.

i98 PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

Broadly speaking three influences tend to foster animal
life: the premeditated protection of the law, the gentle sway
of popular favour, and the solicitude bred of superstition.
Of these the first has proved to be the most potent.

THE PROTECTION OF THE LAW AND ITS EFFECTS

In Scotland, as elsewhere in countries long settled by
man, protective legislation on behalf of animals has been
a matter of much experiment, and of a slow and gradual
evolution which has progressed step by step with the advance
of political and social ideals. Indeed the laws relating to
animals were for long entirely social in their bearing, and
had as little thought for the animals themselves as they had
much concern for their assumed lords and masters. The
development of a practical love for nature is a national
acquisition of very recent date.

So we find three broad but distinct stages in the evolution
of protective legislation. At first the king only and his nobles
were the principals concerned, and the laws ^ere feudal laws,
the main object of which was to ensure the entertainment of
the Court. So arose the Game Laws — that great bulk of
legislation regulating the preservation of sport animals. With
the decay of feudalism and the extension of power amongst
the landed classes, the great lairds and lesser lairds came to
be included in the magic circle for whose benefit the Game
Laws exist.

Further, with the decay of feudalism and the growing
importance of the economic aspect of the country's welfare,
a second class of law arose — that regulating the protection
of animals whose significance lay in their economic value.

And lastly, only in recent times, there arose, with the
spread of power amongst the people at large and the develop-
ment of a democratic instinct, laws which endeavour to pre-
serve the rarity and beauty of the countryside for the people
— the beginnings of an aesthetic code.

The influence on Scottish animal life of these various
bodies of law, protecting creatures for the sake of sport, for
utility, or for aesthetic reasons, can best be shown by a
discussion of the bearing and scope of each, and this is
attempted in the following three sections.

IV. i
PROTECTION OF ANIMALS FOR SPORT

HAWKING AND HAWKS

THE sport of hawking and the possession of hawks were
recognized from early times in Britain as badges of nobility.
So significant was the presence of trained hawks that
members of the Court and the nobles seldom rode without
them, and seldom dispensed with them on their travels or
even on the field of battle, where the surrender of a hawk
was accounted the surrender of honour. It is little wonder,
then, that from early times care was given to the preserva-
tion and rearing of hawks. Tradition goes to show that even
during the period of the raids of the Norsemen, about the
tenth century, hawking was practised by the noblemen of
Scotland ; but the earliest historical reference to protection
occurs in the reign of William the Lion (1165-1214),
when Robert of Avenel, in granting his lands in Eskdale to
the Abbey of Melrose, reserved the right to the eyries of
Falcons, and to tercels or male hawks. Even the tree whereon
a hawk had built in one year was safe from the axe of the
woodsman, until succeeding years made clear that it had
been deserted as a nesting site, a wise provision depending
upon an intimate knowledge of the limited choice of sites
available for a hawk's nest and nest flight. Similar reserva-
tions hedged about the eyries on estates in Ayrshire granted
about the same time to the same Abbey by the Stewarts.

In the thirteenth century hawking was a recognized
privilege of the Court, and Alexander 1 1 1 kept Falcons at
Forres and at Dunipace in Stirlingshire, and in 1263, so the
accounts of the year show, paid for eight and a half chalders
of corn consumed by William de Hamyl during his twenty-
nine weeks' stay at Forfar with the Kings' Falcons. King
Robert the Bruce had his falcon-house at Cardross in Dum-
bartonshire repaired shortly before his death, and in 1 343 his
successor, David 1 1, granted to John of the Isles many islands
and lands " cum aeriis falcomim" About this time the

200 PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

names of both Goshawks and Sparrowhawks appear in the
public accounts, but from the fifteenth century onwards
fashion tended to make the Peregrine Falcon the hawk /#r
excellence.

During the reign of James III, the law macle the pro-
tection of hawks general, ordaining in 1474 that no one
should take trained or wild hawks or their eggs without leave
of the owner of the ground.

It was probably owing to the careful protection enforced
on account of hawking, that birds of prey, including even the
Goshawk, which has long ceased to breed in Britain, were
common in Scotland in the sixteenth century, for Hector
Boece tells us that "of fowlis, sic as leiffis of reif [live by
rapine] ar sindry kindis in Scotland, as ernis [eagles], falconis,
goishalkis, sparhalkis, merlyonis, and sik like fowlis." They
appear to have been widely distributed, for Rogers mentions
that "in 1496 the King's falconers were recompensed for
procuring hawks in the Forest of Athole also in Orkney and
Shetland." Hawks, and it is evident that the Peregrine,
now a somewhat rare breeder in Scotland, is the bird referred
to, had their eyries at the Abbey Crag near Stirling,
and also upon a summit of the Ochils, where the birds
were preserved. But the most remarkable Falcons were
obtained in the northern counties. Falcons from the eyries
of Caithness were sent by James V as gifts to the King of
France, to the Dauphin, and to the Duke of Guise. The
extraordinary value which attached to well-trained birds must
also have tended to keep the breeding-places under strict
protection. It is on record that James IV paid ,£189 to
the Earl of Angus for a single bird, and that in the reign of
James VI, a pair of Falcons were valued at ^1000.

Through many centuries Orkney and Shetland were
specially favoured in the quality of their Peregrines, of which
frequent mention is made in old charters and deeds. When,
in 1 539, the "Channonis of the Cathedrall Kyrk of Orknaye,
under ane reverend fader in God Robert be the mercye of
God bischop of Orknaye and Zetland" made a deed of "all
and haill our lands lyand in Zetland" in favour of "our weil
belovit brothir and freynd Schyr David Fallusdell," they
specifically included the "halkings and huntings." In the
following century it was stipulated that Sir John Buchanan,

PROTECTION OF ANIMALS FOR SPORT 201

to whom the Lordship of the Orkneys and Shetlands was
granted by Charles I, should pay .£235. 13*. 4rf. Scots a year
to his Majesty's falconers "for thair chairgis in vplifting his
Majesties haulks thair yeirlie"; and even in the beginning
of the eighteenth century, Brand records that

Fig. 46. Peregrine Falcon — formerly protected for hawking. \ nat. size.

the King's Falconer used to go every" year to the Isles [Orkney and
Shetland], taking the young Hawks and Falcons to breed, and every
House in the Country is obliged to give him a Hen or a Dog, except such
as are exempted,

these perquisites being originally designed for the main-
tenance of the King's hawks. Still later, in 1/07, the Scots
Parliament in making a grant of the lands of Orkney and
Zetland, reserved the hawks and the falconers' salaries as
pertaining to the crown.

The greatness of the effort made in Scotland to preserve

202 PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

hawks, and this as a rule meant the Peregrine and the
Sparrovvhawk, may be judged from a Statute passed in
1621 which raised the "unlaw" or fine for stealing a hawk
from £10 to ^100, and another which, in 1685, condemned
the stealer of a hawk from nest or eyrie or of a Vervel (the
equivalent of a modern marking ring) from a hawk, to a fine
of 500 merks.

Yet even with all the protection afforded them, it is doubt-
ful if hawks did much more than remain stationary in numbers
in these favoured times, for it is well known that each pair
reserves for its hunting a patrol area, within which no other
pair can breed, and suitable breeding places, especially
for Peregrines, are limited in number. So long ago as the
twelfth century, Giraldus Cambrensis observed that, in spite
of the care taken of the breeding places of Falcons and
Sparrowhawks in Ireland, their nests did not become more
numerous and their numbers did not increase. Doubtless
the same was also true of Scotland.

The decay of the noble sport of hawking and the rise of
modern game-preserving have reversed the judgments of old,
and the birds which were once preserved to supply man's
sport, are now destroyed lest his sport should be interfered
with.

HAWKING AND THE QUARRY

The institution of hawking entailed the protection of the
wild birds that formed the objects of the chase. This protec-
tion was, as a rule, an absolute protection, unlike most of the
regulations that refer to game valued mainly as food, in which
case protection during part of the year was thought suf-
ficient. There is further evidence of the stringency of the
protection in the severity of the penalties imposed, as befitted
measures providing for the amusement of the highest in the
land.

As early as 1493 the Heron, "royal game," was placed
under the law for three years, and persons protecting it
for the King's pleasure were to be rewarded. In 1551 in
order to preserve the sport of hawking, killing game with
guns was prohibited under pain of death, and no one was
allowed to kill game for three years, except gentlemen with
hawks. In later years the extreme penalty was modified,

PROTECTION OF ANIMALS FOR SPORT 203

for in 1567 the offender who slew, with gun or bow, Herons
or "fowls of the revar" was to forfeit his moveable goods,
and, if he were a vagabond, to be imprisoned for 40 days
for a first offence, and for a second to have his right hand
cut off; although at a still later date a third offence could be
expiated only by hanging to the death.

The most complete list of the "wylde foulys" which
hawking brought under protection appears in an interesting
Statute of James VI passed in 1600, which specifies

partridges, moore-fowles1, black-cokes, aithehenis2, termigants3, wyld-dukes,
teillis4, atteils5, goldings6, mortyms7, schidderenis8, skaildraikes9, herron,
butter10 or any sik kynde of fowles commonly used to be chased with
halkes.

Woodcocks, Plovers and Wild Geese were specially excepted.
The attempt at protection in the case of the birds mentioned
was exceptionally thorough, for not only was the offender
who shot at the birds liable to a fine of ^"100, but the buyer
or seller of any of them was held equal in guilt.

So we leave consideration of special laws, which, though
primarily intended for the benefit of the Court, could not but
have had a beneficial effect upon the wild fauna of the
country, and pass to a short discussion of the legislation re-
lating to "wylde foulys" in general.

"WYLDE FOULYS" IN GENERAL

The greater number of the sporting wild-fowl of Scotland
is included in the prohibition of 1600 just quoted, which
was specially designed to encourage the sport of hawking,
and which reminds us that

by the common consuetude of all countries, special prohibition is made to
all sorts of persons to slay wild fowl, hare, or venison.../';? respect the samine
as well has been created for the recreation of mankinde as for their susten-
tation™.

Yet a study of the old Scots law leads me to think that a
broad distinction was drawn between preservation for sport

1 Grouse. 2 Grey-hens. 3 Ptarmigan. 4 Teal.

5 Probably the Wigeon. 6 Perhaps the Golden-eye Duck.

7 Supposed to be Martins.

8 Also " schiwerines " and "schildernes," i.e. shield-nosed, probably
Spatula clypeata, the Shoveller or "Spoonbill" Duck.

9 Sheldrakes. 10 Bittern. " My italics.

204 PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

royal and general wild-fowl protection. In the former case,
the protection was, as might be expected, an absolute protec-
tion enforced by the severest penalties, while in the latter,
less stringent measures were considered sufficient. These
measures took different forms, and seem to have been graded
according to the scarcity or otherwise of particular birds at
particular periods.

At one time nests were protected, and the eggs of
Partridges or Wild Ducks were forbidden to be taken, under
a penalty of 40^. (1474). At another time the young birds,
"pouts" of Partridges or of Moor-fowl (Grouse), were exempt
from destruction (1599, 1600, 1685), or the old birds were to
be spared during the moulting season (1457). But perhaps
the method most frequently adopted was that now universal in
the case of game birds, the fixing of definite "close seasons,"
when wild-fowl could neither be killed, sold, bought or eaten
without incurring penalties of various degree, from a paltry
40.?. to a prohibitive fine of ^100.

It is hard to estimate the actual effect of these measures
upon the numbers of wild-fowl, but the constant repetition
of the old, and the appearance of new laws throughout
the centuries, leads one to suspect that the Statutes were
honoured as much in the breach as in the observance. Even
after two centuries and more of legal protection, Moor-
fowls or Grouse, a Statute of 1682 states, were so much
destroyed that there was fear of their total decay, and they
were accordingly prohibited from being bought or sold for
seven years under a penalty of ^100 to be incurred as well
by the buyer as the seller. Recourse was again had to this ex-
pedient a few years later when, owing to Moor-fowls being so
"decayed, "they were in 1698 absolutely protected for another
seven years. Nevertheless, if in spite of their general
inefficiency, the laws saved some of the birds of the moors
and marshes from the sorry fate of extinction which overtook
the Bittern and the Bustard in Scotland, they did good
service on behalf of our native fauna.

MODERN GAME BIRDS

The measures adopted in more recent times for the,
protection of game birds in Scotland differ in one important
respect from those of early days. Formerly the wildness of

PROTECTION OF ANIMALS FOR SPORT 205

an animal was a guarantee of its freedom from proprietary
rights — it was no man's beast until it was slain. Only "royal
game" was reserved for the king. But the development of
a fresh body of legislation had the effect of vesting property
in wild animals in the owner of the land on which they were
found. This important restriction of the common rights was
carried out by means of laws actually restricting, through
licences, the right of killing and selling "game" and by
others, such as the Night Poaching Act of George IV and
the Day "Poaching Act of William IV, making trespass, in
itself merely a civil misdemeanour, a criminal offence to be
expiated by heavy penalties. In other respects the mode
of protection nowadays is similar in nature to one formerly
adopted — the institution of definite "close seasons," during
which particular birds may not be shot.

The variety of birds protected by these measures is
somewhat less than in the days of Scotland's independence,
for "game birds" are variously defined as "partridges,
pheasants, muirfowl, tarmagans, heathfowl, snipes and quails"
(13 Geo. Ill), and as "pheasants, partridges, grouse, heath
or muir game, black game, and bustards" (9 Geo. IV),
although in addition to "game," "woodcocks, snipes, quails,
landrails, wild ducks, and conies" are protected in the Day
Poaching Act of 1832.

The effect upon the fauna of Scotland of these statutes
has been very great, for the practical granting of proprietary
rights in game birds, has led to a great increase in the
numbers of the more favoured species. Pheasants, imported
aliens (see p. 264), have been reared with the greatest care
and at enormous expense, Partridges have been encouraged
by the strictest preservation, and Grouse and Black-game
have had enormous tracts of country set apart for their use.
So that in most places where they are found, these species
occur in numbers beyond their natural proportion .in 'the
native fauna, for in addition to protection from man, they
have benefited by the deliberate destruction of beasts and
birds of prey — their natural enemies.

The result of the preservation of game birds has
been strikingly shown in the course of the War. In the
absence of the annual battues on the extensive scale of
pre-war days, the birds have so increased in number as to

206 PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

become a serious nuisance to farmers and a menace to
home-grown food supplies, and to cause special measures
to be taken for their destruction under the Defence of the
Realm Regulations, "with a view to preventing or reducing
injuries to crops by game birds" (27 February, 1917).

As it is difficult to indicate, except in general terms, the
effects of the Game Laws upon the numbers of the protected
in Scotland, I may be excused for turning to an American
source for a statistical account of the effects of game legisla-
tion, especially as the instance in question has the merit of
illustrating the differences in method between the slowly
evolved empirical laws of an old country and the scientifi-
cally based laws of a new. In 1906, according to Mr J. B.
Burnham, in Monroe County, New York, game of all kinds
had become so scarce that sportsmen had abandoned shoot-
ing. During the six years prior to 1904, 135 Chinese Ring-
necked Pheasants were distributed for stocking purposes, and
the shooting of them was totally prohibited. In 1908 they
had so increased in numbers that a short shooting season
was opened, but for cock birds only. Since that time, till the
present day, shooting has gone on annually, and in some
years more than 6000 Pheasants have been killed. Yet.
owing to the protection of hens, the supply is still increasing
at a great rate, and sportsmen are attracted to the county in
great numbers and from long distances.

Apart from the direct and apparent results of the pro-
tection of game birds, there are more subtle but not less
important effects which follow in chains of circumstances.
Pheasants and Partridges, Black-game and the young of
Grouse are largely insect-eaters, and as such, benefit their
protectors to no small degree — the crop of an Argyllshire
Pheasant has been found by Mr P. H. Grimshaw to contain
close on 2800 recognizable insects — the staple food at the
time having been a Two-winged Fly, Bibio lepidus (the
maggots of which live in the ground upon roots of plants),
2286 specimens, and the Heather Beetle, Lochmcea sutu-
ra/zs, 508 specimens. Black-game also are formidable
enemies of the latter insect, the grubs of which destroy
annually hundreds if not thousands of acres of heather.
Much more subtle are the connecting links in the series of
events which, through the protection of Pheasants and the

PROTECTION OF ANIMALS FOR SPORT 207

consequent encouraging of Black-headed Gulls in order that
their eggs might supply the game-birds with food, led to the
alteration of a local flora, and the replacement of the old by
a new association of animals. To this interesting succession
of results more detailed reference will be made elsewhere
(see p. 501).

THE DEER FOREST

"The Scottes," said Holinshed, "sette all their delighte
in hunting and fowling"; so it came to be that, as the
numbers of wild animals diminished, the beasts of the chase
fell under a system of protective laws as strict as those which
governed the fowling quarry. Chief of the hunted was the
Red Deer:

The best of chase, the tall and lusty Red,

The stag for goodly shape and statelinesse of head,

Is fitt'st to hunt at force.

It is not too much to say that but for the care which has
been taken of it by the law, the Red Deer in Scotland would
probably long ere now have followed to extinction the
Scottish Reindeer and the Elk.

The system of protection dates from a very early period,
for in former days the Red Deer was royal game, "inter
regalia'' and could be hunted only by the King himself or by
those to whom he had given a grant of forestry. Yet in the
Fragmenta Collecta of Scottish law, of uncertain date, a
curious rule is made for deciding property in Deer: Deer
were to be regarded as wild by nature, but in forests they
were "thine as long as they have a desire to come to thee,
and when they have no desire to come again they are not
thine."

RED DEER IN THE LOWLANDS

It is interesting to note how frequently from the eleventh
down to the sixteenth century the nobles of Scotland
pursued the Red Deer in areas whence they have long since
disappeared. David I (1124-1 153) had a hunting house at
Crail in Eastern Fifeshire; Walter the Stewart, in found-
ing the Abbey of Paisley in 1 160, granted the monks a tithe
of his hunting, with the skins of the deer slain in his forest of
Ferenze in Renfrewshire. Robert the Bruce (1306-1329)
was repeatedly baulked by a white deer which he started

208 PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

among the Pentland Hills; and in a charter of 1328 he
conferred on the monks of Newbattle an annual donation
of five harts at the feast of St Cuthbert's Translation, to
be taken from his forest of Selkirk. There, too, Bruce's
successor, David II, hunted; in 1330, his Chamberlain
paid 245-. for "a chalder of large salt for salting the king's
venison at Selkirk," and in the following year, 165. for salt
for the venison at Ettrick Forest. In 1334 David renewed
the grant made by his father to the Priory of Newbattle.

The history of the Red Deer in the Lowlands is carried
down to the sixteenth century by Lindsay of Pitscottie who
records that

the second day of June the King [James V, the year being 1528] passed
out of Edinburgh to the hunting with many of the Nobles and Gentlemen
of Scotland with him to the number of twelve thousand Men ; and then
past to Meggitland, Crammat, Popert Law, St Mary's Laws, Carlaverick,
Chapel, Ewindoores, and Longhope. I heard say he slew in these Bounds,
eighteen score of Harts.

Although deer were evidently still plentiful in 1528, by
the middle of the century constant slaughter and, more
important, the development of farming and of the practice
of pasturing upon the Lowland hills large flocks of sheep,
sometimes ten thousand in number, as Bishop Leslie tells
us, led to such a decrease in the numbers of Red Deer that
vigorous efforts were made to protect the relics of the herds.
In 1551 in the reign of Queen Mary, a Statute was passed
complaining that "deare, rae, or uther wild beasts and wild
fowles are clean exiled and banished by schutting with
half-hag, culvering, and pistolet," and enjoining "that nane
of our soveraine ladies lieges, of quhatsumever degree hee
be of, take upon hande to schutte" at these animals "under
the paine of death and confiscation of all their gudes for
their contemplation." Notwithstanding, no measure could
check the downward way of the lowland Red Deer, and
with the troubles and lawless years of the seventeenth
century, and the steady growth of agriculture, they were
finally banished from the uplands and forests of southern
Scotland.

MODES OF DEER PROTECTION

From a general point of view the modes adopted by
Scots law in protecting deer range round several well

PROTECTION OF ANIMALS FOR SPORT 209

recognized expedients. In the first place deer were not to
be slain but by properly qualified persons: in the earliest
days by the King and his Court, or by persons to whom he
had deputed or granted rights of forestry ; in later days by
the great landowners on whose ground the deer roamed,
for no one dare slay "Deare or Raes in utheris closes or
Parkes....but [except with] special licence of the owners,
under the paine of dittay [criminal prosecution], and to be
punished as thieft" (1474). The "unlaw" or fine for such
misdemeanour, at first "X punds," was raised in 1579 to
"ten pundes" for a first offence, "twentie pundes" for a
second, and "fourtie pundes" for a third, but if the wrong-
doer was "not responsall in guddes," he was to "be put in
the stokkes, prison or irones auct [eight] dayes on bread and
water" for the first fault, "fifteene dayes" for the second,
and for the third was to suffer "hanging to the death."

In the second place, since deer were preserved for
hunting, and hunting in the early days meant the "clamorous
hunt" with trained deer-hounds, all other methods were
prohibited, such as shooting or slaying with such noxious
inventions as "hag buttes [arquebus], hand gunnes, croce
bowes and pistolettes, and taking of them with girnes
[snares] and nettes" (1597 and earlier Acts).

In the third place, deer were not to be slain until they
were able to take care of themselves, for it was provided in
1474, "that na man slaie onie of their Kiddes quhill [i.e. until]
they be ane yeir auld, under the paine of X punds. And it
to be a point of dittay."

In the fourth place, a sort of "close season" (instituted
in 1400) was confirmed by the Act of 1474, since it was
ordained "that na man slaie Daes nor Raes, nor Deare in
time of storme or snaw.... under the paine of X punds."

And lastly a kind of total prohibition was tried, for
Parliament ruled that from June 1682 venison be not bought
or sold for seven years.

EFFECTS OF DEER LEGISLATION

The importance attached to the protection of these
objects of the chase and the great efforts made to preserve
them, may be judged from the fact that, in the sixteenth
century alone, no fewer than eleven Acts are concerned with

R. 14

210 PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

the penalties prescribed for illegal slaughter of deer. That
these laws effected an increase of deer in suitable localities,
such as the Highlands of Scotland, there can be little doubt,
judging by the numbers seen and slain in some^of the great
hunts of former times. Take for example that famous hunt,
in the summer of 1529, when King James V "togidder with
his mother and ane ambassadour of the Paipis [Pope's] wha
was in Scotland for the tyme, went all togidder to Atholl to
the huntis." The quaint description by Lindsay of Pitscottie
may be quoted, as much to show the pomp and circumstance
which attached to a royal hunt as to illustrate the significance
set upon the protection of deer, and the efficiency of legal
preservation.

Preparations for the hunt were made long in advance,
armies of beaters being sent to the hills, weeks or even
months before the date of the final massacre. During the
intervening time the beaters concentrated from all quarters
upon the place chosen for the last act, driving before them the
herds of deer from valley and mountain. To the rendezvous
the King was conducted and housed in state; but let Pit-
scottie carry on the narrative in his own inimitable language.

This noble Earl of Atholl caused mak ane curious pallace to the King,
his mother, and the ambassadour, quhairby they were als weill eased as if
they had been in ony pallace either of Scotland or England, and equivalent
for the tyme of thair hunting ; quhilk was biggit in the midle of ane greine
meadow, and the wallis thereof was of greine timber, wovin with birkis,
and biggit in four quarteris, as if it had been ane pallace, and in everie
quarter ane round lik ane block-house, quhilkis was loftit and jeasted thrie
hous hicht ; the floore was laid with grein earthe, and strowed with sick
floures as grew in the meadow, that no man knew quhairon he yead, bot
as he had beine in ane greine gardeine. Fardder, thair was tuo great
roundis on everie syd of the yett, and ane great portcullis of trie falling
down, as if it had beine ane barrace yett, with ane gritt draw bridge, and
ane foussie of sixteine fute deip, and thrittie fute broad, of watter. This
pallace was hung with fyne tapestrie within, and weill lighted in all necessair
pairts with glassin windowis.

The king was verrie weill entertained in this wildernes the space of
three dayes with all sick delicious and sumptuous meattis as was to be
hade in Scotland, for fleschis, fischis and all kindis of fyne wyne and spycis
requisit for ane Prince. Fardder, thair was no fischis that could leive in
fresh waiters but war thair swimming in the foussie about the pallace. It
is said by the space of thir three dayes that his Grace was thair, the Earle
of Atholl was everie day ane thousand pundis of expenss. This Pope's
ambassadour, sieing so great ane triumph in ane wildernes quhair their
was no toun neir be twentie myllis, he thought it ane great marvell that

PROTECTION OF ANIMALS FOR SPORT 211

sich ane thing sould be in Scotland, that is, so court-lyk and delicious
entertainment in the Highlandis of Scotland, quhair he saw nothing hot
woodis and wildernes. Bot, most of all, this ambassadour, when the King
was cuming back from the huritis, marvelled to sie the Highlanderis sett all
this pallace on fire that the King and the ambassadour might sie it. Then
the ambassadour said to the King, I marvell Sir yea latt burne yon pallace
quhair yea war so weill eased. The King answered, 'It is the use of our
Highland men that they be nevir so weill lodged all the night, they will
burne the same on the morne.' This being done, the King returned to
Dunkell that night, and on the morne to St Johnstoun. It is said at this
tyme, in Atholl and Stratherdaill boundis, thair was slaine threttie scoir
[600] of hart and hynd, with other small beastis, sick as roe and roe-buck,
woulff, fox, and wyld cattis.

I have already referred to another hunting of James V,
when, in 1528, 360 harts were slain in the forest county of
Selkirkshire and the adjoining counties. In 1563 Queen
Mary was present at a Highland hunt when, in the course of
two months "tenchel" driving, two thousand Scottish High-
landers collected in the wilds of Athole, Badenoch, Mar
and Moray a huge herd of "more than two thousand deer."
Many of these, owing to a sudden stampede of the herd,
broke bounds and escaped, but notwithstanding, "there were
killed that day 360 deer." Taylor, the Water Poet, relates
that, in his presence, in 1618, in the "Brea of Marr" — Braemar
in Aberdeenshire — "in the space of two hours, fourscore fat
deere were slaine, "and the Wardlaw Chronicles tell how, in
1655, in the "Forrest of Monnair" on the borders of Inver-
ness, Ross and Cromarty,

We travelled through Strathglaish and Glenstrafarrar to Loch Monnair....
Next day we got sight of 6 or 700 deere, and sportt off hunting fitter for
kings than country gentlemen.

These facts go to show that, while legislation was unable to
save the deer of the Lowlands, where deer-preservation came
into violent conflict with agricultural progress, it did result
in keeping up the numbers in the wilder areas of the Scottish
Highlands.

DEER PROTECTION AT THE PRESENT DAY

In our day also, a similar result follows upon the protection
afforded to Red Deer. So efficiently are they preserved that
there can be little doubt that in many areas the number
exceeds what the ground could naturally bear. Why should
it be necessary to hand-feed deer in many forests during the

14—2

212 PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

winter, were it not that the "forest" does not afford sufficient
sustenance for the numbers of deer upon it? And how else
can we account for the great mortality that occurs from
natural causes every season ? In the deer-forests of Jura,
a count extending over ten years revealed the fact that, over
and above the slaughter due to sport, an average of more
than one hundred deer died every year. The conclusion that
protection has increased the stock beyond the capacity of the
country, is confirmed by the fact that while the total number
of deer in Jura is now over 2,000, in Martin's day, in the
closing years of the seventeenth century, the hills ordinarily
had "about three hundred Deer grazing on them," and even
then they were protected, for they were "not to be hunted
by any, without the Steward's License."

The War has further emphasized the tendency to over-
protection. During the past thirty years, the area of Scottish
deer forests has increased by many thousands if not by
millions of acres. Deer have now become so numerous,
partly owing to the absence of sportsmen and keepers on the
trail of greater game, that they have overrun great stretches
of the best sheep-grazings and are said to have destroyed
fields of valuable crops within twelve miles of Glasgow. So
serious a menace have they become to the interests of agri-
culture and to the food-supply of the nation, that the pro-
tective legislation which has held sway from time immemorial
has been rescinded for the time being. An order of the
Board of Agriculture for Scotland issued in February 1917
authorizes the occupier of any agricultural holding in Scotland
to kill, by any means available, deer that are trespassing on
his grazings, or causing injury to his crops; and this with
only a gun licence and without even a licence to kill game —
surely a measure and an expedient which might well raise
from their last resting-places the Scots law-makers of old,
with their mutilations and their hangings.

Nevertheless, in spite of the severity of the old laws of
the deer-forest and their one-sided point of view, naturalists
owe them a debt of gratitude ; for, taking account of the
influence of changed conditions upon the deer themselves
(see under Destruction of Forests, p. 335), of the present
necessity for artificial feeding in many areas, of the annual
tale of natural deaths, of the history of the lowland Red

PROTECTION OF ANIMALS FOR SPORT 213

Deer, of the disappearance of the Reindeer and the Elk,
and of the destructiveness of man, I would unhesitatingly
say that, but for the protection afforded by the law, Red
Deer would long since have ceased to exist in Scotland as the
wild denizens of our mountains and highland moors.

ROE AND FALLOW DEER

Roe and Fallow Deer were held by the law in much the
•same light as Red Deer; in many of the Statutes all three
are specified together and on equal terms. As Fallow Deer
were as a rule "Parked Deare," the property of the owner
of the enclosure, interference with them was a simple crime
of theft ; and as Roe Deer were of less value for purposes
of the hunt, the protection of them was on the whole less
stringent than that of the "best of chase, the tall and lusty
Red."

LESSER GAME— HARES

Hares did not enter the desirable regions of protection
at so early a date as Deer, for the "tim'rous hare," "a weak,
harmless flying creature," was scarcely to be reckoned inter
regalia — sport for a king. Indeed in the twelfth century,
during the reign of King Alexander, there was no prohibition
against hunting hares except they were in forests and warrens,
where they were private property. Yet in many ways the
protection of hares ran parallel with that of deer, although it
was as a whole less comprehensive.

In' the fifteenth century a close season of a kind was
instituted, for hares might not be slain in time of snow
under a penalty of 6s. Sal. (1400). In the sixteenth century
(1567) a much more strict preservation was enforced under
pain of forfeiture of all the offender's moveable goods, or if
he had no goods, of imprisonment for 40 days for a first
offence and, for a second, loss of his right hand. As hares,
like deer, were to be reserved for the chase, shooting with
"hag buttes, hand gurtnes, croce bowes and pistolettes" as
well as snaring and netting were forbidden; in 1579 the
"slaying of Haires" was included in the comprehensive Act
which threatened offenders for a third time, with "hanging
to the death"; and in 1685, on account of the decay of game

2i4 PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

in the Lowlands, the shooting and selling of hares at any time
were forbidden. A curious penalty attaches to a decree of
1707, made during our conflict with Louis XIV of France,
for it was ordained that no one shoot hares without a licence
from the proprietor of the ground, under penalty of being
sent abroad as a recruit.

What the actual effect of such protection was upon the
stock of hares in the country I have no means of estimating.
I imagine that it must have kept the number up to a level that,
could not have been attained had hares been slaughtered at
all times by all and sundry; and this supposition is confirmed
by the reduction of numbers which followed upon the setting
aside of the older Game Laws by the Ground Game Act of
iSSo1. Yet in the old days hares do not seem to have
been overplentiful, judging from the slight evidence I have
gathered. To Mr A. O. Curie I am indebted for an extract
from the manuscript of the Moray Papers, which I quote
here by permission of the Right Hon. the Earl of Moray.
It appears in a letter, dated 22 January 1582, from John
Guthrie in Castle Campbell to the Countess of Argyll,
relating a libel against Argyll made to the King by the Prior
of Pluscarden, accusing him of

the foullest and greatest slauchter of hares that ever he saw, felling them
in thair setts and lowsing of 10 or 12 leish of dogs by [Pforbye] ane great
number of raches at ane hare and so wald slay in ane day 12, 16, or 20, —

no very great "slauchter," as things go in our day of sporting
guns and ammunition, though with dogs a very fair bag.
In the middle of the eighteenth century the number of hares
and leverets in Great Britain was estimated, according to
Dr John Campbell, I do not know on what basis, at a stock
of twenty-four thousand, and an annual breed of twelve
thousand.

As in the case of Deer and Game Birds, the War has
made more apparent than ever before, the influence upon
the hare's numbers of even the modicum of protection now
afforded it. Owing to the absence of sportsmen and game-
keepers, the annual destruction of hares has been lessened,
and the effect of preservation, no longer obscured by com-
pensating slaughter, stands out clearly in an enormous

1 See p. 1 80, where also the Hares' Preservation Act of 1892 is
referred to.

PROTECTION OF ANIMALS FOR SPORT 215

increase of numbers. So great has become the damage done
by this unwonted increase that "with a view to preventing
or reducing injury to crops or wastage of pasturage," special
Orders have recently been issued (17 April 1917) by the
Board of Agriculture for Scotland and the corresponding
bodies in England and Ireland, authorizing and encouraging

the killing and taking, the sale and purchase, and the possession of any
birds or hares or rabbits at any time when the killing and taking, the sale
and purchase, or the possession thereof would othersvise be unlawful,

and granting these liberties to persons who have no game-
licences and no rights according to the laws of game pro-
tection.

IV. 2

PROTECTION OF ANIMALS FOR UTILITY

I HAVE suggested that, in a general way, the development
of laws protecting animals because of their usefulness, suc-
ceeded in time the development of laws protecting the
objects of sport. Under the feudal system the king and
his court held first place, and so their pleasure was more
important than the nation's profit, since the nation, as we
think of it, consisted but of underlords and vassals. Thus
it was only with the gradual decay of the feudal idea and the
growth of a new appraising of values that the utilitarian aspect
of wild animals forced itself into notice. Even so, the growth
of a true economic protection has been a slow one, for the
earliest efforts at the legal protection of useful animals, were
mainly aimed at protecting such for the nobles and the
proprietors of land, and from the masses of the people.
With a few exceptions, it is only within comparatively recent
years that there has been passed utilitarian legislation con-
cerning animals, which affects the greater part of the popula-
tion.

The laws protecting useful animals have had several
distinct ends in view. Some animals have been protected
because they could be used as food; others because of the
profit to be gained from their fur or skins ; a few because of
their value as scavengers; and a larger number because of
the special services they render to the agriculturist and the
nation at large.

PROTECTION OF FOOD ANIMALS
BEASTS AND BIRDS

History furnishes unpleasantly frequent records of the
occurrence in Scotland of times of great scarcity, when prices
of common articles of food rose to a prohibitive height (so
that, as in 1551, Acts establishing fixed prices of food-animals
had to be passed), when the poorer inhabitants were forced
to the sea-shore there to live upon the shell-fish gathered

PROTECTION OF ANIMALS FOR UTILITY 217

on the rocks and from the sands, and when, in spite of all
efforts, many died of want. Such recurrences probably first
turned the attention of our legislators to the need of supervis-
ing the wild stock of the country with a view to future food
supplies. Thus alongside protection of game birds from the
sporting point of view grew protection of wild fowl from a
utilitarian standpoint.

In an Act passed in 1457, in the reign of James II, pro-
vision was specifically made for such wild fowl "as ganis
to eit for the sustentacion of man, as pertrykes, pluvars,
wilde dukes and sik lik fowlys." Of these neither the nests
nor eggs were to be taken or destroyed, nor were the birds
themselves to be killed in moulting time. Further, that the
stock of wild fowl should be still more augmented, the same
Act provided for the destruction of "foulys of reif," or birds
of prey in a wide sense, such being "ruikes, crawes, eirnes1,
bissettes2, gleddes3, mittalles4, the whilk destroyes beast,
corne, and wilde foulys." Great efforts were to be made to
keep these destroyers in check, for they "sail utterly be
destroyed by all manner of men, be all engine5 of all manner
of crafts that may be founden" since "the slauchter of them
sail cause great multitude of divers kind of wilde foulys for
man's sustentacion."

In the sixteenth century there were also passed Acts for
"staunching dearth" which provided for the preservation
of "hart, hinde, dae, rae, haires, cunninges, and utheris
beasts." The many statutes protecting the inhabitants of
the dovecot, the "dows" and their "dowcattes," of which a
summary has already been given (p. 98) were also clearly-
devised for the increase of food supply, although the supply
was primarily intended for the table of the laird.

FISHES OF FRESH WATERS

Ranking almost in importance with the preservation of
game is the protection which has been given to the more
valuable fishes of our fresh waters, Salmon and Trout. The
details of the protective measures vary for almost every
great river, and it would serve no useful purpose to discuss
them here, but in the main they follow several wide principles.

1 Eagles. 2 Buzzards. 3 Kites. 4 "A kind of halk"— Jamieson.
r' Ingenuity.

218 PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

Originally the right to catch Salmon was a common
right, but the value of the fish soon led to interference with
the privileges of the people at large, and at an early date
property in salmon fishings became vested in the Crown.
By grants and charters the Crown bestowed the rights in
these valuable properties to private individuals, often in-
dependently of the land in which the fishing lay, so that
the taking of Salmon became a right limited to a favoured
few of the population, for whom it was protected by statutes
innumerable.

Yet from the time of Robert the Bruce, the law made
many endeavours to preserve the fishes themselves, and
these regulations follow well-recognized lines common to
all legislation protecting animals — the protection of adults,
especially at breeding times, and the safeguarding of the
young.

Modes of catching the fish were severely restricted.
Fixed engines, stake-nets and bag-nets were prohibited in
rivers and in tidal estuaries, and it was enacted in the reign
of James I "that all cruives and yaires set in freshe watteris,
quhair the sea fillis and ebbis, the quhilk destroyis the frie
of all fisches, be destroyed and put awaie for ever mair"
(1424). The general effect of such restrictions, which
are of wide application, is to give adult fishes, returning
from the sea to fresh water, a sporting chance of reaching
their spawning beds in the upper reaches of the rivers.

The safety of breeding fish was sought by prohibiting
the taking of "baggit" Salmon, that is, Salmon about to
spawn, and by the creation of close seasons, which were first
instituted in the Act of James I just quoted, the close time
being there designated as from

the Feast of the Assumption of our Ladie quhill [until] the Feast of St
Andrew in winter.... Quha sa ever be convict of slauchter of salmonde in
time forbidden be the law, he sail pay fourtie shillings for the unlaw, and
at the third time, gif he be convict of sik trespasse, he sail tyne [lose] his
life or then [else] bye it [i.e. pay its value as ransom].

What the ransom was for a life in 1424, I do not know,
unless it was that of a law attributed to a much earlier date,
which stipulated "For the life of ane man nine time twentie
kye," and proceeds to put a mercenary value upon various
acts of violence —

PROTECTION OF ANIMALS FOR UTILITY 219

For ane fute, ane marke. For ane tuth, twelve pennies... For ane strake
with steiked neif [clenched fist], twelve pennies... For ane strake with the
fute, fortie pennies. For the blude shed out of the head of ane Earle, nine
kye.

In Scotland at the present time the annual close season
for Salmon differs according to local conditions in individual
rivers, but in no case must it be less than 168 days. A
weekly close time for nets from 6 a.m. on Saturday till 6 a.m.
on Monday, the "weekly slap," gives much needed facility
for migrating Salmon to pass beyond the estuaries up the
rivers.

Adult Salmon are further protected by comparatively
recent legislation (1862) prohibiting the taking of fish which,
having spawned, have not yet completed their seaward
migration — foul fish or kelts, and unseasonable fish.

Several measures have been adopted for the preservation
of young Salmon : spawning beds may not be disturbed, even
banks suitable for spawning must not be interfered with,
the taking of Salmon parr is totally prohibited, and as early
as 1457, it was decreed that "na man in smolt time set
veschellis, crelyis, weris, or any uthir ingyne, to let [prevent]
the smoltis to pass to the see."

Trout are protected by restricting to private individuals
what were at first public rights, by restrictions as to the
modes of fishing, and by an annual close season extending
from the I5th of October to the 28th of February.

So the "multiplicatioune of fische, salmonde, grilsis and
trowtis" has been encouraged in Scotland ; but the direct
protection has given rise to another and important means of
"multiplicatioune," for the institution of private property in
fishing has encouraged the artificial rearing of Salmon and
Trout fry in specially designed hatcheries. There they are
brought through the early stages of life, free from the in-
numerable dangers from physical accident and natural
enemies to which they are exposed in open rivers, and are
launched annually in their thousands on suitable feeding-
grounds in their own or in distant waters. Some notion of
the significance offish hatcheries maybe gathered from the
facts that in the season 1915-16 the 224 breeding stations in
Switzerland hatched 157,97 1,000 eggs of fresh-water fishes,
and that in 1915 the hatcheries of the United States of

220 PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

America liberated over 535 million fry and over 18 million
fingerlings, yearlings, or adults in streams debouching on the
Pacific, while since the inception of the work of hatching,
they have distributed 6291 millions of fry.

SEA FISHERIES

The history of the protection of sea-fisheries is compli-
cated by infinite variety of limitations, most of which have
now fallen into desuetude. At the present time, white fish
and Herrings are protected mainly by regulations fixing a
minimum size of mesh in nets used for their capture, and by
the institution of reserves — the three-mile limit and certain
special areas such as the Moray Firth and the Firth of
Clyde — within which specific modes of fishing, for example
trawling, are prohibited.

MOLLUSCAN AND CRUSTACEAN SHELL FlSH

A few species of molluscan and crustacean shell-fish have
been protected with a view to increasing the stock available
for food. Oyster beds and Mussel scalps are regarded as
private property and are protected as such. Oysters are
further subject to a close season extending from i4th May
or 1 5th June till i4th August, according to whether they
occur on inshore or deep-sea beds.

Of Crustacean shell-fish, Crabs and Lobsters are by
far the most important from an economic point of view
(see p. 153). The protective regulations vary in different
Fishery Districts but a minimum size of 4^ inches across
the back for Edible Crabs and of 8 inches length for Lobsters
is enforced, and as a rule, the taking of crabs with spawn
and "hen lobsters in berry" is prohibited.

Such regulations, while they have had, in most cases,
no appreciable effect in increasing beyond their original
numbers the stocks of the chief food animals of the country,
have had the negative but highly important effect of pre-
venting a serious depletion of these stocks, a result which
would inevitably have followed promiscuous destruction of
creatures of such great economic value.

PROTECTION OF ANIMALS FOR UTILITY 221
PROTECTION OF FUR-BEARING ANIMALS

When one thinks of the extent and of the content of the
great fur countries in the northern territories of the Old and
the New World, exporting annually their hundreds of thou-
sands of valuable pelts, it seems as if the limited fauna of
Scotland could never have ventured to take part in the trad-
ing of furs. Yet it is not so, for long before those northern
regions had been tapped, Scotland, as we have already seen
(p- J55)> was much resorted to by the merchants of the
Continent on account of the rich furs it exported. Skins
of the mertrick (marten), foulmart (polecat), beaver, otter,
tod (fox), whitret (weasel, perhaps also stoat or ermine), and
cunning (rabbit), were exported in quantity. In view of the
importance of this trade in furs, it seems extraordinary that,
apart from a few regulations limiting the wearing of the more
valuable kinds to men of high degree, and a few enactments
levying a toll upon exported skins, the law made no attempt
to foster so valuable an asset by endeavouring to protect the
animals themselves, except in the solitary case of the rabbit.

THE RABBIT

In another place I have discussed the introduction and
establishment of the Rabbit in Scotland (p. 247), so that
here I would do no more than indicate its standing as a fur-
bearer and the protection which has been awarded it on this
account. Although of no mean value as a food animal, the
Rabbit owes its early preservation rather to the quality of its
skin. Witness the statement of Dr John Campbell in his
Political Siirvey of Great Britain, published in 1774:

Their Flesh at a proper Age, and in proper Seasons, is thought equally
wholesome and delicate. But this, though in some Degree an Object of
Profit, did not so much recommend or render them so valuable, as their
Skins, which are now much reduced in their Price from a Variety of Causes,
and though thus reduced they are still of no despicable Value.

He goes on to say that in his time "it hath been computed,
that Skins included, the annual Produce of Rabbits within
the Bills of Mortality comes to about Forty Thousand
Pounds."

The price of a rabbit for food was fixed in Scotland in

222 PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

1551 at from is. to 2s., but the value of the skin was much
greater, for Campbell says

the Skins of large well chosen Rabbits would produce Half a Crown, or
even Three Shillings a Skin, being then used in lining Robes, in Muffs, in
Tippets, &c. The Down was employed in making Hats, and in both ours
[an apparent printers error for colours] was highly esteemed in France,
especially the jet Black, and such as had only a Sprinkling of White
amongst the Black, and was very much preferred to their own.

A great fillip was given to the use of rabbit skins for
hat-making in Scotland when, in 1621 the wearing of castor
or beaver hats was forbidden (although in 1672 the privilege
was allowed afresh to noblemen), and when, in 1695, authority
was given by law for the manufacture of hats from rabbit
and hare skins.

In view of the Value attaching to rabbit skins, it is little
wonder that "cunninges" and "cunningaires" or rabbit-
warrens, were protected with a jealousy which in our day of
a rabbit pest seems remarkable. A Statute of James VI,
passed in 1579, was particularly severe on the "breakirs of
cunningaires" who, should they be found "unresponsall in
gudes," that is, unable to pay the fine of "fourtie pundes"
demanded on a third offence, were to suffer "hanging to the
death." This value, too, is accountable for the rapid spread
of the rabbit in Scotland and for the creation of innumerable
warrens, many of which, as that on the links at Aberdeen,
were commonties, the property of the neighbouring town or
village. An index to the esteem in which the skins were held
in countries outwith our own boundaries is furnished by an
interesting entry in a Charter of the Earl of Mar and Kellie,
which gives the yearly average export between 1611 and
1614: "Of cuneing skinnis 53,234 at £6 the hundreth,

SEALS

Abundant though Seals were in former days on the
coasts of Scotland, and valuable as their carcases must have
been in furnishing food and oil as well as in supplying skins
for clothing, no general attempt was ever made to protect
them. Yet an interesting story of St Columba shows that
at one time and in one place breeding colonies of seals
were jealously guarded. Adamnan, in his Life of St
Columba, tells how the Saint despatched from lona to Mull

PROTECTION OF ANIMALS FOR UTILITY 223

two brethren empowered to catch a robber from Colonsay
who, having come over in his boat at night to a small island
where the young seals were brought forth and reared, killed
and stole many of them. The seals were the property of
the settlement in lona and were carefully protected and
encouraged to multiply as a reserve for supplying food,
clothing and oil to the monks.

Simple as was this oldest protection of the seal in
Scotland in the sixth century, it is still the latest method; for
it was instituted in 1912 in the Pribilof Islands, off Alaska.
The prohibition of killing in that famous breeding-ground
has increased the stock of Fur Seals (Arctocephalus ursmus),
according to the enumeration and calculations of the United
States Bureau of Fisheries, from 363,872 in 191510417,329
in 1916, a gain of over 53,000 in a single year.

The protection of even a single breeding-ground on a
small island on the west of Scotland must in that area have
had no little effect in keeping up the numbers of seals.
Otherwise, under the constant demands of man they must
have followed that course of decline which elsewhere has
invariably accompanied unrestricted slaughter. This very
slaughter, to which I referred in the preceding chapter (p. 172),
rendered necessary the protection of the Grey Seal (Hali-
ckcems grypus] in British waters, and this was granted in
19 14 by an Act of Parliament which instituted an annual close
season from the ist of October till the i5th of December.

PROTECTION OF ANIMALS AS SCAVENGERS

The encouragement and protection of such animals as
feed upon carrion and garbage is a well established custom
in many and especially tropical lands where sanitation is in
its infancy, and where festering heat hastens decay and
noisomeness. In such countries, Jackals by night and Pariah
Dogs by day are tolerated with a benevolent neutrality on
account of their services to cleanliness, while the sacredness
of the Vultures of India and the sufferance accorded to their
relatives in the warmer regions of Europe, Asia and Africa
can be traced to their efficiency as cleansers of the earth.

In Scotland in early days and down to comparatively
recent times the sanitary condition of towns and villages

224 PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

was not very different from that of many modern sites of
habitation in the East. Imagine the state of the streets of
Edinburgh, for example, when, even so late as 1730, the
frequent cry of " Gardy Loo" (Gardez feau) heralded a
deluge of household slops and filth from the window of an
upper storey upon the causeway, or when middens plentifully
bestrewed the main avenues of traffic, to the hindrance of
the lieges, as Lindsay (d. 1557) relates:

Marie ! cummand throw the Schogait,
Bot thair hes bene ane great debait

Betwix me and ane sow.
The sow cryit guff, and I to ga,
Throw speid of fute I gat awa
But in the midst of the cawsa1

I fell into ane midding.

In such conditions many animals prone to nose in garbage
were afforded a mild sort of protection. Swine were to be
found, especially at night, roaming from one heap of offal
to another, and it was no unusual chance that led the hero
of the verses quoted to meet one in a thoroughfare. Nor was
it a fortuitous juxtaposition that occurred when the Assize of
Haddington in October 1543 ordained "Item all muk to
be put off the Gait [street] and all swyne to be put off the
Towne." The foragings of clogs and cats also were so much
encouraged that their presence became a public nuisance, and
the Haddington Assize was compelled to ordain "that the
hangman sail escheit to hymself all swyne doggs & catts at
[that] he fyndis one [on] the gait fra this nycht furcht."

BIRDS OF CARRION

Many carrion-feeding birds were encouraged to aid in
the work of scavenging; else how can we account for the
numbers which frequented the streets of Edinburgh and
Leith? A casual reference in Wedderburn's Accompt Book
indicates the presence of these visitors, whose appearance in
the streets called for no remark on ordinary occasions,
although during an eclipse of the sun in 1597,

the peiple with gryt fair fled aff the calsayis [causeways] to houssis
mourning and lamenting, and the crawis and corbeis and ravenois foullis
fled to houssis to our steple and tolbuith and schip tappis, maist merveul-
ously affrayit.

1 Causeway.

PROTECTION OF ANIMALS FOR UTILITY 225

I think it highly probable that till a comparatively late
date, Rooks, Carrion Crows and Ravens were afforded a real
and active protection in our towns and villages on account
of their services to cleanliness, but that, as with so many
habits and customs now curious to us, the very ordinariness of
their presence in former days led to its being passed over
unremarked by contemporary writers. We must remember,
however, that, according to Clusius, vast numbers of Kites
were in constant attendance in the streets of London during
the reign of Henry VIII, on the look-out for the offal with
which the thoroughfares were polluted.

It has been left to a German nobleman, soldier and
traveller, Von Wedel, to record as strange to his eyes, what
our own historians passed over in silence, the presence and
protection of Ravens as scavengers in our towns.

"On the 6th [of September 1584]" he wrote in effect, "we rode to
Belfart [Belford], twelve miles, and from thence twelve miles again with
fresh post to Barwick [Berwick-on-T weed].... The houses in the town are
mean and thatched with straw.... There are many ravens in this town which
it is forbidden to shoot, upon pain of a crown's payment, for they are
considered to drive away bad air."

Here is obviously a reference to their removal of evil-
smelling garbage and the pestilence it engendered ; but the
significance of this protection of scavengers is .made quite
clear by one Capello, a Venetian ambassador, who, after
spending the winter of 1496-7 in England, wrote

Nor do they dislike what we so much abominate, i.e. crows, rooks and
jackdaws ; and the raven may croak at his pleasure, for no one cares for
the omen ; there is even a penalty attached to destroying them, as they say
that they will keep the streets of the town free from all filth. It is the same
case with kites, which are so tame, that they often take out of the hands of
little children, the bread smeared with butter, in the Flemish fashion, given
to them by their mothers.

The protection of the Raven and its kind as scavengers
was no new feature of sixteenth century life in Britain, for
even in Roman times, as the results of excavations indi-
cate (although excavators and commentators have missed
the significance of their presence) these birds were welcomed
in the settlements and cities.

" The most common birds [found in the excavations of the Roman
station of Calleva, now Silchester, in Hampshire]," says Mr H. Jones in
Archaeologia in 1892, "after those of the domestic fowl, have been

R. T5

226 PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

identified as those of the Raven.. .The numerous bones found amongst
the Roman remains would almost point to its having lived there in a semi-
domestic state."

And the excavations of the following year showed that "The
Raven and the Crow, especially the former, seem to have
been very plentiful, and gave the largest number of identifi-
able bones." A commentator has surmised that the abund-
ance of the Ravens at Calleva may have been due to
the fact that they were hung in cages at the entrance to the
houses, as the Magpie was in Rome, to keep guard against
intruders and to salute those who were invited to a villa.
But such surmises are unnecessary: the numbers of their
remains, the analogies of the municipal laws of Berwick and
of the bird frequenters of the streets of Leith and London,
make it perfectly plain that the Ravens and Crows were en-
couraged and protected in the Roman settlements on account
of their value as disposers of garbage.

The result of such protection was that for many centuries
"the birds obscene that croak and jar," which now, in
numbers miserable, are banished to the wildest crags, were
not only common throughout the land, but were the constant
companions of the traffic of the streets even in our largest
and busiest seaports and towns. Strange, wild times when
the Sparrow scavengers of modern thoroughfares were re-
placed in numbers and in assurance by Rooks, Carrion
Crows and Ravens !

It is not necessary to suppose, however, that these Raven
hordes built and nested in the near neighbourhood of the
towns they frequented, for it is well known that they, in
common with all birds of carrion, gather from afar to the
feast. Macgillivray instances such a congregation on the
Island of Pabbay in the Outer Hebrides, when as many
as two hundred Ravens gathered over a stranded herd of.
Grampuses or "Killer" Whales; and Dr B. N. Peach tells
me that on a similar occasion, when five "Killers" came
ashore in Weisdale Voe on the mainland of Shetland, he
witnessed the congregation of a flock of Ravens of which he
estimated the number at five hundred, many of which, in his
opinion, had gathered from the outlying islands.

PROTECTION OF ANIMALS FOR UTILITY 227
PROTECTION OF THE FARMER'S FRIENDS

Since everyone knows that many of our wild birds in
working out their own life-stories, perform deeds without
which the fruitful tilling of the soil could not long survive,
it seems strange that so little care should have been given
to the welfare of these friends of man. What has man done
to encourage the useful bird ?

"The stingy farmer," wrote Michelet, "has not a grain for the creature,
which, during the rains of winter, hunts the future insect, finds out the
nests of the larvae, examines, turns over every leaf, and destroys every day,
thousands of incipient caterpillars. But sacks of corn for the mature insect,
whole fields for the grasshoppers, which the birds would have made war
upon. With eyes fixed upon his furrow, upon the present moment only,
without seeing and without foreseeing, blind to the great harmony which
is never broken with impunity, he has everywhere demanded or approved
laws for the extermination of that necessary ally of his toil — the insecti-
vorous bird."

And Michelet's condemnation could be applied with force to
Britain, for when he wroteL'Oiseau in 1856, the law had made
no effort to preserve any such bird for the welfare of the
country at large. Legislation for the protection of game,
there was in plenty, but the democratic idea of preserving
birds for their services to the people had not yet been born.

Since Michelet wrote, some progress has been made in
other countries as in our own. Many of the United States
of America, like West Virginia, specify in their protection
laws, birds "that promote agriculture and horticulture by
feeding on noxious insects and worms"; and in 1902 there
was signed in Paris by many of the European countries
(not including Great Britain) a "Convention pour la Protec-
tion des Oiseaux utiles a 1' Agriculture," which forbade at all
times and in all ways the killing of birds useful to agriculture,
especially insectivorous birds, and the destruction of their
nests and eggs.

In Britain insectivorous or useful birds have not been
singled out for special protection, but they are, of course,
included in the general protection granted to all wild birds
during a close season instituted by the Wild Birds' Protec-
tion Act of 1880, and extending in each year between ist
March and ist August, the breeding season. Such birds
as are mentioned in a Schedule attached to the Act are

'5 — 2

228 PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

absolutely protected during this period, while the others
remain at the mercy of the occupier or owner of land. Many
also have been protected under subsequent Acts (especially
of 1894 and 1896) providing for the preservation of the eggs
of particular wild birds, for the adding of new birds to the
Schedule, for the extension of the close season in particular
cases, and for the creation of areas where all wild birds are
protected all the year round.

The result of these enactments has been on the whole a
marked increase of insectivorous birds. Indeed so great has
been the increase in the case of certain species that they
have been forced by the competition of numbers to turn
more and more from their staple food of insects to the
grain of the farmer and fruit of the gardener. On this ac-
count many demands have been made that certain of the
species which have most multiplied under protection should
be removed from the guardianship of the law. Although these
demands must be carefully tested in the light of unbiassed
observation of feeding habits throughout the year, there
is a consensus of opinion, based upon field observations and
the examination of the food found in the crops of thousands
of individuals, that in certain areas the numbers of such
insect-eating birds as Rooks, Starlings, Gulls, especially
Black-headed, and Blackbirds, could be limited without
detriment to their useful labours, and to the great advantage
of agriculture generally.

I conclude this reference to the "farmer's friends," with
an account of a curious type of special protection which used
to hold in Shetland. There the Great Skua (Stercorarius
skua] was preserved and encouraged because of its services
to the farmer in driving the Sea- Eagle from the island. Low
in his Tour through Orkney and Shetland, which took place
in the latter half of the eighteenth century, wrote

In Foula there is a privileged bird, no man will nor dare shoot it,
under the penalty of i6s. 8d. Ster., nor destroy its eggs; when they meet
it at sea, whatever fish they have in the boat Skua always gets a share, and
all this out of gratitude for beating off the Eagle, who dares not venture to
prey on the island during the whole of the breeding season.... Skua is not
so strong as the Eagle, but much more nimble; strikes at him without
mercy, with such effect that he makes the other scream aloud, and his
retreat is so sudden as to avoid all danger from the Eagle.

IV. 3

PROTECTION OF ANIMALS FOR
AESTHETIC REASONS

IN the slow progress of the protection of animal life by
law, it seems somehow natural to suppose that the idea of
preserving creatures for no other reason than their rarity,
their beauty of plumage, their sweetness of song, or the
interest of their habits, should have been the last to have
borne fruit. Probably the reason lies partly in the fact that
the general interest in nature for its own sake is a develop-
ment of very recent growth, partly in the truth of the old saw
which says that "Ilka man's business is nae man's concern "-
in other words, that because of their lack of expression, the
concerns of democracy have been stifled by the clamour of
sections more powerful and more immediately interested.

So it happens that the protection of creatures "attractive
in appearance or cheerful in song," as the Nebraskan law
puts it, is a matter of our own day, for we can hardly regard
the Scots laws of James I and Charles II (1621 and 1672),
forbidding the wearing of feathers, as having been instigated
by any concern for the "plume question," as it is understood
to-day.

Even yet, so far as I know, the law takes no cognizance
of our rare or interesting animals other than birds. The
numbers of the' Badger may dwindle on our hill-sides, the
Wild Cat and Marten may become extinct in our highland
woods, the Large Copper and the Artaxerxes Butterflies
may be exterminated, but the law says never a word.

Birds stand in happier case. Our birds of fine plumage
and sweet song, our rare birds and interesting birds shared
with all others the benefits of the close season of the Act of
1 880. Since then many of our rarer birds have been afforded
special protection, as have also their eggs, and a special
Act was passed in 1904 for the protection of wild birds
on the Island of St Kilda, notably the St Kilda Wren,

230 PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

which was threatened with extinction owing to the regard-
less enthusiasm of collectors.

There can be no doubt that the numbers of many of our
interesting birds have increased greatly during the past
thirty years mainly owing to the protection afforded them.
Year after year the reports on Scottish bird life in the
Annals of Scottish Natural History and its successor The
Scottish Naturalist, tell of increasing numbers and of ex-
tensions of range, and to these I would refer the reader,
contenting myself here with a few typical examples, mainly
extracted from the pages of that magazine. Rare birds like
the Red-necked Phalarope (P/ialaropus lobatiis] "seem to be
increasing every season" ; the Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps
cristatus} "has been increasing of late years as a breeding
bird in Scotland," and since its first recorded appearance
about 1877 has extended its range to the faunal areas of
Sol way, Tweed, forth, Clyde, Tay and Moray; the Scottish
Crested Tit (Parus cristatus scoticus] (Fig. 47) — a bird
exclusively Scottish— has colonized many new areas in
Moray, Nairn, Inverness and Ross during the last ten years,
despite the persecutions of collectors; and the Hawfinch
(Coccothraustes coccothraustes] has continued its general
extension in Scotland, in spite of the ill-will of growers of
peas. Birds of fine plumage, like the Goldfinch, the Jay and
the Kingfisher are steadily increasing in numbers notwith-
standing the attentions of birdcatchers, gamekeepers, and
preservers of fisheries. Song-birds, such as Linnets, Sedge
Warblers, .Wood Warblers, Thrushes and Blackbirds are
multiplying in several or many areas. And of birds of
general interest, the Golden Eagle, the Raven, the Magpie,
the Gannet and the Fulmar Petrel are a few which have
increased and have settled in new breeding grounds.

In many cases, it is interesting to note, these benefits
have accrued to the naturalist and to the people in general,
in face of the vested interests of sport: the Golden Eagle
multiplies in spite of the toll it levies upon grouse and
ptarmigan; the Kingfisher in spite of its depredations on
young trout. And this is due in part to a new sense of
aesthetic value which has led landowners and owners of
fisheries to balance against the game bag and the basket
of trout, the beauties of undisturbed nature.

PROTECTION FOR AESTHETIC REASONS 231

So successful has been the legal protection of wild birds
that several species have increased beyond reasonable limits,
and have come to be recognized as pests. Amongst these
beneficiaries under the Acts and their supplementary
Orders are the Gulls, especially Blackheaded Gulls, which
have turned their attention to grain, turnips and potatoes;

Fig. 47. Scottish Crested Tit— increasing in numbers under protection.
(From a Speyside example.) About £ natural size.

the Merganser, Goosander and Heron, whose numbers are
said seriously to deplete freshwater fisheries; the Starling,
Thrush, Blackbird and Bullfinch, which have become the
bane of the fruitgrower; and those doughty thieves, the Rook
and the Wood-pigeon. In the interests of the home grown
food supply of the country, the importance of which the War
has emphasized, such birds, in districts where satisfactory

232 PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

evidence of their harmfulness has been produced, ought
to be temporarily excepted from the modes of protection
awarded them, so that, by the reduction of their numbers,
good may come to the country at large. But with birds as
with men evil is most often tempered with good*, and only
after long observation and careful balancing of facts can
a final and fair judgment be reached. Even then, I am
convinced, little harm would befall were the final judgment
to be tempered with mercy.

IV. 4

PROTECTION OF ANIMALS THROUGH
POPULAR FAVOUR AND SUPERSTITION

MAN has so much to answer for as a destroyer and
exterminator of his co-dwellers on the earth that there is
something pleasing in the thought that on occasion his
goodwill has been extended to animals, apart from the thought,
of future sport or of gains to come. This goodwill has
affected a favoured few of our native animals, and as a
rule has been determined by some special interest attaching
to the creatures it shields, in view of which minor delin-
quencies on their part have come to be overlooked.

The Otter is a serious menace to freshwater fisheries,
yet it has probably been saved from extermination because
of a tender thought in the heart of many a proprietor of a
trout stream for this "lord of the stream" who surveys "all
the finny shoals his own," whose destructiveness is com-
pensated for by the interest and beauty it adds to many an
angler's haunt. But perhaps the thought of a day with the
otter hounds has also had its influence. The Badger, too,
however much it may have been persecuted in former times,
has now gained a place in popular favour because of its
interest and rarity, and there is little likelihood that the
extermination which once threatened it, will be carried into
effect. May it be taken as a gratifying sign of the growing
regard for our wild animals, that a colony of -Badgers has
inhabited for many years, without disturbance, a site on
Corstorphine Hill almost within the boundaries of the city
of Edinburgh ? But if its size and clumsiness add interest
to the Badger, for it is one of the largest of our surviving
wild animals, diminutiveness and grace make equal claims
upon the affection of man, and with these the Dormouse, a
native of southern England, has made an appeal which has
not been unanswered.

It is to the Birds, however, that the goodwill of man has
most frequently turned. Where their song has charmed his

234 PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

ear, or their confidence his heart, he has extended to them
a protection more sympathetic and more potent than that of
the law. Poets without number have sung their praises, and
even the schoolboy stays his harrying hand with ancient lilts
born of long-time appreciation.

It is little wonder that in England the Nightingale,
"night's sweet bird," should have claimed the reverence of
men when even

Highest oakes stoop downe to heare,
And list'ning elders prick the eare.

And to a less extent the songsters in our northern land,
^especially the Blackbird and Thrush — Merle and Mavis —
despite their peccadillos in the orchard, have gained a
patronage which their glad music well merits.

What is one to say of the favour in which the "foolish
Cuckoo" is held ? It has no wonderful song to sing, its habits
are unattractive, yet its "plaintive roundelay," its "two old
notes," awaken a sympathetic thrill as every spring comes
round. Perhaps Montgomery was right,

Why art thou always welcome, lonely bird ?

— The heart grows young again when I am heard ;

Nor in my double note the music lies,

But in the fields and woods, the streams and skies.

As little claim upon our regard has the Turtle Dove as
a songster, yet there can be no doubt of the favour in which
poets have held the "plaintive moan," which with generous
interpretation they have regarded as symbolic of tenderness
and peace, of constancy and truth. To what extent the "too
saint-like turtle" has been protected by the praises of the
poets, which, as a rule, echo the feelings of the people, it is
difficult to say; but there can be no doubt of the efficiency
of the protection which has shielded the Robin, on account
of the affection in which it has been held through many ages
and countries.

Probably the confidence with which man looks upon the
Redbreast was in the first place simply a reflex of the
confidence with which the Robin treated man. But legend
and fairy tale have created a sacred and a sentimental halo
round the little bird, and have raised it to a first place in
man's esteem. The breadth and depth of this popularity has
been indicated by Wordsworth —

THROUGH FAVOUR AND SUPERSTITION 235

Thou the bird whom men love best,
The pious bird with the scarlet breast,
Our little English Robin ;
The bird that comes about our doors
When autumn's winds are sobbing.
Art thou the Peter of Norway boors,
Their Thomas in Finland
And Russia far inland?
The bird who, by some name or other,
All men who know thee call their brother,
The darling of children and men.

Protection by favour extends even to the lower tribes of
the animal world. There are few insects that are spared at
the hand of youth, but the Lady-bird1 is one of them, and
this not only in our own country, but in Germany as
well, where it is known as Gotteskdfer — God's Beetle.
Compare also the rhymes with which youthful Britons and
Teutons set free on fresh journeys those little beetles, the
Lady-birds and Maikdfer or Cockchafers. The British
schoolboy chants to the former :

Lady-bird, Lady-bird,

Fly away home.
Your house is on fire,
Your children all gone.

While his German equivalent, 'with the same root idea,
repeats to the Cockchafer,

Maikafer, flieg' ! Maikafer, flieg-1 !
Dein Vater ist im Krieg'
Deine Mutter ist im Pommerland,
Und Pommerland ist abgebrannt.
Maikafer, flieg' !-

The Scottish version applied to Lady-birds is different from
either:—

Lady, Lady Landers,

Lady, Lady Landers,

Tak' up yer cots3 aboot yer heid,

An' flee awa' t' Flanders.

1 Beetles of family Coccinellidce.

Fly! fly! Beetle of May,
Thy Father is gone to the war away.
Thy Mother rests her in Pomerane,
And fire has burnt that fertile plain.

Fly, Beetle of May !

3 Petticoats — an amusing and striking description of the raising of the
wing-cases.

236 PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

In whatever way this widespread custom may have originated,
its effects, so far as Lady-birds are concerned, can be none
but good, for the Greenfly and Scale-insect pests of our
gardens have no more persistent nor voracious enemies
than the innocent Lady-bird and its children.

ANIMAL SANCTUARIES

This account of the workings of popular favour on behalf
of animals would be incomplete were no reference made to
a development of recent date which promises to do much
for the preservation of native faunas — the establishment of
animal sanctuaries.

It is true that animal sanctuaries have been in existence
in Britain for long centuries, for in 1125 Malmesbury drew
a doleful picture of the New Forest, created by William the
Conqueror, as a place appropriated, from the use of man, for
the nurture and refuge of wild beasts. The protected areas
of the royal and ancient "forests" of Scotland, too, must have
done something for the preservation of wild life, as indeed
still do the wild deer-forests of to-day. Bu't in such cases,
sport is the object in view, and the protection of any but a
few creatures is no more than an associated accident. That
areas should be set aside for the sake of the animals them-
selves is a development of a newly awakened love of
nature.

The foremost examples of modern animal reserves are
the Yellowstone Park and Mount Rainier National Park,
which, with other great reserves in the United States, cover
an area of more than 70,000 square miles, and wherein
representative sections of the wild life of North America
have been gathered together in security, free from all outside
interference, for the benefit of present and future genera-
tions.

In our own country the formation of such sanctuaries
was encouraged by the Wild Birds' Protection Act of 1896,
and since that time, thanks especially to the efforts of the
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, many small areas
in Britain have been set aside and carefully guarded so that
within them birds of the rarer kinds may nest and multiply
in safety. One of the most interesting of Scottish sanctuaries,

THROUGH FAVOUR AND SUPERSTITION 237'

since it is designed to protect all kinds of wild animal life,
promises to be that at Taradale in Ross and Cromarty, the
birthplace of Sir Roderick Murchison, where the grounds
have recently been bequeathed as part of the Murchison of
Taradale Memorial "to form a sanctuary or reserve for the
preservation of the wild life of the Highlands."

PROTECTION THROUGH SUPERSTITION

Since the earliest days of humanity, man has regarded
certain animals with particular veneration and such he has
spared and protected. The ancient Egyptians held sacred
the Crocodile, the Cat, the Ibis and other creatures, whose
bodies, even after death, they preserved and reverenced.
Many nations ha-ve raised animals to the level of gods, and
many religions have seen in the animal creation symbols of
their highest faith — we think of the Lamb and the Fish,
symbolic to the early Christians of Christ Himself. Some
primitive peoples have, by identifying their tribes or their
families with particular animals in the cult of totemism,
created thereby a special protection for the totem animal,
for its blood became as their blood and its life their life, so
that on no occasion could it be slain, except as a sacrifice to
their god. Buddhism spares all living things, and partly as
a result, there are in India 40,000 deaths a year from snake-
bite.

Religious symbolism of such a type, it is hardly necessary
to say, has had no place in later Scottish life, though the
animal symbols upon the early Christian monuments of the
northern and eastern counties hint at a time when it played
a part in Scottish history. Yet to-day there are many super-
stitions regarding animals, which still act as protectors of the
lower creatures.

I have already mentioned, in passing, the legends that
have hallowed the Robin Redbreast — his care for the bodies
of the dead, how

Cov'ring with moss the dead's unclosed eye,
The little redbreast teacheth charitie.

But more striking are the stories that account for his ruddy
breast : the story of his pitiful service on Calvary : —

238 PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

Thou from out His crown, didst tear
The thorns to lighten the distress

And ease the pain that He must bear,
When pendent from thy tiny beak

The gory points thy bosom pressed,
And crimsoned with thy Saviour's blood

The sober brownness of thy breast I1

Or that tale of his journeys to "the fiery pit" : —

He brings cool dew in his little bill,

And lets it fall on the souls of sin :

You can see the marks on his red breast still

Of fires that scorch as he drops it in2.

I do not doubt that these tales, carried through the ages,
have much to do with the origin of the schoolboy superstition
that groups the Robin with the birds which bring ill-luck to
their harriers:

The laverock3 an' the lintie4,

The robin and the wren :
Gin5 ye harry their nests

Ye'll ne'er thrive again.

It is strange that while in England, Ireland and the Isle
of Man, the "hunting of the wren" was a common and vicious
custom of Christmas Day or the day after — St Stephen's
Day — in Scotland the Wren was regarded almost as a holy
bird and was exempted from the ordinary rifling of nests.

Malisons, malisons mair than ten,
That harry the Ladye of Heaven's hen !

The curious title here given to the bird is similar to that in
a widespread rhyme which links the Robin and Wren as a
sacred pair : —

The Robin an' the Wren
God Almighty's cock and hen.

Another curious and interesting superstition saves the
Stone-chat, or Stane-chacker as it is called in Scotland, from
the rude hands of nest harriers; does not the bird itself,
its poor song being interpreted, call down maledictions

1 Delle Whitney Norton. 8 John Greenleaf Whittier.

3 Lark. 4 Linnet. 5 If.

THROUGH FAVOUR AND SUPERSTITION 239

upon wanton ruthlessness ? The clever Galloway imitation
and interpretation of the song runs

Stane-chack !
• Deevil tak !

They wha harry my nest
Will never rest,
Will meet the pest !
De'il brack their lang back
Wha my eggs wad tak, tak !

Such creatures as are fortunate enough to be regarded
as omens of good fortune, shelter as a whole under the
protection of man. As the Stork is welcomed to the chimney
tops of Holland, the Swallow and House Martin are welcomed
to our eaves; for ever since the days when the swallow kind
was under the direct guardianship of the household gods,
the destruction of a Swallow's nest has brought ill-fortune,
as assuredly as the undisturbed settling of the Swallow
has brought good luck to the inhabitants of the house it
selects :

Bid the sacred swallow haunt his eaves
To guard his roof from lightening and from thieves.

Spiders have been spared because the slaying of them
was said to bring rain on the succeeding day; and an insect
superstition of the Highlands shows how specific maybe the
protection or condemnation of a tradition. The boys of the
Highlands, says J. G. Campbell in his Superstitions of the
Highlands and Islands of Scotland, when they see a Ceardalan
or "Dung-beetle" spare it, while they mercilessly kill the
Daolagm "Clock" beetle. And the reason, they will tell you,
is that when the former was asked by the man who went to
seize the Saviour, how long" it was since He had passed, the
Dung-beetle answered "twenty years ago yesterday," but
the latter said "only yesterday." Hence when boys hammer
life out of a "clock" they chant:

Remember yesterday, yesterday,
Remember yesterday, wretch,
Remember yesterday, yesterday,
That let not the Son of God pass.

I must not be taken as suggesting that Dung-beetles are
more plentiful than "Clocks" in the Highlands owing to the

240 PROTECTION OF ANIMAL LIFE

prevalence of such a superstition, for the efficiency of
protection or destruction depends on its intensity relative to
the numbers of the species concerned, and it would take
much fortuitous slaughter to affect the insect hordes. But
nevertheless superstition and the side winds bf religious
cults have had a real effect in protecting, throughout the
world, certain creatures to which legend and tradition have
added new associations of piety or reverence, of awe or
dread.

CHAPTER V

THE DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION
OF NEW ANIMALS

Nature's road must ever be preferr'd ;
Reason is here no guide, but still a guard.

POPE.

MAN pays little heed to that balance of Nature which has
arisen out of centuries of struggle and competition, and
which makes the fauna and flora of an old but uncivilized
country established and stable. When the immigrant reaches
the new country of his hopes, across the ocean, he refuses to
take the experiments of Nature for granted, and sometimes
forgetting that new soils, new climates, and new associations of
living things demand a new outlook and require new treatment,
he proceeds to transform the new found land to the pattern of
the old. This transformation, which may proceed to such
lengths as radically to alter the general aspect of a fauna or
a flora, progresses at first mainly by the introduction of
plants and animals from the homeland.

No sooner does man enter upon a new heritage than he
endeavours to keep alive the memories of home by surround-
ing himself with the familiar flowers, beasts, birds and fishes
of the old country, irrespective of their fitness to survive in
fresh conditions, or of the fitness of the aboriginal fauna to
assimilate them without ill effects. Why else, do you think,
did the early immigrants to New Zealand set free in the
bush the British Robin Redbreast, the Bullfinch, the Green-
finch, the Turtle Dove, the Lapwing and half a dozen other
old favourites? Further, the immigrant's amusement must
be capered for by the establishment of animals whose sport-
ing qualities he knows. So the Trout of Loch Leven has
been placed in rivers half the world over, Rabbits and
Hares, Pheasants and Partridges, have been transported to
Australia and- New Zealand, Blackgame to Newfoundland

R. - 16

242 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

and British Columbia, and in New Zealand even the Red
Deer and the Moose have been set at liberty. Lastly, he
needs must be ministered to by the domestic creatures and
cultivated crops which stood him in good stead in his earlier
home. The habit of transportation of animals is older
than the Neolithic invasions of Britain, and to-day trans-
oceanic trade has become a constant factor in the home
breeding of stock.

Often the introductions are successful and turn out to
be of the greatest value. How much poorer Europe would
be did it lack the domestic animals of the East and the
American potato and tomato; how much poorer America,
with its domestic stock limited to its native llamas, and
without the wheat, rye and oats, the pears and apples, the
hemp and 'flax which reached it from Europe after Columbus
had pointed the way. Still more is the prosperity of the
"new countries" bound up with man's power of trying afresh
the successful experiments of the old countries. The sheep
and cattle, the sugar-cane and wheat of Australia; the wheat
and wool of New Zealand; Canada's grain crops, her flocks
and her herds ; all of them are foreign to the lands they have
made prosperous, one and all man has brought them to the
new soil and tended them to new fruitfulness.

Not all the experiments of introduction have been so suc-
cessful as those just mentioned. There have been many
failures. Often conditions of soil and climate, of food, or of
relationship to the original inhabitants, prove too trying to the
enforced immigrants and they or their few successors wither
and die out. So it has been in Scotland, to cite only two
examples, with the Reindeer and the Beaver, which have been
allowed to run free in the hope that they would again make
a permanent home in a country they once frequented ; and so
it is with several of the foreign species of Trout with which
time and again attempts have been made to stock our rivers
and lochs. So it has been also in New Zealand with the
Bullfinch, the Turtle Dove, the Robin Redbreast, the Grey
Linnet, the Lapwing, and the Partridge.

On the other hand, sometimes the results of such an
experiment outrun the expectations or wishes of its origin-
ator, so that its success becomes a measure of its harmfulness
and an index to the rashness of man in endeavouring to

DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS 243

improve upon the establishments of nature. Of many
instances, one need only recall the notorious case of the
introduction of one animal after another to Australia, to the
annoyance of the farmer and the detriment of the country.
Brought from Somerset by some well-meaning individual,
four pairs of Rabbits were set free in the neighbourhood of
Geelong in 1858. They found conditions so favourable, and
multiplied so rapidly, that already in 1875 an Act was
passed in New South Wales to encourage their extermina-
tion. Recently as many as 20,000 have been destroyed in
one or two days at a poison trap ; it was estimated that in
1917 the export of rabbit flesh to the United Kingdom from
New South Wales would amount to 1,250,000 crates con-
taining 30,000,000 individuals; the country is overrun, and
the destruction of grass is so great that the average stock
of sheep in New South Wales has fallen off by many millions
during the last quarter of a century. To keep the Rabbits
in check, Foxes were introduced and encouraged. They too
have so increased in numbers and are so destructive to lambs
that the Vermin Act of 1914 imposes on every landholder
the duty of killing them. In the year 1915-16, 679 were
slain. As a further check upon the Rabbits, Dogs, which
also had been introduced, were largely employed, but they,
too, having become wild, and with increased numbers having
developed a taste for domestic flesh, have fallen under the
ban of legislation, so that under the Vermin Acts of 1912
and 1914, rewards have been paid in New South Wales alone
for the slaughter of 75,000 wild Dogs.

GENERAL RESULTS OF INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

The case of the Rabbit in Australia is only one of
many similar cases, and it does no more thaa represent in
extreme the result of any successful experiment in foisting
an alien beneficiary upon a native fauna, which has settled
its differences and has become established as regards the
inter-relations of its own members and the food supply of its
country.

Should alien stock be introduced with success the animal
life of a country alters appreciably, in so far as the import
is conspicuous or increases greatly in numbers or comes

1 6— 2

244 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

into direct relationship with man. To-day we could not
exist without our introduced domestic creatures, which in
number far exceed the original population of large wild
animals they have replaced. We who are not farmers
would regret the disappearance of the Rabbit from the hill-
sides, or of the Pheasant from the coverts ; we who are not
foresters would miss the gambollings of the Squirrel, or the
solid presence of the Capercaillie in the woodlands. Yet even
these mild exotic pleasures are bought at a price. After
all, the food supply of a country, so far as most wild creatures
are concerned, is almost a fixed quantity, and the total
amount of animal life in a country depends upon the quantity
of vegetation available throughout the year, for even carni-
vorous creatures ultimately depend upon the vegetation
which nourishes the herbivores. If then additions are made
to the native animal life, by so much as the imports consume
is the food of the native stock diminished. Thus arises a
struggle between the aboriginal population and the new-
comers, a struggle which spreads from food to living spaces
and breeding sites, and which is none the less real because
in its earlier stages it is almost imperceptible.

The results of the contest are clear enough in most
countries. It may be that the introduction obtains a pre-
carious foothold and lives, as it were on the crumbs that fall
from the rich native's table, without seriously affecting the
creatures into whose environment it has dropped, or that it taps
a source of food supply hitherto almostunused, as the Squirrel
did in feeding upon the growing shoots of Scottish pine
trees. But an unobtrusive existence is the exception, and
either the newcomer finds the struggle for food too severe
and declines in health and numbers, until it disappears from
the fauna it invaded ; or, as often happens, it becomes firmly
established, and increasing the difficulties of those old races of
residenters upon whose food supply it trenches, causes the
weaker of them to languish and to forsake the invaded
districts, and finally, driven from one stronghold to another,
even to succumb to the new and unaccustomed competition.

Frequently the introduction of strange animals to a new
land has a more immediate and more noticeable effect
on the native fauna. For man in transporting creatures for
his own purposes often seems to forget that their nature,

DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS 245

and not his desires, will remain their guiding law. So the
Stoats and Weasels taken from Great Britain to New Zealand
to check the spread of the Rabbit, having surfeited on rabbit
diet, promptly turned to the flightless Kiwis arid have brought
them and other small natives to the brink of extermination —
an ignoble work in which they have been strongly abetted
by the wild descendants of the Pigs introduced by Captain
Cook on two occasions in 1773, and by the Cats, Dogs and
Rats of later importation. The creatures set loose in Australia
to police the rabbit warrens have themselves become poachers,
and the unique native ground fauna of Australia, as well as
the shepherd's flocks, has suffered severely. The Macaque
Monkeys introduced to Mauritius by the Portuguese have
all but exterminated Mayer's Pigeon (Nesaenas mayeri],
whose nests, eggs and young they destroy.

Scotland furnishes many illustrations of these varying
results of the introduction of new animals; but since, even
in countries colonized in comparatively recent years, there
is already insuperable difficulty in tracing the steps of the
spread or decline of an introduction, it is natural to suppose
that the existing records of Scottish experiments, some of
them carried out hundreds of years ago, would furnish
only hints for a story rather than a detailed history.

For the sake of imposing some arrangement upon what
are after all results of a medley of human whims, I shall
consider the introductions in three groups in sequence of
their human importance ; the first comprising those animals
which man brought, thinking of his own welfare, the second
those which he brought for the ends of sport, the last those
which he set free for a variety of reasons or for no reason
at all, but mainly for his amusement or his pleasure.

V. i

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR THE
SAKE OF UTILITY

THE utilities to which man has paid regard in acclimatizing
new animals cover a wide range, but they may be said
broadly to depend either on the value of the animal in itself,
that is to say on the products it yields when alive or after its
death, or on the work it can do, whether that be the artificial
but efficient labour resulting from years of man's guidance
and training, or the instinctive habit of the creature, which
in following its own law of life benefits also the race of man.
Chief amongst the useful animals in these groups must
rank the races of domestic stock, for human existence as it
is would be impossible without the flesh of flocks and herds
and the warm wool of sheep and goats, and intolerable
without the services of the ox, the horse and the dog. The
introduction to Scotland of the more interesting domestic
animals has been sufficiently touched upon in the chapter
dealing with their domestication. It is enough to add that
the acclimatization of domestic stock is a human operation
of wide significance. Scarcely a country is known, but man
has planted there his ox and his ass, his swine and his sheep,
always to the checking and restriction of the native fauna,
and sometimes even to the extermination of its weaker
elements. Indeed, in several of the island faunas, such as
that of New Zealand or of the Canary Islands, the introduced
domestic stock far outnumbers in variety, and in absolute
numbers entirely swamps the native mammalian species of
the land. With the advance of knowledge as to the stamina
of different breeds and crosses, the work of acclimatizing
old animals to new localities progresses with more lively
assurance than ever. The climatic conditions of Alaska have
proved so trying to the introduced old-fashioned domestic
stock that a new breed of dattle — a cross between the

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR SAKE OF UTILITY 247

Thibetan Yak and Galloway Cattle. — is being created at the
experimental station to supply the need for unusual hardiness,
for already crosses between the Yak and the domestic cattle
of the East have proved of great service in Turkestan and
other parts of Asia.

APPEARANCE AND SPREAD OF THE RABBIT

Apart from the introduced domestic animals, the most
important creature to have been planted in Scotland from
foreign parts simply for the sake of its yield, is the Rabbit.
Its universal presence belies its alien blood, and one would
scarcely associate with its homely and unassuming aspect
the interest of its history. It is generally held by naturalists
that the Common Rabbit (Oryctolagus (Lepus) cuniculus],
as we know it to-day, spread from the south-western portions
of Europe bordering upon the Mediterranean Sea, an area
to which it had been relegated by the severities of the Ice
Age. From these regions, partly by natural roving, much
more by the deliberate influenceof man, the Rabbit has spread
over the western and central countries of Europe, and from
there it has been transported to the uttermost ends of the
earth.

At what period the Rabbit was re-established in Britain
after its extermination during the Glacial Period, is a matter
of great uncertainty. In Scotland its bones have been found
amongst the debris of the kitchen-middens of Neolithic and
later times, as well as in the upper layers of cave deposits ;
but little weight need be attached to these occurrences, for
the Rabbit is a burrower and a vandal which makes short
cuts through the neat layers and classifications of the ex-
cavator, so that a contemporary of our own might rest its
.bones by the side of the long extinct Mammoth to the con-
founding of interpreters of the past.

As a matter of fact, testimony points strongly to the
absence of the Rabbit in prehistoric Britain. In Scotland its
remains are absent from the bone deposits which have been
found deep below the surface, beyond the reach of modern
burrows. Julius Caesar mentions the occurrence in Britain of
the Hare, the Hen and the Goose, but omits the Rabbit. Nor
was it introduced by the Romans as is commonly believed.

248 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

It is not represented in the remains of the Roman settle-
ments at Newstead on the Tweed, nor at Inveresk near
Musselburgh, and the single jaw of a young individual which
I examined from Traprain Law in Haddingtonshire, was
almost certainly recent, for burrows penetrated Ihe kitchen-
midden in all directions.

There are no pre- Norman allusions to the Rabbit in
Britain; it has no native name in the English or Celtic
languages; and warrens are not mentioned in Domesday
Book. We are therefore justified in assuming that it did not
occur, at any rate as a wild animal, in Britain even in the
eleventh century.

The earliest name by which it is known in English histori-
cal records is "cony " or "coney," a name clearly derived from
a Norman-French word, the plural of which was "coniz" or
"conis," becoming in English "conys" or "conies, "and in the
singular "cony" and "conic." It seems probable then that
we are indebted for the introduction of the Rabbit to the
Norman Conquest — a supposition strengthened by the fre-
quent and steadily increasing references to the animal after
the twelfth century.

The sole object of its introduction was utility, since at
no time has the Rabbit been considered worthy the lance
of the true sportsman; for, said the irreproachable author
of The Master of Game (MS. Bodl. 546) in the fifteenth
century, "Of conies I do not speak, for no man hunteth
them unless it be bish hunters [fur hunters] and they hunt
them with ferrets and with long small hayes [i.e. nets]." Not-
withstanding The Master of Game, Bishop Leslie tells us
that in sixteenth century Scotland Rabbits and Hares were
hunted by special dogs. But if their sporting qualities were
limited, the value of their flesh for food and their skins for
fur was apparent, and these first led to their encouragement
and rapid dispersal. As Reyce put it in 1 6 1 8 in The Breviary
of Suffolk:

Of the harmlesse Conies, which do delight naturally to make their aboad
here,... their great increase, with rich profitt for all good housekeepers, hath
made every one of any reckoning to prepare fitt harbour for them, with
great welcome and entertainment.

An excellent summary of the history of the Rabbit in
England, will be found in Barrett- Hamilton and Hinton's

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR SAKE OF UTILITY 249

History of British Mammals, from which the above quo-
tations are taken. Here I shall confine myself to a few
extracts from the old laws and descriptions of Scotland
indicating the progress made by the Rabbit in its conquest
.north of the Tweed. Whether it was here introduced direct
from the Continent or made its way through England is
difficult to decide, but the earliest records indicate that in
the thirteenth century it was as common in North as in
South Britain, and suggest, therefore, that its introduction
must have been almost contemporaneous in both countries,
and may have been independent in each. In this connection
it must be remembered, as Prof. Hume Brown has pointed
out, that even in the reign of David I, from 1124 to 1153,
the Norman element, which had already played an import-
ant part in Scottish affairs, became predominant at the court
and in the councils of the Scottish monarch. It is not
at all unlikely that this friendship may have led to the
beginning of a secondary Norman conquest of Scotland by
the introduction of the Norman-bred and Norman-titled
" cony."

Be that as it may, the earliest unmistakeable references
in historical records to the occurrence of Rabbits in England
seems to be that noted by Prof. Rogers, recording the pay-
ment of 2\d. at Waleton in 1272 for the taking of Conies
and Partridges with Hawk, Dog and Ferret ; and the report
to Edward I in 1 274 regarding the produce of Lundy Island,
where the " taking of rabbits is estimated at 2000, £$ IDS."
and the estimate is at " 55. 6d. each hundred skins, because
the flesh is not sold."

But before this time the value of rabbit-warrens had
become well known in Scotland, and to others than the
proprietors, for even in the reign of Alexander II (1214-
1249), it was found necessary to protect the royal warrens
by statute, the penalty for trespass being death and confis-
cation of property. I n the succeeding reign, of Alexander III
(1249-1286), the keeper of the warren at Crail in Fifeshire
was paid a salary of i6s. Sal. from the royal purse for his
services during the year 1264. The King's Chamberlain's
accounts of 1329 show that he paid a sum of 8s. to four
men for crossing to the Isle of May, at the mouth of
the Firth of Forth, to catch Rabbits; and David II, who

250 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

reigned from 1329 to 1371, granted the keeper of the
warrens in Fife, William Herwart, a charter in life-rent of
the office of Keeper of the King's Muir in Crail and of its
" cuningare " or warren, his salary being 40^. a year.

It should be explained that in early times 'the word
"cony" (or some modification of it), alone was in use, and
that even when the diminutive term " rabbit " or " rabette "
was introduced in the fourteenth century, it was applied
only to the young. "The Conie...beareth hyr Rabettes xxx
dayes, and then kindeleth" (The Noble Arte of Venerie or
Hunting, 1575).

Already in the fifteenth century, the Rabbit had made
good its introduction and become a recognized article of
commerce in Scotland. In 1424 a law was passed exacting
a custom of \id. on every 100 "cuning" skins exported, and
in 1457 a further degree of protection was afforded the
animal, the destroying of " cunings " in time of snow being
made a point of dittay or criminal prosecution. It is quite
clear that at this early date, the Rabbit was established
throughout a wide extent of the country. The Rental Book
of Cupar Abbey shows that in 1474 the Abbey possessed a
"warander of kunynyare" or keeper of the warren, and in
the following year, Gilbert Ra or Rae undertook to keep for
the Abbey the " conyngar [warren] fra all scaith and peryl,
and promoofe and put that to all profit at [h]is powar."
Even in the smaller islands of Orkney it flourished, and as
we learn from a Rental Book of the Earldom dated 1497-
1 503, formed part of the rental in kind paid to the Earl—
the links of " Dernes, Burra, North Sandwick, Pappa prope
Westray, and Sanday," combining to supply annually "114
cunnings," and "1274 cunningis skinnis."

The sixteenth century marked a notable increase in the
interest taken in the Rabbit both by the public and the law.
The value of a warren contributed not a little to the "common
good" of a township, so that the introduction of Rabbits to a
suitable piece of waste ground was to be desired wherever
they could be " gudly had." Already the common warren of
Aberdeen, "cunicularium de Abirdene," was in full activity on
the links to the south of Don-mouth, near the "Gallowhills,"
as we learn from a casual reference to its site in a charter
of James IV to the Provost and Baillies of the Burgh in 1583.

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR SAKE OF UTILITY 251

The value of the warrens gave rise to a series of laws
dealing with offences against their "breakirs." In 1503 it
was ordained that stealing of "cunings" was to be a point of
"dittay," or criminal prosecution, the " unlaw " being £iO',
and in 1551, in consequence of "the great and exhorbitant
dearth, "young Rabbits were given protection for three years,
except from noblemen with Hawks, the law demanding
" That na maner of persoun tak upone hand to slay ony
Lapronis," lapron or laprinn being a common Old Scots
term for a young Rabbit. At this time, the price of a
Rabbit was fixed by a long forgotten food controller :
"Item, the cunning 2 shillings unto the feast of Fastens
evin [Shrove Tuesday] next to cum, and fra thine furth
twelve pennies " — equivalent to the price of a brace of
Blackcock, — while the " best Lapron " fetched only zd.

Nevertheless the success of the Rabbit's introduction
proved a burden even in the early days of the century ;
witness the grievance of " Schir Robert Egew, Chaiplan
to My Lord Sinclair" who complains in 1511, "Ther wilbe
our [over] mony cunningis [:] with[in] twa yeir thai have
riddillit all the erdis of the Linkis richt weille."

Perhaps nothing illustrates the progress of the Rabbit
in the sixteenth century so strikingly as its wide distri-
bution among the islands of Scotland. In 1529 "Jo. Ben."
in his slovenly Latin, describes its abundance in the Orkney
Islands : in the parish of Sandwick, in the uninhabited isle
of Lambholme, where many Rabbits were slain by men of
other islands, and in Sanday, where in winter the Rabbits
became so tame, owing most likely to overstocking and
consequent lack of food, that they were caught in the houses
of the people. Monro found similar evidence of great
numbers in the Hebrides: on Mull, on "Inche Kenzie...full
of cunings about the shores of it," and on " Sigrain-moir-
Magoinein, that is to say the Cuninges ile, quherin ther
are many cuninges," as well as in the 'Orkneys on "ane
little iyle, with a chapel in it, callit Cavay." And Von
Wedel, a German nobleman and traveller, remarked upon
the many Rabbits of the Bass Rock when he visited the
Lowlands of Scotland in 1584.

It is unnecessary to enter into" further detail regarding
the spread of the Rabbit within our borders, for with the

252 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

increase of travelling and of written descriptions of the country
in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the evidence be-
comes unwieldy, and each item in itself of less significance in
the general movement. The trend of the evidence is none
the less clear — that the Rabbit continued to spread more and
more rapidly, partly through natural migration and still more
by deliberate introduction or transportation to new areas.
There are records of the planting of many fresh colonies in
the latter half of the eighteenth century, while some counties,
such as Kincardineshire, did not know the Rabbit until its
deposition there in the first quarter of the nineteenth
century.

Two factors made for its success and rapid increase in
the later centuries : first, the great strides which have taken
place in the improvement of agriculture and in the con-
sequent increase of the yield of the soil, for the increase of
the farmer's crops is an increase of the Rabbit's food; and
second, the growing attention paid to the preservation of
sporting animals, and the consequent destruction of the very
creatures which kept the Rabbit (as well as the Pheasant
and the Grouse) in check — the Fox, the Polecat, Stoat and
Weasel, the Eagles and Hawks, and in more distant days,
the Wolf.

So it is that even at the end of the eighteenth century we
find it established throughout most of the mainland and in the
islands — from the Lowland counties of Berwick and Rox-
burgh, Dumfries and Ayrshire, through the midlands of
Fife, Clackmannan, Kinross and Stirling to the wilds of
Perth and Argyll, Easter Ross, Sutherland and Caithness.
Many of the writers in the Old Statistical Account (1792-8)
describe it as "rare" or as a newcomer, but in some places it
was very common. About this time, at the warren of Dowally
near Dunkeld, the tacksman killed a yearly average of 125
dozen; in one year at Stromness 36,000 rabbit skins were
sold, at $>d, each ; and in the last century as many as 200,000
skins have been sold in a winter at Dumfries (see also under
"Destruction," p. 166).

Need more be said to prove the success of the introduc-
tion of the Rabbit from the point of view of acclimatization ?
Perhaps only that its firm establishment and increase in
number have made it so destructive to crops that in 1917 a

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR SAKE OF UTILITY 253

Government "Rabbits Order" was found necessary, giving
Local Agricultural Committees power to authorize any person
to kill rabbits wherever they have become a nuisance.

EFFECTS OF INTRODUCTION OF RABBIT

It must not be supposed that a far-reaching introduction,
such as that of the Rabbit, stands by itself. Like a stone
cast in a placid pool, it gives rise to ripples of influence of
first, second, third — one cannot tell how distant — degree,
spreading one cannot tell to what depth and extent. Thus
numbers of Rabbits alter to a remarkable degree the vegeta-
tion of the districts they infest, changing the nature as well
as the amount of plant life, as Mr E. P. Farrow clearly
shows in a well illustrated paper in the Journal of Ecology
for March 1917. This change in vegetation in turn affects
the animals, mammals and birds, insects arid other inverte-
brates. Some disappear and their places are filled by -new-
comers, while others of the old residenters flourish and
multiply under the new conditions.

In yet another way, Rabbits influence their co-habitants in
a region. There is, for example, a definite connection between
over-abundance of Rabbits and scarcity of Hares, or between
the appearance of Rabbits and the disappearan.ee of Hares.
It is quite likely that the general decrease of the Common
Hare in Scotland, a decrease which has been noticed for many
years, may be due in part to the increase of the Rabbit in
recent times. Local Scottish instances of this relationship
are known ; but an Australian example offers more simple
and direct evidence. A writer in The Field for 26th May
1917 states that Hares, introduced into Australia, were at
one time so abundant in the district of Goulburn in New
South Wales that drives had to be arranged to keep their
numbers in check — as many as 800 on occasion being killed-
in a single day. At that time Rabbits had not yet reached
Goulburn from the region of Geelong, where four couples
had been liberated by settlers about 1858. As the Rabbits
spread over the intervening 400 miles, the Hares began to
disappear, until after the extraordinary increase of the
Rabbit, few were left. Yet so soon as rabbit-fencing was
put up, and the enclosed areas, sometimes covering several

254 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

square miles of country, were cleared of the pest, Hares made
their way within the fences and there became numerous
again. The apparent antipathy between the two rodents
has a simple explanation, for it is due to the fouling by many
Rabbits of grass and herbage, which thus becoYne quite un-
palatable to Hares. I have no doubt that careful observation
of the smaller inhabitants of a rabbit-infested region would
show that besides these, many faunal changes have been
caused by the influence of this hardy importation.

FAILURE TO ACCLIMATIZE FOREIGN DEER

Fortunately for man's welfare, not all the animals which
he introduces, take possession of the land of their adoption
as the Rabbit has done. What dreams of swelling numbers
and profitable herds accompanied the reintroduction of the
Reindeer to Scotland, I do not know, but it is certain that
the dreams, such as they were, have come to naught. Why
this should be is difficult to say, especially as native Reindeer
survived for long in the northern counties, and as suitable
food seems to be sufficiently common on many moors. Be
this as it may, no fewer than fourteen Reindeer were brought
to Dunkeld and released by the Duke of Athole on the hills
of Athole at different times in the eighteenth century, and
of these only one survived for two years. Similar attempts
to establish them in the Forest of Mar in Aberdeenshire
and in the Orkney Isles have been equally unsuccessful. I
do not of course refer to the preservation of such examples
as are to be seen in the Park of the Zoological Society at
Corstorphine near Edinburgh (Fig. 58, p. 339), where young
Reindeer have been born and successfully reared, for there
the animals are strictly tended and dieted, and cannot be
regarded as surviving on their own merits, or as forming
an addition to our fauna.

Similar failure met Sir Arthur Grant's attempts to ac-
climatize the American Wapiti Deer at Monymusk in
Aberdeenshire, where in the nineties of last century they
could be distinguished by their large size and fine antlers.
Although they seemed to thrive well and crossed freely with
the native Red Deer, the stock finally died out. A like fate
has befallen the Virginian Deer introduced into Arran about

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR SAKE OF UTILITY 255

1832 (see p. 287), but their importation and that of the
Wapiti were measures of amenity rather than of utility.

DESTRUCTIVENESS OF INTRODUCTIONS

It is strange with what persistence Nature has mocked
man's efforts to introduce new creatures in any country for
the sake of their usefulness, domestic animals apart. I have
already alluded to the unfortunate results of the introduction

Fig. 48. Little Owl — an introduction to Britain which has become a nuisance, f nat. size.

of Hares and Rabbits to Australia, and the equally disastrous
effects which followed upon the setting free of Foxes and the
escape of Dogs. In New Zealand a somewhat similar series
of disasters met man's efforts. Introduced Rabbits multiplied
and became a pest which cleared the ground of cultivated
crops. Ferrets, Stoats and Weasels were released to destroy
them, and themselves attacked the native fauna and the
flocks of sheep. In New Zealand, as in Australia and
America, the common House Sparrow has been set free
to destroy the hosts of insect pests brought into existence
by cultivation; but in all these countries, the Sparrow

256 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

has multiplied at an alarming rate, and having shown a
strong and increasing preference for grain, has become a
vagabond and outlaw, whose death is sought at a price by
agricultural councils, municipal authorities and governments.
The Common Starling, introduced to Australia and New
Zealand, has fallen into similar evil ways, for the settler,
hoping to make an end of his insect pests, little thought that
his protege would make a beginning with fruit.

Has not Nature also mocked us in this country in the
case of the introduction of the Little Owl (Athene noctua]
(Fig. 48, p. 255)? Brought by Lord Lilford from Holland in
the eighties of last century, and set free in Northamptonshire
to rid country belfries of sparrows and bats, and fields of mice,
and by Mr E. G. B. Meade- Waldo to Kent in 1874 and
later, the Little Owl in a few years has spread into all the
neighbouring counties and to some far away. It has even
reached Scotland, where in 1912 one was shot at East Grange
in Fifeshire. And everywhere it has betrayed its trust and,
hawking by day, has destroyed Warblers, Finches, and
Thrushes, and has been convicted of stealing the young
of Pheasants and Partridges from the coverts, and chickens
from the poultry yard.

BALANCE OF NATURE UPSET

Why should these unlooked for and destructive results
so uniformly greet the efforts to introduce, for the sake of
their utility, new elements into a fauna? Such misfortunes
do not dog the introduction of domestic animals or of animals
introduced for purposes of sport. The reason is connected
with food supply, and seems in part to be this : When animals
are introduced for utility's sake, they are required in large
numbers, and are encouraged to breed. It comes about,
therefore, that if climate and conditions are suitable the
foreigners multiply with rapidity, and the result is either
that the food supply relied upon to support them falls short
of requirements, or that increasing competition drives the
aliens to try a new food which in the end, usually to the
dismay of the farmer, they come to prefer. Domestic animals
are in as great or greater numbers than the introduced pests,
but then careful provision is made by cultivation for their
food supply, and their tastes are given no opportunity to

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR SAKE OF UTILITY 257

wander. Sporting animals on the other hand, are not en-
couraged to multiply to the same extent, and the very reason
of their introduction almost certainly insures that the breed-
ing stock will be periodically reduced within reasonable
limits.

SUCCESS DEPENDS ON AN EVEN BALANCE

All cases of utility importations, however, are not failures.
Where a balance is struck between natural food-supply and
numbers, an easy-going adaptation results. In 1911, forty
Reindeer were introduced into the Pribilof Islands off Alaska.
These thrived and by 1914 had increased in number to 150;
but soon the increase must cease for the supply of lichens is
limited, and more Reindeer might mean the loss of all. The
Honey Bee was imported into New Zealand in 1842 and
has flourished ; for the white clover previously introduced,
which had never seeded till the Bee was brought to fertilize
it, alone would have supplied abundance of food. So too with
the Humble Bee: for long the imported red clover bloomed
in New Zealand fields, but the flowers were sterile, and the
settlers had to bring their red clover seed from overseas.
Then the Humble Bee was introduced, and Humble Bee
and red clover struck a working balance — the red clover,
fertilized by the visits of the Humble Bee, now ripens its
seeds, and the Humble Bee thrives on the red clover's
stores of honey.

Of equal interest are the extraordinarily successful results
which have followed upon the introduction to California of
another fertilizer — the Fig Insect (Blastophaga grossoruni),
a small Hymenopteronbelonging tothe family of the Chalcids.
For ten years a Californian orchard-owner grew figs with
uniform ill success. Doubting the quality of his stocks, he
then imported cuttings of Smyrna figs from their native home
in Asia Minor; but this too proved an utter failure, and for
fourteen more years his sixty-acre orchard never yielded
any financial return. It was known that wild figs containing
the Fig Insect were regularly placed in the Smyrna orchards.
Mr Roeding therefore imported in quantities from Smyrna
wild Capri figs containing Blastophaga alive, and at the
time of the blossoming of the figs, hung the insect-laden wild

258 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

figs amongst his Smyrna trees, in order that the female
insects might enter the curious hollow flower-cluster of the
figs, and in seeking a suitable place for the deposition of
their eggs, might dust the seed flowers with pollen, and so
cause the "fruit" to set and swell. The results fell as had
been hoped : the tiny Fig Insects, imported from Asia Minor,
visited and fertilized the hitherto sterile flowers ; the trees,
unfruitful for fourteen years, blossomed and were fruitful;
and in 1900 a first crop of Smyrna figs, 60 tons in
weight, was obtained from a Californian orchard. Here no
natural balance has been disturbed, for the introduced insects
confine their attention solely to the figs introduced before
them, and find in these their natural food, shelter and breed-
ing places.

SOME INTRODUCED FISHES

In our own country, sport rather than utility has regula-
ted the introduction of freshwater fishes (see p. 276), but in
other countries they have been introduced towards the end of
creating a profitable supply. California has been remark-
ably successful in its endeavours to modify its fauna
for commercial advantage. Between 1871 and 1880, Mr
W. H. Shebley tells us in California Fish and Game for
1917, as many as 619,000 Shad fry were imported from a
hatchery in New York and turned down in the Sacramento
River. As a result, the Shad (Alosa alabamae], a native of
the Atlantic coastal waters of America, is now one of the
commonest fishes in Californian waters. The introduction
of Carp (Cyprinus carpio), a native of the rivers of China,
has been equally successful, and this fish "will probably be-
come one of the State's most valuable food fishes." It has,
moreover, prepared the way for the Black Bass (Micropterus
dolomieu\ which feeds upon it, and the successful introduc-
tion of which from the rivers east of the Alleghany mountains
is regarded as "one of the greatest feats of acclimatisation of
new species offish in the history of fish culture." Yet even
in successful California, there is a fly in the ointment, for the
success of the alien Carp has involved the destruction of the
Californian Perch, and the increase of the foreigner has been
so phenomenal in the Chatauqua Lake that the water has
become fouled and unfit for use. Even the savage Pikes and

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR SAKE OF UTILITY 259

Muskelunges brought to the lake to exterminate the Carp
have themselves fallen victims and have disappeared, and
the Carp still flourish.

For utilitarian purposes the gigantic Australian "Murray
Co&" (Otigorusmacquariensis) and, about 1883, the Canadian
Black Bass have been introduced into English rivers, but
the experiments have met with no success.

THE MEDICINAL LEECH (Hirudo medicinalis}

The universal use of the Leech for blood-letting in the
old days led to its abundant appearance in our own country.
Sir J. Dalzell illustrated it in his Powers of the Creator
(1853) from a Loch Leven specimen, and there are other
records of its presence, for it is probable that many a doctor
dropped his Leeches into a convenient pool, where he could
readily find them again. But the Medicinal Leech has failed
to gain a firm foothold. Its gradual elimination from use in
medicine led to its disappearance, for the stock is no longer
replenished and the pools where once it was common know
it no more.

COUNTER-PESTS

I cannot close this section without mentioning a new de-
velopment of scientific research, which promises on account
of their utility to add many insects to old faunas. The
typical results of this fresh method, however, are to be seen
in America and on the continent of Europe rather than in
this country. I refer to the introduction of insect counter-
pests — insects which at one stage or other feed upon some
pest of cultivated crops. America has found special need
for such destroyers. Records show that 407 introductions
of foreign plants were made to the United States of
America during the first three months of 1913, and the im-
portations of field and garden plants from other countries
exceed a thousand a year. With this great annual inflow of
plants come their native pests, and these, unwittingly ad-
mitted, have spread, in some cases with a rapidity beyond
belief, since the new land may harbour no destroyer — bird
or insect — such as kept the pest in check in its old country.
This factor in the success of many accidentally introduced

17—2

260 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

pests was soon diagnosed, and so long ago as 1860, the use
of insect counter-pests had been tried, for the United States
Census Report of that year states that the New York
Agricultural Society " has introduced into this country from
abroad certain parasites which Providence has created to
counteract the destructive power of some of these depre-
dators."

In recent years the introduction and use of counter-pests
has been carried out with great skill and deliberation. Insects
known to attack certain pests have been brought from their
native land and reared, particularly in America, in such num-
bers that they could be distributed wholesale to the affected
areas. One or two examples will be sufficient to make clear
the significance of such introductions at the hand of man.

In 1868, in the early days of the Californian fruit-grow-
ing industry, some young orange trees were brought from
Australia to the neighbourhood of San Francisco. The trees
were infested by an Australian Hemipterous insect — the
Fluted or Cottony Cushion Scale (Icerya purchasi\ a small
inert-looking creature which subsists on the juices of the tree.
For many years the pest worked
unnoticed, and became so suc-
cessfully acclimatized that by 1880
it had spread all over the State,
causing such terrible devastation in
the orange groves of Southern Cali-
fornia that in a single year the
orange crop was reduced from 8000
to 600 waggon loads. Such havoc
was caused during the next eight
years that Mr A. Koebele, an expert
entomologist, was sent by the U nited
States Department of Agriculture
to Australia to find out by what
means Nature there kept the Fluted
Scale in check. Koebele found that
a brilliant red and black Lady-bird
Beetle {Vedalia cardinalis] preyed
extensively upon the Scale, and some 500 specimens of the
Lady-bird, carefully packed, were sent alive across the seas
to California, where they were fed and tended. After a few

Fig. 49. Cottony or White Scale
being attacked by the Cardinal
Lady-bird imported to America
from Australia to combat it.
(Twice natural size.)

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR SAKE OF UTILITY 261

generations, it was found that they had increased so greatly
in numbers that some could be distributed and set free in
the hope that they would become naturalized and seek to
feed, as they did in their own country, upon the Scale-
insects. The result was a triumph for scientific investiga-
tion, for the Australian Lady-birds settled comfortably down
to their labours and multiplied so satisfactorily under natural
conditions in the orange groves of California, that in a few
years the increase of the Scale was checked, and ever since
it has been held in subjection. Solely on account of its utility,
this fine Lady-bird has been added, not only to the fauna of
America, but, since its value there was tested and proved,
to the faunas of South Africa and Egypt, where it has
achieved similar excellent results.

Other Lady-birds have been introduced into the United
States to fight various Scale-insects, one of which, the San
Jose Scale (Aspidiotus perniciosus}, first imported from
China, caused terrible destruction in American orchards in
the early nineties of last century. Careful observation
showed that a Lady-bird (Chilocorus similis), common to
China and Japan, was the most efficient counter to
the Scale in its native haunts. A larval beetle has been
seen to eat six Scales a minute, and, since it never seemed
to weary of its repast, about 8000 a day. The Lady-birds
were transported from the far East to the United States
where they were bred, distributed and set free in great
numbers, to the discomfiture of the Pernicious Scale.
This introduction, however, finally died out in its new
country.

A last and more recent illustration of the influence of
the counter-pest method in adding to a country's inhabit-
ants is that concerning the Mulberry Scale of Japan (Aulq-
caspis pentagona}. This Hemipterous insect, like other
Scales, attacks the outer surface of trees, which it pierces
in order to abstract the plant juices within. It is almost an
omnivorous pest, for in a limited area it has been found on
as many as 50 different kinds of trees, but its greatest dam-
age is worked on peach-trees, plum-trees, and in southern
Europe on mulberry trees. From Japan the Mulberry Scale
has been carried on young trees to all parts of the world,
and in most countries it has become naturalized and has

262 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

recommenced its evil work: in Asia it has spread from Japan
to Ceylon ; it has reached Australia and the islands of the
Pacific; in America it has made its home from Canada, the
United States and isles of the West Indies to Brazil and
Argentina. In Europe it is mainly confined to the southern
countries, especially France and Italy, though in 1898 it
made an appearance in England, where it was speedily sup-
pressed owing to the energetic action of Professor R. New-
stead. In infected countries many methods have been tried
to check the plague, but the most efficient is undoubtedly
that of a counter-pest, parasitic upon the Scale, which has
been recently bred by A. Berlese from material in Italy. In
the efficiency of this tiny Hymenopterous insect, belonging
to the family of the small active Chalcids, and known after
its discoverer as Prospaltella berlesei, great faith has been
placed, for in Italy large trees, entirely covered with Mulberry
Scales within the bodies of which the larvae of Prospaltella
live and feed, have been completely cleared in eighteen
months. The efficiency of the parasite is increased by its
fertility, for Prospaltella is said to have in a year four or
five generations of females, each of which lays about 100
eggs — so that the potential progeny of one individual at
the end of a season lies between one hundred millions and
ten thousand millions. The Chalcid is distributed in in-
fected districts on mulberry twigs bearing Scales parasitized
by the counter-pest, and these twigs are attached to the
branches of scaly trees.

It was little wonder, then, that Uruguay, troubled with
the Mulberry Scale, should apply in 1913 to Italy for a supply
of her Chalcids. These were sent; they survived and
thrived, spread and colonized the land. Thence in 1914
some of the Chalcids were transported to the Argentine,
where Mulberry Scale had made its appearance some ten
years before. The extent of man's influence in adding
new species to a fauna for utilitarian ends may be judged
from the statistics of the National Commission nominated
by the Argentine Ministry of Agriculture for the express
purpose of establishing Prospaltella berlesei. From June
to mid-September 1916, 4650 fruit-growers in Argentina
applied for the parasitized twigs, and received in all over
530,000 twigs, each of which bore many individuals of the

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR SAKE OF UTILITY 263

Chalcid parasite buried in the noxious Scales. In three years
a total of 3,000,000 twigs have been distributed in Argentina
alone, and the Commission considers \h2&Prospaltella berlesei
has now been so satisfactorily and plentifully established as
to check the invasion of the Mulberry Scale.

So successful have been the results of the introduction of
counter-pests in many foreign lands, that sooner or later con-
servative Britain, when it has awakened to the value of
scientific methods, may be led to forsake its easy policy
of laissezfaire, and to add a few benefactors to the host of
pernicious insects it has already allowed to be added to the
native fauna. In this hope the above illustrations of the
value of counter-pests have been inserted here.

V. 2

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR THE SAKE
OF SPORT

A FAMILIAR tradition regards sport as one of the chief
ends of the Briton's existence. It is not surprising therefore
to find that attempts have been made to establish many
creatures in order that their subsequent pursuit may afford
the primitive pleasures of the chase.

In most parts of Scotland the sly Fox is destroyed by
fair means or foul, for too well is it known that

There's a tod aye "blinkin' when the nicht comes doon.

But in several districts of South Britain, Foxes and Badgers
also, are actually imported from the Continent and from
Scotland, and are set free to establish themselves in the
hope that the hunt may benefit thereby.

The large Red Deer of Germany have been imported and
released in western Ross-shire to mend the breed of their
degenerate Scottish relatives, but it is doubtful if their in-
fluence will long survive those harder conditions of life, which
have adversely affected the size and quality of the Scottish
race.

THE PHEASANT

Birds, however, supply the most striking examples of the
influence on our fauna of sporting introductions. Take the
Common Pheasant. It has long since spread over the whole
countryside; its long tail may be seen gliding through
almost any covert, and its harsh crow is familiar to every
dweller in the country. It is a great insect destroyer, yet it
has turned to the crops of field and garden, and in some
places has caused such destruction that it has been threatened
with capital punishment by the law, for permission has been
given to tenants to shoot at sight game damaging their
crops.

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR SAKE OF SPORT 265

Who would imagine that this moderately common bird,
at home in our woods and thickets, eating the wild and
cultivated produce of the land with the zest of a native,
could be a stranger of strangers ? Yet so it seems to be, for
tradition says that the Pheasant's home is in far Colchis, on
the banks of the river Phasis in Asia Minor. Nevertheless
tradition may be wrong, for the fact that fossil remains of
several species of Pheasant have been found in prehistoric
deposits in Europe, suggests that the Common Pheasant
(Phasianus colchicus] may have originated nearer home.
Its remains, however, have not been found in any early
deposit in this country, and the oldest record, from the
station at Silchester, points to its connection with the
Romans.

Other evidence makes it probable that the Pheasant,
perhaps in company with the Peacock, was introduced into
Britain to grace the villas of the Romans. A manuscript in
the British Museum shows that in 1059, during the reign of
King Harold, " unus phasianus " was regarded as equal to
two Partridges in the bill of fare of the canons of Waltham
Abbey. The importance of this evidence lies in that it
rules out of count the Normans, the importers of the Rabbit,
for the Pheasant was naturalized in England before their
Conquest, and it is regarded as unlikely that the Anglo-
Saxons, who are not known to have introduced any animal,
could have brought it to this country. In 1 100, in the reign
of King Henry the First, the Abbot of Malmesbury obtained
a licence to kill Pheasants and Hares; in 1299 the price of
a Pheasant was fourpence, as against three halfpence for a
Mallard; about 1512 the Pheasant's value had risen to
"xiid" and a Mallard to " iid a pece." Thereafter there
are many references to the presence of Pheasants in England
and to their value in the dietary; they had become one of
the common food birds.

I can find, however, no evidence that Pheasants were
known in Scotland until long after they had been estab-
lished in England. No remains have been found amongst
the organic accumulations of the Roman station at Newstead,
or in any Scottish deposit of the Romano- British period.
In that wonderful palace, to which I have already referred
(p. 210), wherein the Earl of Athole feasted King James

266 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

the Fifth and " ane ambassadour of the Paipes " on the
braes of Athole in 1529, everything that could be obtained
was brought that the king and his guests should be
"verrie weill entertained." One of the manuscripts of
Lindsay of Pitscottie's account of this feast enumerates the
viands served 'to the royal guests; and although some
authorities regard the list as an interpolation of later date,
this but increases its significance from our point of view.
The birds set before the king were "capon, cran [crane or
perhaps heron], swan, pairtrick [partridge], plover, duik,
drake, brissel-cock [turkey-cock or perhaps guinea-fowl],
and paunies [cf. Lat. pavones — peacocks], black-cock, and
muirfoull, capercailles." Here in a wonderfully detailed list,
in spite of the fact that a rare bird like the Peacock is
referred to, there is no mention of the Pheasant. There
is some reason, therefore, for concluding that the Pheasant
was not available.

Other evidence supports this conclusion. In 1551, in
the reign of Queen Mary, an attempt was made to regulate
the price of wild fowl and game, a standard price being
fixed for each variety; and though wild and tame Geese,
Blackcocks, Plovers. Curlew, Moor-fowl, Partridges, Wood-
cock, Snipe, Quails, and even Larks, are specified (see
p. 140) there is no allusion to the Pheasant. Four years
later a law was passed by the Scottish Parliament, enacting
that Pouts [young Partridges], Moorfowl, Ducks, Drakes,
Teal, and " Goldings," were not to be killed before Michael-
mas under pain of ^10, but Pheasants are not mentioned.
There is here presumptive evidence that in the middle of
the sixteenth century, Pheasants were either absent from
Scotland or, if present, were very rare, being, it may be,
kept for ornament in the gardens of the great. I ndeed, even a
quarter of a century later, Bishop Leslie remarks upon their
rarity in so many words, which read in the quaint translation
of Father Dalrymple :

Farther because nathing is althrouch [throughout] fortunat and happie,
quhat ane way abundes with ws, another way intakes [is lacking] with vs,
and is indigent : for the foul called the storke, the fasiane, the turtle-dwe,
the feldifare, the nichtingale, with vthiris natiounis ar frequent, bot skairs
with us are fund.

If the scarcity of the Pheasant was to be compared with that

AXIMALS INTRODUCED FOR SAKE OF SPORT 267

of the Stork and the Nightingale, it must have been very
scarce indeed.

It is interesting that Leslie should have mentioned the
abundance.of the Pheasant with " vthiris natiounis" (France
perhaps, whence he came in the train of Queen Mary, or
maybe England), for this abundance makes its scarcity in
Scotland at so late a date all the more striking. Yet before
the sixteenth century had ended, the Pheasant had been
naturalized in Scotland, and had found a protector in the
ready arm of the Scots law. In June 1594 an Act was
passed by which it was

ordained that quhatsumever person or persones at ony time hereafter sail
happen to slay deir, harts, phesants, foulls, partricks, or uther wyld foule
quhatsumever, ather with gun, croce bow, dogges, halks, or girnes, or be
uther ingine quhatsumever or that beis found schutting with ony gun
therein

should pay a penalty of "ane hundreth [100] punds."

I think the Scottish laws make clear, however, that even
yet the Pheasant was a bird of great rarity, for many sub-
sequent enactments omit reference to it. Take, for example,
the very comprehensive Statute of 1600 already quoted
(p. 203), the Statute of 1621, or even that of 1707, none of
which specifies Pheasants though many other game birds
are mentioned by name. John Taylor in his Pennyles
Pilgrimage recounts with relish the variety of fare he
received in the year 1618 at the hands of "my good Lord
Erskine" and mentions of birds "pidgeons, hens, capons,
chickens, partridge, moorecocks, heathcocks, caperkellies,
and termagants [ptarmigan]" but no Pheasant.

The establishment of the Common Pheasant as a game
bird in Scotland may, therefore, be said to date from the
close of the sixteenth century, when it was probably brought
across the borders from England. I have no doubt that its
late appearance in Scotland was due to the poverty of the
country as a whole, and of the barons in particular. For
even under favourable conditions of shelter and cultivation
the Pheasant will not thrive, and probably could not exist,
without some protection and attention. No one can allege
that the bleak Scotland of Queen Mary's time was a
sheltered or well cultivated land, and the barons, ready
enough though they were to hawk or hunt the native birds,

268 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

which multiplied of their own free will, could bear neither
the expense nor the trouble of rearing and tending Pheasants
in a bare land.

The establishment of the Pheasant in our coverts has
led to an interesting secondary introduction or transportation
and establishment. Ants and their larvae are well known to
form a favourite food of the Pheasant, the larvae being the
main support of young birds. To meet this demand large
species of ants have been set free in coverts, where they
have sometimes become established, building their nests and
hatching theiryounginevermultiplying numbers — increasing
at one and the same time the food of the Pheasant and the
variety of the local fauna.

In recent years many importations of wonderfully beauti-
ful eastern varieties of the Pheasant have been made, the
best known being the Chinese or Ring-necked Pheasant
(Phasianus cokkuus torquatus), the "common" pheasant of
central or south China; the handsome Mongolian Pheasant
(P. c. mongolicus), from the mountains of eastern Asia; the
Japanese Pheasant (P. c. versicolor), distinguished by the
dark green of its under parts, and the gorgeous Reeve's
Pheasant (P. reevesii), from the highlands of northern and
western China. Several of these varieties and their crosses
may now be seen at large in one part or another of the
countryside.

INTRODUCTION OF THE CAPERCAILLIE (Tetrao urogallus)

If man has added the most beautiful of game birds to
our coverts, he also has placed in the woods the most
handsome of their modern inhabitants — the " capercaillie,"
"capercalye," "auercalye" or "horse of the woods," as our
old writers variously termed him. This fine bird (Fig. 50),
the large size and glossy black plumage of which would
make it remarkable in any association of bird life, was
well known to early historians of Scotland. Boece (Bellen-
den's translation), says of it in 1527,

Mony uthir fowlis ar in Scotland, quhilkis ar sene in na uthir partis of
the warld, as capercailye, ane foule mair [in size] than ane ravin, quhilk
leiffis allanerlie [lives entirely] of barkis of treis.

But the gradual disappearance of the pine woods, upon the

ANIMALS IXTRODLXED FOR SAKE OF SPORT 2^9

shoots of which it lived in the winter time, brought about the
extermination of the "old man of the woods," — the -'caber-
coille" as he is affectionately named in Gaelic. Fuller
reference to this unfortunate extinction will be made in
discussing the effects of the destruction of the forests
(p. 354); it is sufficient here to say that after a long period
of dwindling numbers the last of the native Capercafllies
seem to have occurred in Scotland about the seventies of the

F%. 50. Capereaillies (Cock znd Hen)- — reinstated rn Scotland ifter eiireriLinarioc.

tij nor. size-
eighteenth century, one havieg been seen about r 762 in, die
woods of Strathglass. while Pennant says tfee rare bird was
still to be met with in 1769 in Glenmoriston to the west of
Inverness.

The Capercafllie, however, continued to survive in the
great forests of continental Europe and Asia, from Norway
and Sweden in the west to Kamschatka in the east, and
from Siberia in the north to the pine-forests of Germany,
Austria and the Balkans. A first and fruitless attempt to
re-establish these birds in Scotland was made bv the Earl

2;o DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

of Fife at Mar Lodge in Aberdeenshire in 1827 and 1829,
when Capercaillies were brought from a Swedish forest.
But the numbers which arrived were too few: in 1827 only
a male reached the end of his journey alive, and, in 1829,
when a single pair was imported, notwithstanding that they
reared apparently, healthy broods, parents and progeny soon
died out.

Astonishing success, however, met the efforts made to
establish the Capercaillie in the vicinity of Lord Breadal-
bane's castle of Taymouth. Through the instrumentality of
Sir Fowell Buxton, a Norfolk squire, at least 13 cocks and
19 hens (some accounts say 48 birds), arrived at Taymouth
in 1837 and 1838 and were set free in the woods. They at
once settled down in their new surroundings, formed nests
and hatched and reared healthy broods, with such success
that twenty-five years later the Marquis of Breadalbane
estimated the number on his estate at 1000 birds, although
his head-keeper believed that 2000 was nearer the mark.

From Taymouth adult birds were transported to various
localities, as to Arran in 1843, where, reinforced by fresh
importations from Sweden in 1846, they became established.
Other deliberate endeavours to found new colonies, as at
Dunkeld and in the counties of Ayr and Argyll, were un-
successful, although some, as the introduction of eggs at
Tulliallan in 1864 and ten years later of birds at Lathirsk
in Fife, met with better fortune. From the naturalist's point
of view, however, the most interesting result of the Tay-
mouth introduction has been the extraordinary way in which
natural processes of increase and migration have led the
birds from this limited station to colonize the greater part
of Scotland. For the details of this gradual conquest ot new
areas, the reader must turn to Dr J. A. Harvie-Brown's
Capercaillie in Scotland where the movements up to
1879 are carefully recorded. Here I can give only the
main features up to the present day of the distribution from
the centre at Taymouth Castle in central Perthshire.

It is natural to suppose that since the Capercaillie
depends on pine woods both for shelter and food, its dis-
persal would be regulated by the position and suitability of
such woods, together with its own rate of increase and the
consequent necessity for the discovery of new feeding and

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR SAKE OF SPORT 271

breeding grounds. This is exactly what was found to take
place. Fortunately the years that intervened between its
extinction about 1770 and its introduction in 1837, were
years fruitful in planting, and in the interval, woods largely
of coniferous trees had sprung up on the hillsides and
along the valleys of many of our rivers. Dr Harvie-Brown
was of opinion that the Capercaillie viewed prospective sites
from its old establishments, and this very probable selection
by sight, together with the fact that most of the woodland
lay along the water-courses, would determine the Caper-
caillie's dispersal along the valleys. Indeed, judging from
the dates of the advent or establishment of birds in new
areas, the valley systems ranked second only to the presence
of- fir-woods in determining the course of the migrating
Capercaillies. It is a curious feature of these migrations,
that, as a rule, hen birds alone prospect new dwelling-sites,
and commonly settle in a new area two, three or four years
before any cock bird arrives. During the interval before the
coming of their true, even if polygamous, partners, the hens
frequently mate with the closely related Blackcock (Tetrao
tetrao], and even with the Pheasant, the result being that
the extending margin of a Capercaillie country is marked by
the presence of hybrid birds.

The Tay and the Forth valley systems offer highly
instructive evidence of the influence of such routes on the
dispersal of a species. Follow for a moment, with the aid of
the accompanying map(Map I), the Capercaillie's wanderings
from the centre at Taymouth Castle, at the east end of Loch
Tay, where it was established in 1837. I giye as a ru^e
the earliest recorded appearance at any particular place, but
have ignored sporadic occurrences clearly out of touch with
the general movement of the birds. From its dispersal-
centre the " Caper " followed the valleys radiating east and
west from the northern end of Loch Tay. It reached the
meeting place of Tummel and Tay in 1844, and passing
north and south along the valleys, reached Blair Athole on
the Garry in the following year, sending off, by the way, a
side branch which followed the Tummel itself to Loch
Rannoch.

The main migration down the Tay was well defined.
It reached the junction of the Isla shortly after 1847, and

272 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

splitting into two bodies as the two valleys presented
themselves, passed onwards up the Isla and down the
Tay. A glance at the map will show how the former
body, keeping to the main drift of the valley, ^gradually
colonized the tributary valleys, settling in the upper parts of
Strathardle in 1860 and of Glenshee in 1865. The Glen
Isla settlements not only supplied the tributary valleys, but
overflowed into Forfar by the low land at the base of the
Grampian foothills, and reached Glamis Castle near Forfar
in 1863, and the neighbourhood of Brechin in 1870. This
northward migration was reinforced by an introduction at
Cortachy in 1862. Thence progress along the easy flats of
the South and North Esk was peculiarly slow, for the Caper-
caillie made no general appearance in North Kincardineshire
till 1878, when it had spread up the wooded valley of the
Dee as far as Banchory and Inchmarlo. Widely spread
colonies were in course of time established in Aberdeen-
shire and Banffshire. Col. Sir Arthur Grant, Bart., informs
me that on the estate of Monymusk on the Don near Alford,
Caper were first seen in 1889, when a hen in a very
exhausted condition was picked up during a snow storm.
Here the birds were first shot in December 1891, when six
were killed. Since that time, the increase in this district
has been extraordinarily rapid (see p. 274). About 1896 I
learned that birds had been seen in the woods at the " back
o' Bennachie." In Glass parish on the Deveron they
appeared in 1897, and in the woods at Methlick a pair had
a brood in 1911. This great extension of range, of over one
hundred miles as the crow flies, was the direct outcome of
the break-away that followed the Isla valley, while the main
movement of Capercaillies kept close to the line of the Tay.
To return to this main movement: — From the junction
of the Isla (1847) the Caper reached the mouth of the Tay
about 1852, having sent a branch up Glen Almond in
passing. This meeting-place of the midland vales near
Perth became an important centre of distribution, whence
the midlands and southern counties were invaded. The
Earn valley was conquered in progressive stages, Loch
Earn being finally reached in 1876. The Ochil Hills were
turned on their north-eastern flank, easy entrance being
thereby gained to the plains of Fife and Kinross, while

Scale of Miles

THE CAPERCA1LLIE

INTRODUCTION &. SPREAD OF THE CAPERCAILLIE IN SCOTLANQ.

o

Other effective introductions.

(Q) Introduction at Taymouth — the main colonizing centre

1 1 Introductions which have failed to become established. >- Direction of spread ; '27 etc. years

of arrival or establishment at localities indicated (from 1827 onwards); isolated dates indicate casual
appearances.

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR SAKE OF SPORT 273

progress along the fertile flats of Strathmore gave access to
Clackmannan and the Forth Valley. Some fifteen years
served to cover the valley system of the Forth, the earliest
records of breeding being those at Blair Drummond in 1 860
and at Dunmore at the mouth of the river in 1863. Up the
Teith Valley, the Caper settled near Callander in 1872. From
the southern end of Strathmore the movements southwards
were continued by two channels, one leading by the eastern
shoulders of the Campsie Fells to the Lothians and the
south-eastern counties, the other by the western shoulders
to Dumbarton, Renfrew and the south-western counties.

Westwards from the main centre at Taymouth, the
wanderers passed up Glen Lyon, and along the sides of
Loch Tay, whence, following the valley of the Dochart (1865),
they debouched upon Glen Falloch. From this they reached
the shores of Loch Lomond in 1874, and crossed to Argyll-
shire where they had penetrated almost to the line of the
Crinan Canal in 1910, and whence they crossed to the
island of Bute about 1913.

The records of the natural dispersal of the Capercaillie
in the Lowlands are less easy to interpret, owing to the
independent introduction of the bird at Glenapp in Ayrshire,
where it survived for several years after 1841, and at
Tulliallan near Kincardine-on-Forth, where a strong estab-
lishment was made in 1864.

Neither of these supplementary introductions, however,
has so much contributed to the spread of the Capercaillie as
the persistent and successful efforts begun in Strathnairn in
1894, when a commencement was made by turning down 3 1
birds brought from Norway and Austria, to which stock fresh
birds were added each succeeding year till 1900. I have no
doubt that the Strathnairn centre is responsible for the
appearance and increase of the Capercaillie to the west and
north, at Inverness (1912), Beauly (1912) and in Ross-shire
(1912), as well as in Nairn and Moray (1907) to the east.

There are many features of interest in the recolonization
of Scotland by the Capercaillie, but sufficient has been said
to show the widespread significance of the introduction of
this fine bird, which through man's intervention has spread
from the western slopes of Argyllshire to the plains of eastern
Fife, and from southern Wigtownshire to the hillsides of

R. 18

274 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

Ross-shire. The accompanying map (p. 271), which interprets
in a somewhat dogmatic way the dispersal of the Capercaillie
in Scotland, should be compared with one showing the
distribution of woodland in modern Scotland. Only thus
can the importance of the influence exercised by valleys
and forests on the movements of the birds be fully
appreciated. I would add in closing this account, that
the effectiveness of the establishment of the Capercaillie
in our woods is demonstrated by the numbers that have
been killed in a day's shoot on widely separated estates.
Thus, on Sir Arthur Grant's estate of Monymusk in Aber-
deenshire, 84 Capercaillie were killed in a day in 1910, and
73 in 1911 ; Mr J. G. Millais records that in a single day
107 were killed at Fotheringham in Forfarshire in 1894 ; and
on Blackhall in Kincardineshire 150 were got on one day
in 1908, the record day's shoot for Scotland.

It may seem a simple and natural thing that a bird,
which like the Capercaillie had flourished in the country at a
recent date, should on being reinstated, again obtain firm
hold in its own land. But the problem is not so simple nor
the result so dependable. The disappearance of the Caper-
caillie was due mainly to the gradual destruction of woodland ;
the success of its reinstatement depended upon the presence
and suitability of the new woodlands which had sprung up
during the years of its absence. It is possible that the
new destruction of woodlands which the War has en-
tailed may again restrict the distribution of the Capercaillie,
or at any rate check its dispersal by removing the forest
stepping-stones which offered it gentle stages for pro-
gression from one area to another.

THE GREAT BUSTARD

At first glance, the case of the Great Bustard (Otis
tarda] (Fig. 62, p. 366) appears to be exactly comparable
to that of the Capercaillie. At one time, this huge game
bird was common on the plains of Scotland, and the pen of
Boece testifies to its breeding in the district of the Merse
in Berwickshire in the sixteenth century. To this record
I refer in greater detail in discussing the influence of culti-
vation on animal life (loc. cit.\ The Great Bustard died out

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR SAKE OF SPORT 275

in Scotland as it did throughout the United Kingdom.
Several attempts have since been made to re-establish it
in Britain, but with uniform failure; the once native bird
persistently refuses to adopt again its former home. The
secret of the failure lies in this: that while times and con-
ditions have changed, they have in no sense changed for
the better from those which drove the British Bustard to
extinction. It is a bird of the plains which nests in the
open and trusts to its keen sight to warn it of danger still
afar off, and to its speed of limb to carry it to safety. But
the new cultivation and the growth of sheltering plantations,-
coverts and hedgerows, afford possible shelter to lurking
foes, and here the Bustard cannot dwell and thrive.

RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE

Another introduction which has met with little success
in Scotland, though it is common over great parts of
England and Wales, and has actually defied attempts to
exterminate it in East Anglia, is the pretty Red-legged
Partridge (Caccabis rufa}, a native of south-western Europe,
first brought to England in 1770. It is a bird fond of sand-'
dunes, .but somewhat less so of highly cultivated areas, and
this may account for the contrast between the success of
the English experiments and the comparative failure of the
Scottish, although in recent years it appears to have become
established in Fifeshire.

INCIDENTAL GAME-BIRDS

From Norway the Willow Grouse or Ryper (Lagopus
lagopus], near relative of our own Red Grouse, has been
introduced into Argyllshire, but so far it has taken no im-
portant place in the native fauna. The same is true also of
such importations to England as the Virginian Quail or Bob
White (Colinus virginianus], the Button-Quail (Turnix
sylvaticd] of Southern Europe, and the Barbary Partridge
(Caccabis petrosa), but the persistence with which Hungarian
Partridges have been turned down in Sussex, where in six
successive seasons numbers varying from 50 to 175 brace
have been released, may enable this stranger to obtain a firm
foothold.

1 8— 2

276 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

SOME SPORTING FISHES

Reference has already been made to freshwater fishes
introduced for the value of their flesh as food, but another con-
sideration— that of sport— has been a contributory factor in
bringing to our rivers a number of denizens of foreign lands.
The most' venerable of such sporting fishes, from the
point of view of its establishment and supposed associa-
tions, is undoubtedly the Grayling ( Thymallus thymallus],
so long a recognized inhabitant of our rivers that the date
of its coming is forgotten. Its introduction, like that of
several other fishes, has, for lack of a better suggestion,
been attributed to the monks; but it has been pointed out
that while many of its local fisheries are in neighbourhoods
where monasteries once stood, yet in English counties where
there were many monasteries there are no Grayling, and
further, that so sensitive a fish could scarcely have been con-
veyed alive from the Continent with the means at the dis-
posal of the monks. However that may be, the Grayling, a
.native of the continental countries from Italy and Hungary to
Lapland, is now firmly established as an angling fish in many
British rivers. In Scotland, it is common in the upper
reaches of the Clyde where 10,000 eggs from the Derwent
were planted in 1857, as well as in the Rivers Ayr, Lugar
and Greenburn in Ayrshire, and in the Gryffe Water in
Renfrewshire. In Dumfriesshire it was introduced into the
Nith in 1857 or 1858, and a few years later into the
Annan. Fewer than a dozen were set free in the Tay some
twenty years ago, and already in 1905 they were so well
established that "it was not astonishing to catch one any-
where between Perth and Kenmore." It occurs also in the
Tweed and its tributaries, amongst them the Teviot, where
the first example was caught in 1855, having escaped from
a pond at Monteviot where it had been introduced by the
Marquis of Lothian about that time. So abundant is it now
in Tweed that netting for coarse fish at the instance of
the Tweed Commissioners resulted in the capture of 5791
Grayling in 1913, and 71 78 in 1914. Low (1813) stated that
it was common in Orkney.

If the Grayling first made itself at home in our rivers,

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR SAKE OF SPORT 277

the Carp came as a good second, for although we may sus-
pect the accuracy of the old doggerel lines

Turkeys, Carps, Hops, Piccarel and Beer
Came into ENGLAND all in one year —

they at least faithfully indicate that the Carp was introduced
to this country and that at an early date. The Carp
(Cyprinus carpio] is a native of the rivers of China, but so
long ago as 1496 it had been planted in the streams of
Britain, for Dame Juliana Berner's Boke of St Albans says
that it is a "dayntous fysshe, but there ben but fewe in
Englonde and therefore I wryte the lesse of hym." The
" fewe in Englonde " of the fifteenth century have increased
to many in our day, for the Carp thrives in lakes, rivers, and
ponds, natural and artificial, from Northumberland to Corn-
wall. In Scotland it is less common than in England, yet it
occurs in many lochs and ponds throughout the country and,
according to Stoddart, exists even in the lakes of the Outer
Hebrides, in Lewis, Harris, the Uists, and Barra. In other
countries, such as America, valuable and extensive fisheries
have been created by the introduction of this native of the
Far East (see p. 258).

The Trout of Lake Geneva (Salmo lemanus] was placed
many years ago in several lochs and tarns in Mull, as well
as in Loch Lomond, where it has now become very rare.
A somewhat similar tale of half-hearted success has to be
told of the efforts to introduce into Scotland the American
Brook Trout {Salvelinus fontinalis] often misnamed in
this country the "Rainbow Trout." This Char, related
to the red-bellied Char which inhabits some of our deeper
lakes, has been set free in many lakes and rivers, but
though it survives for a time, it appears seldom to thrive
and become firmly established. Mr H. A. \Voodburn
says of its occurrence in the Clyde drainage area, that it has
been placed in many small lakes throughout the district and
also in Loch Lomond, where it still maintains its identity
but has not thriven. It has also been distributed throughout
Renfrewshire and Ayrshire, and is thriving in the Rivers
Ayr and Irvine, and in the Waters of Borland, Kilmarnock,
Cessnock, Carmel and Alnwick. It is impossible to follow
the details of the introduction of the American Brook Trout
in other areas, for it has been widely distributed throughout
Scotland, even in islands such as Mull, and there is the

278 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

less need for so tedious an enumeration, since the citation
of the Clyde area alone sufficiently indicates to what extent
man may encourage an alien fauna to replace that of nature's
assembling. Introductions of the true Rainbow Trout (Salmo
irideus) of California have been made on several occasions
and in several places, as in Loch Uisg and the Lochbuie
lochs of Mull. In 1898 over a thousand " Rainbow Trout "
were set free in the river Buchat, a tributary of the Don in
Aberdeenshire1.

TRANSPORTATIONS

Apart from the deliberate introduction of new creatures
from a strange land, there is a minor form of introduction,
which, while it involves no fresh addition to the fauna as a
whole, has yet some influence upon the numbers and distri-
bution of its members — I mean the transference of an animal
from an old to a new area. There would seem to be little
scope for such transportations in a country so small as
Scotland, yet many have taken place, and as they relate in
the main to sporting animals, a few typical illustrations may
be given here. Perhaps the most noted of all such trans-
portations concern the short-headed Trout of Loch Leven
(Salmo levenensis\ famed for the red colour of its flesh and
its peculiar delicacy of flavour. There is scarcely a Scottish
lake or slow-flowing river much frequented by anglers, but
there Loch Leven Trout have been released, as many as
150,000 fry having been set free in one lake, Loch Awe,
in the course of the three years preceding 1890. England,
too, has shared in the spoil, and amazing success has
followed the introduction of Loch Leven Trout to the still
and running waters of New Zealand. The enthusiasm of
anglers, again, has stocked with the common Brown Trout
of the brook (Salmo truttd], many a Highland loch or lochan,
which till that time knew no fish except perhaps the migra-
tory Eel, whose elvers take to land when they encounter a
waterfall such as would completely check the passage of
Trout or Salmon. Trout from below the great Smoo Cave,
near Durness, were placed many years ago in the river above
the Cave and beyond the impassable cascade which bursts
through its roof, and, isolated in their new habitation, they

1 I suspect that these "Rainbow Trout," recorded by Mr G. Sim, may
have belonged to the species referred to above — the American Brook Trout.

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR SAKE OF SPORT 279

have developed on their sides a peculiarity of their own-
great red splashes of colour. Many troutless lochs in the
wilds of Sutherland, such as Loch Bealach na Uidhe,
Loch na Ganvich and Loch Unapool, now contain a boun-
teous stock of trout, thanks to the energy of anglers such
as Dr Harvie- Brown.

The habit of the sluggish, mud-loving Tench (Tinea
tinea) has led to its introduction into many slow-flowing
rivers, and natural and artificial ponds and reservoirs, such as
Pressmennan Lake formed in 1819 in Haddingtonshire, or
Hirsel Lough, in 1876, in Berwickshire, the Pitfour Ponds
in Aberdeenshire and the Tay. In such areas the "Fisher's
Physician," as he was long ago dubbed, lives and breeds in
security.

Perch (Perca fluviatilis] have also been spread abroad
in our rivers by the agency of man, for though naturally
they are rare north of the Forth, individuals have been suc-
cessfully introduced during the past hundred years to the
Loch of Spynie near Elgin and the river Deveron, to the
river Don and Strathbeg Loch in Aberdeenshire, and to
many lochs and streams in the Tay basin and other valleys
beyond their natural range.

Even the voracious Pike (Esox .lucius] has been granted
new areas in which to work its will on its lesser cousins,
examples of the success of its transportation being shown in
Gartmorin Dam on the Forth and Migdale Loch near Kyle of
Sutherland ; while the Char (Salvelinus alpinus}, interesting
relic of the cold torrents which rushed in our valleys as the
ice-sheets of the late Glacial Period melted, has been trans-
ferred from its cool, deep glacial lakes to many it would
not have chosen of his own accord.

The gentle sport of angling is also responsible for the
increasing range of distribution of the Minnow (Phoxinus
phoxinus), for this tiny but active denizen of the river shal-
lows does not extend under natural conditions further north
in Britain than the waters of the Deveron, or at furthest the
Lossie. On account of its use as a bait for larger fish, the
Minnow has been set free in the Spey (although it may have
existed there before its artificial introduction), as well as
in the streams of Argyll and Arran, and of several other
localities whence it w,as originally absent.

280 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

Even birds and mammals have not escaped this artificial
means of dispersal. Brand (1701) mentions that in his day
"Moorfowls" or Grouse, were absent from the Shetland Isles,
but that a few had been brought over from Orkney. These,
however, soon died out, as also did a few imported to Weis-
dale Voe in 1858, though the descendants of the latter sur-
vived for 14 or 15 years. In 1882 an endeavour to acclimatize
Grouse on the heather-clad slopes of the island of Yell met
with greater success, for owing perhaps to the more suitable
nature of the ground, these established a slender colony which
existed at any rate till comparatively recent years.

In Orkney on the other hand, where the Red Grouse
was plentiful, Partridges were unknown; "There are here
no Partridges," wrote Brand in 1701, "but plenty of Muir-
fowls." Nor have any of the many attempts which have
since been made to plant Partridges on the Mainland, on Hoy
and Walls, on Sanday, on Shapinsay (1883) and Rousay
(1883), met with success, although for several years, Rousay
boasted the presence of four or five individuals.

Of mammals, Roe Deer, which are natives of few of
the Scottish islands, have been established on Bute, I slay, Mull
and Jura; but the Hares best illustrate the results of deliberate
transportation. There is no satisfactory evidence that the
Common Brown Hare (Lepus europaeus] is indigenous to
the islands of Scotland, yet now it is almost impossible to
name an island of any significance from which it is absent.
In the Firth of Clyde, the "bawtie" has been set free and
thrives upon Arran, Bute and Cumbrae; in the Inner Hebri-
des it was introduced on Islay (before 1816) and on Jura,
on Coll (about 1787) and on Tiree, on Mull (1814-15), and
on Skye, as well as on other lesser isles; amongst the Outer
Hebrides, Professor Macgillivray tells us in 1830, that it

has been naturalised in the neighbourhood of Stornoway and in Barvas, in
the district of Lewis and iy one of the Barray islands; but it does not appear
that it ever occurred indigenously in any part of the range.

The Blue, Alpine, or Variable Hare (Lepus timidus} has
shared in wanderings like its cousin, for since the disappear-
ance of the last traces of the Ice Age, its natural range in the
British Isles has become limited to the Highlands of Scot-
land (see Map II). It too has been planted on the islands,
so that wherever it occurs to-day in the Outer or Inner

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR SAKE OF SPORT 281

282 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

Hebrides (Lewis and Harris, Skye and Raasay, Mull, Islay
and Arran) it. has been introduced, for if it were ever native
in ttiese parts, the original breed, as on Hoy in the Orkneys,
has disappeared. Recent introductions to Hoy and.Gairsey
seem to have failed.

On the mainland the artificial colonization of the Alpine
Hare has been more extensive and successful. A century ago
it was unknown south of the Forth, but from its Highland
home it has been planted on the uplands of the southern
counties. I n Manor Parish in Peeblesshire, Alpine H ares were
set free in 1834, and further colonies were planted in the
same county in 1846 and 1847; m tne Pentlands they were
set free in 1867 or 1868, and in 1861 or 1862 on Cairntable
on the borders of Ayrshi're and Lanarkshire. On this
mountain, Dr B. N. Peach tells me, they were so abundant
when he made a geological survey of the district in the
years 1867 and 1868, that they formed the staple food sup-
plied to the geologists by the hill shepherd. So congenial
has the Alpine Hare found these Lowland haunts that not only
has it held its own and increased vastly in numbers in the
areas in which it was placed, but it has spread into the sur-
rounding country, overrunning the counties of Renfrew, Ayr
and Lanark, in the first of which 300 have been killed in a
season on the Misty Law Hills. Spreading eastwards from
their Peeblesshire stations by way of the Moorfoot Hills the
Mountain Hare reached the Lammermoor Hills about 1860,
the Lauderdale moors in Berwickshire some four years later,
and the extension of the Lammermoors in east Haddington-
shire about 1880. A southward movement from Cairntable
colonized the Lowther Hills and Queensterry Hill in 1865,
and advanced until between 1878 and 1880 the southern
march was checked by the Solway, which was reached in the
neighbourhood of Kirkgunzeon and Criffel Moors to the
south-west of Dumfries.

Now there is scarcely a moderately high hill within these
areas of the south country but has its colony of this interest-
ing relic of glacial climes. Not only has the Scottish
Mountain Hare (Lepus timidus scoticus] succeeded in colo-
nizing new districts in its own country, it has also been
successfully transferred to many English counties and to the
mountains of Wales.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE MOUNTAIN HARE IN SCOTLAND.

I Arens to which Mountain Hare is indigenous.

Dates surrounded by lines indicate times and localities of introduction by man. Italic dates,
>. approximate times of arrival in new areas from the centres of introduction.

jjp|j Areas colon! »d by transported individuals
del-lined

V. 3
ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR AMENITY

SEVERAL creatures of interest and a few of some im-
portance in the composition of our fauna owe their presence
to little more than the whim of the lover of Nature or the
surplus energy of the naturalist. The reason for some of
these introductions stands in plain view, for others it is in-
discernible.

THE PEACOCK

No one can doubt, for example, that the feeling for
colour led to the transfer of the " beauteous Peacock " far
from its native home in India and Ceylon. We, in Britain,
probably owe its presence to the Romans. In mediaeval
days it seems to have been moderately common in Scotland,
more common than the Pheasant, for it graced the table of
the Earl of Athole at the great feast in the "wilderness " of
Perthshire in 1529 (see p. 266), when its lesser relative was
absent ; and in the old Scots laws it was ranked as wild-fowl,
under the plea that " the nature of the Peacock is wild,
although they are wont always to return to the same place."
(Frag. Coll. i. 750 b). Nevertheless, Juno's bird, despite
the decrees of law and the long ages of its habitation, is still
no more than an exotic flower in our dull clime, a bird the
" painted plumes " of which add to the pleasure of park or
shrubbery, but which remains outwith the native fauna.

BIRDS OF BRIGHT PLUMAGE

Other strange birds have been set free on account of their
beauty, though most of them have rapidly disappeared from
the fauna they invaded. Red-winged Starlings (Agel&us
phceniceus] from America, were released by the late Duke of
Argyll in Argyllshire, but soon died out, and in recent years
"Pekin Robins" (Liotkrix luteus] and many exotic Doves —
Bronze Wings, Turtles, and Crested Pigeons — have been

284 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

released in London with little success. On account of their
interest, Lord Carmichael of Skirling transported Nuthatches
from England to southern Scotland, but these importations
also left no trace.

GOLD AND SILVER FISHES

Nor is there room for doubt that the love of colour has
been the secret of the introduction of the Gold and Silver
Fishes of the East, not only as tiny captives of the indoor
aquarium, but as inhabitants of ornamental and other ponds
throughout the country. It can hardly be said that these
have become part of the fauna of Britain, yet Goldfishes
(Carassiiis auratus), natives of China and Japan, have been
established in so many artificial lakes and warm engine-ponds
of mills, and multiply so successfully in these sheltered havens,
that, like the Peacock, they may be regarded as aliens, which,
though they are still clearly foreigners, have nevertheless
come to stay.

On the other hand, there are animals, first brought to
this country as objects of interest or amusement, which have
so easily settled in the land of their adoption that they have
become part and parcel of the native fauna.

FALLOW DEER

Take the case of the Fallow Deer (Cervus dama). Fallow
Deer, closely related to, if not identical with our present
species, inhabited Europe and England in the warmer inter-
glacial periods of the Ice Age. Thereafter they seem to have
disappeared so completely, as, according to the usual state-
ment, to have left no trace in the later deposits of the British
Isles. It is possible, however, that, like other harassed wild
things, they survived longer than is suspected in the security
of the outer islands, for Barry in his History of the Orkney
Islands ( 1 805) states, I know not on what authority, that the
superficial deposits of Orkney have yielded animals strange
to the present day fauna, "such as hares, and several sorts of
red and fallow deer, the horns of which have been often dug
from the earth in various parts of the country." Nevertheless
it is a strange but generally accepted fact that while Red
Deer and Roes continued to survive in our land, the Fallow

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR AMENITY 285

Deer entirely disappeared, leaving no trace in the peat or
marl of the Scottish lakes, nor in the shell-mounds, kitchen-
middens, or dwelling places of the Scottish peoples, even to
the time of the brochs, which extends almost to the ninth
century of our era.

The Fallow Deer owes its subsequent introduction to the
grace and interest which its lithe body and handsome antlers
contribute to the pleasure parks of the great. There is no
record to tell when it first returned under the protection of
man, but we know that shortly after the Norman Conquest
it was regularly hunted in England by the king and his
barons, and there can be little doubt that it was imported
from one of those districts of southern Europe, from Portugal
to Greece, in which it retained a hold through the changes of
post-glacial times. To Scotland it was in all likelihood trans-
ported a short time after its establishment in England. It
appeared at first as a guarded and pampered tenant of the
pleasure park, for the earliest historical reference to the
species is that mentioned by Professor Cosmo Innes, record-
ing how in 1283 an allowance was earmarked in the accounts
of the King's Chamberlain for mowing and carrying hay and
litter for the use in winter of the Fallow Deer which lived in
the park at Stirling. Now as this "new" park was formed and
surrounded with a palisade in 1263 for King Alexander III,
it is possible that the Fallow Deer were imported at that time
specially to grace the new royal pleasure ground.

Three centuries later, in 1564, Queen Mary watched from
the Braes of Athole the great gathering of Deer arranged by
the Earl of Athole for her entertainment. In Dr William
Barclay's account of this notable hunting, as translated from
the Latin by Pennant, occurs a passage describing how the
Highlanders of the "tainchel," forming a ring round the area
to be raided, "went up and down so nimbly, that, in less than
two months' time they had brought together two thousand
red deer, besides roes, and fallow deer." If both translation
and original account are accurate, the presence of Fallow
Deer in the wilds of Glen Tilt would indicate that they had
already escaped from the narrow limits of the parks, and
become established in the highlands of Perthshire.

Standing by itself this evidence seems little to be de-
pended on, but it is supported by more trustworthy hints,

286 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

which indicate that, more than a century before Queen Mary's
gathering on Athole Braes, Fallow Deer were well established
in the country. Already in 1424, they were afforded the
protection of the law, being grouped with Red and Roe Deer
in an Act which provided that " stalkers that slayis deare,
that is to say, harte, hynde, dae and rae," should incur a
penalty of " fourtie shillings " and their employers a fine
of £10. " Dae" is clearly a Scottish form of "doe," the
ordinary and only appellation of the female Fallow Deer, just
as "rae" is the female Roe in contradistinction to Roe-buck
(witness the use of the terms in an Act of 1 503 which includes
both "raes" and "rae-bucks"). The reference to Fallow Deer
in the Act of 1424 is made still more positive by the fact
that the other deer of the country are carefully specified —
the "harte" and "hynde" of the Red Deer, and the Roe.

A perusal of the early Scottish laws, however, makes quite
clear that the Fallow Deer stood in a category distinct from
the Red and the Roe Deer ; for these being native and far
more common are frequently mentioned in laws which ignore
the presence of the Fallow Deer. Yet in 1587 we find the
Fallow or Dae mentioned with several of the most familiar
of wild animals: "slayers and schutters of hart, hinde, dae,
rae, haires, cunninges, and utheris beasts... sail be lyke cryme
to their committers as the stealers of horse or oxen." And
since, using caution as with men, we may judge deer by the
company they keep, it is apparent that the Fallow Deer were
well established and at least moderately common in the latter
part of the sixteenth century.

The law, however, gives us no ground for supposing that
these deer were free or wild ; for the specific mention in a
statute of 1503 of "parked deare, raes, or rae-bucks," is
sufficient indication that the Fallow Deer were still the deer
of the parks. In the same century, King James VI himself,
when he returned with his consort, the Danish Princess Anne,
is said to have brought from Denmark the first examples of
the black variety of Fallow Deer — and these he doubtless
deposited in his deer park at Dalkeith Palace.

Nevertheless the experience of more recent times would
lead us to suppose that if the "parked deer" escaped, as
time and again they were almost sure to do, they would have
had no difficulty in establishing themselves in the wilder

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR AMENITY 287

districts. Indeed, so suitable do conditions in Scotland
appear to be that, once established in freedom, Fallow Deer
are not easily kept in check. A single authentic example
will be sufficient to illustrate this adaptability. About 1780
a dozen F"allow Deer were brought to Raehills in Dumfries-
shire from Hopetoun, where they have existed since at
any rate 1700. They were carefully tended for some time,
but finally broke out of their enclosure and became wild.
So rapidly did they increase in numbers, and so annoying
did their depredations on growing crops become, that serious
attempts were made to exterminate them. Expert marksmen
were employed, and liberty was given to one and all to shoot
the runaways. In a single week, 50 of the deer were killed,
and yet the efforts of the deer-slayers could not keep pace
with the increase of the deer, and in 1845 they had become
exceedingly wild and were supposed to number upwards of
two hundred.

Indeed it is clear from other evidence that Fallow Deer
had become established in the forests of mid-Scotland before
the middle of the seventeenth century, for the Wardlaw
Chronicles record how in 1642 a "gallant, noble convoy, well
appointed and envyed be many " went a-hunting with the
master and his lady, and in the Forest of Killin in mid-
Perthshire "got fallow-deer hunting to their mind, and such
princely sport as might alleviat the dullest spirit."

In our day, the Fallow Deer, introduced to Scotland at
various times by man's agency, and holding its place by virtue
of its own adaptability, is to be found in a wild state from
Drumlanrig in Dumfriesshire in the south, through the wilds
of central Argyllshire, the woods of the Tay Valley from
Stanley to Blair Athole, in the Islands of Mull and Islay, to
their northern outpost in the Dornoch woods of Sutherland.
And, whereas it was introduced to" add to the amenities of
the pleasure park, it has become, on account of its numbers,
an object of sport as well as the source of a useful supply
of venison.

VIRGINIAN AND JAPANESE DEER

The elegant and graceful Virginian deer (Cariacus mr-
giniamis), a native of North America, was set at liberty
about 1832 in Arran, where it succeeded in establishing

288 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

itself, and Mr E. R. Alston recorded that it still occurred but
in dwindling numbers forty years afterwards. So far as I
can discover, the Virginian Deer have now entirely dis-
appeared, and are reported to have died out not many
years after Alston referred to them in 1872.

It has been found, too, that the Japanese Deer (Cervus
sika], native though it be of far distant China, Manchuria
and Japan, takes kindly to our woodlands. In 1887
Sir Arthur Bignold turned out at Lochrosque, in Ross,
one buck and four does, and these have so thriven and
multiplied that 30 years after, they have colonized far beyond
the bounds of their first settlement, and have straggled
at one time or another over the greater part of Ross. At
the present day the naturalized descendants of the original
five aliens are believed to form a herd of from 1 50 to 200
in number.

THE AMERICAN GREY SQUIRREL

If one race of animals more than another has benefited
by territorial acquisitions in this country through the whims
of man, it is the tribe of the Squirrels. The Grey Squirrel
(Sciurus carolinensis] belongs by rights to the American
continent from southern Canada to southern Mexico and
Guatemala, but its silver-grey coat and lively habits have
made it a favourite pet in this as well as in its native land.
The escape or release of such pets has already set up many
potential centres of distribution in England : in Regent's
Park, populated from the Zoological Garden, in Richmond
Park, whence it has wandered in force into the open
country of Surrey, in Hampstead, in Buckinghamshire, in
Bedfordshire, colonized from the Duke of Bedford's collec-
tion at Woburn, and in 'Rougemont Gardens, Exeter, from
which the first west of England specimens have recently
been reported.

In Scotland the Grey Squirrel has made good an estab-
lishment on the west coast and is spreading there. A single
pair was released at Finnart on Loch Long about 1890, and
mainly from Mr J. Paterson's records of their dispersal
we learn that the Squirrels had spread northwards to
Arrochap and Tarbert in 1903; eastwards over moderately

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR AMENITY 289

high ground to Luss in 1904, and to Inverbeg on the
banks of Loch Lomond in 1 906 ; south-westwards to Gare-
lochhead in 1907, and along the western shores of Gare
Loch to Roseneath in 1915; southwards, till in 1912,
individuals were obtained at Row, Helensburgh, Alexandria
and furthest south at Culdross. From this area an eastern

Fig. 52. American Grey Squirrel — acclimatized in many parts of Britain. ^ nat. size.

extension carried the migrants to the eastern bounds of
Dumbartonshire at Drymen about 1915. These records
make it apparent that in a quarter of a century ithe
Grey Squirrel has taken possession of a strip of country
roughly twenty miles long by fifteen miles broad. There
is every likelihood that the Zoological Park of the Scottish
Zoological Society, situated at Corstorphine on the outskirts
R. 19

29o DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

of Edinburgh, will become a strong colonizing centre in the
east of Scotland, for already Grey Squirrels have taken to
the woods outside the Park's boundaries, and have been
found in the policies of Dalmeny. The pets- of confinement
turn out too often to be the pests of the open, and already
many plaints have been raised regarding the mischief wrought
by these aliens, which, Sir Frederick Treves protested in
1917, drive out our Red Squirrel, "eat everything that can
be eaten, and destroy twenty times more than they eat." So
that the spread of the Grey Squirrel threatens us with a
plague as grievous as that which has rewarded the well-meant
efforts of the enthusiasts who set the Common Red Squirrel
free in our woods, that his interesting presence might add to
the delights of Nature lovers.

THE SPREAD OF THE RED SQUIRREL

The Common Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris] is so
familiar and so much at home in our woodlands that one
seldom thinks of him as an alien brought to our shores
and encouraged to settle — to the loss of our small native
birds and of the woods themselves. And, indeed, there is
some ground for regarding the Red Squirrel as of native
stock ; for, as I shall show in more detail in discussing the
effects of the destruction of our forests (see p. 351), it was
at one time a familiar denizen of the country north of the
line of the Forth and Clyde—

I saw the Hurcheon and the Hare,
The Con, the Cuning and the Cat,

sang the writer of Tke Cherrie and the Slae — Cuning being
the Rabbit, and Con the Squirrel.

The demolition of forest, however, banished it entirely
from the Lowlands, and gradually drove its diminishing
numbers from one stronghold to another, till, by the end
of the eighteenth century, it seems to have everywhere dis-
appeared, except, perhaps, in the recesses of wilder and more
remote forests, such as the native woods of Rothiemurchus
at the base of the Inverness-shire Grampians. The present-
day numbers and distribution of the Squirrel in Scotland are
undoubtedly due in the main to the introduction of new
animals from outside the country's bounds, and to their

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR AMENITY 291

establishment in certain definite areas which have become
centres of colonization for the surrounding districts.

The spread of the Squirrel, as also the steps of its dis-
appearance, have been minutely worked out by Dr Harvie-
Brown in a series of three papers published' in 1 880 and
1 88 1 in the Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society of
Edinburgh, and to these I would refer readers desirous of
knowing the details of the early movements, contenting
myself here with a general survey, carried down to the
present date, of the results of the various introductions.

Fig. 53. Common Red Squirrel — a former native of Scotland.
reintroduced. \ nat. size.

It may be premised that the spread of the Squirrel was
not equally rapid in all the areas, that it was regulated in
direction as well as in speed by the physical characters of
each district as well as by the state of its woodland ; bleak
mountains, and to some extent, rivers, obstructed or checked
the onward movements, while close-set woodlands acted as
stepping-stones, guiding and hastening the progress into
new districts. Reference to Map III will aid in the compre-
hension of the influence of the different centres, and of the
direction and speed of the various migrations.

19—2

292 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

IN THE MIDLANDS

While the Red Squirrel was on the verge of extinction
in even the wildest districts of Scotland, the Duchess of
Buccleuch, about the year 1772, added to her menagerie at
Dalkeith, a few Squirrels brought from England. These
escaped to the woods, became established, and so increased
in numbers that they were forced to seek fresh outlets. They
spread east, populating most of the woods in Midlothian
and East Lothian by 1802 ; they spread south, entering
Peeblesshire about 1 80 1 , but staying their course on the slopes
of the Moorfoot and Lammermoor Hills. Their western and
northern advance from Dalkeith was extraordinary for its
rapidity, as also for its extent. The Squirrels made an easy
journey along the Lothian plain to Stirlingshire, which, with
the eastern extension of Dumbartonshire, was reached about
1810. At Campsie they appeared in 1827, and in 1830 had
reached the west of Stirlingshire and western Dumbarton
at Luss and Killearn, while a branch penetrated into north
Lanarkshire. On a northerly track from Stirlingshire they
appeared in Perthshire (Kincardine-on-Forth) about 1821,
having probably crossed the Forth by the Bridge of Frew,
arrived in Clackmannan about 1837, and overrun Fifeshire
between 1834 and 1859.

IN THE LOWLANDS

The remainder of the south country was peopled from
three distinct centres of dispersal: (i) The south-eastern
area, lying about the valley of the Tweed, was stocked from
an introduction to Minto in Roxburghshire about 1824.
Hence the Squirrels reached northwards to Duns Castle in
1830, and were so abundant at Wolfelee near Hawickin 1835
that regular attempts were made to destroy them. Westwards
they pushed into Selkirkshire, Peeblesshire and southern
Lanarkshire entering that county at Lamington Parish about
1841, while southwards they were checked only by the
Cheviots on the northern bounds of Dumfriesshire.

(2) Dumfriesshire and the southern counties seem to
have been colonized from a source outwith the Scottish
borders — Houghton House near Carlisle, where Squirrels
were abundant at an early date. In 1837 they entered

Scale of Miles

SPREAD

or TWE v

COMMON SQUIRREL

THE SPREAD OF THE COMMON SQUIRREL IN SCOTLAND FROM VARIOUS
CENTRES OF INTRODUCTION, Showing the influence of valleys on dispersal.

Cj Centre of introduction and subsequent dispersal. DxG Centre of supposed natural resuscitatio

LJ Introduced but subsequently died out. ..Approximate boundaries of areas colonized fro

each centre of introduction. The approximate dates of introduction and arrival at different localities a

indicated.

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR AMENITY 293

Canobie parish, which abuts against Cumberland, and
crossing Dumfriesshire in 23 years, appeared in the neigh-
bourhood of the town of Dumfries in 1860. In that or the
following year they had crossed the march into Kirkcud-
brightshire, and in 1869 had penetrated to the south of that
county. Four years later they crossed the Cree into Wig-
townshire, and there in 1892 were recorded by Sir Herbert
Maxwell as "now becoming plentiful."

(3) Three separate introductions stocked Ayrshire — one
about 1866 at Mauchline, the second a somewhat mythical
importation " by navvies" on the Water of Ayr about 1870,
and the third two years later by the butler of the Marquis of
Ailsa. The influence of the Ayrshire centres, however, was
limited by the western extensions of the Lowther Hills,
as well as by contact with the armies advancing westwards
from the eastern centres of Houghton, Minto and Dalkeith.

In 1872 Squirrels were set free on Bute but they
eventually died out.

IN THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS

Comparable to Dalkeith in the extent of the area it has
affected is the centre of Dunkeld, in Perthshire, whither prior
to 1793, Squirrels were imported by the 4th Duke of Athole
probably from Scandinavia. Hence their southward course
lay most open, and with speed they flowed down the valley
of the Tay, Methven being reached in 1812, and the Carse
of Gowrie ten years later. Westwards they made slow pro-
gress, owing, one must infer, to the absence of plantations
suitable for shelter and food. Woods were planted at Glenal-
mond only after 1825 and in 1834 Squirrels appeared here.
Nevertheless they formed colonies along the upper valleys
of the Tay and its tributaries till the mountain barrier of the
southern Grampians checked their march.

Their northward advance, also, seems to have been
checked by the Grampians. Not till 1841 were they es-
tablished at Blair Athole, while following the plain of
Strathmore, as did the Capercaillie a few years later, they
appeared at Glamis in 1833, and reached Brechin in 1844.
Thence they passed across the North Esk, and traversed
Kincardine probably on two routes, one leading by the coast
(Dunottar woods, 1847) towards the lower Dee, the other by

294 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

the valley of the Feugh to Banchory, where they appeared
about 1855. From this station they seem to have spread up
the Dee, reaching Glen Tanar near Aboyne in 1857, and
becoming distributed throughout most of the woods of Upper
Dee by 1 864. Two routes apparently led them' to the fertile
valley of the Don, one from Aboyne up the Tarland Burn and
down the Corse and Leochel Burns to Vale of Alford, where
one was killed by a dog in 1859. Thence an easy journey
took them to Kildrummy about 1860 and Glenkindie some
three years later. A second route lay by the haughs between
the lower waters of Dee and Don, for Squirrels were seen on
the estate of Thainstone near Port Elphinstone in 1862 and
at Manar, three or four miles farther up the river in 1868.

Whether the waves of this invasion from the Central
Highlands now found themselves spent, or whether they
spread farther across the less wooded portions of Aberdeen-
shire is difficult to decide. Since I am of opinion that
the former was the case, and that the consecutive dates
of arrival in these areas indicate invasion from another
centre, I shall discuss the colonization of northern Aber-
deenshire in the section dealing with the Northern Highland
dispersal.

IN THE WESTERN HIGHLANDS • -

An isolated introduction took place in Argyllshire about
1847, when, along with the Rabbit, the Squirrel was brought
from England and set free at Minard House on the western
shore of Loch Fyne. This establishment formed the centre
of a small and isolated colony. The strongest army of
migrants moved northwards, reaching Inverary, twelve miles
from the starting point, in 1855, and Glen Orchy ten years
later. The western advance rounded the south end of Loch
Awe, and speedily spread along the western coast, so that
by 1880 its outposts had reached the environs of Oban.
As in most other areas, the southern movements lagged
seriously behind the others, for not till 1877 and 1878 were
Squirrels seen even in the neighbourhood of Lochgilphead,
only eight miles from the starting point.

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR AMENITY 295

IN THE NORTHERN HIGHLANDS

Beaufort Castle, on the Beauly River in Inverness-shire,
the last to be considered of the main centres of squirrel
dispersal in Scotland, was stocked by Lady Lovat in 1844.
Northwards the vagrants moved, settling and multiplying
as they went, so that in 1848 they were common in north-
ern Inverness-shire, and ten years later had invaded Ross
and Cromarty as far as Kilmuir Castle and Tarbat House
on the northern shore of the Cromarty Firth. In 1859 they
appeared in Sutherland, and were plentiful in the east of
the county in the 'seventies, an increase attributed by
Dr Harvie- Brown to the advantage taken by the Squirrels
of the Highland Railway Bridge built at Invershin in 1869.
It is probable that Squirrels would make use of this bridge
in moving across the river, but it seems to me that the
argument makes too much of the possibility of a stream
acting as a barrier. Squirrels are excellent and deliberate
swimmers. They have frequently been observed swimming
from one point to another across the fjords of Norway, and
in the Field of January 27, 1917, the distances of some
of their journeys are given — the most striking example being
a direct swim of some 500 metres, about one-third of a
mile, which was made without break, notwithstanding that
there were two places on the way where the tiny navigator
could have rested had it wished. We can, therefore, hardly
regard the River Oykell as a serious barrier : the less so
when we take into account that it had already been crossed
for many years by Bonar Bridge, three miles down the river.

So common and destructive did Squirrels become in
east Sutherland that, in the seven years between 1873 and
1880, 942 were killed at Dunrobin. In recent years the
increase of Squirrels in this area has been phenomenal, and
some account of the extraordinary numbers slain is given in
the discussion of the Squirrel as a pest (p. 181).

The heights of Morven and the ranges of hills which form
the boundary between Sutherland and southern Caithness,
as well as the treelessness of the latter county, seem to have
stayed their northward progress, for as late as 1887, Squirrels
were unknown in Caithness, although they have since be-
come common in the Berriedale district. It is not surprising

296 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

to learn, however, that they have found an easy and natural
route from the North Sea to the Atlantic coast by way of
Strath Oykell, Glen Einig, and, on the western watershed,
Glen Achallt, so that in 1893 they appeared on the shores
of Loch Broom.

Great as was the progress of the northern advance from
Beaufort, the southern and eastern movements were as
rapid and as extensive. In 1848 Squirrels had reached the
banks of Loch Ness near Dochfour, and from Glenurqu-
hart proceeded to Glenmoriston where they became
common in 1864. Still holding along the northern bank of
Loch Ness they reached Fort Augustus about 1851 and
Glen Garry some three or four years later. Thence they
penetrated to northern Argyllshire, where they were seen in
1891 on the shores of Loch Eil, and pushing westwards they
reached the Atlantic coast in Ardnamurchan in 1896.

To the east from Beaufort, the fertile and wooded levels
bordering the Moray Firth allowed of easy progress. The
town of Inverness was surrounded in 1851, and by regular
advances the Squirrels reached Nairnshire (Cawdor) in 1855,
Morayshire (Glen of Rothes) in 1860, and then, in company
with wanderers from the forests of Speyside, crossed the
narrow waist of Banffshire to Aberdeenshire, where they
reached Drumblade near Huntly, about 1864, Turriff in
1865 or 1866, Fyvie in 1867, and Troup Head in 1875 or
1876. In steady stream they seem to have trooped down
the valley of the Ythan from F^yvie to the woods about
Haddo House, and thence to the neighbourhood of Ellon,
where Dr R. M. Wilson noticed them in the early 'eighties.
They are now also common in the isolated woods of Pitfour
House near Old Deer. So the north-eastern corner of
Aberdeenshire is no longer the untrodden ground which
Dr Har vie- Brown found it to be close on forty years ago.

IN THE SPEY VALLEY

While artificial restorations of the Squirrel were being
made at these scattered localities, it is possible that the old
native race itself was making new efforts to retrieve the
ground it had lost, stimulated by the growth of new wood-
lands in places which before had been barren. We can
hardly believe that, so long as some of the great native

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR AMENITY 297

forests still spread over miles of territory, a few pairs of
Squirrels did not survive in their depths, awaiting the dawn
of a new era to multiply and spread.

Dr Harvie-Brown was of opinion that such a resuscitation
took place in the Forest of Rothiemurchus on the northern
flanks of the Inverness-shire Grampians. Squirrels were seen
in 1844 in the woods of Upper Strathspey and in 1856 had
reached Grantown-on-Spey. From this point onwards their
movements merged with those of the eastern army from
Beaufort, with which they apparently combined in the over-
running of the southern shores of the Moray Firth and
northern Aberdeenshire.

So the Squirrels, like the Capercaillies, followed the
wooded valleys, checked here and there, it is true, by bare
stretches of mountain or treeless slopes, but persevering until
they had replaced in Scotland a race of Squirrels it had all
but lost. Now they range the country from Wigtownshire
to Sutherland and from the Atlantic Ocean to the North
Sea. The country of their adoption has favoured them ;
they have multiplied so enormously that they have come to
be regarded as one of the prime pests of the forester, for
they destroy the young shoots of pine trees, remove the
bark, devour the seeds, and commit these enormities in such
overpowering numbers that, in the woods of Glen Tanar,
Aberdeenshire, 1000 trees valued at ^500 were destroyed in
the first fifteen years after the Squirrel's appearance there.
Thereafter an average of about 200 Squirrels was shot in
these woods every year. In the Cawdor plantations in
Nairnshire, where a small reward of a few pence was given
for each Squirrel killed, 14,123 Squirrels were presented in
the course of sixteen years, for the slaughter of which the sum
of ,£213 13^. <^d, was paid. And the rate of increase north
of the Caledonian canal has been still more remarkable (see
p. 181).

A success from the acclimatization point of view, the
introduction of the Squirrel, like so many introductions, has
proved a failure, if not a disaster, from the economic stand-
point.

298 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS
THE BEAVER

Passing reference may be made to an interesting attempt
of the late Marquis of Bute to acclimatize the Beaver (Castor
canadensis} in Scotland, although strictly speaking the experi-
ment has little more bearing on the Scottish fauna than the
placing of animals in the Scottish Zoological Park, since the
creatures were kept in an enclosure. In the three or four acres
of this enclosure, situated in the woods west of Kilchattan Bay
in Bute, the Beavers lived happily and prospered so that the
four imported (from Canada) in 1874 had increased to six-
teen in 1 878. They felled trees, built clams across the stream
which ran through their enclosure, erected a lodge and
seemed to have thoroughly settled down. Yet in 1890, less
than twenty years after their establishment, the Beaver had
died out in Bute.

A similar result ended a similar experiment begun about
1868 near Wangford in Suffolk; but there the Beavers were
cast derelict by man and had they not been trapped or killed,
seemed likely to thrive, for they bred and colonized new
localities.

TRANSPORTED MOLLUSCA

To what motive do we owe the spread of the tiny Mol-
lusca that have been 'placed in artificial ponds and canals?
— not to the love of beauty, for they are insignificant in
appearance, but probably merely to the desire of the collector
to have in his neighbourhood a creature in which he took an
interest. In any case his activities in this direction have not
had much significance. Some Pond Snails, Limncea stagnalis
and L. glabra, have been added to the fauna of Scotland,
the former occurring, for example, at Possil Marsh, and in
a dam at Greenock where it was introduced in 1882, the
latter in Frankfield Loch, where it was placed before 1876.
The little Sph&rium lacustre, once absent from Scotland,
now occurs through man's agency in the Forth and Clyde
Canal and in Possil Marsh near Glasgow.

"•ESCAPES"

Occasionally it happens that animals deliberately brought
into the country to be kept as pets regain their freedom and

ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR AMENITY 299

for a time rove the country as though they were of its
denizens. In a few cases, hardy creatures such as Red and
Grey Squirrels have succeeded in establishing themselves, but
as a rule, "escapes" leave no trace upon the native fauna.
The Smooth or Ringed Snake (Tropidonotus natrix) has
been found at large many times, in the suburbs of Edinburgh,
in the neighbourhood of Paisley, in the woods of Carluke,
Lanarkshire, bat there is no reason to believe that the
apparently native specimens were other than escapes, or
that, in spite of its opportunities, the Ringed Snake has
ever become established with us.

So also it has been with the favourites of the bird-
fancier, the Baltimore Oriole, the Canary, the White-throated
Sparrow, all of which having at one time or another escaped
from confinement have spent a short life, if not a merry one,
in freedom in Scottish localities. The escape from ornamental
ponds of Ducks, such as the Muscovy and Summer, of
Geese, as the Spurvvinged, Chinese and Canada, of Demoi-
selle and Crowned Cranes, and many others, also frequently
occurs, but, except for the Canada Goose, established at Loch
Leven, Loch Lomond and elsewhere, the venturers have
never succeeded in making good a footing.

A NEW MOTIVE

Man has caused many an unpremeditated injury through
his rash and thoughtless introduction of new animals, but it
has been left to a Falconer of Shetland to furnish the soli-
tary example of deliberate ill-intent.

"There are no Weasels in all the northern Isles of Zetland, as I am informed,"
wrote Brand in his careless style, " tho' numerous in the mainland, which
they report thus came to pass : The Falconer having a Power given him to
get a Hen out of every House, once in the Year; but one Year they refusing
or not being so willing to give, The Falconer out of Revenge, brought the
next year two Weasels with him, which did generate and spread, so that now
they are become very destructive to several goods of the Inhabitants, whereof
a Gentleman our Informer told us he had killed several half an Ell long."

This importation of the seventeenth century, the Stoat and
not the Weasel as Brand alleges, is said still to be repre-
sented in the Shetlands, although in the Orkneys where it
was likewise dumped, it has disappeared.

Whether the story be true or not, the deliberate result is
on a par with the results of many thoughtless introductions of

300 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS

more significance — the Rabbit and Squirrel in Scotland, the
Rabbit, Weasel and Fox in Australia and New Zealand, the
Sparrow and Starling in many parts of the world — pointing
a warning finger at the naturalist and reformer who, by in-
troducing animals would revise Nature's order, and' by short
cuts and unimaginative experiments tends to make a wilder-
ness where he had looked for a paradise.

Fig. 54. Some Deliberate Introductions to Great Britain ; shown diagrammatically
associated with the country of their origin. Introductions which have died out or have
failed are indicated by an x .

PART II

MAN'S INDIRECT INTERFERENCE
WITH ANIMAL LIFE

PART II

MAN'S INDIRECT INTERFERENCE WITH
ANIMAL LIFE

Nothing is foreign; parts relate to whole;
One all-extending, all-preserving soul
Connects each being, greatest with the least;
Made beast in aid of Man, and Man of beast ;
All serv'd, all serving: nothing stands alone;
The chain holds on, and where it ends unknown.

POPE.

FAR beyond the bounds of his original intention man's
influence upon Nature has extended, till scarcely a
" Beast, bird, fish, insect, what no eye can see, No glass can
reach" but has felt the touch of his power. Indeed, balancing
the effects of his direct influence against the indirect or
secondary results of his interference, one is forced to the
conclusion that the latter have been more far-reaching
and ultimately more effective in altering the aspect of the
countries and of the faunas he has invaded. There is no
action in nature but has its equal and opposite reaction.

To some of these indirect results passing reference has
already been made. The introduction of new animals, and
especially of domestic stock, has entirely altered the face of
Scotland, for it has led to the disappearance of forests, as well
as to the lowering of the upper limit of forest growth and to
a transformation in ground vegetation. Many native animals
have been reduced in numbers or banished from the country,
and others have been encouraged to multiply and spread.

The following chapters, making closer scrutiny of this
aspect of man's influence, endeavour to trace the tendencies
and extent of the three types of interference with Nature,
which, rebounding upon animal life, have made the greatest
impress upon the composition and distribution of the fauna
of to-day — the destruction of the forests, the cultivation of
the soil and amenities of civilization, and the develop-
ment of commerce with foreign lands. A few additional
illustrations of the unforeseen effects of the coming of man
will be found in the concluding chapter of this volume.

CHAPTER VI
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

"The broad woodland parcelled into farms";
There

" Lies the hawk's cast, the mole has made his run,
The hedgehog underneath the plantain bores,
The rabbit fondles his own harmless face,
The slow-worm creeps and the thin weasel there
Follows the mouse, and all is open field."

TENNYSON.

ONE inevitable result has followed in the wake of civiliza-
tion wherever man, the transformer, has penetrated — the
disappearance of woodland. It was not so in the days of primi-
tive cultures. The great forest tracts of America, which
covered the whole country except in prairie regions, survived
without significant change during the undisturbed occupation
of the simple Indian races. It is true that the Indian hunter
made his clearings in the forest, and tended his narrow
fields, but so soon as he moved to new regions in pursuit of
game, Nature resumed control, and in a generation the old
clearing was obliterated by fresh growths of scrub and timber.
" In the husbandry of Nature" says Marsh, "there are no
fallows."

It must have been thus in the days of the early occupa-
tion of Scotland, when Nature ruled the wilds; but, as his
power increased, man gathered the reins from Nature's hands
and drove his chariot of progress through the heart of the
forest, leaving scars which time could no longer heal. In
America, under the rule of white men, the native forests are
fast disappearing ; in Scotland they have all but gone.

VI. i
SCOTTISH FORESTS IN TIMES PAST

LONG before man made his appearance in the country,
Scottish forests had their vicissitudes. Even after the
settlements of the early Neolithic peoples had been made,
Nature still retained a firm grip of her own, and her strong
hand can be traced in the successive rise and disappearance
of great forest tracts, such as we can scarcely imagine at the
present day. A glance at these changes will supply a per-
spective from which later happenings can be the better
gauged.

THE LOWER FOREST OF THE PEAT

No records remain to tell, of the strange fluctuations of
Scottish climate and vegetation, except the scant stores of
insignificant debris hidden in the bottoms of ancient lakes
or in the depths of peat-bogs; but to the investigations of
a small band of workers, James Bennie, Clement Reid, and
especially Francis J. Lewis, these hidden treasures have
revealed a marvellous tale of change.

After the great period of the Ice Age had gone, Arctic
plants spread from the hills to the level of the sea, but in
the western and northern islands these glacial immigrants
from the continent had scarcely obtained a foothold before
a warmer and drier climate ushered in the Lower Forest of
the Peat. Trees of Birch, Hazel and Alder found foothold
upon the valley floors, and gradually climbing the hillsides,
spread in a vast forest, here more dense, there more sparse,
extending from the lowland valleys to an altitude approxi-
mating to that of our modern woods, close on 2000 feet.
Even to the Hebrides and the Shetland Isles, where now
no trees can grow, the Lower Forest spread. In the times of
the Lower Forest of the Peat, man had not yet penetrated
to northern Britain.

306

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

THE UPPER FOREST OF THE PEAT

On the heels of the warm and dry period, during which
the woods of Birch, Hazel and Alder flourished, came a second
period of moist cold when glaciers again appeared in the
highland valleys and Arctic plants crept downwards into the

RECENT PEAT

Sphagnum, Sedge and
Cotton Grass

UPPER FOREST

3£

Roots and Cones of
Scots Fir

UPPER PEAT

Sphagnum

WWffff/Wfffi

12 Cotton Grass

2ND ARCTIC BED

^c^sr^ricr"-

126 „ Crowberry

LOWER PEAT

''Sf/M,,

Cotton Grass
14 l",, Sphagnum

LOWER FOREST

«45

Birch remains

IST ARCTIC BED

ftllllill

Structureless Peat and
coarse Sand

BOTTOM DEPOSITS

Coarse Sand
Glacial debris

Fig. 55. Diagrammatic section of upland peat-moss in Lowland Scotland (Merrick
and Kells District) showing relationship of former plant deposits and of the Lower and
Upper Forests, the latter contemporaneous with man. (Founded on investigations of
Mr Francis ]. Lewis.)

lowland plains. In many areas, the Lower Forest, hampered
and swamped by the development of boggy pools and sphag-
num moss about its roots, decayed and fell, and was buried
by great stretches of morass and peat moss. It is probable
that man arrived in Scotland during the inhospitable con-
ditions of these times.

SCOTTISH FORESTS IX TIMES PAST 307

3o8 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

But such conditions too eventually gave way, and for a
second time a drier climate ushered in a new forest growth,
the greatest forest that Scotland, as we know it, has ever
seen. Yet the new forest was different from the old. It
spread from the lowlands of Wigtownshire to the north of
Sutherland, but nowhere does it appear to have extended to
the islands of the Hebrides or to Shetland. On the mainland,
however, it reached far beyond the limits of the woodland
of to-day, clothing the mountains with its verdure to a height
of over 3000 feet, a good thousand feet above our highest
present day birch woods. Of equal interest is the fact that
the Upper Forest of the Peat was in the main composed of
a tree which has come to be particularly associated with
Scotland, the Scots Fir (Pinus sylvestris], which now for the
first time invaded northern Britain.

It is no simple matter to compare forests of some eight
thousand years ago with those of to-day, but a rough cal-
culation, checked by reference to the conditions of a land so
little influenced by cultivation as Scandinavia, indicates that
the Upper Forest covered an area at least ten times as great
as that of our modern woods, that where they cover a
meagre twenty-fifth to twentieth of the land surface, it
overspread half the country (see Fig. 86, p. 484).

In this great forest, the settlers of the New Stone Age
hunted the Reindeer and the Elk, the Red Deer, the
Roe, and the great Urus; in it they defended their flocks
from the ravages of the Brown Bear, the Wolf and the
Northern Lynx, and captured for the sake of their Mesh and
skins the Badger, the Otter and the Beaver.

NATURE OR MAN

Great as has been the destruction wrought by man in
our woodlands, the series of natural changes revealed in the
layers of our peat mosses should warn us lest we lay too
much to the charge of human interference. Man was well
established in Scotland at the period of the greatest develop-
ment of forest growth, and from that time till now has been
in continuous occupation, yet it would be a mistake to
imagine that the reduction of wooded area was entirely due
to his efforts. The peat mosses have another revelation to
make.

SCOTTISH FORESTS IN TIMES PAST 309

The swing of the climatic pendulum brought again a
period of wetter conditions during which the main masses
of " recent " peat were formed. Physical conditions favoured
the extension of peat and moorland areas at the expense of
forest, for the humic acid of the peat bogs acts as a destroyer
of trees, and winds favour low growing moorland vege-
tation rather than saplings exposed to the full fury of the
blast. As peat and moorland spread, woodland decayed,
and the destructive influence of man was for long aided and
abetted by the processes of Nature.

At the present day the moist conditions of the time of the
"recent" peat formations have somewhat ameliorated, for in
many places, peat, instead of forming, is itself decaying and
being washed away by the weather. So that had not man
stepped in to interfere, forest areas would probably now
have been undergoing a natural extension.

EARLY HISTORICAL FORESTS

Between the records of the peat-bogs and the annals of
history there is a chasm difficult to bridge. At what period
of human development the great Upper Forest of the Peat
began to decay under the excessive moisture of later times.
we do not know. The forest had certainly been replaced to
some extent by swamp before the opening of the Christian
era, and the Roman historians are at one in describing
Caledonia as a land of clouds and rain, of bogs and morasses.
Yet they are equally emphatic as regards the great extent
of wood and the variety of trees which clothed the land.
Other evidence, such as that deduced from the distribution
of primitive iron-smelting furnaces, points to the occurrence
of great tracts of forest in late prehistoric times and in
places whence woodland has almostor altogether disappeared.

The earliest references to Scottish woodland are, how-
ever, of comparatively late date, and show that in the
twelfth century the necessity had already arisen of conserving
forest growth by laws and penalties. The Leges Forestarum,
generally ascribed to the reign of William the Lion (i 165-
1214), though by many held to be of later date, prohibit
the taking of fire or of domestic animals into the woods, as
well as the cutting of oak trees. Some of the penalties are
curious: if fire, a horse, or a dog were brought to the wood,

310 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

eight cows were to be forfeited, while if goats were found there
at large, one was to be hung up by the horns in a tree.
Yet in the twelfth century Caithness still possessed the woods
it now lacks, for the Orkneyinga Saga relates how at that
time the Yarls Harald and Rognvald were accustomed
nearly every summer to fare to Caithness, and there to go
up into the woods and wastes to hunt.

From this time onwards Scots laws and charters make
frequent reference to forests throughout the country, but it
is necessary to bear in mind in interpreting the significance
of these references that their " forests " were not our forests.
The old "forest" was an area given over to hunting, and is
perhaps best denned by the negative statement that it con-
tained no arable land. It bore some resemblance to the
"deer forests" of the present day: it did indeed contain
woodland and covert for the shelter of its wild inhabitants,
but it also contained open areas of browsing pasture or
"vert," as it was termed. The "forest" of Scots law must not
be regarded as an area entirely covered with dense woods.
Thus when we read of a vast forest in southern Scotland
extending from Chillingham tp Hamilton, a distance of
about eighty miles as the crow flies, and including the
famous Ettrick Forest and many others, we may imagine no
more than a stretch of wild and desolate country given over
to wild beasts, and containing many extensive woods, but
containing also stretches of barren moor and lush meadow.

An idea of the extent of woodland in the early days of
the consolidation of Scotland may be gained by reference to
two widely separated areas selected almost at random.

IN DUMFRIESSHIRE

The names of many places in Dumfriesshire — Mouswald,
Thortorwald, Tinwald — clearly indicate the former presence
of wald or wood, where none now exists. In a Charter of
Alexander II (1214-1249) Richard de Bancori quits claims
to his lord, Robert de Brus, of the woods of Musfaud or
Mouswald ; and substantial tradition asserts that a great
oak forest spread from that place, by Thortorwald to Tin-
wald, so dense that a man could have traversed the distance
from tree to tree without putting foot to ground. The extent
of this wood probably exceeded twenty square miles.

SCOTTISH FORESTS IN TIMES PAST 311

IN ABERDEENSHIRE

Or take the case of Aberdeenshire. Here there were no
fewer than eight forests, Dyce, Drumoak, Birse, Mar,
Stocket, Kintore, Buchan and Bennachie. The last was
included in grants by the Earl of Mar to Sir Robert de
Erskine (1358) — "cum pastura in foresta de Benechkey
[Bennachie]." In 1324 King Robert the Bruce granted
lands in Buchan "cum nova foresta" and the forest of Kin-
tore to Robert Keith, Marischal of the Kingdom. But the
most interesting of the Aberdeenshire forests, in view of its
history and early disappearance, was that of Stocket, wherein,
in loio, Malcolm 1 1 came near to losing his life by the attack
of a wolf. In 1319 this forest was granted by Robert the
Bruce to the burgh of Aberdeen, for an annual reddenda of
^"213. 6s. &/. the King reserving the right of "vert" and
hunting therein. The Provost of Aberdeen for the time
being, was Keeper of the Forest of Stocket, which extended
to some thirty square miles and was ultimately held by
Aberdeen in free Burgage of the Crown at a nominal rent.
Under the town's auspices this ancient forest, which lay just
outside the bounds of modern Aberdeen, was soon " im-
proved and alienated from its original purpose."

IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER

After the period referred to in these charters it is evident
that the woods of Scotland suffered rapid destruction at the
hands of man, for law after law was passed aiming at the
preservation of the old timber and the planting of new. In
1424

it is ordained, that... them that be night steelis greene woodde, or pealis the
bark off trees, destroiand wooddes...sall paie fourtie shillings to the King
for the unlaw and assyith the partie skaithed ;

and in the middle of the century, freeholders, temporal and
spiritual, were commanded to order their tenants to plant
woods and trees, to make hedges and sow broom in con-
venient places and according to the extent of their holdings.
These regulations seem to have done little to stay the destruc-
tion. Parliament after Parliament passed similar enactments,
putting the old acts " in sharp execution," increasing the
obligation of landholders on the plea that

312 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

the woodes of Scotland being utterlie destroyed. ...everlik Lord and Laird
make them to... plant at the least, ane aiker of Woode, quhair there is na
great Wooddes nor Forrestes ;

and increasing, also, the penalties for disobedience, until in

1579

quhat-sumever person stealis, pealis, and destroyis green-wood, pullis or

cuttis haned Broome...in case the offendours be not responsall in gudes,...

for the first fault be put in the stokkes, prison or irones auct [eight] dayes

on bread and water; And for the second fault, fifteene dayes.... And for the

third fault hanging to the death.

Yet in this sixteenth century, in spite of the decadence
the law records, Scotland was by no means a bare country.
Bishop Leslie, who wrote from first hand knowledge, refers
again and again to fair woodland ;

heir agane sail ye se...a dry knowe, or a^thin forrest, thair.a thick wodd, all
meruellouse delectable to the eye, tnrouch the varietie baith of thair
situatione, and of the thing selfe that thair growis ; . . . Paslay quhilke is situat
amang cnowis, grene woodis, schawis1 and forrest fair onn the River of
Carronn;...Vuir2 Clydisdale or Cludisdale...as lykwyse nathir3 Cludisdale,
amang fair forrests and schawis schene; with thicker woodes sum are
decored4.

And again

From thir cuntreyes that wyde and ample forrest, called the Tor Wod [Cale-
donia Silva~\, hes the beginning; quhais boundis war sa large, that frome
the Callendar and Caldir Wod evin to Lochquhaber war extendet.

Leslie's testimony notwithstanding, visitors to Scotland
like Aeneas Sylvius and Fynes Moryson were struck by the
bareness of the country. In Fife, says the latter, " trees are
so scarce that I remember not to have seen one wood," and
"one of the senseless gibes of that splenetic southron," as
Professor Hume Brown dubbed Sir Anthony Weldon, was
that (in 1617) Judas could not have found a tree in Scotland
whereon to hang himself.

The truth seems to lie in this, that in the populous and
cultivated areas to which the foreign visitors naturally paid
most attention, long usage had seriously reduced the wood-
land, but that in the ruder regions forests were still to be
found in plenty. Surely there is transparent ignorance of
the north country in Andrew Boorde's letter of 1536 to
Thomas Cromwell, where he says of Scotland :

1 Thickets. 2 Over or Upper. 3 Lower. * Adorned.

SCOTTISH FORESTS IX TIMES PAST 313

The part next England is the hart and best of the realme; theirin is plenty
of fyshe and flesh, and snell ale, except Leth [Leith] ale,... the other parte
of Scotland is a baryn and a waste country full of mores.

And it seems to me that the other travellers were equally in
error in generalizing from impressions gained in the centres
of population and industry. In proof of the great ignorance
of the Highlands which prevailed even amongst the elect of
Scotland I need do no more than cite the joy of the Par-
liament sitting in Edinburgh in 1609, at "the discovery of
woods in the Highlands which, by reason of the savageness
of the inhabitants, had been unknown, or at least unused."

It is fair to assume, therefore, that the plaints of Par-
liament "how Woods, Parks, and all sort of Planting and
haning decayes within this Realme" (1607), refer mainly to
the familiar country, roughly to the south of the line of the
Forth and Clyde estuaries.

Here certainly the nation was in straits for timber.
Ettrick Forest, which actually gave the name :> Forrest-
shire " to a great stretch of country "south from Tweeddale,"
was "dissolved from the Crown to be set in few1 " in 1587;
and King James VI, when he made the wise proposal to
his Privy Council that, in order to conserve timber for home
uses, exports of Scottish timber should be totally prohibited,
had to be reminded that within the memory of man no
timber had ever been exported from Scotland.

A generous reading between the lines of the law, seems
to me to indicate that the drastic steps taken by the Par-
liaments of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
were due, not so much to the absolute lack of woods, as to
the great and increasing importance of timber on account of
the national uses to which it was put, and to the difficulty of
finding sufficient supplies to meet the constant demand.
Statutes of the latter half of the seventeenth century,
mention by name at least thirty different forests in Scotland;
and it is a pleasure to turn to Gilpin's cheerful account of
Scottish forest scenery at the end of the eighteenth century,
and to his appreciation of the natural pine and birch woods
of the north, of the oak mixing " its cheerful verdure with
the dark green tint of the pine " in the county of Stirling, of
the " great quantity of very fine timber " in the woods of

1 Feu.

314 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

Abernethy, of the " very romantic " woods of Braemar, and
so on through half the counties of Scotland.

Relics of the great native woods of Scotland still
remain in a few places, ghosts of a past grandeur. In the
south country the Ettrick Forest is represented by a few
natural patches of birch and oak, like that between Ashiestiel
and Elibank ; in the midlands a few trees, scattered here
.and there throughout the country — in Glen Falloch near
the head of Loch Lomond, on the mass of Ben Lui, in the
Black Wood of Rannoch, in the Ballochbuie Forest at the
foot of Lochnagar, in Locheil Old Forest on Loch Arkaig,
in Glen Nevis and the neighbourhood of Loch Linnhe —
are all that are left of the, great " Wod of Caledon," if we
except the native Forest of Rothiemurchus. This fine forest
whose dark masses of pine woods cluster about the northern
base of the Grampians, and spread from Glen Feshie along
the valley of the Spey and across into Dulnan Valley at
Carrbridge, gives still in its local development a grand idea
of the appearance of the wooded Scotland of prehistoric
days. The old woods of the northern Highlands survive
on the shores of Loch Maree, in the Rhidorroch or Dark
Forest north of Ullapool, and furthest north in a few trees
on the Oykell above Rosehall.

Furthermore tradition still speaks of the existence of
forest in many a district where it is known only by name :

Calder1 wood was fair to see
When it went to Cameltrie ;
Calder wood was fairer still
When it we4it o'er Crosswood hill.

Yet the end of the argument is this, that whereas in the
early days of man's settlement probably half the land was
covered with wood, in our day the wooded area is a miserable
4 or 4-5 per cent, of the whole.

1 A parish in Midlothian.

VI. 2

CAUSES OF THE DESTRUCTION OF
THE FOREST

How came it that the fine forests of Scotland decayed
so completely ? Nature, we have seen, with changing
climes and conditions played her part, but man must
bear the heavier share of the guilt of destruction. A short
study of the immediate causes of the destruction of the forest
will show how deeply his ways of life and the advances of
his civilization bit into the woodland.

THE NEEDS OF THE HOUSEHOLD— FUEL

In point of time the earliest uses to which the woods
were put were those of the household, and of these one of the
first was fire. Excavations of prehistoric settlements almost
invariably reveal the presence of hearth-stones blackened
and burnt by fire, for fire was essential even where a cave
sufficed for a habitation. It is true that dried seaweeds were
occasionally used for fuel, and that the dung of cattle con-
tinued to be so used even to comparatively recent times in
the outlying islands, but the staple fuel was the brushwood
and timber of the forest. The destruction of timber on this
account must have been great, for wood continued to be the
chief fuel through many thousands of years, since, although
peat and turves were used to some extent in King David's
reign in the twelfth century, the use of coal, first mentioned
in a charter of 1291, only became general under the compul-
sion of lack of firewood.

Even when Continental nations still had wood in abund-
ance, the people of Scotland were compelled to burn these
curious black stones — to the amazement of Pope Pius II,
who, following upon a visit to James I in the fifteenth
century, wrote

In this country [of Scotland] I saw the poor, who almost in a state of
nakedness begged at the church doors, depart with joy on their faces on

316 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

receiving stones as alms. This stone, whether by reason of sulphurous or
some fatter matter which it contains, is burned instead of wood, of which
the country is destitute.

Indeed the mining of coal in Britain seems to have
been almost confined to Scotland in the sixteenth century ;
for according to Hector Boece :

In Fyffe ar won blak stanis, quhilk hes sa intollerable heit, quhen thay ar
kindillit, that they resolve and meltis irne, and ar thairfore richt proffitable
for operation of smithis. This kind of blak stanis ar won in na part of
Albion bot allanerlie betwix Tay and Tyne.

HOUSEBUILDING

Second only to the use of wood for fire, was the
use of timber in the making of shelters for the comfort of
human occupants. In one of the earliest known sites of
occupation in Scotland, the Azilian settlement of Oronsay,
Mr Henderson Bishop found, deeply sunk in the sand, holes
which could only have contained strong upright posts for
the support of a superficial structure ; and the investigations
of Dr J. N. Marshall and Mr Ludovic Mann at the much
later vitrified fort of Dunagoil in Bute leave no room for
doubt that the dwellers there inhabited well-built huts roofed
and perhaps walled with wattle plastered over with clay.
Mr A. O. Curie has found similar evidence of the use
of wattle huts at Traprain in Haddingtonshire. As the
centuries passed and men congregated in towns, the call
for timber for the erection of houses increased manifold.
Even in 1666, at the time of the Great Fire, London was
largely built of wood, and timbered houses were character-
istic of Edinburgh at a still later date. So great was the
demand for building oak, that large supplies had to be im-
ported from abroad, and when, in the reign of Queen Mary,
Denmark prohibited the sale of oak to Scottish traders, the
embargo, according to Professor Hume Brown, threatened
to put an end to housebuilding in Scotland. The influence
of timber-built towns and villages upon Scottish forests can
well be imagined — one example of its actual working will
suffice to point the argument. In 1792 the Rev. Thomas
White, in an Account of the Parish of Liberton, wrote : • * -

The Burrow Moor [of Edinburgh] where the scenes just mentioned [the
scrimmage or "Battle" of Lousie Law in 1571] happened, is at present

CAUSES OF DESTRUCTION 317

well cultivated, and of much value. At that time it was full of aged oaks :
And it is observed, that the timber of which all the wooden houses in
Edinburgh were built was taken from thence.

In gaining her towns, Scotland lost her forests.

INCIDENTS OF CONQUEST

In the old days, a necessary corollary to the conquest of
a wooded country, where the country was to be held by the
invading force, was the destruction of woodland, in order
that the progress of the invaders should be eased and
that no lurking places should remain, whence remnants of
the defending army might sally forth upon the flanks of
their enemy. The earliest systematic conquest of Scotland
recorded in history is that of the Romans in the early
centuries of our era ; and tradition speaks strongly to the
destruction wrought by the Roman legions in the forests of
England and of southern Scotland. Nor is the tradition
without some show of archaeological support. So long ago
as 1701, it was noted of the buried forest of Hadfield Moss
in Yorkshire that

many of those trees of all sorts have been burnt, but especially the Pitch
or Firr trees, some quite through, and some all on a side ; some have been
chopped and squared, some bored through, otherwise half riven with great
wooden wedges and stones in them, and broken ax-heads ;

and again, in Lincolnshire, under hills of sand, were dis-
covered "roots of great Firrs or Pitch trees, with the im-
presses of the ax as fresh upon them as if they had been
cut down a few weeks." In both cases, coins of the Roman
emperors were found associated with the ruined forests. The
evidence, if not demonstrative, is suggestive ; and there can
be little doubt that the Romans would have adopted so
obvious a way of ensuring the fruits of their conquest, as the
levelling of great tracts of forest, especially in the dangerous
areas on the newly won frontiers of the Empire.

In much later days invasions followed a similar course.
In describing John of Gaunt's invasion of Scotland in 1380,
the English historian, Knighton, says that at one and the
same time, it was possible to hear the sound of 80,000 axes
felling the timber of the woods, and that the timber so cut
was given as fodder to the fire.

318 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

Whether this be exaggeration or not, it at any rate
indicates grievous destruction, typical of the progress of
invading armies.

TRAVELLING AND THE MERRYMEN OF THE WOODS

Through long ages the northern parts of Scotland, that
is to say the country north of the line of the Forth and
Clyde, were considered by the southron to be dangerous
and savage places, entered with one's life in one's hand.
To facilitate travelling in these uncouth areas, roads had
to be made and the woodland to be cleared. During
such a process, it was the custom, based upon expediency,
to destroy the trees and undergrowth for some distance on
both sides of the road, in order that a clear view might be
obtained and that no shelter might be left wherein a lurking
highwayman could be concealed. But the desire for safe
travelling led to further destruction, for bands of robbers
sought shelter in the thick woods, whence they could sally
upon a slow convoy, and whither they could retire again in
safety with their booty. " Upon the shore of Lochebrune "
wrote Monro in 1549, "lyes Elian Ew, haffe myle in length,
full of woods, guid for thieves to wait upon uther mens
gaire1." And again, " Northwarte frae this ile lyes the ile
of Graynorde, maire nore ane myle lange, full of wood, guid
for fostering of thieves and rebellis." So grievous became
the assaults of such outlaws upon the persons and purses
of the lieges, and upon the preserved game of the forest as
well, that only by the destruction of their haunts could the
land be rid of them. So Hector Boece records in the six-
teenth century : " The regioun [of " Fyffe "] is now bair of
woddis, for the thevis war sumtime sa frequent in the samin,
that thay micht na way be dantit2, quhill3 the woddis was
bet4 doon5."

THE WOLVES

The forests had more legitimate, but not less trouble-
some tenants in the hordes of wolves they harboured. A
prayer in the old Litany of Dunkeld runs, "From caterans

1 Gear, goods. 2 Daunted, defeated.

3 Until. 4 Beaten.

5 Cf. quotation on p. 319, each in its exaggeration contains a significant
fact.

CAUSES OF DESTRUCTION 319

and robbers, from wolves and all wild beasts, Lord deliver
us." I have already described the wolf plague and the
stages of the downfall of Scottish wolves (p. 115); it is
sufficient here to call to mind that their destruction in-
volved that of many woods. In the districts of Rannoch and
Blair Athole in Perthshire, of Lochaber in Inverness-shire,
in the region about Loch Awe in Argyllshire, and in other
places as well, local tradition or more definite record asserts
that extensive forests were burned down to extirpate the
wolves, by demolishing the retreats in which they found
refuge.

INDUSTRIES AND WOODLAND

A heavy and long-continued drain upon the native forests
was made by the demand for wood for industrial purposes.
For long Scotland had held a foremost place amongst the
peoples who go down to the sea in ships, and the erection
of boats and ships of war was a constant tax upon well grown
timber. Of one of the latter, the famous "Great Michael"
built in 1511 at Newhaven near Leith, it was written that
James IV

buildit the ' Michael,' ane verrie monstruous great ship, whilk tuik sae
meikle timber that schee waisted all the woodis in Fyfe, except Falkland
Wood, besides the timber that cam out of Norroway.

Even so the destruction due to boat-building was as
nothing to that wrought by the industries in which wood
was used for fuel. The manufacture of salt from sea-water
was for long a national industry, practised on so extensive
a scale along the Firth of Forth, that, as one visitor said,
"the works are not easily to [be] numbered" ; and, although
at the industry's greatest development, coal was the chief fuel
used, in earlier stages the use of wood fires for evaporating
the brine must have made serious inroads upon the forests
on various parts of the coast. But no other work of man
played such havoc with the woodland as the ancient iron
industry of Scotland.

From the days of the Iron Age, a thousand years and
more before the opening of the Christian era, till the early
years of the nineteenth century, the reduction of iron ore to
a state fit for casting, was brought about by a process of
fusion with charcoal. Even in the case of a single furnace,

32o THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

as we shall see, this entailed vast destruction of timber. But
it was no single furnace that met the needs of the country.
Remains of old iron workings, heaps of slag and charcoal,
show that throughout Scotland, even on the wild wastes of
the Highlands, the manufacture of iron was practised.

Of well defined traces of such workings, still recognizable
thirty years ago, Prof. W. Ivison Macadam recorded no less
than ninety-eight, scattered throughout thirteen counties of
Scotland, from Sutherland to Dumfries ; and certainly as
many more have gone unrecorded or have disappeared with
the passing of time and the disturbance of the soil by
cultivation.

The number and distribution of the iron workings are of
no small interest as showing the extent of the industry, and
also as indicating the distribution of woodland in Scotland in
past times (see Map IV). For it was an axiom of the smelters
that since iron was more compact and portable than timber,
it should be carried to the places where wood for its re-
duction grew thickest. The effect upon Scottish forests of
the continuous manufacture of charcoal on a large scale,
through some three thousand years, can better be imagined
than described. Yet the traces left by time and the hints
of the law and other records are sufficiently striking.

At Esmore, in Argyllshire, charcoal ash still covers
several acres of ground. At Letterewe in Ross-shire,
English miners wrought a mine, casting cannon and other
implements "untill," as the Letterfearn manuscript quaintly
says "the woods of it was spent and the lease of it expired"
in the early years of the seventeenth century. In England
in i 556 Queen Elizabeth prohibited iron-smelting in Sussex,
on account of the amount of wood which was being felled
for the casting of cannon. The result was to stimulate the
industry of cannon-casting in other counties ; so that eventu-
ally there also, the felling of trees had to be prohibited, as
was the case in the Ulverston district of Lancashire in
1563, when there was passed "A Decree for the abolishing
of Bloomeries [as the slag-furnaces were called] in High
Fumes."

Unfortunately these restrictions caused the iron smelters
to migrate to Scotland, to the ruin of the Scottish forests. The
effect was apparent in an Act of the Scottish Parliament of

Scale of Miles

t

BLOOM ERtES
N FURNACES

DISTRIBUTION OF SCOTTISH BLOOMERIES AND SLAG FURNACE

The chief areas of distribution are shown, though many individual bloomeries
have been omitted on map.

CAUSES OF DESTRUCTION 321

1609, "Anent the making of Yrne with Wode," in which it
is stated that

being informit that some personis vpoun advantage of the present generall
obedience in those partis (the heylandis) wald erect yrne milnis in the same

pairtis, to the vtter waisting and consumeing of the saidis wodes Thair-

fore...commandis, chairgeis, and inhibitis all and sindrie his maiesties
leigis and subjectis that nane of thame presome nor tak vpoun hand to
woork and mak ony irne with wod or tymmer under the pane of confiscatioun
of the haill yrne...

The Scots Act notwithstanding, the smelting of "yrne
with wode " and the " waisting and consumeing of the
wodes " went gaily on. Even in the eighteenth century,
when, after the rebellion of 1715, the military occupation of
the Highlands had shown a way to fresh forests, many new
slag-furnaces were erected, to which ore was brought from
England.

"Thus," wrote Professor Macadam in 1887, "the following furnaces
sprang into existence: — Bunawe or Taynuilt in 1730: Invergarry in the
same year; Abernethy in Strathspey also in 1730: Furnace in 1750 ; Goat-
field, Loch Fyne, in 1754; and Carron in 1760. These large works soon
consumed the wood, and Invergarry and Abernethy soon ceased to be
worked. Carron, having changed its fuel to coal, still exists; Goatfield and
Bunawe are only a few years blown out; and there is not now a single
ironwork in Scotland using charcoal as fuel, and only two remain in
England."

Incidentally the distribution of these iron furnaces indicates
roughly where the greatest extent of easily accessible forest
still existed about the middle of the eighteenth century.

The destruction wrought by these later and larger
furnaces was irreparable. In 1728, 60,000 trees were pur-
chased for ,£7000 from the Strathspey forest of Sir James
Grant. The trees were intended as masts to be used for
the navy — an index to the effect on woodland of our "wooden
walls " — but, proving too small, they were used for charring
at the iron furnace at Abernethy. About 1786, the Duke
of Gordon sold his Glenmore Forest to an English company
for ,£10,000; and the Rothiemurchus forest for many-years
yielded large returns to its proprietor, the profit being some-
times above ,£20,000 in one year. That all the timber of
these fine forests was used for charring, I do not imagine,
but destruction on no small scale is certainly indicated by
the accounts. As forests in the near neighbourhood of the
bloomeries became exhausted, destruction spread in wider

R. 21

322 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

and wider circles, and woods more and more remote fell
under the axe. At one period the Carron Iron-works Com-
pany at Falkirk in Stirlingshire, purchased for ^"900 a
wood in Glenmoriston, on the north side of Loch Ness, in
spite of the fact that it was distant eight miles of very bad
road from the waterway of Loch Ness, and that the timber
had to be carried thence to Carron. The Coalecken furnace
on Loch Fyne turned out every year 700 tons of pig iron,
and, as Macadam relates in 1887,

the older inhabitants in the district still remember seeing the string of
from 30 to 40 ponies laden with charcoal coming over the hill road from
Lochawe, 'which is distant about 10 miles. The material was contained in
bags which were placed on a large cradle saddle to protect the sides of the
animal. The work ceased in 1813.

At first the furnace was taken to the forest, latterly the
forest had to be taken to the furnace.

During the past century, the use of wood for smelting
gradually ceased, but not until the discovery of suitable
woods and the longer transport of the timber became
matters of insuperable difficulty, and not before many "fair
forrests and schawis schene" throughout Scotland had bowed
their heads to the woodsman's axe.

AGRICULTURE AND THE FOREST

It is evident that the progress of civilization as embodied
in the domestication of animals and the development of
agriculture has been gained in great part at the expense of
the virgin forest. The process is an old one, extending from
the times when prehistoric man surrounded his settlements
with clearings for his meagre fields, to the agricultural boom
of the eighteen-sixties when, for example in Aberdeenshire,
considerable areas of woodland were transformed into arable
land. Even the pasturage of Sheep has had an enormous
influence, for much of the "natural pasture" of the uplands
has been gained from the original forest. There is little
to show that the pastures of the southern uplands of Scotland
were once covered with forest wherein the Red Deer and
the Roe gave sport to kings. Yet the disappearance of the
forest can be traced through the centuries keeping pace with
the increase of the shepherd's flocks. Even in recent times,
in the Highlands, forest has disappeared before the advance

CAUSES OF DESTRUCTION 323

of sheep. The brothers, John Sobieski and Charles
Edward Stuart, mention the occurrence of a great fire in
Lord Lovat's deer forest of Glen Strath- Farar, "where twelve
miles of pine, birch and oak woods, were burned in the
tenantry of the late Eskedail to improve the sheep pasture."

In another way domestic animals have had an important
effect on forest growth. Writingof Tunisia, Principal Perkins
has said " In so far as young trees or shrubs are concerned,
the passage of a flock of goats will do quite as much damage
as a bush fire" ; and in 1835 it was recorded that in the
parishes of Urquhart and Glenmoriston in Inverness-shire,
"goats were formerly numerous but have of late been dis-
countenanced, as injurious to woods and plantations." In
The Origin of Species, Darwin cites a telling example of
the destructive effect of cattle-grazing upon the natural
development of Scots fir at Farnham in Surrey. On our
own highland moors in Inverness-shire, I have watched
seedlings of birch spring up year after year, even to a
hundred yards away from the parent trees, only to be
destroyed by Sheep and Rabbits as regularly as they grew.
In this way the natural spread of the woods is constantly
kept in check, and the upper limit of our forest growth has
been depressed even within the period of history.

The same process has also affected lowland woods.
In primitive forests the decay and collapse of trees through
old age simply make room for the growth of new seedlings;
but in our own country such replacement has long been
ruled out of count by the presence of Rabbits, and by the
pasturing of domestic animals, which formerly roamed at
large in the forest areas. By these, the seedlings as they
grew were destroyed, so that the fall of each aged tree left
a new and irreplaceable blank in the woods. It is conceiv-
able that such a process, continued through the ages, may
have accounted for the disappearance of not a few ot
our primitive woodlands. Old Scots law recognized the
enmity between domestic herds and forest growth, for it
ordained in 1686 that Cattle should be herded in winter and
in summer for the protection of planting. Further it is on
record that in recent centuries, as in the parish of Drummel-
zier in Tweeddale, individual woods have been destroyed
by Sheep.

324 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

"ACTS OF GOD"

Nature's catastrophes, fire and wind, have shared in
dooming' the forest. A first thought suggests that the
manifestations of elemental Nature should have no place in
this account of man's influence ; but a second thought will
show that the greater part of their significance as destroyers,
is due to his interference with the old rule. Man cuts the
trees that act as buttresses upon the margin of the wood,
and, laying bare to the fury of the blasts the unaccustomed
growth within, opens a path for such a levelling of forest
as Nature never dreamed of. As I write Scottish newspapers
report the great damage done to growing timber by a gale
which raged throughout the night of October 24th, 1917 ;
and several correspondents mention that the damage was
intensified by the fact that the woods had recently been
cleared of their spruce and fir trees.

To man's invention of fire, many a conflagration is to be
traced, but even where Nature's lightning is the spark that
kindles, it is man's influence which makes of the charred
tract a permanent desolation. One of the greatest forest
fires on record was that of Mirarnichi in North America
in 1825, when six thousand square miles of vegetation,
chiefly woodland, were utterly consumed. Nevertheless
left to herself, Nature speedily repaired the destruction ;
for in twenty-five years the blackened ground was covered
with a natural and dense growth of trees of fair size, except
where cultivation and pasturage kept down the forest growth.
In a small area like Scotland where cultivation and pasturage
are all but universal, no opportunity is left for Nature's gentle
restoration.

There are evidences that both wind and fire have in
former days played havoc with Scottish forests. A single
example will illustrate the efficiency of each. In the parish
of Coldstone in Aberdeenshire, there was discovered many
years ago, buried in the peat, a pine forest which showed
all the signs of having fallen before a hurricane. In describ-
ing this forest in the second volume of the Edinburgh
Journal of Geographical and Natural Science, the Rev. J.
Farquharson says that the trees were found buried ten to
twelve feet deep in a moss which covered an area of about

CAUSES OF DESTRUCTION 325

a hundred acres. Their numbers were such as to show that
here a dense forest once stood. But the trees were levelled ;
some were broken off short across the trunk, leaving an
upright stump, others were completely overthrown, roots
and all. These were no accidents of the natural decay of a
forest, for the trees lay uniformly in one direction, their
heads towards the east. So a simple reading of the buried
pine forest of Coldstone tells that a mighty west wind laid
the woodland low, and at a period, as other evidences show,
long after man had made his first settlements in Scotland.

As to the evidence of fire in Scottish woodland, I can-
not do better than quote a comment of Sir Thomas Dick
Lauder in his edition of Gilpin's Remarks on Forest Scenery:

The trees which are found in the Scottish mosses, and particularly the
pines which are found in those of the northern parts of Scotland, all in-
variably exhibit marks of fire, as indeed do the stocks from which they
have been severed and near to which they are always discovered. It is quite
evident that these aboriginal forests of Scotland at least, have been destroyed
by great conflagrations, kindled either purposely or accidentally, and perhaps
in each of these ways at different times. Some of the pine logs are excavated
longitudinally by the fire, so as to form spouts, such as are often supplied
to the eves of the roofs of houses for catching and carrying off the rain.
These appear to have been hollowed out by the fire, which had continued
to burn and smoulder on the upper side, after the tree had fallen into some
wettish place, the damp of which prevented its being consumed below. We
have legendary accounts enough in Scotland of the burning of great tracts
of forest to bear out the explanation of the appearance which these ligneous
remains exhibit.

A definite example of an ancient burned wood was re-
vealed in the neighbourhood of Tongue in Sutherland
during the late Duke of Sutherland's endeavours to reclaim
the district, when large trees, charred for 10 to 15 feet of
their length, were discovered at a depth of 3 feet in the peat
mosses. Some of the trees, Dr Harvie-Brown was informed,
were 3 feet in diameter and " some of them are cored out
with fire for several feet in length as if they had been
burned down." Similar vast conflagrations, the brothers
John Sobieski and Charles Edward Stuart relate, "afford
frequent vivid similes in the old Gaelic poems."

FINAL RESULTS

These circumstantial accounts of man's inroads upon
Scottish woods will, I trust, bring home more definitely than

326 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

a general statement could have done, the vast influence which
man has wielded upon the primeval forest. His use of tim-
ber for the building of houses and ships, for household fires
and especially for fuel to carry on his great industries ; his
destruction of the woods to ensure his military conquests
and his peaceful journeyings, to rid him of the annoyances of
thieves and beasts of prey, and to make way for his smiling
fields of grain; the influences of his flocks and herds and of
his unwitting collaboration with the forces of nature; all
these had but one effect — to demolish woodland and make
a country, once rich in forest primeval as the wilds beyond
the Atlantic, a land whose barrenness became the wonder
and standing joke of southern travellers. The fact will stand
repeating that woodland, which in the days of the Upper
Forest of the Peat, clothed half the country, has been reduced
to a miserable remnant scarcely covering one-twentieth of
the land surface of Scotland. How far do we seem to have
travelled, even since that day in the sixteenth century, when
Bishop Leslie wrote of Scotland?

The woddes selfes nocht onlie profitable to the utilitie of timber, and to
that use,... are verie jocund and jellie1 and gif we myt speik it, in a maner
peirles in pleisour.

1 French, joli, pretty.

VI. 3

EFFECTS OF THE DESTRUCTION OF THE
FOREST UPON ANIMAL LIFE

IT is a simpler matter to tabulate the changes which have
taken place in animal life than to trace the actual influences
which have brought these changes about. Most of the in-
fluences act indirectly and obscurely, beating against the
habits of woodland creatures until the old habits are broken,
and the creature reforms its ways to fit new conditions, or,
since the reformation of an engrained habit is no easy thing,
itself becomes broken in the process and succumbs.

PHYSICAL CHANGES WROUGHT BY DESTRUCTION
OF THE FOREST

Forests keep a country moist, and tend to equalize the
temperature, since they check air currents and evaporation.
It is said that Canadian lumbermen can work at ease in the
forest when the temperature is many degrees below zero,
and when in the breezes of the open plain such a tempera-
ture would render work impossible. Professor Marsh thus
summed up his study of the physical effects of the destruc-
tion of the North American forests :

When the forest is gone, the great reservoir of moisture stored up in its
vegetable mould is evaporated, and returns only in deluges of rain to wash
away the parched dust into which that mould has been converted. The
well-wooded and humid hills are turned to ridges of dry rock, which en-
cumbers the low grounds and chokes the watercourses with its debris, and —
except in countries favored with an equable distribution of rain through the
seasons, and a moderate and regular inclination of surface — the whole earth,
unless rescued by human art from the physical degradation to which it tends,
becomes an assemblage of bald mountains, of barren, turfless hills, and of
swampy and malarious plains.

It is possible that Professor Marsh exaggerated the evils
which follow disappearance of forest growth — says a critic,
" Marsh found a fool in the forest, and the fool was man "-
but the latest and most thorough investigation of the climatic

328 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

significance of forest, a Report published by the Forestry
Department of the Indian Government in 1917, still indicates
that Marsh came near the truth. It has been found that in
India, forest may slightly increase the rainfall, but only to an
extent of not more than 5 per cent, by promoting condensa-
tion of aqueous vapour, by, as it were, cutting down the clouds,
which Richard Jefferies fondly imagined lay beyond the reach
of man's hands. Other important effects have been noted.
The disappearance of forests in the catchment areas of some
streams, in the Punjab, in Bengal and in Assam, has altered
the flow of rivers, so that after the rains they now rise more
rapidly and come down more torrentially. In the Punjab the
exposure of the soil by the cutting of trees has caused great
landslides, violent floods in the rivers, and the washing away
of much of the cultivated soil.

IMMEDIATE RESULTS

Scotland has suffered in less degree. Nevertheless the
more sudden and more serious flooding of the rivers after
heavy rain has had accountable effect upon their inhabitants
and those of the low lying valleys, drowning such creatures
as Badgers often in great numbers — the two great floods of
the Findhorn in 1829, say the brothers Stuart, drowned in
their holes most of the Badgers in the lower banks — , washing
into the stream and to destruction lesser things, fish-fry and
invertebrate animals which sheltered in still water by the banks,
and disturbing and dispersing the spawning beds and spawn
of Trout and Salmon. Mr P. D. Malloch has stated that after
a flood he has seen the sides of the Tay almost white with
the eggs of Salmon, swept from the spawning beds and de-
stroyed.

SCOTTISH FAUNA ORIGINALLY A FOREST FAUNA

But these are puny effects in relation to the fauna as a
whole. The destruction of forest has told more heavily upon
the inhabitants of the land, and this owing to the nature of the
animal assemblage which the aboriginal woodland of Britain
induced to migrate hither from the Continent, in the times
succeeding the Ice Age.

At the present day the typical pine forest region, or

EFFECTS UPON ANIMAL LIFE 329

taiga, forms a band stretching across the temperate regions
of the Old and New World, on the southern border of
the barren-lands or tundra. There the creatures of the
temperate forest can still be found in natural association.
What animals compose the fauna which to-day selects the
forest for its home? Most typical of its members are the
deer — the Red Deer and the Roe, the great Moose or
Elk, and the Woodland Reindeer or Caribou. These were
once familiar denizens of Scottish woods. Its typical rodents
are the Squirrel and Beaver; its beasts of prey the Brown
Bear, the Lynx, the Wild Cat, the Wolf, the Fox ; its
lesser denizens, the Pine Marten, Polecat, Stoat and Weasel,
and the Badger. These too inhabited Scotland. Of the
birds of the pine forest, the most characteristic are the Cross-
bills, the Grouse and its relatives, the handsome Capercaillie
and Black Game, and the Woodpeckers. Jays and Magpies;
and these also we know in Scotland.

The evidences of the present day fauna, and the more
significant relics of past life in Scotland, show with no un-
certainty that the prehistoric fauna of North Britain was
mainly a forest fauna, comparable with that which now dwells
in the wild woodlands of northern Europe and America.

SOME GENERAL EFFECTS OX FAUNA

On such an assemblage of animals the destruction of the
forest must have told with dire effect, ousting it from its
natural habitation, limiting its range, and tending always to
drive its members to extinction. On general grounds we
can safely assume that the numbers of forest seed-eaters
amongst birds — the Crossbill, the Bullfinch, the Siskin, the
Redpoll and other finches — as well as of the insectivorous
Woodpeckers and Tree Creeper, and their prey the pine-
boring Beetles, must have diminished with the fall of the
woods. And what of the land-shells, especially the smaller
forms, of Helix, Pupa andClausilia, which thrive particularly in
wooded districts, and many of which need scarcely be looked
for but in forests ? They, too, must have dwindled in numbers.
But of these things there is no direct evidence, so I turn to
examine a few individual cases the history of which suggests
more definitely the influence of disappearing woods.

330 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

SOME INDIVIDUAL EXAMPLES

It is natural that appeal should be made to the animals
at present characteristic of the pine forests of temperate
lands. What has the race of Deer to teach us ?

It will simplify the enquiry to state, obvious though they
are, the symptoms in the history of animals which betray
the impress of environment. Well marked stages in animal
life indicate prosperity or decline. In a progressively favour-
able environment an animal first increases in numbers, then
spreads beyond its first bounds to new areas, and lastly may
tend to develop new superfluities of structure. On the other
hand in a progressively unfavourable environment an animal
decreases in numbers, its range becomes more and more
limited, its physique deteriorates, and finally it disappears.

How does the history of the race of Deer in Scotland
respond to these criteria ? There can be only one answer —
it is'a story of decreasing numbers, of curtailment of range, of
dwindling physique, and of extinction. All the species of
Deer have not shared equal disaster, but the cumulative effect
of their histories is not less telling. Glance at their stories,
as they have been recorded in the early deposits of the
country and in history.

THE ROE DEER

The Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus], the most lightsome
and graceful, was once also amongst the most familiar of the
denizens of Scottish woods. From north to south it roamed
in freedom, not in Scotland only, but far into the woodlands
of South Britain, for its bones have been found in Essex,
Oxfordshire and in the southern corner of Wales. Civiliza-
tion long since drove the native Roes from England.

In Scotland relics in river gravels, peat bogs and
the settlements of man witness to the extent of the Roe
Deer's range and the abundance of its numbers. About
the time of man's first settlement in Scotland it spread to
the southern borders: its remains have been found in the
river-gravels of Berwickshire at Coldingham, and, in com-
pany with those of the Reindeer and Brown Bear, deep in
the peat of Shaws in Dumfriesshire. In human settlements

EFFECTS UPON ANIMAL LIFE 331

we do not expect to find traces of its presence in that extra-
ordinary abundance which marks the Red Deer, for the Roe
is a shy and superbly active creature, less likely to be caught,
and its flesh is less palatable than that of its great relative.
Nevertheless there are few kitchen-middens on the mainland
that do not contain a bone or antler of the Roe Deer. In
such deposits it has been found from the northern to the
southern limits of Scotland, and the extreme cases are of
special significance, since the " one or two bones " discovered
at Hillsvvick reveal its presence even in the Shetland Isles,
and its relics in the Cave of Borness in Kirkcudbrightshire,
consisting of twenty-six bones, suggest that on the southern
borders, it was as common as the Red Deer, represented by
a like number of remains.

It occurs in the lake dwellings of Ayrshire, as at Lochlee,
Kilmaurs, and Lochspouts; in the hill forts of Argyllshire,
as at Loch Awe and on the Island of Luing, and of Inver-
ness-shire, as at CraigPhaidrich ; in the Roman settlement at
Newstead; in the "Pictish Towers" or brochs of Thrumster
and Kettleburn in Caithness, and of Cinn Trolla in Suther-
landshire; and in an underground "Pict's House" or " Eird
House " at Edrom in Berwickshire. It is evident, therefore,
that in prehistoric and early historic times down to about
the ninth century the Roe Deer was common throughout
Scotland.

When did it begin to forsake the southern country?
There are many references to its protection in old Scots law,
but they help us little as, to its detailed distribution. It had
its place amongst the list of slain in the great royal hunt in
Athole in 1529 during the reign of James V; but this is be-
side the point for it has never deserted the fastnesses of the
Perthshire Highlands. In the Lowlands it was still common
in the thirteenth century, for in the reign of Alexander II
(1214-1249), the Lords of Avenel, in granting their lands in
Eskdale to the Abbey of Melrose, reserved the right to hunt,
amongst other creatures, the Hart, the Hind and the Roe.
But by the middle of the sixteenth century the disappearance
of woodland, for use as timber and to make way for the
pasturing of great flocks of sheep for which the Lowlands
were already famous, led to the reduction of the Deer and
to the narrowing of the bounds wherein they were wont to

332 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

roam. Even the Statute of 1682 prohibiting the traffic in
venison for seven years could not avert the evil day, and
before the close of the seventeenth century Red Deer and
shortly afterwards Roes were all but banished from the
Lowlands of Scotland.

Henceforward, until their extension of range in recent
times, they were confined to the highland fastnesses of Ross,
Inverness, Argyll and Perth; for they had also been driven
from their haunts in the northern counties of the mainland,
and had long ceased to exist in Shetland.

Here clearly the destruction of forest resulted in reduced
numbers and limitation of range. And as if to emphasize the
point, the fresh impetus given to the planting of trees in the
latter half of the eighteenth century, has led to a new in-
crease, in numbers and range, restoring the Roe Deer to
many areas which it had long deserted. It made its ap-
pearance in the lower valley of the Tay before the close
of the eighteenth century, and shortly afterwards appeared
in Clackmannanshire and Stirlingshire, in Fifeshire (before
1828), and Linlithgowshire; and between 1840 and 1845, it
had penetrated the Lowlands, for it then appeared on the
southern slopes of the Pentland Hills near Penicuik.

It is difficult to decide whether the adverse influence due
to the destruction of the woodland led to physical degeneracy
in the Roe. Certain it is that the antlers recovered from the
ancient deposits and the early sites of habitation are of
unusually large size, but careful comparison led Mr J. G.
Millais to the conclusion that the large antlers of former days
could be equalled and even excelled by the best heads of the
present day forests of Scotland. From our point of view the
comparison is scarcely a fair one, for it is unlikely that the
best heads of former days are those which chance buried in
the bog and the luck of man recovered, or that primitive
man caught the finest and most active animals for his meals.
My own impression is that, on an average, in spite of the
new life given to the Roe by the fresh development of wood-
land, the standard of the modern antler is less than that
of prehistoric and early historic days ; and the analogy of
related deer in Scotland would support such a conclusion.
While, therefore, degeneracy in the^Roe must be regarded
as not proven, it was a likely result of the adverse influences

EFFECTS UPON ANIMAL LIFE 333

which the destruction of forest brought to bear upon its
denizens.

THE RED DEER

The course of the Red Deer's story runs upon the same
rough path of ill fortune as that of the Roe. But even
more than the Roe, the Red has come under the influence
of man, its size and the value of its venison having made
it an object of more deliberate pursuit as of more strict
protection.

In the days before man's arrival in Scotland the Red
Deer roamed the country over. Strange to say the greater
number of the prehistoric records of its presence come from
an area which it has long deserted — the Lowland valleys.
With these records it is impossible to deal individually, but
a summary of the distribution of the Red Deer, as the
natural deposits of the country have revealed it, will empha-
size one significant phase of its history in Scotland.

In our oldest lake deposits — the marl clays — formed
generally at a period not long after the close of the Ice Age,
remains of Red Deer are abundant. Bones and antlers have
been found in Roxburghshire, Peeblesshire and Selkirkshire,
in Midlothian and Linlithgowshire, and as far north as
Caithness. The overlying peat-mosses afford still more
interesting evidence of its presence — in the Lowlands it
ranged from Wigtownshire and Ayrshire eastwards and
northwards through Dumfriesshire, Selkirkshire, Roxburgh-
shire, Berwickshire, to the extreme corner of Haddington-
shire ; it peopled the midland valley even at the mouths of
the Earn and Tay ; in the Highlands it reached the furthest
limits of Inverness-shire on the west, of Sutherland on the
north ; and there are many evidences of its presence in the
isles of Orkney and Shetland.

Neolithic man made use of its flesh for food and of its
bones and antlers for tools, and there is scarcely a settle-
ment where he or his early successors dwelt that does not
contain its remains. Kitchen-middens of Bronze and Iron
Age, hill forts and underground " Eird Houses," Roman
settlements and "Pictish Towers" or brochs all tell of its
abundance. Even in Orkney, Red Deer of large size were

334 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

still common when the brochs were in full occupation ; and
the occupants of the cave of Borness on the shores of Kirk-
cudbright bordering the Solway Firth, slew many Red Deer
in their Lowland valleys in times after the Roman Conquest.

From the earliest times, therefore, down to the eighth
century of our era or later, the Red Deer was abundant in
every corner of Scotland, not only in the uplands but in the
valleys to the very margin of the sea (see Map V). From the
low-lying valleys it was soon driven by the increase of man
and of his rude agriculture, and by the destruction of the
forest, for the Red Deer, in spite of its mountainous habita-
tions in Scotland at the present day, is pre-eminently a forest-
loving animal.

Thus we find that when Scottish history first takes up
the tale of the Red Deer in the Lowlands, it had already
forsaken the lower valleys, and had been relegated to forest
areas then existing on the slopes of the Pentland Hills and
to the great Ettrick Forest of the uplands of Selkirk and the
neighbouring counties. In another connection (p. 207) I have
given a short account of the main events of its history in
the Lowlands as recorded in Scottish annals, until, towards
the end of the seventeenth century, several factors, amongst
which was the disappearance of forest in the face of an
increasing culture of the soil and of a gradual extension of
the pasturing of sheep, finally exterminated the Red Deer
of the Scottish Lowlands1. At the present time, in spite of
centuries of protection, the Red Deer is confined to the
Highlands, where it inhabits waste moorlands and scanty
woods at high altitudes, from Sutherland to Perthshire and
Argyll.

That the destruction of woodlands has a very real
' influence upon the distribution of Red Deer has been
actually observed and noted within the past century. The
brothers, John Sobieski and Charles Edward Stuart, in
describing in 1848 the death of the last Deer of Tarnaway
Forest on the southern shores of the Moray F^irth, say, from
their own experience :

1 Although the end of the seventeenth century saw the practical ex-
termination of Lowland Red Deer, a few individuals probably still lingered
in secluded places, for it is said that the last stag in the Forest of Buchan
in Kircudbrightshire was shot in 1747.

DECLINE OF RED DEER— DISTRIBUTION IN PREHISTORIC TIMES,

IN THE MIDDLE AGES, AND AT THE PRESENT DAY.

P38I Distribution at [TTTITT]] Distribution in p=^ Distribution in

MM Present Day IHIIHII Middle Ages Prehistoric Times

EFFECTS UPON ANIMAL LIFE 335

Although the stags were never driven from the forest by hunting they
went out before the cutting of timber, which left them no rest, and
obstructed and marred their haunts and pastures. By degrees the hinds,
calves and younger stags, ceased to return at winter, and at last the old
harts were diminished to two. These, however, kept the forest till 1830.

In the reduction of the numbers and of the range of the
Red Deer, we see the first signs of the decadence of its race
in Scotland, and the destruction of the forest had much to
do with the appearance of the signs.

Fig'. 57. Antlers and portion of Skull of prehistoric Red Deer, unearthed in
the Meadows, Edinburgh. TV nat. size.

What of the remaining criteria of decadence ? True, the
Scottish Red Deer has not reached the last step in the
downward course, but would it not have been exterminated
save for artificial fostering and protection by man ? Prob-
ably it would. In any case, has it not fallen a long stage,
physically, from its first fine presence in the days before
history began ?

The testimony of the marl-mosses and peat-bogs is
unanimous as to the great size of the Red Deer of past days
and the enormous development of their antlers. The chances
are all against the discovery of the best heads by man during

336 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

his casual excavations in the mosses, even in the unlikely
event of the best heads having chanced to be entombed in
the bogs. Yet what do we find ?

In the days when the wild creatures of the forest
wandered over the site of modern Edinburgh, a great Stag
came to drink at the waters of the Loch which then covered
"the Meadows" of the present day. The banks of the loch
were peaty, and underneath the peat lay treacherous beds of
marl in which the Deer became entrapped and, unable to
free itself, died a miserable death. In 1781 the head and
horns of this Stag were dug up below the roots of an old
tree. It was probably no exceptional creature in its own
generation, yet to-day it stands out as a giant, a seventeen
pointer — a Great Hart summed of seventeen. The antlers
were large, the right 3 feet in length, bearing nine points
and ending in a cup-like expansion, or sur-royal, surrounded
by six points ; the left antler, 46 inches long, carried eight
points with a fine sur-royal of five large "croches." The
circumference of the beam above the second or bez-tine
measured 8J inches (Fig. 57, p. 335).

But, as I have said, the Great Hart of the Meadows
was no exceptional Stag. During the draining of Linton
Loch in Roxburghshire, the entire skeleton of a Red Deer
was discovered, deep in a marl bed which itself lay under
i o feet of peat, and although the bones were broken up by the
workpeople the head and antlers were preserved. They are
those of a " Great Hart summed of nineteen." Both antlers
measured 33 inches, and their span from tip to tip, 44 inches.
The skull was 20 inches in length along the profile and
7-J inches across the forehead. Even this fine head cannot
compare with another Roxburgh example found at Ashkirk,
which bore two magnificent antlers carrying a total of twenty-
one points.

The antlers of a very fair Royal, a twelve pointer, of the
present day, would measure several inches under three feet
along the outside of the curve, would have a spread of some
2\ ft, and a circumference of \\ to 5 inches as against the
8| inches of the Great Hart of the Meadows.

Moreover in size of body the old Scottish Red Deer far
surpassed its modern representatives. There is exhibited in
the Royal Scottish Museum a complete skeleton found about

EFFECTS UPON ANIMAL LIFE 337

1830 in a peat moss at Smeaton- Hepburn in Haddington-
shire. It compares ill with such examples as I have just
mentioned, for it is only a twelve pointer Royal, yet it must
have stood 4 ft 6 inches at the shoulder, and the length of its
body from nose to base of tail must have been 7 ft 10 inches.
A modern Scottish Royal, a good stag, shot in the forest of
Corrour and now in the Royal Scottish Museum, stands
3 ft 5 inches at the shoulder, and its body is 5 ft 7 inches
long. The old-time Red Deer was a third as large again as
a selected modern example. (See Frontispiece.)

It is apparent that the Red Deer of the Scottish High-
lands cannot compare in physique with the Red Deer which
dwelt in the Lowlands in the days before man's coming.
The process of decay was a gradual one, for bones which
I have examined from recent excavations in the hill-fort
of Dunagoil in Bute, and in the caves of Eastern Fife, —
both settlements which were occupied in the days of
the early Christians — still indicate Red Deer of much
greater size than those of to-day. And even in Orkney
in the days of the brochs, the remains of Red Deer "often
of large size" were deposited in those strange defensive
structures.

What was the cause of the gradual decay of the Red
Deer in Scotland ? Clearly the destruction of the forest !
Red Deer are pre-eminently forest animals, as their distribu-
tion in the still existing pine belts of Europe shows. But in
Scotland the forest in which they thrived has disappeared,
and the Red Deer have been driven to an unnatural home
on waste moorlands and in bare mountain glens. As
if to settle the question of the decadence of Scottish Red
Deer, there are still to be found in the native forests of the
Continent, in western, northern and central Europe,
descendants of the original Red Deer stock — races (Cervus
elaphus typicus and Cervus elaphus germanicus} the size
and complexity of the antlers of which forcibly remind
one of the antlers of the Scottish mosses. Where the
forests have persisted the Red Deer in its original gran-
deur has persisted with them. It may be suggested that
the shooting of the finest heads in a sporting country such
as Scotland may have lowered the standard. This may
be so to a slight degree, but on the Continent the Red

338 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

Deer also is stalked, yet its characters have persisted in their
magnificence1. '

A broad reading of the facts shows indubitably that the
destruction of the forest has impelled the Red Deer of
Scotland on a downward path, limiting its numbers, de-
creasing its range, and whittling away its former dignity by
steps of physical decadence.

THE REINDEER

As a Scottish animal the Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus]
(Fig. 58) has long since disappeared, yet for many thou-
sands of years this interesting animal, now confined to the
northern regions of the Old World and eastern Canada,
roamed upon our plains from the Solway to the Pentland
Firth, and was even established in the Orkney Islands.
Its antlers have been found in deposits belonging to the
Ice Age at Kilmaurs in Ayrshire (Fig. 59, p. 343), where
were also found the tusks of the extinct Mammoth, at Croft -
amie in Dumbartonshire, and at Raesgill in Lanarkshire.
Clearly it entered Scotland during one of the mild periods
which broke the long monotony of the age of glaciers.

But the Reindeer in Scotland survived the disappearance
of the cold climate which had enticed it to enter Britain from
the Continent. Cut off by the formation of the English
Channel from retreat along the route of its invasion, it was
compelled to make the best of changing climates and con-
ditions. In this effort of adaptation it met with considerable

1 If further proof of the implication of the destruction of the forest in
the degeneracy of Scottish Red Deer were required, it is indicated by the
history of Scottish Deer transported to New Zealand. In 1870 seven Red
Deer from Lord Dalhousie's estate in Forfarshire were liberated in the
neighbourhood of Lake Hawra, South Island. These have multiplied into
the famous North Otago herd of which, in Hunter Valley alone, 1600 were
destroyed in 1915-16; and the size of the Deer and quality of their antlers
have responded to the abundance of food available in the heavy bush lands.
Thus, although there is no strain of "park" blood in the North Otago herd,
a writer in Cottntry Life (9 August, 1919) recorded and illustrated two
magnificent and evenly developed heads of Deer shot in 1918, one bearing
sixteen points, the other with twenty points, a length of 45 \ inches and a
span of 45 inches — reversions to the old standard which signify that
the banishing of our Scottish Red Deer from their natural haunts to waste
and barren moorlands is responsible for their physical deterioration.

EFFECTS UPON ANIMAL LIFE

339

340 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

success, as is shown by its continued existence for many
thousands of years.

Its distribution during the period of the formation of the
peat mosses, just prior to, or even contemporaneous with
the arrival of man in Scotland, shows no trace of the
limitation which one associates with a decaying race. It
still roamed over the length of the land, for antlers have
been recovered from the peat mosses of Shaws in Dum-
friesshire, from the neighbourhood of Tain in Rossrshire and
from Rousay in the Orkneys. Not very far from Edinburgh
its remains were found in a' rock fissure at Craig Green in
the Pentland Hills.

Even in later times, bones in actual association with the
handiwork of the men of the New Stone Age, show that the
Reindeer still ranged widely in Scotland: witness the dis-
covery of antlers near the mouth of the Kelvin River in
Glasgow, in beds of laminated clay which have yielded many
dug-out canoes of prehistoric fishermen, and the more recent
find by Drs Peach and Home of Reindeer bones in the
Cave of Allt nan Uamh in Sutherland, where they lay in
layers containing hearth-stones burnt by the fires of Neo-
lithic man. The men of the New Stone Age interfered
little with the wild life of the country. They hunted, herded
and tilled, but for their own limited needs, and their inter-
ference with woodland was of little account, as indeed is that
of all primitive peoples. For so long, then, the Reindeer
appears to have held its own.

The next series of records of the Reindeer, however,
shows a remarkable contraction in its range. True there is
a hesitating record of its presence in the south country at a
comparatively late date. In the descriptions of his excavations
at the lake dwelling of Lochlee in Ayrshire, which con-
tained Bronze Age and Roman articles, Dr Robert Munro
states that he found

two more or less fragmentary portions of horns which after a good deal of
comparison with other reindeer horns, and with fragments of red-deer horns,
I incline to set down as indicating the presence of the former animal ;

but the identification is so uncertain that the record, out of
keeping with the facies of the animal remains of Scottish
crannogs in general, may be ignored.

To the days of the brochs, those great " Pictish Towers "

EFFECTS UPON ANIMAL LIFE 341

erected throughout Scotland from the Lowlands to the ex-
treme north, " to withstand the incursions of roving pirates
from overseas," we must pass for further evidence of the
Reindeer's presence. But now the Reindeer is on the decline
in Scotland, for its remains are confined to the northern
counties. In Sutherland several pieces of antlers were found
amongst the food debris of the Broch of Cinn Trolla; in
Caithness, the Brochs of Yarhouse and Keiss,.as well as the
Harbour Mound at the latter place, yielded fragments of
antlers, and at Kettleburn, horns and remains of Deer were
discovered which, the excavator says "were not the Red
Deer " — these too may have belonged to the Reindeer. Less
uncertainty attaches to a fragment unearthed in the Broch
of Burwick, in the parish of Sandwick. Orkney, where the
investigator found " one piece of horn like a part of a rein-
deer antler, or a fallow deer's, as it is broad and palmated."
It is unlikely that this fragment belonged to a Fallow Deer,
of which there is no definite record in Britain in historic times
till its introduction by man a few centuries ago (see p. 284).
Another possibility is that it may have belonged to the Elk
or Moose, but the size and palmation of an Elk's antler is
on a much grander scale than that of a Fallow Deer, with
which comparison is suggested, and there is no confirmatory
evidence that the Elk ever existed in Orkney. We are
driven, therefore, to suppose that the palmated antler was
that of a Reindeer, though I cannot help regretting, in view
of their interest, that this fragment and that from Burwick
were not submitted to expert examination.

The brochs are supposed to have been in occupation in
northern Scotland from the end of the fifth till about the ninth
century,and some were occasionally inhabited till a later date.
Moreover the antlers of Yarhouse, near Wick, were found not
in the broch itself, but in one of the associated outbuildings
which were erected at a later date than the main building,
when the needs of defence were less imperative. Never-
theless a reference in the Orkneyinga Saga carries the last
appearance of the Reindeer in North Britain to a much
more recent time. I reproduce the literal rendering of the
Scandinavian words as translated by a celebrated Icelandic
scholar, Mr Eirikr Magnusson, formerly of Cambridge.
"It was the custom for the Earls nearly every summer to

342 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

go over into Caithness and then up into the woods to hunt
Red Deer or Reins." The period of these hunting excursions
was about the middle of the twelfth century (i 159 according
to Jonaeus), and the Earls were Rognvald and Harald of
Orkney. The translator notes that the word edr, translated
" or," may mean or ( = Latin vel], or and ( == Latin sive), and
much doubt has been cast on the value of the passage on
the ground Uaat the sagaman said red-deer or reindeer
under the impression that the two names were synonymous.
This doubt seems to me to be superfluous, for who is likely
to have been more familiar with these two very distinct species
of Deer than the Scandinavian sagaman, who lived and
wrote in a country where Red Deer and Reindeer were both
common ? To me the whole difficulty is one of poetic licence ;
did or did not the historian-poet transfer, for the sake of
effect, the animals hunted in his own country -to the foreign
shores of Caithness ? I hardly think so, for the skalds are
seldom inaccurate in their descriptions of the objects of the
chase. Further the statement receives some confirmation
from the spirited representation of a Reindeer obviously
drawn from the life, carved on a sculptured stone found
near Grantown in Inverness-shire. The date of the early
Christian monuments, of which this is one, is believed to
range about the tenth century of our era.

The Reindeer, once abundant in Scotland throughout
the length of the land, gradually became limited in range
and finally disappeared. What led to its extinction? It was
not lack of suitable food, for brushwood and especially
" Reindeer Moss," the lichen Cladonia rangiferina, are still
abundant in the counties where it made its last appearance.
It was not wholly change of climate, forthe Reindeer survived
the much greater alteration from the cold of the Ice Age to
the mild humidity which heralded the period of peat-for-
mation, and back again to the drier and cooler times when
the pine forest spread over Scotland. It may have been
partly deliberate destruction by man, for his kitchen-
middens show that he hunted the Reindeer for food; but
these were days of simple weapons, the javelin and the bow
and arrow, and history has seldom recorded the extermination
of a fleet and wary race by a primitive people to whom the
murderous slaughter of modern sport was unknown. On the

EFFECTS UPON ANIMAL LIFE 343

whole, I think that the destruction of the forest had more to
do with the disappearance of this interesting native.

RACIAL CHARACTER OF SCOTTISH REINDEER

Hitherto I have referred to the Scottish remains as

those of Reindeer in a general sense, but it may be well to

enquire a little further into their special characteristics. The

Reindeer of the Old and New VVorld fall into two groups,

Fig. 59. Fragmentary Antlers of Scottish Reindeer of Glacial Period,
found at Kilmaurs, Ayrshire. T^ nat. size.

the "barren-ground" and "woodland" races — the former
inhabiting the bleak barren lands and tundras which border
the Arctic circle, the latter frequenting the belts of forest
which lie to the south of the barren lands. The races are
distinguished by their size and their antlers. The " wood-
land " Reindeer is larger than its " barren-ground " relative,
whose antlers are round, slender and long, while those of the
"woodland" group are heavier, flatter, thicker and more
heavily palmated. In the woodland group, the brow tines

344 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

are much palmated, and one is usually much more developed
than the other, and the succeeding bez tines are also large
and palmated, a rare feature in the barren-ground group.

Reindeer were frequently drawn by men of the Old
Stone (Palaeolithic) Age who inhabited the central plains of
Europe, and their drawings seem to me clearly to indicate a
woodland variety. In the Aurignacian painting of two Rein-
deer fronting each other, on the walls of the French cave at
Font-de-Gaume, in Dordogne, the brow tines of one of the
Deer are strongly palmated and unequally developed. In
the later Magdalenian picture of a Reindeer grazing by a
pool, found engraved on a piece of bone at Kesserloch, near
Thayngen, Switzerland, the brow and the bez tines are both
heavily palmated, as is also the case in the running Rein-
deer engraved on hornblende schist, from Saint Marcel.
Julius Caesar found the descendants of these Reindeer in
the Black Forest and neighbouring parts of Germany at the
time of his campaign in that country and in Gaul. These
structural characteristics and the forest-dwelling habit of the
Reindeer of Central Europe agree in suggesting that their
place is with the woodland group.

What is the evidence as regards the status of the
Scottish Reindeer? They probably immigrated to Scotland
as part of the woodland fauna from Central Europe, for
there is no evidence that any of the characteristic animals
of the "steppe fauna," with which Professor H. F. Osborn
groups the barren-ground Reindeer, ever found their way
to North Britain. Such portions of Scottish antlers as
show distinctive features also point to the woodland group.
I have examined in the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow two
large fragments found in 1829 in interglacial deposits of the
Ice Age at Kilmaurs in Ayrshire (Fig. 59, p. 343). They
represent the right and left antlers probably of one animal.
The left beam is 2 ft 3 inches long, the right 2 ft 7 inches.
The brow tines of both have been broken off short, but the
bez tines though incomplete are well developed, 9 inches
and 13^ inches in the right and left antlers respectively;
both tines broaden towards their extremities and the left
shows clearly the beginnings of a well-developed palmation.
The beams are moderately stout, slightly flattened, and
measure, right and left, 123 and 133 millimetres in circum-

EFFECTS UPON ANIMAL LIFE 345

ference above the bez tines. The right antler possessed also
a back tine, a feature seldom found in the barren-ground race.
Or take the fine extremity of an antler found in the
Broch of Keiss in Caithness: of this Professor Richard
Owen, after careful comparison and examination, wrote
I have not seen any antlers of the Red Deer showing so much flattening or
compression of the " beam " as in this specimen. I believe them to be parts
of the antler of a large reindeer or variety called ' Carabou.'

While writing these words Owen seems to have had in mind
the large woodland form known in Canada by that name.

There are difficulties in the way of reaching a definite
conclusion regarding the exact status of the Reindeer races,
for antlers show considerable variation, and the question of
relationships from this point of view has not been satisfac-
torily solved. But I think it is justifiable to regard the
Scottish Reindeer as different from the extreme barren-
ground type with clean cut antlers and pronged tines, and
as tending towards the woodland type, although the antlers
do not attain the luxuriance of palmation of the most highly
developed woodland forms of the Caribou. The modern
form of Scandinavian Reindeer with palmated brow and bez
tines and well developed back tines, seems to me to belong
to this intermediate type tending to the woodland variety,
and to bear a close resemblance to the Scottish examples of
the interglacial beds and peat-bogs.

If the Scottish Reindeer was a woodland variety, as I
have suggested, then the presence or absence of woods
must have had a close bearing on its welfare, for although
the barren-ground form may enter the domain of the wood-
land race during its winter migration southwards, the latter
finds in the woods its permanent home. The destruction of
woodland, therefore, is likely to have tended to its exter-
mination. Neolithic man had little influence on the forest,
and the Reindeer outlived him; but the Bronze and Iron
Ages, with their demand for fuel for smelting, began a
devastation which each succeeding age intensified, so that
in the twelfth century, when Scottish laws were already
endeavouring to conserve the forest, the last reference occurs
to living Reindeer in Scotland.

The evidence suggests that the destruction of the forest
was an important factor in reducing the numbers of the

346 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

Reindeer, in limiting its range, and finally in driving it to
extermination.

THE ELK

If there be some doubt as to the exact status of the Scottish
Reindeer, there is none regarding the ^L\\^(Alces alces] (Fig. 2,
p. 15), a huge, ungainly member of the northern forest
fauna. This giant amongst Deer, standing sometimes about
six feet high at the shoulder, with antlers spanning six feet
from tip to tip, is now confined to regions ranging from
Scandinavia to eastern Siberia in the Old World, while a
closely related form, the Moose, occurs in the New World
from the New England States to British Columbia. But in
the old days the Elk dwelt far south in Europe and ranged
over the whole of the British Isles. In the latter, the trend of
the limitation of its range has been from south northwards, as
is shown in a rough way by the distribution of the remains
which have been recovered. The Scottish records are far
more numerous than the English, an indication of a longer
period of occupation or of larger herds in the northern
territories.

In Scotland the range of the Elk in time and in space
was a wide one. In the period of the great marl formations,
the first definite lake-deposits which accumulated after the
main phase of the Ice Age had passed away, the Elk ranged
from the Lowlands to Perthshire. An antler, probably
belonging to this species, though described as that of the
"Gigantic Irish Elk," was found in 1859 in a river gravel
at Coldingham in Berwickshire. Marl beds, in most cases
underlying considerable deposits of peat, have yielded re-
mains of the Elk in Selkirkshire; at Kirkurd in Peeblesshire;
in Midlothian at Craigcrook near Cramond, and in Dudding-
ston Loch, where they were associated with many articles
of bronze ; in Forfarshire at one if not two localities ; and
in Perthshire in the parishes of Airley wight (Fig. 60),
Kinloch and Muthil.

During the period of the formation of the peat, on the
whole at a date later than the deposition of the great marl
beds, the Elk seems to have extended its range to the
northern limits of the mainland, though it still retained its

EFFECTS UPON ANIMAL LIFE

347

hold in the southern forests1. In Wigtownshire an antler
has been found near the mouth of the River Cree ; in
Roxburghshire, Williestruther Loch yielded an almost com-
plete skull and antlers ; in Berwickshire, remains have been
found at Mertoun Loch, at Whitrig Bog near Mertoun, and
at Duns ; in Selkirkshire, a portion of skull with antlers was
discovered at Oakwood on the Ettrick ; and in Sutherland,
Strath- Halladale yielded a shed antler which Dr J. A. Smith
regarded as wonderfully fresh in appearance.

Long after the main period of peat formation was past,
the Elk still roamed at large over the greater part of
Scotland, and there are sufficient records to show that it

Fig. 60. Antlers and portion of skull of Elk found at Airleywight, Perth'shire.
TV nat. size.

was familiar to the inhabitants for many thousands of years.
Neolithic man and his successors knew it well. I have
already alluded to the suggestive discovery of horns in a
bed of shell marl at the bottom of the Loch of Duddingston,
which also yielded many bronze spear heads and swords,
though there is no definite proof that the finds were con-
temporaneous. There is similar uncertainty about the
relationship of "a medal of Trajan, a fibula, a patera, and a

1 Such a statement of extension of range must be regarded as pro-
visional, for it is possible that in the marl period also, the Elk had a wide
northern range, though its remains have not been preserved or have not
been discovered. But this is not very probable since it seems likely that
while the earliest marl deposits were forming in southern Scotland, the
Highlands were still buried in snow.

348 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

horn of the moose-deer " found near North Berwick. But
there can be no doubt about the significance of the Elk
remains recorded by Prof. J. Cossar Ewart from the Roman
settlement of Newstead near Melrose.

This is the last record of the Elk in the Lowlands. It
appears thereafter to have been driven to the wilder districts
of the north, a fact of some interest when we recall that the
earliest destruction of Scottish forests in historical times
was that carried out by the Roman legionaries. The latest
definite record of the Elk in Scotland is that of an antler
found by Sir F. T. Barry in underground buildings attached
to a broch at Keiss, a record which might carry its occupa-
tion down to about the ninth century of our era, for the
accessory buildings of the brochs were made at a date con-
siderably later than the erection of the brochs themselves.

Yet it would be a mistake to suppose that the Elk dis-
appeared from Scotland in the ninth century. The references
in Gaelic tradition to a great extinct deer, Miol or Lon —
a creature spoken of as black or dark in colour, shambling
in gait yet swift — so clearly point to the special character-
istics of the Elk of the present day that there can be little
doubt as to their significance. And when the brothers John
Sobieski and Charles Edward Stuart translate a stanza of an
ancient Gaelic poem, The Aged Bard's Wish,

I see the ridge of hinds, the steep of the sloping glen
The wood of cuckoos at its foot,
The blue height of a thousand pines,
Of wolves, and roes, and elks,

there can be little doubt that they translate a tale of things
seen, for the whole poem is full of minute and accurate
descriptions of nature, such as none but an onlooker could
have chronicled. The reference is not an isolated one : in
the old poem Bas Dhiarmid — the death of Dermid — a
poem till lately well known in the Highlands, the following
lines occur :

Glen Shee, that glen by my side,

Where oft is heard the voice of deer and elk.

And, as we have seen, Perthshire has actually yielded the
remains of more than one individual.

I suggest that the main factor in the gradual limitation of
range and final extermination of the Elk in Scotlaad was the

EFFECTS UPON ANIMAL LIFE ' 349

destruction of the forest, which entailed the disturbance
and disappearance of its haunts. Apart from the suggestive-
ness of its reduction in numbers and steady restriction to-
wards the wilder and more wooded areas to the north,
during periods when history tells of the woeful devastation
of Scottish woods, the history of the Elk in Europe adds
confirmatory evidence ; for it stands in the nature of a
"control" upon the events in Scotland. Julius Caesar
mentions the Elk, along with the Reindeer and the Urus,
as inhabiting the Hercynian forest of Germany during his
campaigns in that country and in Gaul. During the third
century of our era it spread over all the forest-clad parts of
Germany. Here it was that the "dowghtie Siegfried" of the
twelfth century Nibelungenlied "slowe a Wisent [Bison] and
an Elk." For many hundreds of years the great woods of
the Black Forest and other areas remained almost unaffected
by man's destruction, affording a safe preserve for the wild
creatures of the woods. And with the survival of the forest
the Elk survived; for in Saxony an Elk was slain so recently
as 1746, and in Silesia it lingered until 1776. Long before
the Elk disappeared from the forests of Central Europe, a
new factor, as potent for destruction as the dissolution of the
woodland, had arisen — the invention of powder and the gun.
It is worth remembering that although the Elk is now-
regarded as a northern animal, the German forests in which
it lived only two and a half centuries ago, lie in a latitude
far south of Scotland — an indication that climate was not a
prime factor in determining its disappearance in North
Britain.

In Central Europe, the forests remained and the Elk
survived : in Britain the forests were laid low and the Elk,
having been gradually driven to the northern confines of
Scotland, disappeared.

CONCLUSIONS REGARDING THE RACE OF DEER

These summaries of the stories of such Deer as certainly
survived in Scotland at the arrival of man show in different
degree the stages of a general decadence. The Roe Deer
became reduced in numbers and limited in range, the
numbers and the range of the Red Deer became contracted
and itself underwent a marked physical degeneration, the

350 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

Reindeer and the Elk were driven from one stronghold to
another till both died out in the northern counties. What
widespread influence was at work against these forest-loving
creatures? The destruction of the forest! It may be
suggested that man's deliberate destruction of Deer for food
was the prime agent. But the rule of the bow and arrow
could not reduce the size of the Red Deer's antlers, for the
necessity of finding food meant that the youngest and most
easily obtained, not the best animals (as the rifle and present
day sport demand) fell to the hunter, a point abundantly
proved by the large proportion of the bones of young
animals in early settlements and kitchen-middens. It
may be suggested that changes of climate had dire effect;
but more severe changes of climate were passed through in
the early Neolithic days without seriously influencing the
distribution of any of the species. It may be suggested that
a decrease of proper food played an adverse part in the
welfare of the Deer. That is highly probable. But what
caused the decrease of food, if not the increase of domesticated
animals and of cultivation, and the consequent destruction
of the proper feeding-grounds— the forests ? I have no
doubt that all the factors mentioned told against the race of
Deer, but the great influence which acted with constant and
ever-increasing intensity was the disappearance of the forest,
and for that man was largely responsible.

SOME OTHER FOREST DWELLERS

Other inhabitants of Scotland besides the race -of Deer
suffered from the same cause. The story of the Elk is
paralleled by that of the Great Extinct Ox or Urus (Bos
taiirus primigenius) which, common throughout Scotland in
the times of the great depositions of marl and peat, was
gradually driven northwards till it died out in the northern
counties during the period of the brochs1. The Urus was
a creature of the woodland, sharing with the Reindeer and
Elk the forests of Central Europe in the days of Julius
Caesar, and surviving in these safe retreats until, it has been
stated, the beginning of the sixteenth century. Like the
Elk, it survived in Europe with the forests, and with the
forests, disappeared in Scotland.

1 For a more detailed account of its history, see p. 49 et seq.

EFFECTS UPON ANIMAL LIFE 351

The forest-loving beasts of prey, the Bear, the Wolf,
the Fox, the Wild Cat, the Pine Marten, the Polecat and
their like, as well as the inoffensive Badger and the Beaver,
must also have suffered in numbers and in range as their
haunts were demolished. More than once I have referred
to the deliberate destruction of woods for the purpose of
ridding the land of Wolves and lesser vermin ; but the
destruction of woodland from whatever cause must have
had the like effect of decreasing their numbers and driving
them to resorts further afield.

THE COMMON SQUIRREL

One other creature amongst mammals, deserves mention
on account of its vital connection with the forest — the
Common Red Squirrel (Sciurusvulgaris). The refuse of the
prehistoric settlements affords no evidence of the presence
of the Squirrel in Scotland, nor would we expect to find
the remains of so small and shy a creature in these rude
accumulations. For even had they ever found their way to
the kitchen-midden, the liability of the small bones to
decay, and the rough and ready methods of collecting
animal remains which have too often characterized the older
excavations, place almost insuperable difficulties in the way
of their recovery.

Yet I have no doubt that the Squirrel is an ancient
native of Scotland and that this "herald of forest conditions
all over the northern hemisphere," as Professor Osborn calls
it, accompanied the woodland fauna which migrated to Britain
from the Continent in the days succeeding the Ice Age.

During long ages it held its ground throughout the
whole of Scotland. In the seventeenth century, Sir Robert
Sibbald, in his Scotia Illustrata (1684), records its presence
at one end of the country, in the woods of the southern
tract of Scotland. — " In meridionalis Plagae Scotiae Sylvis
reperitur " ; and at other end, in the far north, Sir Robert
Gordon wrote in 1630 in his History of the Earldom of
Sutherland that

All these forrests and Schases are verie profitable for the feeding of bestiall,
and delectable for hunting. They are full of reid deer and roes, woulffs,
foxes, wyld catts, brocks, skuyrells, whitrets, otters, martrixes, hares, and
fumarts.

352 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

And familiarity with its presence in the midlands is clearly
indicated in an ancient Gaelic poem, the Lament for
MacGregor of Knaro attributed to the first half of the
seventeenth century, and referring to the region of the
MacGregors in northern Perthshire :

Tho' nimble the squirrel is,
By patience may it be ta'en
and again

So joyful grew my heart

That like the squirrel could I leap.

When the Squirrel disappeared from the Lowlands, there
is no record1. It had certainly gone long before it was
mentioned as extinct, in 1841, in the New Statistical Account
of Berwickshire and Roxburghshire. In Dumbartonshire,
it seems to have been absent from the fauna in 1791.

In Argyllshire it was known between 1725 and 1745
when Alastair MacDonald, the Gaelic poet, likens its activity,
as if he had seen it, to the nimbleness of the picked sailors
of Clanranald,

Who can climb the tight hard shrouds

Of slender hemp,
Nimbly as the May-time squirrel

Up a tree trunk.

Yet here half a century later, when between 1764 and 1774
Professor Walker wrote his Mammalia Scotica, the Squirrel,
once plentiful, had now become very rare : " In sylvis Lornae
superioris, antehoc copiose, nunc rarior." In 1790, accord-
ing to the Old Statistical Account, it was "now very rare,
if not extinct'' in Lismore and Appin, and it probabry
disappeared entirely about the opening of the nineteenth
century. The New Statistical Account of 1842 records it
as formerly abundant, "but now extinct."

About the same time it disappeared from the more
northern woods. It is last mentioned in Moray in 1775,
when the Rev. Lachlan Shaw, in his history of the Province,
says that "there are still in this province foxes, badgers,
and squirrels, weasels, etc." Two years later (1777), Pennant

1 Dr Harvie-Brown contributed a long and detailed paper on the
History of the Squirrel in Great Britain to vols. v. and vi. (1879 and 1881)
of the Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh, to which I
owe most of the following record?.

EFFECTS UPON ANIMAL LIFE 353

mentions it as rare in the Spey valley: "scarce in Scotland,
a few in the woods of Strathspey." Still a few years later and
it had gone from these regions also — "I am certain" wrote
the Rev. George Gordon, "that squirrels were not known
in the lower or northern part of Elginshire, or on Speyside,
at least, from 1810."

It is unnecessary to follow the meagre details of the
Squirrel's disappearance in other areas. Nothing could seem
more fateful than this gradual dwindling and disappearance
of the Squirrel, first in the Lowlands and then, almost simul-
taneously, throughout the rest of Scotland, until not an
individual remained, except perchance a few that lurked, far
from the ways of man, in the depths of such native forests as
Rothiemurchus at the base of the Grampians.

\Vhatfar-reaching influence was telling against the welfare
of the Squirrel? It has been suggested that the Marten
aided in its extermination. But the Squirrel and the
Marten had lived together in Scotland for some thousands
of years, without, as it were, coming to serious blows ; and
so far from there being evidence of any general increase of
Martens, there are good grounds for believing that they also
were on the down grade in Scotland. The Squirrel's dis-
appearance has also been attributed to a series of severe
winters. Yet, although this may have been a factor in
temporarily reducing their numbers, it seems of itself a
cause insufficient to account for their extermination over so
wide an area.

The great far-reaching cause of the extermination of
the Squirrel was the destruction of the forest. We have
seen that at an early date the woods of southern Scotland
were destroyed to make way for cultivation and sheep pasture;
and at an early date the Squirrel disappeared from the
Lowlands. In Argyllshire its numbers began to diminish in
the middle of the eighteenth century and about the beginning
of the nineteenth it had gone. But in 1/30, the great char-
coal-using, iron-smelting furnace of Bunawe or Taynuilt, was
erected, that of Furnace in 1 750 and that of Goatfield in 1754.
In all, more than twenty slag- furnaces have been found in
Argyllshire (see Map IV, p. 320), and these bared many dis-
tricts of wood, reaching their maximum of destruction in the
nineteenth century, when the countryside was so ravished

R. 23

354 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

of its forest that the fires of the last survivors, Taynuilt and
Goatfield, had to be blown out for lack of fuel. The
Squirrel was exterminated in Argyllshire through the destruc-
tion of woodland, caused by the timber-using slag-furnaces.

In the northern counties the same factor was at work.
In 1730 large iron-furnaces were erected at Invergarry, and
at* Abernethy in Strathspey. These and their many pre-
decessors in Nairn and Inverness-shire — the numbers re-
corded from these counties by Prof. Ivison Macadam are 12,
5 and 15 respectively — had ceased to work only when the
forest within manageable distance had been consumed. The
maximum destruction wrought by them corresponds in time
with the disappearance of the Squirrel in these areas.

So it was in other regions. The Squirrel, driven from
one haunt to another, sought shelter in the deepest and
thickest woods, and these very woods, just oh account of
their depth and thickness, were those which attracted the
iron-smelters of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. The terrible havoc wrought in the forests by the
iron-furnaces was the main factor in exterminating the native
Squirrels of Scotland. A clearer case could scarcely be
found of the indirect influence upon animal life of a single
industry, for the Squirrel, whose history we have traced in
some detail, may be looked upon as simply a type of the
forest denizen.

The introduction by man of a fresh race of Squirrels to
Scotland has been described in another connection (p. 290)
but this again affords corroborative evidence of the influence
of forest destruction, for it was the general replanting of
woodland in the latter part of the eighteenth century which
gave the Squirrel a new lease of life and led again to its
rapid spread throughout the country.

THE CAPERCAILLIE

The influence of forest destruction would be very partially
traced were no further reference made to its effect upon
bird-life ; and no bird could afford a more typical test case
than the forest-haunting Capercaillie, the "Cock-of-the-
Woods." It was a bird well known to our predecessors.
Probably at one time it inhabited the whole country, but I

EFFECTS UPON ANIMAL LIFE 355

do not remember any instance where its bones have been
found in a Scottish prehistoric settlement, although they
have been found in the ancient kitchen-middens of Denmark.
The furthest south record in Scotland of the native stock of
Capercaillies appears to be the somewhat indeterminate
remark of the Rev J. Hendrick in his View ofArran (1807)
that they "formerly abounded" in that Island. This occur-
rence may represent the last survivors of a Lowland stock,
for it certainly lies beyond the bounds of the general distri-
bution of the bird in Scotland as history has recorded it.

It is true that Hector Boece's statement in 1526 may be
taken to indicate a general distribution :

Mony uthir fowlis ar in Scotland, quhilkis ar sene in na uthir partis of the
warld; as capercailye, ane foul mair [greater] than ane ravin, quhilk leiffis
allanerlie of barkis of treis [Bellenden's Translation].

But, half a century later, Bishop Jhone Leslie, who was
perhaps more familiar with the country, shows clearly that
the range of the Caper was limited:

"In Rosse and Loquhaber," he writes in 1578, as translated by Father
Dalrymple, "and vthiris places amang hilis <Sc knowis, ar nocht in missing
fir trie sufficient, quhair oft sittis a certane foul and verie rare called the
Capercalye, to name, with the vulgar peple, the horse of the forrest, les
indeid than the corbie, quhilke pleises- thair mouth, quha eitis her, with a
gentle taste, maist acceptable."

How Leslie could have described the bird as being less than
a corbie, or having a "gentle taste," I do not understand;
but probably tastes, like manners, change, for theCock-of-the-
Woods found a place as frequently as its rarity would allow
on the tables of the nobility. At the royal hunt on the Braes
of Athole in 1529, the Duke "maid great and gorgeous
provisioun for him [King James V] in all things pertaining
to ane prince " and in the long list of fowls served was
the Capercaillie. In the sixteenth century, therefore, history
traces its presence from the wilds of Perthshire northwards
through Inverness to Ross.

The records of the succeeding century are more complete
and more interesting. The Capercaillie still inhabited
Perthshire: in 1617, King James VI hinted to the Earl of
Tullibardine that on account of his " dutiful affection to the
good of our service and your countrie's credite," he should
cause

23—2

356 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

to be now and then sent to us by way of present... the known commoditie
yee have to provide, capercaillies and termigantis....The raritie of these
foules will both make their estimation the more pretious, and confirm the
good opinion conceaved of the good cheare to be had there.

In Perthshire the bird is always referred to as rare. It is
no wonder, therefore, that when the " Laird of Glenorquhy "
sent a Capercaillie to Prince Charles of Wales at Perth in
February 1651, the King "accepted it weel as a raretie, for
he had never seen any of them before." It is strange that
while it was so scarce in the wild midlands the Capercaillie
should have been common in the eastern counties, yet Robert
Edward, the minister of Murroes, Montrose, in an account
of Angus published in 1678, writes to the effect that "The
mountains and heaths abound with partridge, Capercaillies,
and plover, etc. etc." It is less strange that in the wilds of
Aberdeenshire, Taylor, the Water Poet, should have found
"Caperkellies" included in the "great variety of cheere"
furnished him by the "goode Lord Erskine" during his
visit to the " Brea of Marr" in 1618; or that in the dense
forests of Sutherland, Sir Robert Gordon should have to
record in 1630 that "there is great store of partridges,
pluivers, capercalegs " and many others.

Notwithstanding a local plenty, we cannot help feeling
that, even in the early years of the seventeenth century, the
Capercaillie was already suffering from the disappearance ot
the forests, for in 1621, the Scottish Parliament prohibited
the buying and selling of, amongst others, "Caperkayllies"
under penalty of "ane hundreth pounds money."

But the law did little to save the Capercaillie from
extinction, for the records of the eighteenth century clearly
show a diminishing range with a steady drift northwards.
There is now no mention of the bird in the eastern counties
or even in Perthshire. It inhabited Speyside in 1745 ; but in
1754, Burt says it "is very seldom to be met with" in the
north of Scotland, and in 1775, when Shaw described it as
"become rare" in Moray, probably it was already extinct.
At any rate, the last example said to have been seen in
Scotland was in the woods of Strathglass in Inverness-shire
in 1762, although Pennant states in an indefinite way that it
was "still to be met with" in "Glen-Moriston, and east of
that Straith Glas" at the time of his tour of Scotland in

EFFECTS UPON ANIMAL LIFE 357

1769. Its extermination is generally set down to about the
year 1770.

Now the Capercaillie is a bird of the forest, without
which it could not survive, for although it nests on the
ground at the base of trees, it roosts in the branches and
feeds upon the tender shoots of the pine. The destruction
of the forest, therefore, would tell directly against its welfare,
and it is not surprising that it should have gradually dwindled
in numbers and that its range should have been slowly but
surely curtailed during the many centuries of destruction of
the woodland ; until, with the climax of devastation brought
about by the great slag-furnaces of the eighteenth century,
it should finally have disappeared.

Just so the destruction of woodland banished the. Caper-
caillie from Ireland.

The reintroduction of the Capercaillie from Scandinavia
in 1837 and 1838, and its successful establishment and spread
when new woods had arisen to give it shelter and food, have
been described in another place (p. 268) and there as here
I have depended for records mainly on the excellent and
detailed history of the bird in Scotland published in 1879
by Dr J. A. Harvie-Brown.

THE GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER

It may be said that deliberate destruction by man had
much to do with the disappearance of the Capercaillie.
I hardly think that its slaughter for food or sport was a sig-
nificant element in its extinction, but, nevertheless, it cannot
fail to strengthen this account of the influence of the destruc-
tion of the forest upon animal life to trace the history of
a woodland bird which is free from the animosity of man.
Consider, for example, the history of the Great Spotted
Woodpecker (Picus major), as a Scottish residenter. Its
story, too, has been unravelled by Dr Harvie-Brown.

There is no reason why, in the old days, the Great Spotted
Woodpecker should not have dwelt throughout the Scotland
of the great forests. But also there is no reason why a
bird of no interest to the hawker or the sportsman should
receive the attention of the historian. So no records exist
of the occurrence of the Great Spotted Woodpecker in

358 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

the Lowlands, which had been denuded of wood long before
the modern all-enquiring phase of natural history was
born. History, and very modern history at that, records
the nesting of the Great Spotted Woodpecker only in the
more northern counties, in Banffshire, Aberdeenshire and
Inverness-shire. It is to be remembered that autumn im-
migrations of the Great Spotted Woodpecker to Scotland
from the Continent occur with fair regularity, so that care
has to be taken lest confusion arise between mere temporary
visitors and true residenters. The following records, there-
fore, refer only to nesting birds.

About the years 1830 to 1840, the brothers Stuart were
familiar with the Great Spotted Woodpecker on the Spey,
and especially in the woods of Tarnaway bordering the
Moray Firth :

The Northern Woodpecker comes to breed in the spring and remains until
the decline of summer. Many of the old dead firs are pierced with its holes.

Writing in 1840, Professor MacGillivray of Aberdeen Uni-
versity says that it is

resident in the woods [of Dee] ; it occurs, but very rarely, in all parts of
the district, from Banchory to Glen Lui. In Mar Forest and the Invercauld
woods, it is less frequent than it was some years ago.

Already the few observers had noted that it was seriously
on the decrease, and soon afterwards it had entirely disap-
peared. Apart from the testimony of naturalists who had
found its nesting places, and of woodsmen who remembered
it as a breeding species, the forests of the north country
retained abundant evidence of its presence. Mr E. T. Booth
in his Rough Notes on the Birds observed, etc., 1881—7, says

The remains of the old timber in the Valley of the Spey, and in many other
parts of Inverness and the adjoining counties, indicate that Woodpeckers
were formerly numerous in those districts... On some of the largest and
oldest trees, I have counted from twenty to thirty holes bored right into
the centre of the stem.

Dr Harvie-Brown has also recorded his observation of widely
distributed nesting sites and has concluded that while

the most noted haunts of the bird, and localities always quoted by the
natives of Strathspey, were Carncruinch — once wooded to the summit with
old pine — in Rothiemurchus, and the old wood of The Crannich, in Duthil;
Castle Grant woods, near Grantown ; Tarnaway. on the Findhorn ; and

EFFECTS UPON ANIMAL LIFE 359

Abernethy generally... it must have spread widely over all the old wooded
tracts of Spey and Findhorn, as well as north of the Caledonian Canal.

The consensus of recorded observation and of opinions
elicited from woodsmen by Dr Harvie-Brown set down the
date of its disappearance as between 1840 and 1850.

Various suggestions have been made as to the cause

Fig. 61. Great Spotted Woodpecker — at one period exterminated as a nesting
species in Scotland. About $ nat. size.

of its gradual extermination — the enmity of Squirrels, the
stealing of nesting-holes by increasing numbers of Star-
lings, and the destruction of the forest. The Squirrel
was not a prime cause, for the Woodpeckers declined in
numbers even while the Squirrel was disappearing. The
Starling is an enemy to be reckoned with in the neigh-
bourhood of human habitations, but there is no evidence

360 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

that it frequented the thick forests where the Woodpeckers
found a home. On the other hand, there is evidence
that the progressive destruction of the forest, especially
by the iron-furnaces, was accompanied by the progressive
decrease of the Great Spotted Woodpecker, and Dr Harvie-
Brown has shown that the years of its complete and almost
sudden disappearance, 1840 to 1850, were marked by "vast
and general destruction or burning of old trees," such as
the bird selects for its nesting holes.

Here is tolerably clear testimony that the Great Spotted
Woodpecker was banished from Scotland by the destruction
of the woodland. And to-day we have corroborative evidence
of the influence of forest, for the replanting of many years
ago has now borne fruit in woods of such trees as have again
induced the Woodpecker to remain as a nester. It has become
tolerably and increasingly common in the woods of Lowland
Scotland, where it has been absent at any rate since the great
forests were destroyed ; so that from the southern borders
it now ranges to the Firth of Forth. It has taken up its abode
anew in parts of Perthshire, as at Dunkeld and Pitlochry, and
soon, if fresh destruction of woodland has not interfered with
Nature's ways, we may hope to see it occupying the ancestral
haunts in the pine forests of Speyside. With the forest it
disappeared and with the forest it has come again.

CONCLUSIONS REGARDING FOREST DESTRUCTION

These typical examples of the histories of forest beasts
and birds show better than any general statement could have
done the vital -influence which the destruction of the woods
of Scotland has had upon the native fauna. It may be
objected that the conclusions I have drawn are exaggerated ;
that had the disappearance of the forest been the prime cause
of extermination, all the forest creatures would have disap-
peared simultaneously. But this is not so. Various creatures
depend on the forest in different degree : some for temporary
shelter, some for food, some for breeding-places ; and the
rapidity of the extermination of a forest animal is a function
not only of the destruction of the forest, but also of the vital
connection of the creature with the forest. Compare the
cases of the Squirrel and the Great Spotted WToodpecker,

EFFECTS UPON ANIMAL LIFE 361

both in former times tolerably free from the direct interference
of man. The former disappeared, reappeared (mainly by
introduction), and increased with extraordinary rapidity while
the latter was steadily on the decline. The reason appears
to lie in this, that while the older trees favoured by the
Woodpeckers were gradually being destroyed, new planting
had created a fresh supply of food which satisfied and en-
couraged the Squirrel. But these new plantations had no
power to check the decline of the Woodpecker, to which old
trees only are of value for nesting, so that, apparently in the
midst of plenty, it was starved for lack of nesting sites.

While I have chosen typical forest animals to illustrate
the effects of the destruction of the forest, it must not be
forgotten that the influence of the destruction spread far and
wide throughout the native fauna. While only creatures
vitally connected with woodland suffered extinction, every
animal that sought the woods at one part or another of the
year, for food, for breeding, or for temporary shelter, suffered
in its numbers, in its range or in its habits from the disap-
pearance of its haunts. It is not necessary to suppose that
a complete disappearance of woods was necessary to influence
the forest animals, for to many of them constant disturbance
of their lairs or breeding-places is almost as fatal as the total
destruction of these places of rest and shelter.
t Yet it must not be forgotten that if the destruction of the
forest told heavily against the woodland creatures, it favoured
the increase of other races, for " give and take " is one of
Nature's fundamental principles. A single recent example,
recorded in the Field of 1908 from the Game Book of a
Perthshire estate, will sufficiently illustrate this truth. In the
season 1820-21 the bag of Grouse on this estate numbered
259. Immediately afterwards the moor was planted, and
the Grouse disappeared. In the early seventies the timber
came to maturity and was cut down, and in 1873-4, where
few Grouse had been seen for fifty years, 252 were killed.
The destruction of woodland prepared the way for new
growths of heather and for the return and increase of Grouse.

I cannot turn from this study of the relationship between
forests and animals without wondering to what extent the.
new and wide destruction of Scottish woods, caused by the
needs of the War, will affect the few truly. forest animals which

362 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST

survive from the old fauna. That it will have its influence
cannot be doubted : the Wild Cat and the Pine Marten will
be driven still further into the diminishing wilds, the increase
of the Squirrel may be checked, the Woodpecker may cease
its colonizing. The naturalist can only hope that, without
delay, new forests may arise on the ruins of the old, to save
not the least interesting of our wild creatures from a fresh
period of decline and death.

CHAPTER VII

INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION
AND CIVILIZATION

No more the heath fowl there her nestling brood
Fosters ; no more the dreary plover plains ;
And when, from frozen regions of the pole,
The wintry bittern to his wonted haunt,
On weary wing returns, he finds the marsh
Into a joyless stubble-ridge transformed,
And mounts again to seek some watery wild.

GRAHAM'S British Georgics.

BETWEEN the ways of Man and the rule of wild Nature
there is inevitable strife. Just as the wastes of Nature are
invaded by the plough, just so the original plants and animals
of a district are disturbed or dispersed ; and as the economic
necessity becomes more insistent and cultivation more intense,
so much the deeper becomes the disturbance and the more
certain the doom of the early associations. If the "lowing
herd " is to wind "slowly o'er the lea," we may listen no more
for the bleat of the Snipe and the call of the Curlew; if waving
cornfields are to fill our valleys and climb our hill-sides, we
shall no more see the Great Bustard and his companions
of the open plains. The civilization of cities and villages, of
mills and factories, of tramways, motor cars and railways has
banished peace from the valleys, and the places where man
has been most successful are those which most certainly shall
know the presence of the wild no more. Yet, in spite of all
the disruption, animal life has more than held its own, for cul-
tivation and increase in numbers go hand in hand. Although
many species have disappeared, the variety and the volume
of life are greater.

The influence of man on animal life is most intimately
bound up with the progress of civilization, and while some
results of this progress have been discussed in other chapters,

364 INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

it is proposed to confine this to evidences of the more im-
mediate effects of the cultivation of the soil and of the ways
of civilized life. In four marked directions these influences
have tended. To one set of animals, unable to accommodate
themselves to the changes, they have meant reduction in
numbers, restriction of range, and even extermination ; to
another set, less fixed in habit, the new conditions have
merely afforded new opportunities of increase and expansion ;
in some ways they have made easy the dispersal of animals
in fresh areas ; and in many a creature they have actually
induced the adoption of new habits of life.

VII. i

DECREASE OF ANIMAL LIFE

IN various ways, cultivation and the ramifications of
civilization have tended to limit the numbers of our native
animals. In the main this type of influence is due to inter-
ference with habits, destruction of breeding haunts and feed-
ing grounds, and to a variety of side issues which have arisen
through the introduction of the amenities of civilization. The
causes which have led to the decrease in numbers, restriction
of range or extinction of native creatures, are here discussed
in three groups — the breaking in of waste land, the reclama-
tion of swamps, and the interference of civilization.

BREAKING IN OF WASTE LAND

The appearance of Scotland when all the country was
forest or moor, wild meadow, swamp or loch, can scarcely
be conceived at the present day, so much has cultivation
and the breaking in of the "waste" changed its aspect
and nature. No change has been so far-reaching in altering
the distribution of animal life. Many of the birds which
to-day nest on the moorlands once spread over the whole
countryside ; many an animal roved in freedom upon the
plains which now drags out a meagre existence in the recesses
of the hills. It is not easy to trace this change in distribution
from historical records, for the early historians were no
naturalists, except when they had some "mervaille" to dis-
close, and there was nothing to appeal to their imagination
in the scarcely noticeable decline of once familiar beasts and
birds. Even so, in the sixteenth century Hector Boece re-
marked the antipathy between Nature's folk and the proximity
of man :

In all boundis of Scotland, except thay partis quhair continewall habitatioun
of peple makis impediment thairto, is gret plente of haris, hartis, Hindis,
dayis, rais, wolffis, wild hors, and toddis.

366

INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

No group of animals has suffered in this respect more
than the birds of the plains. Indeed, it seems as if cultiva-
tion, which has already blotted some of them from the fauna
of Scotland, may in time exterminate the whole race of these
ground-nesting birds which for safety prefer speed of limb
to flight — much as flightless birds have disappeared wherever
they have encountered civilization.

No larger or more handsome bird ever lived and bred
in Britain than the GREAT BUSTARD (Otis tarda). Once it

Fig. 62. Great Bustard (male and female) — formerly a native of Scotland. T\ nat. size.

may have nested in the Lowlands of Scotland in numbers such
as still are to be found in outlying districts of Spain, far from
the bustle of mankind; but already in the sixteenth century
the spread of cultivation had reduced it to a last remnant.
Of its occurrence in the Merse in Berwickshire, Hector
Boece says :

Beside thir thre uncouth kind of fowlis [capercailyie, muir-fowl, and black-
game], is ane uthir kind of fowlis in the Mers, mair uncouth, namit gustardis,
als mukle as ane swan ; hot in colour of thair fedderis, and gust [taste] of
thair flesche, thay ar litil different fra ane pertrick [partridge]. Thir last

DECREASE OF ANIMAL LIFE

367

fowlis ar not frequent, but in few noumer; and sa far haitis the cumpany of
man, that gif thay find thair eggis aindit [handled] or twichit be men, thay
leif thaim, and layis eggis in ane uthir place. Thay lay thair eggis in the
bair erd.

I know of no later reference to the breeding of the Great
Bustard in Scotland. It has disappeared from our country
as completely as the Wolf or the Brown Bear, and others of
its kind are following.

Once the QUAIL (Coturnix coturnix] was common

in

Fig- 63. Quails — once common in Scotland, now scarce, f nat. size.

Britain, nesting often, but more frequently appearing in
migrating flocks which stayed over winter into spring. Quail
hunting was a favourite sport in England, and "quail-calls"
for luring the quarry were articles of commerce. In Scotland
too, Quails seem to have been abundant up to the middle of
the sixteenth century for in 1551 their price was fixed at 2d.
apiece — the price of a Snipe, half the price of a Woodcock.
In the succeeding century, however, a decrease in their
numbers, no doubt due to the advance of agriculture, caused
the law to impose a heavy penalty of /ioo upon any person

368 INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

who bought or sold Quails, and brought about in 1685 the
institution of a close season from the first day of Lent till
the first day of July. Thirteen years later, still dwindling
numbers caused the passing of a new Act, which on the
ground that Quails had become scarce, forbade anyone to
make use of setting dogs with nets for taking them during
the following seven years under pain of 40 merks Scots.
Nowadays the Quail is a scarce bird, though its numbers
vary from year to year, and as a regular nester it has all but
disappeared. The intense cultivation of the valleys and the
invention of close-mowing hay-cutters and reapers, which
destroy birds and nests as well, has cut off the last chance
of survival of the Quail in Scotland. The implication of
mechanical reapers in this extermination is tolerably clear.
One exception has to be made to the statement that the
Quail has ceased to breed regularly in Scotland. In Shet-
land it nests more frequently than elsewhere in Scotland,
and why? It seems reasonable to associate its persistence
there with the fact that in the fields of Shetland the
"reaper" is unknown. There, after the manner of the old
days, the scythe or the sickle still mows the waving corn,
and the Quail reaps the benefit of such peace as a primitive
cultivation gives.

The CORNCRAKE (Crex crex] seems to be following in
the trail of its relative. My own impression is that its call
is now less common in the Scottish valleys I know best.
Bird of the cultivated land though it be, experience has
already taught many of its kind to desert the cultivated area
and nest in the rough corners of the fields. It may be
that the field-nesters are being gradually eliminated by the
perfection of the modern reaping-machine.

Even LAPWINGS, wearied of the disturbances of cultiva-
tion, are said more and more to be seeking safe nesting-places
on" the wild slopes of the moors, for the Peewit, homely bird
as it is, is sensitive to repeated interference, and seldom
remains in a place where its eggs are destroyed time and
again, either by agricultural operations or by egg-collectors.

These are simple illustrations of the restrictive effects of
cultivation, but perhaps the extension of arable land or the
consequent decrease of the larger members of the wild fauna
have had almost as much to do with the gradual disappearance

DECREASE OF ANIMAL LIFE 369

of some beasts and birds of prey, and certainly of the Badger,
as the active measures which have been taken against them
by man on account of their depredations. In newly settled
countries cause and effect are more easily traced. Before the
settlers reached California from the east, the "Jack- Rabbit"
(Lepus texianus] swarmed in fertile valleys and plains. In the
earlier settlement days it proved so serious a menace to the
crops that rabbit-drives on a large scale became a feature of
western life. At a single drive in 1896 in Fresno, 20,000
" Rabbits" were slain. Twenty years pass, and we learn from
the American Museum Journal '(Jan. 1917) that the custom is
forgotten. Partly owing to the warfare against them, but also
in great degree to the advance of cultivation, the "Rabbits"
have been driven from the cultivated grounds to the rough
uncultivated foothills ; for several thousands of orchards and
vineyards, market gardens and dairies have replaced the
grain-fields of the comparatively few and large farms of a
quarter of a century ago.

With the breaking in of the wild banks and braes — "the
burnin' yellow's awa that was aince a-lowe, On the braes o'
whin " — the nesting sites for many small birds and shelter
for many small rodents and insectivores have disappeared,
to the grievous reduction of their kinds.

It is not easy to lay to its charge all the evil influences
cultivation has exercised upon wild animal life. Its ways of
working are many and subtle. Take, for example, the case
of the disappearance. of Butterflies.

"Account for it as we may," says Mr William Evans in his Fauna of the
Forth, " there is abundant evidence that butterflies were formerly more
plentiful in the district [of "Forth"] than they are now; indeed we seem to
have lost quite a number of species in the course of the last century. In the
older lists, we find Vanessa c -album 1, Pararge megara*, Pamphila tinea3, and
Pamphila silvanus*, all of which must have vanished long ago, and I fear the
Orange-tip, Peacock, Speckled Wood, and Ringlet — species I used to get in
the Lothians when a boy but never see now — have gone also."

Cultivation is probably the culprit ; the wild food plant of
the caterpillar has been destroyed in the old haunts, shelter-
ing hedgerows have been removed, the dust and grime of
towns and traffic have rendered existence impossible. Even
where the final stage, extermination, has not been reached,

1 Comma Butterfly. 2 Wall B.

3 Small Skipper B. 4 Large Skipper B.

370 INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

the replacing of once universally distributed food-plants by
pasture and arable land has led to the localization of many
species of insects.

Perhaps the same vague influences have to do with the
gradual disappearance of the Ring Ouzel on the Pentlands,
where it nested commonly in the seventies of last century,
according to Lieut. -Colonel Wedderburn's List, but where
it is now seldom to be seen.

In odd, unthought-of ways, too, cultivation tells. Arti-
ficial manure is spread wherever arable land is known, but
who takes into account its effect on the small inhabitants of
the soil, except in the case of a few kinds of grubs on the
farmer's black list ? Yet the effect of artificial manure may
be evident enough even on large creatures, for of a flock
of wild geese, Pink-footed and Barnacle, which, in the
spring of 1917 after the shooting season ended, moved
from the marshes of the Solway to feed on the adjoining
fields, no fewer than 200 were found dead ; and their deaths
were attributed to a new chemical manure with which the
fields had been dressed. (Field, 5 May, 1917.)

RECLAMATION OF SWAMPS

The extraordinary extent to which the present land surface
of our country is due to the disappearance of swamp can be
realized only by picturing the conditions which held in Scot-
land about the time of the arrival of man in the country. Ex-
cessive humidity had followed upon a dry period when forest
growth had made great progress. Waste waters collected;
swamps formed to such an extent that the forest trees rotted,
and falling, encouraged the formation of still deeper morasses,
until a large part of Scotland was little better than peat-moss.
Dryer climatic conditions and the growth of vegetation have
done much to convert the swamp to dry land, but man also
has played his part ever since the days of the Bronze Age,
when the rubbish cast from the island platforms upon which
his lake-villages stood contributed to the disappearance of
the very lakes which gave him security.

The Romans possessed the art of draining lakes and
swamps. The mansions of London rise where once the Curlew
and the Bittern, Wild Ducks and W'ater-Hens lived and

DECREASE OF ANIMAL LIFE 371

nested ; Pimlico was largely built upon piles, and Sir Charles
Lucas recorded in his address to the British Association in
1914, that he had heard a lady tell how her grandfather used
to say that in the heart of the district where Belgrave Square
now stands he had shot Snipe. The same authority records
that in the last three centuries the amount of land recovered
from the marshes of Lincolnshire alone must have been more
than 500 sq. miles.

In Scotland a similar condition of things held. Herodian
describes the Caledonians as wearing neither coat of mail
nor helmet, lest they should be impeded in their marches
through bogs and morasses — whence such quantity of vapour
was exhaled that the air was always thick and cloudy. Even
in the sixteenth century, the country was generously supplied
with swamps.

" Everywhere," says Professor Hume Brown in describing Scotland in the
time of Queen Mary, " there were numerous mosses, lochans, and even
lochs, which have long since disappeared, and the disappearance of which
has materially altered the general aspect of the country. To take but one
example, in Blaeu's map of Fife, there are some twenty lochs or lochans,
several of them as large as the present Loch Leven, of which there is little
or no trace at the present day."

At a still later date wild-fowl frequented marshes in the heart
of modern Edinburgh — in the Nor' Loch now occupied by
Princes Street Gardens, and in the large Borough Loch
which occupied the site of the Meadows and regarding
which the proclamation was made in 1581 that " na gyrs
[grass] women or utheris pas within the South Loch to
sheir the gyrs thereof, hary the burdis nestis, tak away the
eggs of the saming before Midsymer nixt."

How has the reclamation of such sheets of water affected
the natural associations of animals? The amount of bird life
which has been banished may be judged from a statement
said to have been made by William of Malmesbury, who lived
in the twelfth century, to the effect that the Lincolnshire
Fens were so covered with Coots and Ducks and the flashes
[pools] with fowl, that in moulting-time, when the birds were
unable to fly, the natives could take two or three thousand
at a draught with their nets. Old records show that the
marshes of Scotland were not less rich in bird life. In the
sixteenth century Boece said of Loch Spynie, near Elgin,
now all but vanished through the influence of man,

24—2

372 INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

In Murray, is ane loch namit Spynee quhair gret plente is of swannis. The
cause quhy the swannis multiplyis so fast in this loch is throw ane herbe
namit Olour, quhilk burgeonis with gret fertilitie in the said loch, and the
seed of it is richt nurisand and delicius to swannis. This herbe is sa brudy
that quhair it is anis sawin or plantit it can nevir be destroyit; as may be
provin be experience: for thought this loch be V milis lang, and wes sum
tyme as the memorie of man yet beris, full of salmond and uthir gret fische,
yit, fra this herbe began to burgeon in it, the waiter is growin sa schauld,
than ane man may waid throw the maist partis thairof ; and therefore, all
manir of gret fische is quit evanist out of it. [Bellenden's Translation.]

And now the Swans and cygnets, which, as other accounts
tell us, were so numerous as often to darken the air in their
flight, have disappeared with the draining of the loch.

Even where swamps were not completely drained the
reduction in area which took place in many lochs must have
greatly diminished the numbers of wild fowl. In 1810 the
Loch of Forfar, a fine body of water, was so drained that its
circumference was reduced from not less than four English
miles to two, and its depth decreased by ten feet. The water
in Loch Leven was lowered in 1830 by nine feet and the
area contracted from 4312 to 3545 acres. In 1629, Lowther
on his journey noted that here

there [be] great store of almost [i.e. most all] kinds of wild fowl, of wild
geese, there being continually seen 3000 or 4000, and swans many, the swans
will not suffer any foreign swan to be with them, in stormy weather the old
swans will carry the young ones on the wings off the water. ...They dry them
in their chimneys like red herrings1.

Though Loch Leven is still one of the most richly stocked
lochs in civilized Scotland the numbers of wild animals can-
not compare with those of former days. Not only have wild
fowl suffered, but the greater competition for food induced
by the smaller area of the feeding-ground has resulted in the
disappearance of that interesting fish, the red-bellied Char,
the last example of which was caught a few years before
1844, whereas in Lowther's time it was common.

Two sets of animals have been reduced in numbers or
have disappeared with the draining of the lakes and marshes.
The permanent inhabitants of these areas, their fishes, frogs,
newts and lesser denizens have gone, and following on the
disappearance of these true denizens has come that of the

1 It is possible that the last sentence refers to the fishes of the Loch,
though Lowther's grammatical arrangement gives no ground for that belief.

DECREASE OF ANIMAL LIFE 373

creatures which fed upon them, such as the marsh-fre-
quenting birds, and the Otter, still a characteristic in-
habitant of the Norfolk "Broads."

To take first a few actual examples of the effects upon
denizens : The remains of hundreds of Common Frogs and
Toads, and those possibly of the Natterjack Toad, now
unknown north of the Scottish shores of the Solway Firth,
have been found in deposits of the Neolithic period, in the
Bone Cave of Allt nan Uamh in western Sutherland, where
no marsh has existed for long ages and where now even the
burn itself runs underground. It is true that, in the locality
mentioned, nature and not man has been the reclaiming agent,
but this does not affect the example as typifying one obvious
result of disappearing marshes — the disappearance of crea-
tures vitally associated with them.

The vanishing of two of the humbler inhabitants of the
swamps is also worth recording, on account of their special
interest to man. With the marshes and wet places perished
the main breeding-places of the Mosquito, the larvae of
which live in shallow pools; and since the Mosquito conveys
to man the germ of malaria or ague, with the Mosquito dis-
appeared that dreaded disease, which was once far more
common in Scotland and England than it is at present (see
p. 508). In the same way, the draining of the fields has
ruined the home of a Pond Snail (Limn&a trnncatula},
the host in which one stage of the Liver-fluke (Fasciola
hepatica] develops. But a single break in its life-history
extirpates the Liver-fluke, and the ultimate result of the
disappearance of the Pond Snail has been that from many
districts liver-rot in sheep, which was caused by the adult
Liver-flukes, has been entirely banished; so that reclamation
has all but removed a fatal disease which formerly caused a
loss of sheep in the United Kingdom estimated at a million
a year.

Nor must we forget that the numbers of microscopically
small inhabitants have been even more seriously reduced, for
some of these are particularly sensitive to alterations in
physical conditions. In the summer of 1897, Dr Thomas
Scott found an artificial pond in the neighbourhood of Edin-
burgh swarming with the Water- flea, Daphnia pulex. Seven
weeks later, as the result of a spell of dry weather, the pond

374

INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

was much reduced in size and not a single Water-flea could be
found. If a reduction in level has so marked results, what
must have been the effect on the myriads of smaller in-
habitants of the waters of the draining of hundreds of
square miles of swamp ?

Remembering those transformations of swamp into dry
land which have taken place over the whole country, we can
easily understand how creatures whose sustenance depends
upon the waters, such as the birds of the fens, have fallen

Fig. 64. Bittern — banished from Scotland with the marshes. £ nat. size.

off in numbers or have forsaken our land. Consider the cases
of two marsh birds which played an important part in our
predecessors' dietary, — the Bittern and the Crane.

The former abundance of the BITTERN (Botaurus stellaris]
(Fig. 64) in the fens of England, where Bittern-fowling was
long a favourite sport, itself would suggest that the "bittour"
which "bumbleth in the mire" must have bred in the marshes
of the northern kingdom. Fortunately there is stronger
testimony of its Scottish domicile, for it is clear from a law

DECREASE OF ANIMAL LIFE ;-;

passed in 1600, during the reign of James VI, that the
" bittour >: was a hawking quarry of the court of that period,
since it is specifically protected along with many other birds
— " sik kynde of fowles commonly used to be chased with
halkes" (see p. 203). Further in 1630 Sir Robert Gordon
wrote of the northern parts " ther is great store [in Suther-
land] of. . . be wters. "

At the present day in Scotland only a rare straggler of

Fig. 65. Crane — a former inhabitant of Scottish marsh-lands. ^ nat. size.

the species occurs on migration, the last I have seen being
a specimen which having lost its way, was found in Harris
in the spring of 1917, starved to death for lack of the main-
land marshes where once it could have fed and nested.

There is also definite evidence of the occurrence in
Scotland of the CRANE (Grus grus) (Fig. 65) — a heron -
like bird distinguished by its fine large wing plumes — ior
Dr Eagle Clarke identified a limb bone of this bird from the
refuse of the Roman station at Newstead near Melrose.
That it was a common bird in the Scottish marshes of

376 INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

the sixteenth century is shown by Bishop Leslie's remark
that in Scotland there were " Cranes anew [enough] as
lykwyse herounis." Further we may justly compare the
conditions here with those in Ireland, where the Crane
occurred in great numbers, judging from the account of
Giraldus Cambrensis who, in the twelfth century, related
that in that country Cranes were often found in flocks of a
hundred : " uno in grege centum, et circiter hanc numerum
frequenter invenias,"and a manuscript of whose work in the
British Museum clearly shows a distinction between the
Crane and the Heron, which are illustrated side by side.
The distinction indicated by the figures is worth mentioning,
because in early Scottish and other records, the name
"Crane" is frequently applied to the Heron. Thus when I
find that in 1541, John Soutar, in reward for acting as
fowler of Cupar Abbey was to receive for a " Crane " or a
Swan five shillings, or that an Act of the Scots Parliament
of 1551 fixed the price of the "Crane" at five shillings,
or that Martin wrote in 1703 regarding "Cranes" in Skye,
that " of this latter sort I have seen sixty on the shore in a
flock together," I am uncertain whether the references are
to Cranes or Herons. I am inclined to believe, however,
that the latter is the bird signified, for in the very complete
list of prices of wild fowl fixed by the Statute of 1551,
the item "the cran five shillings," clearly indicates the
Heron, for it is highly improbable that the true Crane
would have been mentioned and the commoner Heron
omitted, as it would otherwise be, when such birds as Larks,
Woodcock, and Plovers are specifically enumerated. It is
still a common practice in some districts of Scotland and
England to call the Heron a " Crane."

The Crane has long ceased to breed in Scotland, and
now occurs only rarely even as a bird of passage. I n England,
as in Scotland, the reclamation of the marshes has completely
banished it, for although it bred in East Anglia till 1590
and appeared as a regular migrant till a later period, there
too it has been unknown as a regular visitor for many a
year.

These are but typical examples of the fates of marsh-
loving birds. Many more must have suffered with them.
There can be little doubt that such as Herons and Curlews

DECREASE OF ANIMAL LIFE 377

have shared in their decline, though definite statements
cannot be made in the absence of early historical refer-
ences, which might give a clue to former distribution and
abundance ; and who knows but that the frog-haunted
swamps of past ages may have afforded sustenance even to
the Stork, which Fordun records as having nested upon the
Cathedral of St Giles in Edinburgh in the year 1416?

The swamps of the low country are gone, for the marsh
lovers "the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried
up," and their tenants are exterminated, or have betaken
themselves to the moors. New conditions of life have
imposed new habits, and I imagine that the annual move-
ments of Curlews and other moorland birds from seashore
to uplands have been created or at any rate magnified
by the removal of the lowland flats and fens, from which
the seashore was but a step away. Yet less often than our
forefathers did, we hear the welcome calls of the marsh birds,
telling by their return that winter has passed and spring-
is at hand, as the old south-country rhyme has it, " Whaup,
Whimbrel an' Plover, when they whustle the warst o't's
over."

THE INTERFERENCE OF CIVILIZATION

Not only direct trenching on their favourite sites has
influenced the wild creatures, but many of the developments
of civilization have affected their numbers.

DESTRUCTION BY LIGHTHOUSES AND OTHER LIGHTS

The influence of artificial lights is not of much importance
in the ultimate relationships of a fauna, yet it illustrates very
effectively the destructive tendency of some of the amenities
of our later civilization. Lighthouses and lightships, scat-
tered in ever-increasing numbers round the rocky shores of
Scotland to guide sailors to safety, lure every year thousands
of winged migrants to their doom, — in Tennyson's words

The beacon's blaze allures

. " The bird of passage till he madly strikes

Against it, and beats out his weary life.

The solitary beams seem to possess a fatal attraction for
both birds and moths, especially on foggy nights when they
are compelled to travel at low altitudes. At such times

378 INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

myriads of birds hover around and dash against the stout
glass of the lantern with such vehemence that the sea around
becomes covered with thousands of dead bodies.

" Hosts of glittering objects " wrote Dr Eagle Clarke, of migration at the
Eddystone Lighthouse, " birds resplendent as it were in burnished gold,
were fluttering in, or crossing at all angles, the brilliant revolving beams of
light. Those which winged their way up the beams towards the lantern were
innumerable, and resembled streaks of approaching light. These either
struck the glass, or, recovering themselves, passed out of the ray ere the
fatal focal point was reached. Those which simply crossed the rays were
illuminated for a moment only, and became mere spectres on passing into
the gloom beyond. Some of those which struck fell like stones from their
violent contact with the glass ; while others glanced off more or less
injured or stunned to perish miserably in the surf below."

Even refinements of invention may make their influ-
ence felt. The Field records that since the lighthouse at
the Skaw was fitted with a revolving in place of a fixed
light, the number of birds attracted to their destruction has
increased enormously. On the night of 1 1 October 1907 no
fewer than 1000 birds of different kinds were killed by flying
against the lighthouse windows. And again, the alteration
of the light of the Galloper Lightship from white to red,
stayed the destruction, for whereas, Dr Eagle Clarke informs
me, the keepers when relieved from duty formerly took
ashore clothes-baskets full of Larks, now no migrants
approach the light — a simple consequence of the reduced
actinic power of red rays.

Insects, as well as birds, are attracted in large numbers
by the beams of lighthouses, witness the records of Mr
William Evans, who obtained from a dozen Scottish light-
houses in one or two years, 7500 individuals (excluding
2000 Gnats) representatives of 241 species of Moths, Butter-
flies, Caddis- flies and Lacewings, Beetles and Two-winged
Flies or Diptera, — while as many as 400 Moths representing
30 species have been taken on a July night at the Isle of
May lighthouse. It is also on record that the Diamond-
backed Moth, a highly undesirable alien, has clustered in
such numbers round a lantern, that the keeper spent the
whole night sweeping them off, so that his light might, be
visible at sea.

Probably a greater number of dusk-flying insects are
yearly destroyed by the artificial lights of towns and houses.

DECREASE OF ANIMAL LIFE 379

The least observant must have noticed the hordes of
Moths and Beetles which on warm autumn evenings, dash
madly around the electric lights in city streets sometimes
even attracting Bats to the feast ; and the proverbial
"singed moth" that "dreads the flame," commemorates the
death of myriads of relatives which succumb to the fatal
attraction of artificial light, sometimes in such numbers as
to choke the oil lamp over the chimney of which they have
passed in their madness.

RAILWAYS AND TELEGRAPH WIRES

Most wild animals are exceedingly sensitive to sounds:
a commotion amongst the Pheasants of East Norfolk
and other parts of England was caused by the noises of
the Jutland battle and by the great munitions explosion in
the East End of London in the spring of 1917, which
aroused the game-birds some 40 seconds before the sound
could be detected by human ears. Can one doubt, then,
that the railways which interlace with a network the busy
centres of industry, and penetrate the moorland and
mountain fastnesses with long lines of bustle and noise,
have helped to drive some lovers of peace and solitude to
seek new homes? Telegraph wires, though they supply new
roosting-places for myriads of Swallows before the autumn
migration, cause such mortality amongst heavy-flying game-
birds that special means have to be taken to show their
presence over wide stretches of moorland. Even birds of
active flight frequently come to grief upon the wires. In
December 1906, near Innerwick, a large flock of Golden
Plover was observed to fly before a strong wind against
telegraph wires, seventeen in number, with the result that
thirty-one of the birds were killed.

RIVER BARRIERS AND FISHERIES

In rivers as well as on land, the advances of civili-
zation have told hardly upon the original inhabitants. The
erection of mills for the manufacture of woollen and linen
cloth, of flour, meal and paper, and the construction of
dams ,to obtain the necessary " head " of water to drive
the machinery, have given rise on almost every stream to
barriers which have interfered with the free passage of the

380 INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

smaller organisms of the waters, and have in some cases
seriously checked the movements of even the large migra-
tory fishes. This effect was clearly shown in America where
the erection of mills and their dams on the 'Connecticut
River greatly diminished the number of migrating Salmon,
though in this case a compensating increase of other fishes
was the result, for the Striped Bass on which the Salmon
fed, multiplied as their destroyers disappeared. But no
such compensation has occurred in Scottish rivers, for our
migrating Salmon seldom feed to any extent on their sojourn
in fresh waters, and the erection of cruives, weirs and dykes,
which impede or check migration, has definitely, and in
some rivers seriously, reduced the quantity and value of the
fish fauna.

Mills themselves are in some cases exceedingly de-
structive to fishes, as where smolts enter a lade in their
descent towards the sea and so pass over the water-wheel
or through the turbines. In the case of the river Don in
Aberdeenshire evidence was given before the Royal Com-
mission on Salmon Fisheries (1902) showing that during the
period of smolt migration seawards, when, owing to the
lowness of the river, the whole of its water passed through
the mills, great numbers — " cartloads " a witness said — of
these young Salmon, compelled to pass through the turbines,
were cast out, bruised and dead, in the water beneath.

But this actual destruction is less common and less sig-
nificant than a simple interference with the upward move-
ments of migrating Salmon, by the erection of mill-dams
and weirs. The importance of such interference lies partly
in its actual reduction of numbers, but more in that it cuts
off suitable spawning beds in the upper reaches from several
or from all the mature immigrants from the sea, and in so
doing reduces the potential stock of future years. In Scot-
land alone it has been estimated that as many as 50 lochs
and some 360 miles of river, suitable for the existence of
Salmon, are rendered useless partly by impassable waterfalls,
but mainly through the interference of man in creating
impediments to migration by the erection of obstructions
and contamination of the waters.

The tendency of such obstacles as dam-dykes, cruives
or caulds must be so clear that examples of their actual

Seal? of Miies

IT?

Rp* ^

RIVER OBSTRUCTION

INFLUENCE OF MAN-MADE OBSTRUCTIONS (DAM-DYKES,
CRUIVES, ETC.) ON SCOTTISH SALMON FISHERIES.

The shaded portions indicate river basins to which access of Salmon is interfered with by artificial obstructions

(Founded cm Report of Salmon Fisheries Commission, IWf).

DECREASE OF ANIMAL LIFE 381

effects need scarcely be cited. Most hinder migration in
some or in every state of the river, and by causing an
unusual crowding of Salmon in the pools immediately below,
offer easy opportunity for the spread of contagious disease
or for the raids of poachers. Thus below the dam-dykes of
•Mugiemoss Paper Mill on the Aberdeenshire Don, as many
as a thousand Salmon have been gathered in a comparatively
small pool, all awaiting the flood which would give them
opportunity to ascend ; and it was customary for the water-
bailiffs in mid-autumn to cart several hundreds of Salmon
from this pool to an open stretch farther up the river. Even
where a dyke does not form a complete barrier to the passage
of Salmon it differentiates against the most valuable indi-
viduals: it is stated, that, before the making of a fish-pass in
1900, the Dupplin Cruive Dyke on the Earn, while allowing
the passage of young and specially vigorous Salmon, formed
an obstruction impassable to Salmon weighted with spawn.
Even the alteration of the river-bed, the creation of
shallows above and below a dyke, may lead to the discom-
fiture of migrants. There appeared in the Scotsman of i3th
March 1918 an account of a remarkable run of Salmon on a
Border river, the Tweed. But a weir at Melrose interfered
with the consummation of an event which ought to have
stocked the upper reaches with unusual wealth of breeding
fish.

" The fish ascended the cauld in large numbers," wrote the correspondent,
" and in the shallow water on either side it was a matter of no difficulty to
seize some of them as they made the passage. The spectacle of so many
fish passing to the upper waters led to a general relaxation of ordinary
conditions. On one of the days of the week-end, men, women and boys
could be seen in the water, standing up to the knees, and armed with gaffs.
The operations of those actively engaged were watched by large crowds on
the banks. The natural instinct for capture, aided by the food stringency,
became so prevalent that an unprecedented spectacle was witnessed on
the Sunday. Many who had been attending the morning service found the
spectacle of one particular hole, which had practically become a moving
mass of fish, too much for ordinary restraint. The quantity of salmon taken
at this point is understood to have been extraordinary... Two of the
captured fish weighed 50 Ib. and 48 Ib. respectively."

The accompanying map (Map VI), where are indicated by
shading the river-basins to which migration is interfered with,
but not necessarily prevented by artificial obstructions, gives
some idea of the extent of this influence upon the migratory

382 INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

fishes. It should be studied along with the succeeding map,
to reveal the full measure of man's interference in our fresh
waters.

POLLUTION OF RIVERS

Perhaps a more comprehensive destruction of aquatic
life has followed upon the discharge into rivers of harmful
by-products of manufacture. It is difficult to gauge the
cumulative effects of the continuous flow of dilute solutions
of poisonous by-products, and the subject has aroused much
controversy ; but many a river is made unsightly by their
presence, and there can be little doubt that in such cases
the organic life of the river is adversely affected. There
can be no doubt that where deleterious by-products are
allowed to enter rivers in quantity, even if intermittently,
there results a destruction of fishes, and, a point as important
though often forgotten, a destruction of the small creatures
which are the food of fishes.

The pollution of rivers in a degree sufficient to affect
the fauna is to a large extent a development of modern
civilization, for although pollution follows upon the growth
of industry and upon the aggregation of the people in social
centres, yet its serious influence is a matter of quantity as well
as of quality. As a rule it is due to the discharge from mills,
mines, or sewage works of substances actually or potentially
harmful, into the water of streams or rivers. Such dis-
charges tell upon animal life in more ways than one.

Solid substances cast into rivers, even where, as in the
case of sawdust, they seem to do no actual harm to adult
fishes, yet cover the bed of the stream with layers of debris
which ruin potential spawning beds and in others destroy
fish eggs by preventing free access of oxygen. The de-
position of solid matter in streams is illegal in Britain, yet
here similar effects follow upon the discharge of washings
from mineral works which contain fine dust in suspension.
Thus the beds of streams in the neighbourhood of many coal
mines are buried in layers of coal dust which settles every-
where, stifling vegetation and its animal dependents, upon
which in turn the larger inhabitants of the streams subsist,
destroying spawning beds, and actually choking fishes which
venture within the noxious area. So also it is with the

DECREASE OF ANIMAL LIFE 383

washings from writing-slate mills where, on the Seint and
Llyfni, the dust is said to form in the beds of the rivers a
layer as hard as cement.

Other pollutions act as direct poisons to the animal life
of the stream. The waste water of bleaching works may
contain chlorine ; in that of paper mills have been found
chlorine and sulphur compounds, as well as free sulphuric
acid, to such an extent that a mixture of one part of waste
to nine parts of river water killed Trout and Perch in one
or two days. Distilleries poison streams with their organic
acids, woollen mills with the alkalis from their wool washings,
and gas-works with their carbolic acid, gaslime and cyanides.
To gas-works' poisoning, fish are particularly sensitive,
i part of waste in 200 parts of river water having been found
to render an American Brook Trout moribund in 10 minutes,
while other fishes survived only a few days. Waste water
from iron and steel works may contain acids and may
deposit a precipitate (ferric hydroxide) which adheres to the
gill-filaments of fishes and checks respiration. So deadly
are iron pollutions that experiment with waste water from
a Canadian nail works has shown that a dilution of i part
of the waste liquor in 1000 parts of the stream water may
kill fishes such as Smelt and American Brook Trout in the
course often minutes to half an hour.

Water discharged from old coal mines may also prove
fatal to the inhabitants of a river, owing to the sulphuric
acid set free by the breaking down of iron pyrites in the
coal and accompanying strata. Such a pollution, accom-
panied by washings from a lime-kiln, recently found its
way into a small loch in Scotland, with the result that the
fishes were all killed off and the invertebrate life was seriously
reduced, but a year afterwards Fresh-water Shrimps which
had previously been scarce, reappeared and bred in great
numbers in the loch.

Another frequent source of pollution inimical to animal
life, arises from the discharge into rivers of organic matters
such as sewage. Harmless as it may be in itself, sewage
almost invariably develops noxious properties, as deadly as
the poisonous disinfectants by which it is often accompanied.
During its decomposition, through the action of bacteria,
toxic substances may be developed, but even in their absence,

384 INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

the breaking-down process entails the using up of the life-
giving oxygen stored in the waters. Not only does a dimi-
nution of the quantity of dissolved oxygen in river waterto one
half of its normal (6 ccm. per litre) seriously affect Salmonoids,
but the influence of deoxygenation is possibly much more
important if, as has recently been suggested, the excess of
oxygen as between sea-water and river-water is one of the
determining factors in the movements of migratory fishes
from one to the other. If this be so, it is easy to see how a
river once fertile in Salmon may altogether lose its attraction
owing to the accumulation of human life along its banks.
Before the days when London sewage reached its present
extraordinary proportions, the Thames was well stocked
with fishes in its lower reaches, Salmon and Sea-Trout moved
yearly up and down the river, and Shad, which abounded
there also, have left memories of their long-past presence in
the names of Shad-Thames and Shadwell. The Lower
Thames is now destitute of fishes. Harmful effects such as
those which follow upon the decomposition of sewage result
likewise, but to a less marked extent, from the disruption of
the organic content of the effluents of breweries and dis-
tilleries, tanneries and paper-mills.

Scottish rivers afford examples of all these types of con-
tamination (Map VII). During the week-ends, the Don in
Aberdeenshire runs milky white under the Brig o' Bal-
gownie to the sea, because of the mills along its banks.
Distilleries pour into the Spey and its tributaries enormous
quantities of organic waste which cannot fail to affect the
inhabitants of its waters. In 1850 there were eleven dis-
tilleries on the river using 2270 bushels of malt a week,
but in 1900 the number had increased to twenty-seven, and
the weekly consumpt of malt to 50,000 bushels. There is
clear evidence that this pollution drove mature fish from
many spawning beds in the Fiddich and in the main river.
The waters of Gala and the Teviot, tributaries of the
Tweed, are "blae" with the products of wool mills. Dead
fish found in the Nith are said to have been killed by coal
washings from the collieries on the Ayrshire borders. Dis-
charges from collieries and ammonia works on the Doon
have on several occasions poisoned many fish, and in 1870
extirpated practically the whole fish population, — how much

RIVER POLLUTION AND FISHERIES.

Basins of rivers in which migrations or spawning of Salmon are interfered with by pollution.
Basins of rivers in which migrations of Salmon are prevented by pollution.

(After Royal Commission on Salmon Fisheries, 1901).

DECREASE OF ANIMAL LIFE 385

of the lesser life can only be imagined — from the point of
discharge to the sea, a distance of some 1 5 miles. On the
Tay, the poisonous effluents of bleaching works have,
according to Mr P. D. Malloch, at times left the lades quite
white with dead smolts. The most general contamination,
however, is probably due to the untreated sewage of towns.
There are few large rivers free from this nuisance, and
although in many its effects pass unobserved, in others its
influence is forced upon notice : in the Forth in 1899, more
than 400 dead Salmon were taken out below Stirling, and
many more must have been carried away by the tide — a
destruction attributed to excess of sewage during a period
of low water in the river. Again on rivers such as the Clyde
and the Irvine, pollution has practically put an end to the
migration of Salmon.

Probably in all such cases the extermination is pro-
gressively selective, only creatures of special sensitiveness
or habit succumbing in the first instance: it is on record that
the influx of lead pollution to Coniston Lake destroyed the
Char, although the Trout were able to survive.

The ultimate effect of pollution upon the fauna of a river
depends to some extent upon the character of the river
itself, especially at those parts where the noxious discharges
enter. A swift river speedily dilutes the poisons added to
it, and absorbs from the air fresh oxygen to replace that
stolen from it by decomposing organic matter. The reverse
is the case in a slow river, where a stagnant pool into which
a poisonous effluent discharges may become a death trap to
any fish entering it, and a barrier to migration upwards or
downwards. The interference is even greater, from the
point of view of fish migration, when the flow of a polluted
river is held up for a long distance by the tide, for a barrier
of pollution at the mouth may be sufficient to render value-
less the whole course of the river, no matter how suitable
its upper reaches in themselves may be. The accompany-
ing map, following the Report of the Salmon Fisheries
Commission of 1902, indicates in a general way the catch-
ment areas of Scottish rivers and their tributaries where
Salmon migration is interfered with by pollution. No infor-
mation is available as to the effects of river contamination
upon the invertebrate fauna, although this aspect is equally

R. 25

386 INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

important, since upon these lesser organisms Salmon, in
their tender years, and other fishes feed. But there is evi-
dence that even larger creatures not members of the true
aquatic fauna, though dependent on it, have suffered.

Even in the wider stretches of water the destructive
effects of civilization upon the fauna are equally noticeable.
One would scarcely imagine that a wide arm of the sea
exposed to daily tidal changes, such as the Firth of Forth,
would be affected by the works of man. Yet such is un-
doubtedly the case, for the deposition of sewage and rubbish,
of coke and cinders from the increasing shipping on its waters,
and from the gas works and coal pits along its shores, have
played havoc with the fauna of a firth which in the sixteenth
century, according to Boece, was " richt plenteus of coclis,
osteris, muschellis, selch, pollock, merswine, and quhalis ;
with gret plente of quhit fische." The larger members of
the fauna have departed, the Oyster beds are ruined, the
Cockles and Mussels are not what they once were ; but the
most rapid change has taken place amongst the shore animals,
for in many places the old fine stretches of sand and rocks
whereon the people of the towns once spent happy hours,
are buried beneath many inches of filthy cinders which have
altered the courses of the streams and blotted out all traces
of life. No naturalist would recognize in the impoverished
shore fauna of the upper Firth to-day, that rich assemblage
of marine things made famous, only a generation or two
back, by the researches of Professor Edward Forbes, Pro-
fessor Allman, Dr Strethill Wright and their fellow workers.

VII. 2

THE INCREASE OF ANIMAL LIFE

IN spite of the fact that cultivation has destroyed the
breeding-places of many native animals, and has otherwise
restricted their range and numbers, it cannot be denied that
on the whole it has caused a marked increase of animal life.
The effect is clearly seen in the Yellowstone Park in the
Western United States, where birds with other animals are
preserved, but where, nevertheless, they are not so abundant
as in the neighbouring cultivated areas of the States. The
same contrast holds good between the cultivated and wild
districts of Scotland. The increase of certain species under
the influence of cultivation is due mainly to the development
of food supplies, and in a few cases to the increase of
breeding-sites. In the present section, an endeavour will
be made to trace in greater detail the causes to which the
increase of animal life may be attributed.

INCREASE OF VEGETABLE FOOD

It is a truism that cultivation multiplies the plant-yield
of a country, and that the more intense the
cultivation the greater is the yield. It is
equally evident that herein lies a vastly in-
creased food-supply for vegetarian feeders.
The result has been undoubtedly to in-
crease their numbers, often to such an
extent as to make them pests of agri-
culture; indeed, through cultivation, man
may even be said to create the pests he
denounces. Take for example the excep-
tionally clear case of the Colorado Beetle
in America. When this Beetle, Doryphora
(Leptinotarsa] decem-lineata (Fig. 66), was
discovered amongst the Rocky Mountains
in the region of the Upper Missouri in Fig. 66. Colorado Potato
1824, it was restricted in numbers and
harmless, for it fed upon the Sand Bur of
the wastes (Solanum rostratum\ a wild species of the potato

Beetles. Slightly larger
than nat. size.

25 — 2

388 INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

family, peculiar to the district. Only when cultivation
pushed westwards and the home of the Beetle was invaded,
did it turn from the wild Sand Bur to the cultivated species,
with appalling results. The abundance of the cultivated
crop and its continuous distribution throughout the States
gave the Beetle extraordinary opportunities for increase
and spread, especially towards the east where cultiva-
tion was more intense. In 1859 it entered Nebraska. In
1 86 1 it had reached Iowa; in 1864 and 1865 it crossed the
Mississippi, entering Illinois by at least five routes. Here
the distinctive influence of high cultivation was interestingly
shown, for in the northern part of the State where potato-
crops were more frequent than in the southern, it was noticed
that "in marching through Illinois, in many separate columns,
just as Shearman marched to the sea, the southern columns
of the Grand Army lagged far behind the northern columns.'
Wisconsin was invaded by the conqueror and possessed by
the autumn of 1866. In 1867 it crossed the borders of Indiana.
In 1869 it appeared in Ohio. In the following year it crossed
into Canada, appearing in the province of Ontario, swarming
in the Detroit River, and making passage across Lake Erie
on "ships, chips, staves, boards, or any other floating
object which presented itself." In 1874, it had reached the
Atlantic and multiplied with such rapidity that in September
1 876, Beetles were washed ashore on the coast of Connecticut
in such numbers as to poison the air, and a New London
vessel was boarded in such force at sea that the hatches
had to be shut down. Railway trains were stopped owing
to the slipping of the wheels on the rails, caused by the
slaughtered thousands. A summary of the exploits of the
Colorado Beetle gives a vivid notion of the influence of
cultivation in increasing the range and numbers of favoured
species. It travelled from its native region in Colorado
to the Atlantic ocean, covering at least 1500 miles in the
sixteen years from 1859 and 1874; its annual rate of travel
averaged 99 miles, but so distinct was the influence of
cultivation that in the wilder western States the rate of
progress was less than 50 miles a year.

America shows more clearly than the old countries the
actual transformations in animal life wrought by the spread
of civilization, for there we can still watch the struggles of

INCREASE OF ANIMAL LIFE 389

man in conquering the wilderness. Thus cultivation has
increased the food and consequently the numbers of the
Kangaroo Rats (Perodipus and Dipodomys)of North America,
so that they have become a plague to the settlers. They
were harmless until man began to cultivate the sand-hills
and sage-brush country of the west, when they turned to
his crops, eating and storing away in burrows for winter
use the planted seeds of maize, water-melons and vegetables
to such an extent that now the only alternative to destroying
the animals is to give up cultivation.

In Scotland, the effects of the growth of field and garden
crops on animal life, if not so striking, are still sufficiently
definite. To what but the cultivation of our fields do we
owe the great flocks of seed-eating birds which frequent our
stubble fields and farm-yards — the Sparrows, Greenfinches,
Chaffinches, Yellowhammers, Bramblings, Corn Buntings,
Wood Pigeons and the rest? In the primitive woodlands of
Scotland, these seed destroyers found little room, for the
depths of the forest are innocent of bird life. To a limited
extent they may have flourished in the open ground, but they
and their like increased with the spread of cultivation and of
the seed crops which supplied them with easy nourishment,
and scattered until now their numbers fill the length and
breadth of the land.

The increase of some of these seed-eaters, and their
dependence upon cultivated crops are notorious. In spite
of the constant warfare waged against it, in spite of the
annual slaughter wrought by Sparrow Clubs (one such in
Kent, consisting of twenty members, killed 28,000 Sparrows
in a single season), the Sparrow continues to increase
beyond bounds. Throughout the year 75 per cent, to 80
per cent, of the food of adult Sparrows consists of cultivated
grain, and the damage done to British crops by the millions
'of country Sparrows and the additional millions of town
cousins that move fieldwards at the first hint of ripening
grain, has been estimated by a writer in the Empire Review
(1917) at 500,000 quarters of cereals, valued at ,£1,500,000
a year, though another estimate of their yearly depredations
places the loss at an equivalent of ,£8,000,000.

It is clear that the sparrow pestilence is due to the
development of cultivation, abetted, as we shall see later,

390

INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

by the protection afforded by town and village. So it is
with other seed-eating birds condemned by the farmer and
gardener : in equal steps with the success of their own
industry the tillers of the soil have created the plagues of
the Wood Pigeon, and the Rook, of the Chaffinch, Bullfinch
and their like. And many birds also which avoid the stigma
of the farmer's malison owe their numbers in great part to
the harvests of the fields.

RABBIT SKINS
AT DUMFRIES FAIR

» *

11

1828 1834 1845 '853 1856 1859(1 year

1830 1840 1851 1854 1857 1860 only)

1831 1841 1852 1855 1858 1861 1871

Fig. 67. RABBITS AND CULTIVATION : Numbers of Rabbit-Skins offered
for sale at Dumfries Fair from 18-28 to 1871. The columns represent 3-years' totals
(where the years are not continuous, no record exists for the omitted years) and show a
progressive and marked increase throughout the century. This increase corresponds with
a period of increasing agricultural activity.

Amongst the mammals which have gained most ad-
vantage from cultivation are naturally the vegetarian rodents.
The increase of Rabbits, as I have previously shown, was
contemporaneous with the development of cultivation. This
association is clearly shown in the statistics of the rabbit-
skins offered for sale throughout the nineteenth century at
the Dumfries Fur Market. The diagram above represents
the numbers of skins, the records available being arranged

INCREASE OF ANIMAL LIFE 391

in groups of three years for the sake of eliminating extreme
annual fluctuations. It is to be seen that a steady increase is
made throughout a century distinguished for its advance in
agriculture ; and further that the increase, which makes its
first marked step shortly after the year 1840, when "notable
improvements " in agricultural methods had been initiated,
swells by leaps and bounds during the period following 1853,
which Mr R. Prothero (Lord Ernie) has described as the
" Golden Age " of British agriculture.

This close correlation between agricultural progress and
numbers of Rabbits was, of course, not confined to the
Lowlands nor to the statistics of the Dumfries Fair. It was
probably universal throughout Scotland, and affords a simple
explanation of the extraordinary increase in the annual
slaughter of Rabbits on an estate in agricultural Perthshire,
as revealed by quotations from the old Game Book, in the
Field of 21 November, 1908. On this estate only 2309
Rabbits were killed in the decade 1824-1833; during 1834-
1843 tne bag jumped to 21,431 ; and in 1844-1853 it reached
51,932. Thereafter Rabbits became such a pest that special
efforts were made to keep them down, with the result that
the stock of Rabbits was so reduced that the continuity of the
statistics was disturbed. But the significance of the history is
clear — the increases in numbers were contemporaneous with
notable periods of agricultural activity.

The numbers of Hares as well as of Rabbits responded
to the agricultural advance of the ''Golden Age," as a glance
at a more detailed diagram of the statistics of the Dumfries
Fur Market (p. 167) will show.

Millions of Brown Rats and of House Mice depend upon
the stores of the granaries of the United Kingdom, where the
damage done by the former has been estimated at upwards
of fifteen million pounds sterling a year. Field Mice and
Harvest Mice depend directly upon the products of the field,
and had it not been for the bountiful supplies of cultivated
areas, we should probably never have had experience of
such a Vole plague as that which devastated many parts of
the Lowlands in the early nineties of last century.

No body of animals, however, has benefited from the
development of agriculture so much as Insects. Cultiva-
tion has created insect pests by the score, for there is

392 INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

scarcely an insect group but has many members on the
black list of the farmer or gardener. Of these only a few
typical examples need be mentioned. The roots of culti-
vated crops afford superabundant food to the Wireworm
grubs of Click Beetles, the larvae of Cockchafers, and the
" Leather] acket" grubs of the Cranefly or Daddy-long-legs,
which in some years, as in 1894, have so increased in numbers
as to destroy hundreds of acres of pasture, so that shep-
herds knew not where to feed their sheep. Turnip and
related crops furnish food for new hordes of Turnip Green-
fly (Rhinocola dianthi\ Turnip Moth (Euxo'a (Agrotis]
segetuni), Turnip Saw-fly (Atkalia colibri\ Turnip Flea
Qtt\\t(Phyllotretanemorum\ and the mischievous Diamond-
backed Moth (Pht fella maculipennis], which has devastated
whole fields of turnips, swedes, rape and cabbage. Upon
the yield of the garden and the orchard have thriven and
multiplied the Cabbage Butterflies (Pieris brassicce and
rapes], the Gooseberry Saw-fly (Pteronus ribesii] and
Magpie Moth {Abraxas grossulariatd], the Red Mites
of the currant bushes (Tetranychus telarius], the Umber
and Winter Moths (Hybernia defoliaria and Cheimatobia
brumata) of apple trees, which also nourish the dreaded
multitudes of American Blight or Woolly Aphis (Eriosoma
lanigera). Many more kinds of Plant Lice and Greenflies
suck the juices of fruit and flower-bearing plants, and
many Beetles, such as the Pea Beetles (Bruchus pisoruni],
Strawberry Weevils (Anthononms signatus], Raspberry
Weevils (Otiorrhynchus picipes), Appleblossom Weevils
(Anthonomus pomorum\ flourish upon legumes, green
crops, flower blossoms and fruits, and have in one season
fed themselves upon the crops of a Kentish fruit-grower to
an extent reckoned in value at ^500.

Within the soil as well as above ground and in the air,
cultivation has increased the animal life, for not only insect
larvae, but also vegetarian forms such as Millipedes and
Earthworms have multiplied. Where does the angler seek
for bait ? Not in natural areas such as moors, nor in the
leaf-mould of the forest, nor the sand-hills of the coast, but
in fields, gardens and the refuse-heaps of cultivated areas.
Hensen's careful examinations revealed that the highly culti-
vated soil of a garden yielded 53,767 Earthworms an acre,

INCREASE OF ANIMAL LIFE 393

but he believed that the less intense cultivation of the corn-
field would yield only about half that enormous number.
Even more striking are the facts recorded by Marsh relating
to the increase of Earthworms which followed upon the de-
velopment of agriculture in North America.

"Forty or fifty years ago," he wrote in 1874, "they [Earthworms used by
anglers for bait] were so scarce in the newer parts of New England, that
the rustic fishermen of every village kept secret the few places where they
were to be found in their neighbourhood as a professional mystery, but at
present one can hardly turn over a shovelful of rich moist soil anywhere
without unearthing several of them. A very intelligent lady, born in the
woods of Northern New England, told me that in her childhood these
worms were almost unknown in that region, but that they increased as the
country was cleared, and at last became so numerous in some places that
the water of springs and even of shallow wells, which had formerly been
excellent, was rendered undrinkable by the quantity of dead worms that fell
into them."

INCREASE OF ANIMAL FOOD

The increase of such animal life as depended upon vege-
table food naturally led to new developments in the numbers
of the creatures which subsist upon their fellows. The fresh
numbers of Worms in New England, just alluded to, gave
rise to an influx and increase of the small insectivorous
birds which follow the trail of the settler. It was they who
checked the excessive multiplication of the Worms and finally
abated the nuisance.

So the augmentation of our own tiny vegetarians, earth-
worms and insect pests, has led to increase of carnivorous
Centipedes, insect-eating Birds, and Moles. Observation of
the habits, and examination of the food contained in the
crops of soft-billed birds leave no doubt that they subsist
largely upon the insect products of cultivated crops. Professor
Newstead found that on a low average a Starling visited its
young 169 times a day, and on some days 340 times, with
food which included 269 injurious insects. A Great Tit was
seen to make 384 visits in a day and 90 per cent, of the food
carried during its visits consisted of insect pests. Professor
Newstead concludes

If 20 days are occupied in rearing the young, that gives us a grand total
of 7680 visits to the nest, so that the single pair of birds would be re-
sponsible for the destruction of between 8000 and 9000 insects, chiefly
caterpillars.

394 INFLUENCES OF CULT-IVATION

Starlings and Lapwings have been observed to clear in four
days a turnip field badly infested by the Diamond-backed
Moth, and so on. Could the extraordinary increase in the
numbers of Starlings which has taken place in Scotland since
the forties of last century and is still in progress, have taken
place, had it not been for the increasing supplies of insecti-
vorous food afforded them by a bounteous cultivation ? Their
most marked colonization of Scottish areas corresponds with
the "golden age" of British agriculture.

Glance at the birds which assemble in the vineyards of
France, and there you will find the same factors at work.
It is true that Magpies, Partridges, and Fieldfares eat
the grapes and damage the bordering plants, but in 1916,
M. A. Hugues cited as birds which were attracted by the
insect pests of the vineyards in the neighbourhood of Nimes,
the Ortolan (Emberiza hortulana\ Stonechat (Pratincola
rubicola), Wheatear (Saxicola cenantke], European Bunting
(Miliaria europcea], Crested Lark (Galerida cristata),
Short-toed Lark (Alauda brachydactyla], Common Linnet
(Cannabina linota], the Warblers, the European Nightjar
(Caprimulga europczus], and the Tomtit (Parus major] — a-
specially efficient pest-destroyer. These do not attack the
grapes, -but depend during a great part of the year entirely
on the secondary products of cultivation.

From such examples we may safely assume that the soft-
billed insect-eaters are far more numerous in Scotland than
they were before man's influence began to tell ; that culti-
vation by augmenting their food-supply has added to the
numbers of Starlings, Thrushes, Blackbirds, Wrens, Robins,
Tits, the Warblers and others, as well as of Rooks and Black-
headed Gulls. Even the seed-eaters, such as the Finches,
have shared in the benefit, for they too feed their young upon
insect food.

And what of Man himself? In the pastoral and forest
regions of the Old World where he depends mainly upon
hunting and fishing, the population, according to a recent
estimate by Mr George Philip, numbers only from i to 16
a square mile, but in well-developed agricultural regions it
rises from 32 to 128, and in productive regions commercially
developed reaches from 128 to over 516 a square mile.
Granted that foreign imports contribute to the sustenance of

INCREASE OF ANIMAL LIFE 395

these new commercial multitudes, could there, nevertheless,
be clearer evidenceof the influence of cultivation in increasing
numbers ?

INCREASE OF GARBAGE

In addition to the more or less "natural food with which
a generous culture of the fields has supplied many creatures,
the increase of the refuse of civilization has tended greatly
to the multiplication of the garbage feeders. In the days
before man concerned himself with health matters, the self-
imposed duties of scavengers undertaken by birds and
beasts must have saved him from many a pestilence. At one
time, Kites were common in the streets of London, and the
condition of Edinburgh and Leith in the sixteenth century
and earlier led to a great increase in the numbers of the
crow tribe — Carrion Crows, Rooks, and probably Ravens —
which, as is shown by an extract from Wedderburn's Accompt
Book already quoted (p. 224), were familiar objects in
the streets. It is also on record that "in the sixteenth
century, Ravens were encouraged to multiply in Berwick
where they were actually protected in the town on account
of their value as scavengers (see p. 225). As the crow tribe
has benefited by the garbage of the towns, the Seagulls have
flourished upon the offal of the fishing villages.

No animal has multiplied so successfully on the refuse of
civilization as the Brown Rat. It lurks in the midclen of the
farmyard, it riddles the refuse dumps of country-towns and
villages, and it thrives by thousands in the sewers of our
large cities. Mr Wm Berry has recorded that the removal
of a refuse dump at Tayfield in Fife, rid his district of Rats,
which had appeared in such numbers that the repairing of
the damage done to field dykes, through the undermining of
their foundations by Rats, cost over ^200.

Many garbage feeders amongst insects have developed
unwonted hordes through the ways of mankind. As early
as 1675 Mackaile had noticed that artificial heaps of sea-
weed bred large numbers of insects, probably the Two- winged
Flies Ccelopa frigida and Actora cestuum, and perhaps also
small amphipod crustaceans like the Shore-fleas (Talitrus
saltator and Orchestia gammarellus] to the benefit of their
feathered destroyers.

396 INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

"The people of Orkney," he wrote, "gather the sea-ware (which is frequently
and especially cast out by the sea) into heaps, which, being putrified,
affordeth a very bad smell, and many insects which the sterlings do feed
upon, and therefore it is ordinary to see hundreds of these birds upon
each heap."

Consider again that peculiar fauna, consisting mainly of
Beetles — Shakespeare's "shard-borne beetle, with his drowsy
hum," and its relatives — which spends its life feeding and
breeding in the dung of domestic animals. How that minute
fauna, containing amongst others, Beetles of the genera
Sphceridium, Cercyon, Megasternutn, and Cryptopleurum
in the family Hydrophilidae, and Aphodius amongst the
Scarabeids, must have multiplied since man introduced
domestic animals to Scotland, and by closer and closer culti-
vation increased his stock till it outnumbered many times the
wild stock which it displaced! In the same category, as
dependent for its present day numbers upon the excrement
of domestic stock, may be mentioned a Two-winged Fly
or Dipteron — the common Yellow Dung Fly, Scatophaga
stercorarid1 , whose name sufficiently indicates its unseemly
habits. Of even wider distribution, and owing its multitudes
still more evidently to the presence of man, is the Common
House-Fly (Musca domestica]. In every rotting heap of garb-
age it finds a comfortable nursery where it lays eggs which
bring forth young in countless myriads, so that even the
stolid Briton has turned at last and has sworn death to the
Fly, the carrier of typhoid and similar diseases.

If such are the developments of animal life due to normal
conditions of advanced civilization, what can be said of the
effects of the highly abnormal conditions of modern warfare ?
For how much has the garbage of the battlefield to answer ?
Beasts and birds of prey, Wolves, Vultures, Buzzards and
Carrion Crows follow in the wake of the armies of Eastern
Europe to-day as persistently as they have done in every war
to which history bears record ; but under modern conditions
still new hosts have arisen. Rats, and disease-bearing insects,
Fleas, Lice, the Blow- Fly, the House-Fly and many relatives,
have appeared in such overwhelming numbers and have
caused so much suffering to man and beast as to call for the
efforts of special medical organizations.

1 Gr. o-Ktop, o-Karos, dung, and fa-yew, to eat ; and Lat. stercorarius,
pertaining to dung.

VII. 3
DISPERSAL ,OF ANIMALS

DISTINCT from the potentialities of increase with which
civilization has endowed animal life are the means of dispersal
which man has provided in preparing for his own transport.

The opening of through waterways has been found, for
example in Canada, to give to the fishes and the small in-
habitants of the waters, access to areas from which they
were formerly absent. In 1874 Professor Marsh stated
that the Erie Canal, in spite of its length of 360 miles and
its ascending and descending locks in both directions, had
caused the commingling of the freshwater fishes and the
native plants of the Hudson and of the Upper Lakes, so
that the fauna and flora of these regions had more species
in common than they had before the canal was opened.
Just so it is possible that the Panama Canal may for the
first time bring inhabitants of the East and West to meet ;
and so the great waterway of Scotland, the Caledonian
Canal, by connecting the lochs of the Great Glen, and
by affording a constant circulation of water owing to the
passing of vessels and the inflowing and outflowing to and
from the locks, has brought about a commingling of the
minute but distinct members of the faunas of the lochs. The
body of water which passes from Loch Oich through the
Canal into Loch Lochy certainly carries with it from one loch
to the other some of the Entomostraca or lower crustaceans
(Water-Fleas and the like), as well as other minute organisms
which people the water in their thousands.

Closely associated with the movements of the waters is
the influence of the shipping which passes upon their surface,
for though there is little scope for transference of animals
by such means within the bounds of Scotland, yet we have
seen that steamers and the flotsam and jetsam of civilization
played a great part in conveying the Colorado Beetle from
the United States to Canada across the Detroit River and the
breadth of Lake Erie. And it is self-evident that these aliens,

398 INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

Brown Rats and Rabbits, which abound on very many
Scottish islands, must have been borne thither in most cases
by human modes of transport, as have been those intro-
ductions from foreign lands which shall be considered in
another chapter.

Roads and bridges are important factors in the dispersal
of animal life. Many creatures prefer the easy means of
communication man has prepared for his own comfort, and
have no hesitation in turning to their own use objects planned
by him for quite another purpose. In moving from one wood
to another, or from one district to another, Squirrels prefer to
run along roads, the open rides in forests, the top of a fence
or stone dyke. They have been known to make regular use
of dykes in passing between coverts. The Common Brown
Hare is said (New Statistical Account) to have appeared in
the mountainous districts of Lismore and Appin "not until
after roads were made which opened communication with
the low country."

In many cases where rivers blocked the way of progress
for certain animals, man has bridged the barrier and given
them easy access to new districts. Rats and Squirrels, ex-
cellent swimmers though they are, make frequent use of
bridges, and Dr Harvie- Brown, from his examination of
dates and places of appearance, was of opinion that the first
invasion of Perthshire by Squirrels from Stirlingshire was
by the Bridge of Frew over the Forth ; and that they probably
made their first appearance in Sutherland in 1859 over Bonar
Bridge, although it was not until the railway bridge at In-
vershin was built in 1869 that Squirrels became plentiful in
the East of Sutherland. I have already suggested that
Dr Harvie- Brown laid too much stress on the necessity of
the Invershin Bridge for migration, but there can be little
doubt that here and elsewhere bridges have to a considerable
extent aided in the dispersal of animals.

The great transport systems which cross and cross again
the countries of the world have also played their part in
aiding the dispersal of the beasts of the field and birds of the
air as well as of the sons of men. Apart from the influence
of the rolling stock of our railways in transporting creatures
accidentally or otherwise, the permanent iron way and its
embankments have acted as a high road along which many

DISPERSAL OF ANIMALS 399

animals have penetrated to new districts. Several causes
have led to this gradual migration. The scraps of food
dropped from carriage windows, the grease used in lubricating
the railway points and the axles of carriages and trucks, and
the grain and other edible stuffs spilt at goods' sidings and
stations have induced birds, such as Rooks and Sparrows, and
rodents, like Rats and Mice, to follow the permanent way in
search of food. The Sparrow has made a tardy appearance
at Corrour in western Inverness-shire along the railway route,
and is now fairly common at the station there, from which
centre, at an altitude of 1350 feet, it is at present in process
of colonizing the immediate neighbourhood. About 1910,
Dr Eagle Clarke has recorded, it found its way to the Lodge
and the neighbouring premises, and has become common
there, although in 1917 it had not yet reached the farmhouse
and its outbuildings at the head of Loch Treig. Travellers
by the Highland Railway over the ridge of the Grampians
may see the same hardy campfollower of domestication in
numbers at Dalnaspidal, the highest station, close on 1 300 feet
above sea level, in the heart of the H ighland moors.

Less venturesome birds than the Rook and Sparrow have
made use of railways in another way. In the centres of highly
cultivated areas, railway embankments and the bottoms of
hedgerows are almost the only places which otter protection
to wild flowers of many kinds and afford them opportunity
for ripening their seeds. The railway embankments, there-
fore, offer special attractions not only to the seed-eating birds
but to insects also, and thus to the insect-feeders amongst
birds. Species which, in the first instance, have visited the
embankment to feed, have remained to nest, and so pro-
nounced has the preference become in some cases, that the
embankment has come to be the predominant nesting-place of
the Tree Pipits and Pied Wagtails of a district. This tend-
ency has made for the dispersal in new areas, of embank-
ment-nesting birds, for the birds find not only a protected
nesting-place in a natural granary, but a safe roost on the
telegraph wires overhead.

VII. 4

CHANGE OF HABITS IN ANIMALS INDUCED
BY CULTIVATION AND CIVILIZATION

OF all the effects which the advances of cultivation and
civilization have induced upon animals none are more
interesting than those little modifications of habit which are
clearly acquisitions of comparatively recent date. In these
divergences from custom we see at its simplest the elasticity
of nature which makes living creatures for the mo'st part
bundles of acquired responses, and which ensures that they
do not become unresponsive automata. The modifications
of habit are of very different degree, from mere adjust-
ments of convenience, to changes which seem to have been
impressed upon the actual temperahient of the creatures.

In order to keep in view the more general aspect of the
subject, I shall limit my remarks to changes which seem to
be real modifications of habit, excluding all freak habits of
isolated individuals, and including only such changes as
have wide significance or have, as it were, carried with them
a large proportion of the members of a species.

THE HABIT OF SELECTING A DOMICILE

There is a remarkable constancy of selection exercised
by most kinds of animals as regards the nature and even
the exact situation of their homes, and this constancy is by
no means always dominated by considerations of safety. We
do not look for a Rook's nest in a mossy bank, or a Robin's
in an "immemorial elm." It is the more striking therefore
that in the case of many a creature, the natural choice, en-
grained by one knows not how many generations of custom,
has given place to a new habit at the touch of civilization.

Some animals renounce for a new habitat the type of
territory in which they originally made their dwelling. The
Rabbit, in its native home in the Iberian peninsula, dwelt in
rocky places and on dry hill-sides, but introduced to Britain,

CHANGE OF HABITS IN ANIMALS 401

it betook itself to low ground and arable land, to the
astonishment of naturalists familiar with its continental
habits. In the sixteenth century, Gesner, in recording
(i 550) the vast numbers of Rabbits in England, "copia ingens
cuniculorum" drew special attention to the fact that they
delighted in woods and groves, although in Spain they were
confined to hilly and rocky places. Occasionally in our
country, the Rabbit shows an interesting return to its old
habit. Although Rabbits are fairly common on the lower
ground about Corrour in western Inverness-shire, Dr Eagle
Clarke has recorded that a small number had colonized
some rough rocky slopes near Lochan Coire an Lochan, at
an altitude of 2250 feet, where, however, they were ex-
terminated by severe snowstorms in 1916.

Or take the case of our Peregrines and Buzzards : at the
present day they mostly nest in cliffs, but in other countries
they breed freely on trees, and probably once did so in
Britain, for Sir H. Ellis mentions a nesting-place in Sussex
woods belonging to Battle Abbey, founded by William the
Conqueror, — "iii nidi acceptr' in silva." It is not likely that
nests of the Sparrow Hawk which were common, would
have been thought worthy of mention, so it is probable that
the remark refers to eyries of the Peregrine or perhaps of
the Goshawk.

THE INFLUENCE OF HOUSES

Other creatures have chosen a new type of domicile,
which, one might have imagined, was fraught with danger
to their welfare — the habitations of men. The Stork builds
on the chimney tops of Europe, the shy African Thick-knee
on the flat roofs of buildings in Cairo Zoological Gardens,
but the most striking cases are those of the House Martin,
the Swallow and the Swift. Swifts have been known to fre-
quent their original type of nesting-site, building their loose
beds of grass in the chinks of a cliff-face, but it is seldom
indeed that they forsake their adopted place in the holes and
crannies of human habitations. House Martins and Swallows
so universally build in the shelter of houses, that it is rare
to find any trace of their original habits. Yet occasionally
a Swallow, building its nest in a tree or on a sea-cliff, or a

R. 26

402 INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

House Martin making its home in the darkness of a cavern,
betrays the secret of its original haven, before man led its
kind to alter their ways by supplying new building sites.
That the preference for man's dwellings seems to be almost
a primitive instinct of the Swallow's nature is shown by the
unanimity with which different species of Swallows in all
parts of the world- — in Europe, China, India, South Africa,
Australia and America — seek out the habitations of men
for their nesting-places; and by specific cases, such as that
mentioned by Dr Richardson as occurring in 1825, when Cliff
Swallows (Petrockelidon) of North America, left their native
cliffs to build under the eaves of a house at Fort Chapewyan
— "the first instance of this species of Swallow placing itself
under the protection of man within the widely extended
lands north of the great lakes." Sometimes necessity com-
pels a reversion from even so well established a habit: in
the deserted towns of France, where during the War all the
buildings have been demolished, Swallows have taken to
building in dug-outs and in trees — at least a dozen nests
having been seen in a single standing poplar tree.

The strength of the new instinct in the House Martin at
the present day is indicated by the numbers of nests which
are annually occupied on favoured houses. On a labourer's
cottage of brick and tile in a village near Stratford-on-Avon,
the Martins' nests were all destroyed in 1915, but in the
summer of 1916 the birds returned in such numbers that
the cottage sheltered 86 nests, so closely packed that the
parent birds had in some cases to feed their young in turn
from the door of their neighbour's nest. Mr O. H. Wild
has drawn my attention to a similar congregation of
Martins' nests on a small house on the southern slopes
of the Pentland Hills at Baddingsgill in Peeblesshire.
There during the past six years, nests have varied in number
from 56 to about 70, in 1916 the occupant counted 74, and
in the spring of 1917, before the year's migrants had arrived,
I saw the old nests plastered thickly under the eaves, from
five to seven being occasionally crowded together between
the ends of a couple of rafters.

This curious change of habit in the Martin is interesting
as an illustration of the subtle influence of civilization on
the choice of the bird, but the examples just cited indicate

CHANGE OF HABITS IN ANIMALS 403

also to how great an extent the building of man's tenements
must have increased the opportunities for nesting and the
numbers of the house-nesting birds. And this has led to
another circumstance of some economic interest, for let us
suppose that on an average each nest at Baddingsgill shel-
tered but four chicks and that the average number of insects
caught daily to feed each chick was only 500 (a low estimate,
for Mr O. H. Wild tells me that he has counted 400 to 500
insects in the gullet of a Swift — a single meal), then the
daily catch for this colony of 280 youngsters (the 140 adults
being omitted) during the nesting-season would average
1 40,000 insects, — Gnats, Midges, Weevils and Greenflies, — a
work of no small service to man, the tiller of the soil.

House -sparrows, too, though a proportion of their num-
ber still retains the primitive tree-nesting habit, have to a
very large extent developed an inordinate love for the chim-
neys and water-rhones of houses — an apparent affection for
man's habitations commemorated in their Linnaean name of
Passer domesticus.

Shelter and warmth and easy supply of food have all
contributed to induce many creatures, which must originally
have dwelt in the open, to accept the unwilling hospitality
of man's abode. Houses have, indeed, a fauna of their own,
the members of which have to some extent altered their
habits in placing themselves under man's roof. The simplest
case is that of the creatures which take temporary shelter
in the warmth and security of houses in order to tide over
periods of severe conditions out of doors. Take the swarms
of Flies which appear year after year in some houses,
covering the windows until, as Mr Hugh Scott described,

every pane of glass was densely covered with countless myriads of small
flies; on the upper sides of the projecting cross-pieces of wood between the
panes the flies rested in masses, literally crawling over each other, while all
the part of the ceiling near the window was almost as thickly covered as
the window itself.

Such swarms, which have recently been recorded from
houses in Edinburgh and in Fifeshire, as well as from Cam-
bridge, consist mainly of Two- winged ¥\\zs—Limnop/iora
septem-notata being most common, although in one case
Chloropisca ornata was abundant. Careful investigation by
Professor J. H. Ash worth has shown that these thousands

26—2

4o4 INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

of flies, almost without exception females, which have
sought shelter and been preserved through .the inclemency
of winter, are ready in the spring-time to lay fertile batches
of eggs from which the hordes of a new generation would
arise. Another source of attraction lies in our food supplies,
an acquired taste for which induces flies, such as the Common
House Fly (Musca domestica) the Blow-Flies or " Blue-
bottles" (Calliphora erythrocephala and C. vomitorid), to
spend the greater part of their existence indoors. The
wide adoption of this new habit is well attested by the
multitudes of fly-papers, fly-traps, and other death-dealing
devices whereby man endeavours to protect himself from his
detested messmates.

Flies have been followed into houses by Spiders, several
of which have adopted the domestic habitat, spite of
Titania's remonstrance

Weaving spiders, come not near.
Hence, ye long-legged spinners, hence.

The Common House Spider, Tegenaria derhamii, shows
preference for dwelling-houses, while others, such as Lepty-
phantes nebulosus, are plentiful in some warehouses, and
a few, as the introduced Theridion tepidariorum, frequent
warm greenhouses in Scotland.

But the fauna of houses is almost without end — a wing-
less (Apterous) insect, the "Silver-fish" (Lepisma), hides in
disused cupboards, chests of drawers, or amongst sugar,
sometimes in the company of a Beetle Niptus hololeucus;
other Beetles make their home in household properties —
Anobiiim paniceum in bread and stored goods, and Furniture
Beetles, Xestobium tesselatum in rafters and lintels, Ptilinus
pecticornis and Anobiiim domesticiim in furniture, where the
latter, the " Death Watch," ticks its false portent of death
in the still hours of the night, as Dean Swift humorously
put it —

Then woe be to those in the House who are sick,

For sure as a Gun they will give up the Ghost,

If the Maggot[!] cries click when it scratches the post.

There are besides, the Bugs of old houses (Cimex lectularius]
and the Common Flea (Pulex irritans}, bred in dust and dirt
sometimes in such incredible numbers that the Rev. James
Waterston has observed " a steady stream of larvae (chiefly)

CHANGE OF HABITS IN ANIMALS 405

and adults falling from a cracked ceiling above which the
main breeding-place lay." There are also the Crickets of
the Hearth (Gryllus domesticus], and the Cockroach (Blatta
orientalis), both of which shall be referred to in another
connection; and last in our perfunctory list, but not
least, the Common House Mouse (Mus musculus), which
has forsaken the fields for the comforts of domesticity. The
dwellings of man have induced in all of these a new habit of
life.

THE INFLUENCE OF TOWNS

In a variety of ways towns seem to have told upon the
habits of some creatures, and especially of birds. True, they
have driven many a bird from its old haunts, for the
migrants dare not penetrate the smoke cloud which veils
our busy cities; but in other birds town life has bred a
boldness of character which one is not accustomed to asso-
ciate with their wild natures. Not so long ago the Rook
was accounted one of the wariest of birds, so shy that a
single Rook sitting upon a house-top was considered a sure
portent of death amongst the inmates. Yet many Rooks
have taken to city life. In Cheltenham a rookery lines one
of the main streets. In the heart of Edinburgh there are
rookeries, in one of which I counted over 100 birds in the
autumn of 1917; and even busy London prides itself on
their abundance within its boundaries. In some places the
Raven is losing its dread of man, and is returning from the
cliffs of the wilds to live nearer the centres of habitation, for,
writes "Cheviot" in The Field of 2oth May 1917,

there is a tribe of him that nests year by year nearer the towns and in the
suburbs, where he has found he can live foully on live and dead out of
reach of the game-keeping gun, and where his long-drawn and savage
krar'! krar'! sounds strangely close to open windows and the quiet of garden
trees.

So the Raven returns to its old trade of town scavenger —
a trade long lost and entirely forgotten during ages of per-
secution.

The House Sparrow is a bold bird, but contact with the
bustle of business removes its last traces of shyness, and
"with the size and activity of the city its familiarity and
impudence increase. Other birds, once banished before the

4o6 INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

advance of civilization, are graining a new confidence. Black-
headed Gulls troop up the Thames to London each autumn
in ever-increasing numbers, a habit said to date from the
great frost of 1895. Of recent years, too, large numbers of
Wood Pigeons have settled in London, nesting even in
Trafalgar Square and feeding with the utmost composure
amongst the human frequenters of the public parks, just as
they pick grain from the very doors of warehouses in our
busiest seaports. Nor is this familiarity confined to birds
which may be regarded as common. So rare a bird as the
Great Crested Grebe has nested for several years in the Penn
Ponds of Richmond Park on the outskirts of London. In
the streets of Edinburgh the hoot of the Brown Owl may be
heard on many an evening when the din of the traffic and
tramway cables has -ceased; and flights of Pied Wagtails,
containing scores or even hundreds of individuals, roost
on spring and autumn evenings in the eaves of the British
Linen Company's Bank in St Andrew's Square and on the
ornamental stonework of the roof of the General Post Office,
a coign of vantage which they have occupied for at least
thirty-five years, and at which they arrive towards dusk with
a rush of wings to be heard fifty yards away. Many of the
birds of the town garden, the Blackbirds, and Thrushes, the
Tits and Starlings, feed unconcernedly almost within arm's
length of an observer, and Rooks have become well-nigh as
impudent as Jackdaws.

One cannot but mention in this relation, though it has no
special connection with the influence of towns, the confidence
which the Robin develops in association with man. Most
country bairns and many town children are familiar from
experience with the Robin which sits upon the spade-handle,
while the gardener (as is his custom) rests ; and Robins have
been known to accompany shooting parties in order to pick
Fleas from the Rabbits killed, confidence in man overcoming,
in this case, dread of the gun and its noise. This confidence
is not an attribute of special individuals, for I know a
cottage near West Linton, which, in the snowy spring of
1917, was invaded in less than a week by as many as seven
different Redbreasts in search of food, all the birds being
kept together in a cage till the storm was over.

CHANGE OF HABITS IN ANIMALS 407

TOWNS AND SONG

In another way, towns have changed the habits of their
bird frequenters, for the spring song of town and city
dwellers as a rule commences at an earlier date than that
of their country cousins. The Thrush is a case in point, for
although its song rarely commences before mid-February in
the country, it is no uncommon thing to hear it in town
before the close of January.- The reason probably is that
the town atmosphere in winter has a more equable and
higher temperature owing to the abundance of fires, and the
radiation and refraction of warmth from the walls of many
houses. The ground, therefore, is less often frozen, the
frosts and snows are less severe, and last for shorter
periods than in the surrounding country. As a consequence,
natural food, to which man adds his kitchen scraps, is more
accessible in towns throughout the winter, and the signs of
spring begin to show while country vegetation is still asleep.
So food, warmth, and symbols of returning spring all tend to
deceive the town bird as to the march of the seasons, and he
gives way to his awakening energies in early bursts of song.

TOWNS AND NESTING

Now the spring-time song is part of the great mating
enthusiasm of the opening year ; and its early awaken-
ing has close connection with an interesting sequel—
the early nesting of town birds. The House Sparrow, for
example, is not an early nester in country districts where it
has not become an overwhelming nuisance. Its activities in
this respect belong to the second great wave of building in
the latter half of April, some time after the first wave, which
includes such birds as the Heron, Raven, Thrush, Blackbird
and Robin. Yet in towns, Sparrows have forsaken the
country habit and may be seen gathering the miscellaneous
rubbish for their nests even from the beginning of the year.
Starlings, too, which, like the House Sparrow, naturally take
their place in the second wave of building have like it also
been undergoing a process of speeding-up, and now instead
of waiting for the ides of April, set to work in towns a good
fortnight earlier. This curious change of habit is no doubt
due mainly to the peculiar conditions of town life, but it may

4o8 INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

also have been induced in part by the increasing competition
for nesting sites caused by fresh influxes of rivals or by
the inordinate multiplication of the native birds.

CHANGES IN FOOD HABIT

In no way has the spread of cultivation and civilization
so clearly influenced the habits of animals as in turning
their tastes to new sorts of food. Two causes have fostered
this tendency. In the first place the cultivation in large
quantities of plants of native kinds and the introduction of
new plants have placed before the vegetarian animals of the
country a choice such as no native of uninhabited Scotland
could have had. The result has been the attraction of many
creatures to new foods. I n the second place, the overwhelming
increase of some species of animals under the conditions of
civilization has created a fresh competition for food between
races which depend on the same material, the result being
that individuals or races are compelled to seek new sources
of supply.

The changes of habit show several degrees of complexity.
They may be simple alterations from one species of food plant
or animal to another closely related species; or, more com-
plex, from one kind of plant or animal to another entirely
different kind ; or, most fundamental change, from animal
food to vegetarian food or vice versa. Examples of these
different degrees of modification of habit will probably occur
to most readers, so that only a few typical illustrations need
be given.

Many animals have shared in the most natural change
of all — the turning to a different variety of the same kind of
food. The caterpillar of the Death's Head Hawk Moth feeds
naturally upon the Deadly and Woody Nightshades — wild
members of the Solanum family (though it has been known
to occur on a few other plants). But with the introduction
to Europe of the Potato — a species of Solanum native in
America — the caterpillar, attracted by its abundance, has
turned to this food plant. It is well to remember, however,
that suitable food is but one item making for the success of an
animal, and that although every year brings to Scotland fresh
Death's Head immigrants from the Continent, so that they

CHANGE OF HABITS IN ANIMALS 409

have been found in most counties, from the southern borders
to the Orkney and the Shetland Islands, and although these
immigrants lay eggs which hatch into caterpillars and reach
the chrysalis stage, yet for lack of suitable climate the adult
moth seldom emerges in Scotland under natural conditions
and the mummy shrivels within the pupa case.

The adult or imago " Death's Head" shows a second
interesting change in its habits of feeding. Naturally, it may
be seen sipping honey while it hovers in front of some
evening flower ; but since man contrived that Bees should
collect honey in hives, the " Death's Head " frequently
chooses the easier way of creeping within the hives and
stealing honey from the cells, a strange habit well known
in Southern Europe, a case of which near Edinburgh has
recently come to my notice.

The extraordinary spread of the Colorado Beetle in
America was due to a similar simple change of food through
cultivation. In its native haunts in Colorado it fed harmlessly
on the Sand Bur, a wild species of the potato family, until
the cultivated Potato beguiled it, and led it to devastate a
continent.

The Colorado Beetle, however, widened the break with
former habits by changing from one type of vegetarian food
to new and different kinds — a change which can be traced to
the competition engendered by the rapid multiplication of
the beetles themselves. Before it had spread to the Atlantic
coast, many individuals were found to forsake the potato
family and to browse upon such plants as cabbages, Smart-
weed {Polygonum)) Pigweed {Amaranthus)> and Hedge
M LI stard ( Sisymbriu m ) .

Not only so, but its numbers induced other creatures
to change their old established feeding habits, though not
always without hesitation and much experiment. For
several years Ducks were the only domesticated birds which
turned to the Beetle for food, but after a few years Fowls
learned to eat, first the eggs, then the larvae, and finally the
adult beetles, so that as many as 30 and 40 of these were
found in the crops of single chicks, and this not because
other food was lacking, but from a newly acquired preference.

A similar development of habit occurs in our Starlings,
which may frequently be seen perched on the backs of Sheep,

410 INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

having forsaken for the nonce the insects of the cultivated
ground for the " ticks " parasitic on the animal. In this same
category must be placed many introduced animals such as
the Common Pheasant, which, first brought from the banks
of the Phasis in Asia Minor, has had to satisfy itself with
the strange products of our western lands. And what of the
pests of our food and stored goods — the Meal Worm,
hateful larva of a Beetle (Tenebrio molitor\ the Flour
Mite (Aleurobius), the Biscuit Beetle (Anobium paniceuni]
whose larvae, as sailors well know, riddle the biscuits carried
on long voyages, the Cheese Mite (Tyroglyphus], the Clothes
Moths (Tineidae) which destroy clothing, tapestry, furs and
wool, the " Book Worm," a Scolytid Beetle, whose curious
habit has earned it the learned name of Hypothenemiis eru-
ditus, the still more curious Tobacco Beetle (Lasioderma
testacea], the .grubs and adults of which devour cigarettes
or any other form of prepared tobacco — and how many more ?
Surely the ways and inventions of man have modified the
feeding habits of these to no small degree.

Yet still more marked is the break with custom notice-
able in such creatures as forsake a vegetarian for a carni-
vorous, or a carnivorous for a vegetarian diet. Of these the
most notorious is that dull olive-green parrot, with red under-
wing, streaked with blue and yellow as it flies — the Kea
(Nestor notabilis}, bird of the solitudes of the great snowy
mountains of New Zealand. It is chiefly nocturnal in habit,
and before man tempted it from the way of uprightness, it
depended mainly on the berries of the trees and shrubs which
grow in the sheltered gullies of the hills. Now it has acquired
the despicable habit of settling on the back of a living Sheep
and digging with its sharp beak through skin and flesh until
it reaches and devours the succulent fat encasing the kidney.
As many as 200 Sheep have been killed in a single night on
a station at I*ake Wanaka through these cruel attacks. It
has been surmised that the Kea learned its gruesome habit
through alighting, as does the Starling, on the backs of Sheep,
in order to eat the parasites abounding there, and that by
chance, perhaps in following the burrowing maggots of some
fly, it happened upon the dainty concealed in the living
flesh.

This direction of change, however, from vegetarian to

CHANGE OF HABITS IN ANIMALS 411

carnivorous diet does not seem to have been the usual one. It
is true that the abundance of the Colorado Beetle induced
that handsome American finch, the Rose-breasted Grosbeak
(Guiraca hidoviciana] to give up its staple food of berries
for easier gluttony upon the Beetle, with the result that
superabundance of food led to the increase in numbers of
this as*of other birds in the Eastern States. But this is not
the rule, at any rate in our own country. Here the tendency
is distinctly that insectivorous birds should develop vege-
tarian leanings, a change of habit to be traced to the plenteous
variety of the offerings of field and garden.

Fruit crops have had a predominating influence in this
respect, for such insectivorous birds as Blackbirds, Thrushes
and Starlings become more and more the pests of orchard
and garden, finding in gooseberries, currants, strawberries
and plums a diet which satisfies at one and the same time,
their need for food and drink. Yet the change of habit has
not developed to an equal extent in all these birds, for though
Blackbirds and Thrushes are equally destructive in dry sea-
sons, in wet seasons when moisture is plentiful, the Thrush is
more content to follow its natural pursuit of worms and slugs
while the call of ripe fruit seems always to appeal to its dusky
relative. Even Wasps have learned to give up their hunt for
Greenflies and other insects when plums are at the ripening.
At Hilston in Cornwall the common Red Squirrel has re-
cently adopted the fruit habit. Here the Squirrel used to be
a rare creature, according to a correspondent of The Field,
but in the few years before 1913 it increased rapidly in num-
bers till it could be counted by the score. In 1913 it began
to enter gardens, tearing the nets to get at strawberries ; from
these it passed in succession to raspberries and ripe plums,
till it finally attacked hard green peas, when the patience
of the gardener giving out, a warfare of extermination was
begun.

Field crops also have proved a temptation to many a
bird. The attraction of potatoes for the Rook is an old story,
but its raids on grain are by no means negligible, as the
contents of its crop too often show. One would scarcely
expect Wild Ducks to be induced to forsake the worms and
insects of the marsh for the produce of the fields, yet in the
Tweed valley on autumn evenings numbers of Mallard visit

412 INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

the stocks of oats in the harvest fields for their grain. Again,
Mr O. H. Wild tells me that he has seen Mallard flying
deliberately and regularly inland to potato fields where they
consumed sufficient to damage the crop appreciably,' and
Rev. J. M. McWilliam relates a similar story of the Wigeon.
Gulls, too, especially the Black-headed and the Common Gull,
have left the seashore and the marsh to follow the plough,
and may be. seen on summer evenings chasing moths in
pasture land. It is generally supposed that in the fields they
confine their attention to grubs and worms, but while these
no doubt form the larger share of their new diet, examination
of their gizzards convicts them of an unsuspected taste for
grain and even turnips. In North Ronaldshay, in the Orkney
Islands, turnips have formed a staple part of the autumn
food of Gulls for close on forty years, and during the last
dozen years, the turnip-eating habit has become common in
parts of Aberdeenshire.

A notable change in the feeding habits of the Grey Lag
Goose is clearly traceable to the influence of cultivation.
In North Uist, Mr F. S. Beveridge has recorded, towards
the end of August when oats have begun to ripen, the
Geese appear in considerable flocks, select the most con-
venient field and proceed utterly to demolish it. If the grain
be too high to be reached comfortably, the Geese beat the
crop flat by settling on it in closely packed flocks, or by
beating it with their wings. After the grain has been har-
vested, they turn their attention to the potato crop, if the
weather be severe and more natural food unobtainable.

One little change of habit, a local migration, may be
noted in closing this account of the influence of civilization
and cultivation on habits of feeding. Every spring there are
reared in the safety of the large towns millions of Sparrows,
which, so soon as the grain harvest in the neighbouring-
country approaches, forsake the habitations of men and seek
the fields in countless hordes. On dry summer days, clouds
of town Sparrows, recognizable by their dusky plumage, may
be raised from any cornfield within miles of a great city, and
there they spend the summer and autumn taking heavy toll
of the ripening ears, and returning to the warmth and abun-
dant food of the city in winter. These migrations between
city and surrounding country are now carried out regularly

CHANGE OF HABITS IN ANIMALS 413

and on a much greater scale than the somewhat similar
movements of Finches and Buntings, which in winter leave
the barren hedgerows for the bounteous farmyard.

FAUNAS OF CIVILIZATION

Changes of habit have been induced in individual animals
and species bythe seductions of man's cultivation and civilized
ways, but new and peculiar animal associations, or faunas on
a small scale, have actually been brought into existence
through his intervention. A couple of instances will illustrate
this curious creation of new worlds for some lesser organisms.

THE FAUNA OF WATERWORKS

It is notorious that the sewers of great cities harbour
armies of Rats, which feed upon the garbage underground ;
but many water supplies, also, have their own peculiar
tenants. Natives of the streams, or immigrants to the
reservoirs from which the water supply is drawn, find their
way, sometimes without disguise, sometimes in the form of
minute spores or eggs, into the pipes of the water system,
especially where filtration is deficient. In the pipes regular
colonies may thus be formed which live there year in, year
out, unknown to man, until their gradual accumulation forces
itself upon his notice by interfering with the water supply.

It is scarcely to be expected that creatures so large as
vertebrates should form part of the waterwork's fauna.
Yet more than one household has been agitated at finding a
living Eel issue from its water-tap. Not long since, in fact,
the water-tap Eel was a topic of too frequent occurrence in
the London newspapers, and the persistence with which it
choked the pipes of the Hamburg supply led in 1886 to a
careful investigation of the animal content of that system.
A sieve-like apparatus was attached to the mains at various
points throughout the city, and the water was allowed to
pass with moderate force through this collecting apparatus,
with the result that the animals contained were filtered out.
The results were surprising. Worse than that, they were
remarkably uniform at each of the points examined — an
indication that the haul was no chance capture but represented
a definite association of animals more or less constant

4H INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

throughout the entire water system. It is impossible to
detail the species of the fifty distinct genera of creatures
thus captured. Eels were common, sometimes as many
as six in a single sample, so that the investigator
estimated that thousands must have been present in the
system. Sticklebacks, a Flounder, and a Burbot were en-
trapped. Living shell-fish were frequent; not only the fresh-
water Pond Snails, but even species of much larger Freshwater
Mussels. Worms were common, and some of the smaller
Leeches were present "in almost incredibly large numbers."
The water was peopled by swimming Crustacea — Water-fleas,
the Freshwater Shrimp, and such like — and in almost every
sample, hundreds, even thousands, of the Freshwater Slater
(Asellus aquaticus] were found "in ugly crowds." The
attached, inactive inhabitants of the water-pipes were even
more numerous and of more economic importance than this
enormous army of active swimming organisms. A Fresh-
water Sponge and a Hydroid Zoophyte were common; but
more serious were the growths of " Leitungsmoos " — plant-
like colonies of animal moss or Polyzoa, which in Antwerp
were found to form all round the inside of a 60 cm.
(about 24 inch) pipe a coat nearly 10 cm. (over 4 inches)
thick. From about 220 yards of this pipe, two cart loads of
the animal obstruction were removed.

Other cities, even if they yield first place to Hamburg,
have still sufficiently remarkable water-pipe faunas. From
the water-conduits of Paris, there were described in 1913 no
less than forty-four species of molluscan shell-fish alone; in
Ypres (before the War), Dr A. Kemna found that the opening
of a hydrant was a signal for the appearance of masses of
shells, Polyzoa, and Worms in the jet of water.

Britain also has its waterworks' faunas. In 1910 the
irregularity of the Torquay water supply and the choking of
taps and meter strainers, led to the discovery that the mains
in every part of the district of supply were coated and
choked with living growths of the Polyzoon, Plumatella
emarginata. Freshwater Sponges (Spongilla lacustris] have
been found growing in luxuriance in the pipes of Cardiff
waterworks. Eleven species of Mollusca have been recorded
from a water-main at Poplar, and 90 tons of the introduced
Zebra Mussel (Dreissensia polymorpha) (Fig. 68) are said to

CHANGE OF HABITS IN ANIMALS

415

have been removed in 1912 from a quarter of a mile of water
main, conducting unfiltered water, at Hampton-on-Thames.
There the solid growths of the shell-fish on the inner surface
of the pipe had reduced the diameter from thirty-six inches
to nine inches. From various supplies in Scotland, I have
seen odd samples of Hair Worms (Gordiidae), Freshwater
Shrimps, and Water-fleas, while tangled masses ofPaludicella
articiilata, some pieces of Freshwater Sponge (Spongilla

Fig. 68. Zebra Mussels — from a mass of some 90 tons removed from a water-main
at Hampton-on-Thames. Almost natural size.

lacustris), a few young specimens of a Freshwater Snail
(Lwm&a peregra), and some larvae of Gnats (Chironomus)
were received by Dr S. F. Harmer from Aberdeen water-
works in March 1913.

THE FAUNA OF A COAL PIT

Coalpits are as artificial in their origin as are waterworks,
yet they also have become tenanted by a fauna of their own,
whose members live and multiply and die at great depths,

416 INFLUENCES OF CULTIVATION

far from the light of day. In some respects a pit fauna stands
on a par with a cave fauna, for many conditions of moisture,
light, food and shelter are somewhat similar in both, but
while the cave possesses an assemblage of natural immigrants,
the coal pit fauna has been introduced by man along with
pit-props, with hay and straw for the pit horses, and with
other stores. Probably many of the creatures thus forcibly
carried underground soon disappear, but several become
established and carry on the tradition of their race under
new conditions in a new world. Of thirteen species of animals
which I recently recorded as inhabitants, at a depth of 750
feet, of a coal pit at Niddrie in the Midlothian Coal Field,
there is little likelihood that such visitors as a Sparrow, the
Beetle Thanasimusformicarius, and perhaps the Two- winged
Fly Phora rufipes, were permanent tenants ; on the other
hand there is clear evidence that Rats and Mice, Slugs
(Limax maximus], Cave Spiders (Lessertia dentichelis), the
" Clocker " Beetle (Quedius mesomelinus], Spring-tails
(Tomocerus minor], two species of Earthworms, a Myce-
tozoon and perhaps the Moth Fly (Psychoda humeralis]
had made themselves permanently at home, for the many
individuals in the pit included young at various stages of
growth or development.

In this underground world habits were modified less than
might have been expected : the Spiders fared sumptuously
upon the Insects that frequented the workings, for their webs
contained many wings and remains of bodies, the Earthworms
were forced to swallow coal dust in place of earth for the
organic matter it contained, and the Slugs were driven to a
diet of fungus. Solely to the workings of man this little
association of animals owed its strange existence in the
moistness and perpetual night of a coal pit.

CHAPTER VIII

CAMP-FOLLOWERS OF COMMERCE, OR
ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

Brought from under every star
Blown from over every main.

We sail'd wherever ship could sail,
We founded many a mighty state.

TENNYSON.

SINCE nomadic man first began to move his tents from
one fertile valley to the next, he has taken his place with the
beasts of the field and the fowls of the air as an unconscious
factor in the dispersal of living things. The effects of this
unintentional transference of plants and animals, limited by
the extent of human migrations, may in the earliest days of
our race have been of small moment; yet even in the Old
Stone Age they must already have had considerable signi-
ficance, for no fact is clearer than that succeeding periods of
climatic change in Europe brought with them from lands
unknown, their own characteristic peoples.

We know that the people of the New Stone Age did
actually convey with them from western Asia, domestic
animals strange to the fauna of Europe, but what strange
bed-fellows and camp-followers accompanied them willy-nilly,
we can only guess. With modern extensions of travel and
commerce, and perfected means of intercommunication across
land and sea, the unintentional transference of plants and
animals has entered a new phase, and has already become
a matter of grave economic importance, which has demanded
and has received, in countries whose scientific eye is un-
dimmed, the attention of governments and of law-makers.

Plants are less mobile than animals and therefore afford
a more striking illustration of the efficiency of man as an
agent of dispersal. When the little lonely island of St Helena,
lying in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, 1000 miles from

R. 27

418 CAMP-FOLLOWERS OF COMMERCE, OR

nearest land, was discovered in 1501, it was described as
possessing about 60 species of plants, all of which, with very
few exceptions, were unique. But before the days of the
Suez Canal, St Helena lay on the great ocean highway
from Europe to the East. The result of constant traffic is
clearly perceptible in the change which took place in its
flora; for in less than two and a half centuries, a little design
and much accident had brought its plant species up to the
number of seven hundred and fifty. So also the settlers
who formed the first British colony in New England were
astonished to find weed after weed, known to them in the
old country, spring up in the neighbourhood of their new
cultivation, until they had more than thirty familiar weeds
they had thought (and had hoped) to have looked on for the
last time on the other side of the Atlantic.

How do these unsought aliens find their way across land
and sea? They seem to utilize any means of transport that
man has devised for his own furtherance, concealed often
in curious corners and crannies until they are dumped in the
fertile soil of a new country. Napoleon's troops on their
return to France from the Russian campaign of 18 14 brought,
in the stuffing of their saddles, in fodder and in other un-
suspected ways, seeds of plants which had bloomed on the
banks of the Dnieper and deposited them in the valley of
the Rhine; they even introduced the plants of the steppes
to the heart of France. In similar ways, many plants from
Algeria and other countries entered France with the fodder
imported during the Franco-German war of 1870, and suc-
cessfully established themselves.

Animals are more alive than plants, and while their
passive stages — resting spores, full-fed larvae, pupae or
hibernating individuals — may be transferred from one coun-
try to another almost with the ease of insensate seeds, they
themselves are also liable to be carried unintentionally, since
many find concealment amongst stores and material for
transportation.

Regarding the general effects in a native fauna of these in-
vading animal stowaways, there is little to be added to the dis-
cussion of the effects due to deliberate introductions by man,
outlined in another place (p. 243): for both deliberate and
accidental introductions give rise to the same new com-

ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES 419

petition for food and room, which leads to the weakening
of one or other of the competitors. But this may be said,
that since the accidental introductions owe their presence
to concealment, they are as a rule smaller in size and less
conspicuous than man's imported favourites; and also, that
the former are on the whole more troublesome and pesti-
lential, for while the deliberate introductions do damage
mainly because they have betrayed the character man had
attributed to them, there can be no question about the char-
acter of the creatures which have escaped man's vigilance —
their chief end seems to be to work mischief. In pro-
portion to their numbers the alien stowaways which become
established in a country include more economic pests than
the native fauna they invade. But after all this is exactly
what is to be expected: for a native association has been
brought by long trial and struggle to the dead-level of old
age — Nature's balance of power; while the newcomers, freed
from the enemies which had developed along with them in
their former home and had kept them in check, and finding
in the country of their adoption no similar restraint, increase
and do damage to their heart's content. So the evil continues
until the very numbers of the pest induce some member of
the invaded fauna to turn upon them as a convenient food
supply, or until man devises some cunning means for their
destruction, or counters the foreign interloper by deliberately
introducing its foreign enemy (see Counterpests, p. 259).

In the following pages are indicated the modes and re-
sults of the unforeseen introduction of animals to Scotland.

27—2

VIII. i

HANGERS-ON OF MAN AND HIS
DOMESTIC ANIMALS

THE accidental importation of animals is of more funda-
mental importance in the make-up of our fauna than would
at first seem possible or probable. It is difficult to realize,
for example, that the parasites of man and of his domestic
animals have been distributed to the ends of the earth
through the migrations of the human races, and that almost
all of these were absent from our fauna before the advent
of man. It is true, of course, that some of our modern
tormentors may have occurred naturally on one or other
member of the native fauna, and may have turned their
attention to man only after his appearance in this country.
The Human Flea (Pulex irritans] is a true parasite of the
Badger in Britain and man may have derived it from this
source. But there can be no doubt that the virulent Plague
Flea (Xenopsylla cheopsis], responsible for the transmission
of the deadly bubonic plague, which in the fifteen years be-
tween 1896 and 1911 caused over 7,000,000 deaths in India
alone, is an undesirable alien occasionally introduced into
our large seaports from the East. It is almost certain too
that some, at any rate, of the Fleas of the Brown Rat, of
domestic dogs and cats, and of poultry, — animals which owe
their presence to the influence of man, — have been brought
with their hosts from foreign lands. Just so the deliberate
introduction of the European Starling to Australia involved
the importation of a Fowl-Mite (Liponyssus dursa), which
proved troublesome to the human inmates of a house in
Sydney in which Starlings were nesting.

It is unnecessary, as it is impossible, to trace the history
of the introduction of human parasites to Britain and Scotland.
Most have been so long established that their migrations,
like those of man himself, are lost in the mist of ages. But
a few cases may be mentioned to illustrate the general
theme.

HANGERS-ON OF MAN 421

The original home of the Bed-bug (Cimex lectularius\
a creature known to Americans by the elegant and apposite
name of '' Mahogany Flat," has long been a subject of bitter
recriminations. Englishmen were too ready to attribute it
to America ; Americans forcibly stated that it came to the
New World from England with the early colonists. Now,
in an entente cordiale, for which there are admirable scientific
grounds, both nations have agreed to regard it as an alien,
native of the distant eastern portion of the Mediterranean
basin. Thence with man it has become cosmopolitan, a gift
of civilization to new worlds. Unknown in Britain before
the sixteenth century, so far as records reveal, it had
certainly become sufficiently common in 1583 to cause
alarm amongst ladies of high degree, whose habitations at
Mortlake, so Moufet informs us, it had unceremoniously
invaded. In the early days of its appearance, influenced
by the movements of commerce, it was most common in
seaports, as was to be expected, and even as late as the
first quarter of the eighteenth century it was said to be a
rare object in places inland.

A near relative of the Common Bed-bug, — the Tropica.
Bed-bug (Cimex kemiptera), a native of the warmer regions
of Asia and Africa, has taken part, like the other, in the
wanderings of man, for it has become established in Australia
and North America, in the Antilles and Brazil, though its
predilection for a high temperature tends to restrict its
range.

Fleas, especially Pulex irritans, and various forms of
Lice — the Head- Louse (Pediculus capitis), the Clothes-
Louse (P. humanus], and the Crab- Louse (Pkthiruspubis) —
have been carried everywhere with man; the Itch-Mite
(Sarcoptes scabiei] is also universal, and even the Spiny
Ear-Tick (Ornithodoros megnini\ which sometimes forsakes
its usual habitat in the ears of American domestic animals
to take up its abode in those of man, has been transported
to England in the ear of an American visitor.

Internal parasites — " Flukes," Round-Worms, and Tape-
Worms are even more deeply committed to human migrations
than their external confederates. The Beef Tape-Worm
(Taenia saginatd], the Pork Tape- Worm (Taenia soliuni),
the Dwarf Tape-Worm (7". nana\ and the Broad Tape- Worm

422 ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

(Bothriocephalus latus], parasites of the food-canal of man,
have been carried far and wide. Round-Worms, including
the Maw Worm (Ascaris lumbricoides}, the common Oxyuris
vermicularis, the Miner's Worm (Dochmius (Ancylostomum)
duodenale], the Whip Worm (^Trichocephalus dispar\ and
the Pork Thread Worm ( Trichinella spiralis], have become
cosmopolitan.

The kind of way in which many of these noxious in-
festations have spread in times past is still well illustrated
in the case of a dangerous parasite of the blood-vessels
of man — Bilharzia haematobia. This species, which is
swallowed by man in impure drinking water, occurs over
Africa from Egypt to the Cape of Good Hope, and it has
been found that Mecca is a permanent centre of dispersal,
whence Mohammedans, returning from their pilgrimages,
carry the parasite to widely distant parts of the Old World.

PARASITES OF LIVESTOCK

The introduction of domestic and other animals from
foreign lands has also been the means of bringing a varied
and undesirable assemblage of aliens into our country. Like
man, these too have their external and internal parasites,
their temporary and permanent hangers-on. Without the
presence of the Pig, man would escape the Pork Tape-
Worm (Taenia solium\ and the Pork Thread- Worm (Tri-
chinella spiralis], for these find a temporary host in the
domestic animal, (as many as 12,000 to 15,000 of the latter
having been counted in a gramme of muscle). But wherever
the Pig has gone they have accompanied it.

The Round- Worm of the Horse (Ascarismegalocephala),
a creature sometimes 17 inches long, often found in great
numbers ; the Tape-Worm fauna of the Dog's interior,
which includes at least a dozen distinct species ; the Liver-
Flukeof the Sheep {Fasciolahepatica}\ the Beef Tape-Worm
(Taenia saginata\ whose intermediate host is the Ox ; and
many other internal parasites of domestic animals, — Tape-
Worms, Round-Worms and " Flukes " — have been carried
wherever civilization has penetrated with its domestic stock.

HANGERS-ON OF MAN 423

The domesticated and other introduced animals are,
besides, responsible for the transportation throughout the
world of many external parasites, the majority of which
belong to the insect tribes or to the arachnid Mites and
Ticks. Amongst the former are such pests as the Ox
Warble {Hypoderma}, which ruins over 32 per cent, of the
hides of cattle in some parts of America ; the Bot-Fly
(Gastrophilus equt] of the Horse, the " Spider-Fly " or
"Tick-Fly" of the Horse (Hippobosca equina), the so-called
Sheep-Tick {Melophagus ovinus], — a two-winged fly adapted
to creep on the skin beneath the wool of the fleece, — and
the Green-bottle Fly (Lucilia sericata], an insect which has
become notorious as a destroyer of Sheep, on which the eggs
are laid and the larvae feed. There can be little doubt that
this species has been carried far and wide with live Sheep
or with fleeces ; of recent years it has done much damage
in the Netherlands, having been introduced from southern
Europe or Asia Minor, though some say from Britain. It
has also appeared in Australia, where it "blows" Sheep just as
in this country, and in the United States of America, where
it has become one of the nuisances of slaughter-houses.

Amongst Arachnids the introduced pests include such
forms as the red Chicken-mite (Dermanyssus gallinae] of
domestic poultry, which is common in both Old and New
Worlds, the true Sheep-Tick (Lrodes ricinus), now scattered
from China to the British Isles, and throughout North
America, and the Asiatic-Tick {Dermacentor reticulatus), a
transmitter of biliary fever in Horses, which occurs in Europe
and northern Asia on most kinds of domesticated animals,
and has also been found in England and in Wales on
Sheep.

Other introduced animals have brought their parasites
with them, but the significance of such miscellaneous impor-
tations is of much less account than the deliberate, sustained
and universal dispersal associated with domestic animals.
One of the most important of the odd carriers is the Brown
Rat (Mus dectimanus), which has borne with it to the utter-
most bounds of the earth one or more of the twenty-six
species of Fleas which find it a happy hunting-ground, and
which include the transmitter of the deadly bubonic plague.

Even our seas have been enriched by strange aliens

424 ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

which have clung through thick and thin to their hosts
during the vissicitudes of transportation. An interesting
recent example is furnished by the appearance of the
American Slipper Limpet (Crepidula fornicata] in the
Thames estuary. The first sign of its presence there was a
dead shell found on the shore at St Osyth in 1891, although
a fisherman had recollections of the "Crow Oyster" ex-
tending back some fifteen or twenty years. In 1893 a living
example was found amongst Oysters from the River Crouch,
and thereafter records came with ever-increasing frequency,
until it was discovered that the Slipper Limpet, from being
a rarity, had become a pest. Its numbers on the oyster
beds became so troublesome that endeavours were made to
eradicate it, a special crushing apparatus being arranged
for converting into manure the " Limpets" dredged from the
bottom. About 191 1, the Blackwater Fisheries alone yielded
35 tons of Slipper Limpets in four weeks ; and since then
the multiplication of the alien has been even more rapid, for
in twelve months in 1914-15 upwards of 1000 tons,
dredged chiefly from the estuaries of the Blackwater and
the Coin, were crushed and used for manure by the farmers
of the district. The precise relationship between the Slipper
Limpet and the Oyster is unknown, but whether the former
be a semi-parasite or only a constant messmate, there seems
to be little room for doubt that it was introduced with foreign
and probably American Oysters, brought for relaying in the
oyster beds of the Thames estuary.

VIII. 2

STOWAWAYS ON SHIPS

THAT we have set our habitations in an island implies
that our introduced animals have all been sea-borne, except
such as entered the country with Neolithic man, while yet
the English Channel was a dry valley, and the North Sea
a marshy plain ; and since the unforeseen importations have
all made the voyage in secret and in hiding, it follows that
all might be regarded as stowaways. I reserve this section,
however, for a few free-lances, which have sought shelter
on ships as it were on their own account, having no close
or essential association with any particular cargo. The
more restricted travellers I shall consider later, in relation
to the materials in the company of which they reached us in
concealment.

THE BLACK OR SHIP RAT

Rare thoygh this interesting rodent is nowadays in
Britain, it was no unsuccessful stowaway in the days of its
prosperity, for its lightness and skill in climbing make it out-
standingly the "Ship Rat." The place of origin of the Black
Rat (Mus (Epimys) rattus] was probably in southern Asia
whence the rodents spread through Arabia, northern Africa
and southern Europe. At what period it reached Britain
is uncertain, but Messrs Barrett- Hamilton and Hinton con-
sider that its apparent absence in Europe in the eleventh
and twelfth centuries, and its firm establishment in western
Europe shortly afterwards, indicate that it must have been
brought to our shores with the navies of the Crusaders on
their return from the Holy Land — a direct, if undesirable
tribute to our predominance on the seas, for it did not appear
in Germany till a much later date.

In any case it was sufficiently common in England in
the fourteenth century to be a pest demanding stringent
measures, witness Chaucer's comment :

And forth he goth, no lenger wold he tary,
Into the toun unto a Pothecary,
And praied him that he him wolde sell
Som poison that he might his ratouns quell.

426 ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

For the earliest reference I know to the presence of the
Black Rat in Scotland I am indebted to Mr A. O. Curie,
and quote it from the sixteenth century manuscript of
the Moray Papers by permission of the Right Hon. the
Earl of Moray. The writer quaintly described the death
and burial of an old horse, which " made his testament on ye
castell hill and put debait amangs ye doggis and retrings1."
Yet early Scottish references are few and are mostly
confined, not to recording the presence of Rats, but to
marvelling at their absence from certain areas — a clear
indication of their general distribution and abundance.
Thus Bishop Leslie in 15 78 recorded " a wondir, the rattoun
lyues not in Buquhane," or Buchan, a district in eastern
Aberdeenshire: "In this cuntrey na Rattoune is bred, or,
brocht in frome ony vthir place, thair may lyue [live]." In
the seventeenth century, 1630 to be exact, a similar reference
to Sutherland, contains a definite statement of the means by
which the Rats were introduced :

There is not a ratt in Sutherland, and if they doe come thither in shipps
from other pairts (which often happeneth) they die presentlie, how soone
they doe smell of the aire of that cuntrey. But they are in Catteynes
[Caithness], the next adjacent province, divyded onlie by a little strype or
brook from Sutherland.

At the same period, a like tradition held regarding
Ross-shire, much to the mystification of Richard Franck, an
ex-Cromwellian trooper, when in 1656, his journey ings in
Scotland brought him to the northern counties. For, said
he,

The inhabitants will flatter you with an absurd opinion that the earth in
Ross hath an antipathy against rats as the Irish oak has against the spider.
And this, curiosity if you please to examine you may, for the natives do :
but had they asserted there were no mice in Ross, every tongue had con-
tradicted them. Now mice and rats are cousin-german, everybody knows
that knows anything, and for the most part keep house together. But what
difference has hapned amongst them here as to make such a find in this
country of Ross that the rats of Ross should relinquish their countrey and
give possession wholly to the mice ; This is a mystery that I understand
not.

He added that

to the best of my observation, I never saw a rat ; nor do I remember of
any one that was with me ever did ; but for mice, I declare, so great is
their plenty that were they a commodity, Scotland might boast on't.

1 retrings I take to be " rotten s,'' rats.

STOWAWAYS ON SHIPS 427

The parish of Dunnet in Caithness, and also Liddesdale
in the Lowlands boasted a similar immunity, and earth
from these districts was in great demand for flooring barns,
which thereby became, it was believed, ratproof.

Unfortunately all the stories do not testify to the absence
of Rats, and Martin in 1 703 gives a curious account of their
abundance in the Outer Hebrides, which will serve at the
same time to indicate how great a plague the troublesome
immigrants from overseas had become.

I have seen a great many Rats in the Village Rowdil [in Harris], which
became very troublesome to the Natives, and destroyed all their Corn, Milk,
Butter, Cheese, etc. They could not extirpate these Vermin for some time
by all their endeavours. A considerable number of Cats, was employed for
this end, but were still worsted, and became perfectly faint, because over-
power'd by the Rats, who were twenty to one ; at length one of the Natives
of more sagacity than his Neighbours, found an expedient to renew his
Cats Strength and Courage, which was by giving it warm Milk after every
Encounter with the Rats, and the like being given to all the other Cats after
every Battle succeeded so well that they left not one Rat alive, notwith-
standing the great number of them in the place.

Since these days the Black Rat has disappeared from
many places other than Harris. With the appearance of
the Common or Brown Rat in the middle of the eighteenth
century, its villany was out-villained, and it gradually sank
in spirit and in number as it was ousted by its pushing
rival first from the seaport towns and finally from places
inland. It was common in rural Aberdeenshire till 1830,
was "not very uncommon" in Keith in 1838, and had a
colony at Cairnton of Kemnay in 1855. In 1813 it was the
only species known in Forfar. In Moray it occurred in
1844 but had disappeared shortly afterwards. In Edinburgh
it still lingered in 1834, driven like the human outcasts of
fortune to "the garrets of the high houses in the old city,"
while its successful relatives battened in the cellars and the
sewers.

Now the Black Rat has almost gone1. Some still exist in
South Ronaldshay in the Orkneys, and occasional fresh
stowaways land and attempt to gain a footing in the great
seaports where they once swarmed (there are recent Scottish
records from Leith, Greenock, Glasgow, Paisley, and Torry,

1 Although recent reports (Nov. 1919) indicate that it has again got a
foothold and is increasing in some seaport towns of England.

428 ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

Kincardine), but in this country the Black Rat has never been
able to face the competition of the Brown, and disappears
as certainly and almost as rapidly as it comes. Yet in the
days of its abundance the influence of the Black Rat was
more important than mere numbers would suggest, for, as
I shall discuss in another place, its presence was a pre-
dominant factor in the occurrence and distribution of the
plague which ever and again ravaged the great cities.

THE ALEXANDRINE RAT

Closely related to the Black Rat, indeed usually regarded
as a brown-coloured tropical race of the dark species, the
Alexandrine Rat (Afus (Epimys] rattus alexandrinus] ranges
from south-eastern Europe and northern Africa to India.
It has long been known to pay passing calls at our ports,
on board ships from the East, and Dr Eagle Clarke and
Mr William Evans have recorded many specimens from
steamers in Leith. Yet it seems never to succeed in
establishing colonies, though recently specimens have been
found in company with the Common Rat in the stores of
the Zoological Park at Corstorphine near Edinburgh.
Whether the two species will succeed in living there in
harmony, in view of the abundance of the food supply, is a
matter which only years, or the ratcatcher, will settle.

THE COMMON OR BROWN RAT

Most successful of the stowaways has been the Common
or Brown Rat {Mus (^Epimys} norvegicus), which from its
native home on the steppes of Asia, in the regions which
lie between Lake Baikal and the Caspian Sea, has spread
from country to country till the whole of the civilized world
has become its playground. Romance of a sort attaches to
the story of the colonization of Europe by the Brown Rat,
partly because of its extraordinary success. We cannot but
wonder at the first hordes of the invading army, which in
1727, Pallas tells us, compelled by the dearth caused by an
abnormal year of multiplication in their native territory,
burst their bounds and like a living river, flowed westwards
from the Caspian region across the Volga, whose bed was
choked with their dead bodies, and away to the west and

STOWAWAYS ON SHIPS 429

the north, over the vast plains of Russia. This great migra-
tion speedily made Russia, especially the region of the Baltic
ports, a centre of dispersal whence shipping carried the new-
comers to all parts of Europe. While this migration was
populating central Europe, and even before it had begun,
the Brown Rat, occasionally carried to seaports with cargoes
from southern Russia, was making here and there experi-
mental colonies on new coasts.

To this latter mode of dispersal it is supposed that Britain
owed its first Brown Rats, the date of their arrival being
generally set down as 1728 or 1729. When it first ap-
peared in Scotland is uncertain, but the importance of the
trade carried on in the eighteenth century between our great
seaports and the countries of the Continent, suggests that the
Brown Rat as an immigrant cannot have lagged much behind
its English brethren. Probably it was well established before
the middle of the eighteenth century. At any rate, Professor
John Walker, whose essay on Mammalia Scotica, published
in 1808, was probably written between 1764 and 1774*,
speaks of it in a way which would suggest that it was common
and well established when he wrote.

Further, Walker actually describes the arrival and sub-
sequent establishment of the Brown Rat in the district of
the Solway, some twenty years before he wrote, that is to
say between 1744 and 1754. His remarks are well worth
translation and reproduction. Says he, in effect, of his
" Mus fossor..JV\\e Norway Rat: ...First brought, as they
say, to Scotland in ships from Norway."

Wheresoever it pitches its abode, it pitches out the Black Ratten utterly.

The Black Ratten, the Water Ratten and the Norway Rat were previously
entirely unknown in Annan [a district on the Solway in Dumfriesshire].
Because, according to tradition, these animals were unable to live in that
district. For the which reason, the soil of Annan, was carried to districts
afar off, with great care, and with none the less folly, for the ruination of
Rats. However about twenty years agone, the Norway Rat was cast on

1 The late Mr Barrett-Hamilton and Mr Hinton, in their fine History
of British Mammals (1916, p. 609), err in saying that Walker attributed
the arrival of the Brown Rat to the period between 1764 and 1774— this
is apparently a misinterpretation of the correct statement made by Mr Evans
in his Mammalia of the Forth, 1892, p. 73. None of these authors, however,
has referred to the actual instance of the establishment of the Brown Rat
mentioned by Walker, and translated above.

430 ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

shore from ships driven to the mouth of the river Annan, and now is
scattered through almost the whole region of Annan. But the Black and
the Water Rattens have not yet put in an appearance in Annan, a district
encompassed as with ramparts, by the ocean, by alpine regions and by
deep rivers.

From Walker's actual statement we learn that the Brown
Rat appeared in Annan about 1 750. This case he mentioned
for a special purpose — to contrast it with the traditional ab-
sence of Rats from the district concerned; but that this was
not the earliest establishment known to him is clear from
the remark in which he assigns the first coming of the Rat
from Norway to an earlier period, to which tradition alone
bore witness. On these grounds it is legitimate to attribute
the first introduction of the Brown Rat to Scotland to a
period previous to the middle of the eighteenth century,
perhaps in the region of the thirties.

At first the Brown Rat settled mainly in the seaports
and seaboard towns, where it found garbage in plenty for
its sustenance. Soon its colonies, outpacing the food -supply,
overflowed into the country, so that by the beginning of the
nineteenth century, it had obtained a hold in most districts.
The New Statistical Account of the Peeblesshire parish
of Newlands gives an interesting description of the coloniza-
tion of that part of Tweedside. This I quote to illustrate
the influence of peopled valleys in determining the direction
of the Rat's dispersal :

The brown or Russian or Norwegian rat... a good many years ago invaded
Tweeddale, to the total extermination of the former black rat inhabitants.
Their first appearance was in the minister's glebe at Selkirk, about the year
1776 or 1777, where they were found burrowing in the earth, a propensity
which occasioned considerable alarm, lest they should undermine nouses.
They seemed to follow the courses of waters and rivulets, and, passing from
Selkirk, they were next heard of in the mill of Traquair; from thence,
following up the Tweed, they appeared in the mills of Peebles ; then entering
by Lyne Water, they arrived at Flemington Mill, in this parish; and coming
up the Lyne, they reached this neighbourhood about the year 1791 or 1792.

Nowadays there are few places which have escaped its
detested presence, and the Brown Rat has become one of
the mostabundant andmost destructive members of our fauna.
In many areas the plague of Rats has become a menace to
agriculture, so that we find the farmers in East Lothian
clubbing together in 1909, and engaging four ratcatchers to

STOWAWAYS ON SHIPS 431

"work'' the county. From that time till 1914 ratcatchers
varying in number from two to seven were constantly em-
ployed, with the result that in the six years 116,857 Rats
were killed. This is nothing, however, to the massacres
which have taken place elsewhere, as in 1901 on a 2000 acre
farm near Chichester, where, in a season, systematic destruc-
tion by poisons, traps, and ferrets accounted for 31,98 r ; while
in addition more than 5000 were killed at the thrashing —
an astounding total of over 37,00x3 for a year1.

Suppose we allow a single Rat on an average to each
acre of cultivated land in Scotland, our stock would be ap-
proximately 5,000,000 in number, and suppose we allow that
each Rat on an average contents himself with food to the
value of one farthing per day (a low estimate, for actual trial
has shown that the cost is more than one halfpenny, but
some Rats feed on garbage and refuse), then the bill for
food alone would amount to ,£1,875,000 a year. Add the
waste and damage done to houses and furniture, game and
poultry, flowers and bulbs, and we find that the harbouring
of this unsought alien must cost Scotland roughly ,£2,000,000
a year. On a similar basis, Boelter calculated that the food
of the 40,000,000 rats of the United Kingdom must cost
over ,£15,000.000 a year. In the United States in the
great centres of population of over 100,000 inhabitants, the
annual loss has been reckoned by Prof. David E. Lantz at
,£4,000,000. In 1904 Rats cost France an estimated amount
of close on ,£8,000,000 ; Denmark it has been stated, loses
,£600,000 a year, and Germany at least ,£10.000,000. To
such financial losses must be added the even more important
influence of the Rat in disseminating disease among men, a
subject to be referred to again (p. 507).

Yet in all these countries which suffer so greatly through
its ravages, the Rat is no more than a disreputable alien,
a rascally stowaway from overseas.

But the ravages of Rats are not confined to men's goods,

1 So serious has the Rat plague become in Britain that the Government
has been compelled to take action ; and while the Board of Agriculture and
Fisheries successfully carried out in October 1919 one national rat-week for
England and Wales and another in December, Parliament has endeavoured
to enforce destruction by means of the Rats and Mice (Destruction) Bill,
which came into force on ist January, 1920.

432 ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

although the presence of man, with his stores of food and
litter of garbage, is the great determining factor in the dis-
tribution of the common species. Wherever the carcase is,
there will the Rats be gathered together, and so they occur
in great hordes far from man's habitations, infesting the cliffs
of Caithness and other parts, and, as Mr O. H. Wild tells me,
many isolated and uninhabited islands off our coasts, as
Craigleith off North Berwick, the Gaelic-named "Home
of the Bird" off Isle of Muck, Puffin Island near Anglesey,
and others; for Rats are excellent swimmers and have made
their way to many a solitary isle. In these cases the Rats
depend on the eggs, young and even adults of the birds
which frequent the coast or islands, for they live in the bur-
rows of the Puffins, enjoying rich fare during the breeding
season and managing to scrape along during the winter on
the molluscan and crustacean shell-fish and the refuse of the
seashore, until spring brings again birds and plenty.

Even during the temporary breeding season, however,
the Rats must have an appreciable influence in restricting the
bird-colonies, and it is possible that their introduction may
have had more to do with banishing and exterminating
ground-nesting birds from closed areas like islands than
one generally attributes to it. Even the smaller ground
mammals may suffer from the Rat's voracity, for it is one of
the worst foes of the Rabbit, hunting down the young in their
burrows with the savage pertinacity of a ferret.

There is a type of ship-voyager, very different from the
Rats, and perhaps of not much account in the make-up of a
fauna, which clings to the exterior of a vessel and with it is
taken from sea to sea. I think of those borers in the timbers
of wooden ships — the Teredo or so-called Ship- Worm — a
bivalve mollusc, and of the creatures which form a crust or
a coat upon the external surface of hulls whether they be of
wood, copper or iron — stony Barnacles and stinging Hydro-
zoa. It is almost impossible now to disentangle from the
complicated net of Nature's facts the threads of influence
upon the spread of these marine creatures created by the
trafficking of ships ; but many of them have a suspiciously
wide distribution — the Common Acorn Barnacle of ships
(Ba/anus tintinnabulum\ for example, has been found all

STOWAWAYS ON SHIPS 433

the world over. Occasionally, however, a stray piece of
evidence comes forward to show that ships do actually con-
tribute to our fauna by such transportations. There is an
American Oat-pipe Coralline, Tubularia crocea, which, widely
distributed on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the
New World, was unknown in British waters until, in 1897,
it was discovered in Plymouth Sound attached to the stern
of a large three-masted sailing-ship, the Ballachulish of
Ardrossan. There could be no doubt as to the original
provenance of these fine colonies of Hydroid Zoophytes, for
the Ballachulish had made the voyage direct from Iquique,
Peru. The significance of their presence lies in the fact that
when they were examined in Plymouth by Mr E. T. Browne,
the colonies were fully developed and ripe, and were setting
free in the Sound great quantities of their tiny, jellyfish-like
young, which, if conditions favoured, would give origin to
an alien stock in the marine fauna of the English Channel.
How many myriads of similar cases of involuntary trans-
portation have gone unrecorded since man first went down
to the sea in ships ?

VIII. 3
SKULKERS IN DRY FOOD MATERIALS

OF all the means which the lesser creatures have un-
consciously employed in insinuating themselves into new
countries none has found greater favour than concealment
in food materials, and none has added greater numbers and
variety of animal life to our fauna. Most of the creatures
thus imported are small in size, and although practically all
of them belong to the groups of Insects or of Mites, it is sur-
prising under how many different guises they come. Many
lurk amongst grain, a few in flour, some hide in tunnels of
their own making in biscuits, others in holes drilled in peas,
some are concealed amongst sugar, others amongst copra or
the seeds of cotton. The secret of these preferences lies in
the simple fact that some of our food materials happen to
be theirs also, so that these lesser things, each engrossed
in feeding on its own particular food, are carried wheresoever
the food material goes. But the very fact that they come in
secret and hiding, makes it almost impossible to trace their
dispersal in countries where international commerce has long
held sway.

Foremost amongst these passive immigrants, by reason
of their ancient naturalization, are the Common Cockroach
and the House Cricket, two Orthopterous insects.

THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH

The latter, Gryllus (Acketa) domesticus, is by repute
an introduction to Britain, but so long is it since com-
merce carried it over the world that even its original home
cannot now be traced. Two deductions may, however, be
made from its habits ; first, that it is no native of Britain,
else why should it exist only in the warmest corners of houses ?
In Scotland at the present day, it seldom occurs even in
kitchens, but is often found about bake-houses in Edinburgh,
Glasgow, Paisley, Dumfries and other towns. Occasionally

SKULKERS IN DRY FOOD MATERIALS 435

it obtains a footing out of doors, as in a quarry at Slateford,
where Mr W. Evans discovered a colony in 1907, but such
colonies are always associated with material cast out of houses,
and seldom survive for long. Secondly, the distinct preference
shown by the House Cricket in Britain for artificial warmth
hints that originally it belonged to a tropical climate.

An early Scottish reference to this insect is Sibbald's re-
cord (1684) of Grillus Focarius — the Cricket on the Hearth.
Of recent years it has been carried to America in shipping
and has become firmly established, being especially common
in Canada.

COCKROACHES

The belief is almost universally held that the Common
Cockroach (Blatta orientalis] (Fig. 69, 4, p. 437), came to
Europe and to Britain in comparatively recent times from
tropical Asia. At the present day in Scotland it is common
where warmth and abundance of food offer it congenial con-
ditions, in kitchens, bake-houses, and, as Mr William Evans
has recorded, even in the warm underground workings of
coal-pits, as at Bo'ness and Dalkeith. But this general dis-
tribution is a recent development, for the Cockroach when
first referred to as a British resident, in 1634 by Moufet,
lived in wine-cellars and flour mills and was probably con-
fined to London and perhaps a few other great ports. Fifty
years later Sibbald recorded it, as ''Blatta, the Moth Fly, "from
Scotland. Its mode of arrival is tolerably certain, for Moufet
tells how, even in the sixteenth century, Sir Francis Drake,
on capturing a ship, Philip, laden with spices, found a vast
multitude of winged Cockroaches on board ; but whether
this was the Common or American species cannot easily be
decided. As befits an ocean voyager the Cockroach first
populated the seaports. Thence its spread countrywards
seems to have been a slow one, for it was not till about i 790
that Gilbert White found it in his own house at Selborne,
50 miles from London. In America the distribution of the
" Black Beetle " is also clearly due to commerce, for it is
abundant in all the eastern and Mississippi valley States and
thins out westwards as it reaches the great plains.

In more recent years other Cockroaches have made

28—2

436 ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

landings in Britain and have attempted to gain a foothold.
The most common of these is the American Cockroach
(Periplaneta americana] (Fig. 69, 2) about i \ inches long, a
much larger species than the common "Black Beetle, " and light
brown in colour. It is a native of tropical America, and ac-
cording to Professor V. L. Kellogg occurs in such numbers on
sailing ships entering San Francisco after their long half-
year voyages round the Horn, that the sailors while sleeping
wear gloves to prevent their finger-nails from being gnawed
by the voracious hordes which tenant the whole ship. In
some cases the opening of boxes and barrels of biscuits after
a voyage has led only to the horrible discovery that the
biscuits have been entirely replaced by crawling masses of
Cockroaches. It is not surprising to find that this pest should
have travelled with traffic from its native home in Central
America and Mexico, far northwards in the l>nited States
of America, and it is little wonder that the Ship Cockroach
should appear frequently in our seaports, though it seldom
succeeds here in establishing permanent colonies. It is
common in the London Zoological Garden in Regent's
Park, but in Scotland thrives only in greenhouses, as at the
Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, the Glasgow Botanic
Garden, Woodside Conservatory, Paisley, and elsewhere,
although spasmodic occurrences have been reported from
various parts of Edinburgh and Leith.

The Australian Cockroach (Periplaneta australasiae]
(Fig. 69, 5), a native of the Australian Pacific region, has also
followed the trail of commerce throughout the world, though
its tropical preferences have limited its power of colonizing
temperate lands. It differs from its American relative in being
deeper in colour, and in having a yellow stripe outlining the
shield-shaped portions of the back, behind the head (pro-
notum). Like the trans-Atlantic species it is found in Britain
only in warm glass-houses, some of its more definite stations
being in the Botanic Gardens of Kew and Cambridge, in
Belfast, in the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, and in
Paisley; but in the United States of America, it has taken
a firm hold and is common in Florida and the other warm
southern States.

Much less in size, only half an inch long, but as a colonist
in Britain ranking next to the Common Cockroach, is the

SKULKERS IX DRY FOOD MATERIALS 437

11

438 ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

pale yellowish brown German Cockroach (Phyllodromiager-
manicd] (Fig. 69, i), easily recognized by a couple of dark
bands along the shield-like plate which lies in front of the wings
(the pronotum). Whence this species originally came is not
known, but as its name implies, it has long been especially
abundant in Germany, from which centre of dispersal it has
endeavoured to dominate the world. Its secret diplomacy
has met with no little success, for it has insinuated itself into
almost every country in Europe, and in some localities, as
in Vienna, it seems actually to be displacing the formidable
"Black Beetle." In Britain it has formed well established
colonies in many towns, in London hotels, in a baker's shop
in Leeds, to which town it is said to have been brought by
soldiers returning after the Crimean War. In Scotland it
has been found in abundance in an hotel and a restaurant
in Edinburgh, is said to occur in all quarters of Glasgow and
has been recorded from Paisley. In many parts of the world
the German Cockroach has obtained foothold, and its increase
in various parts of Europe and America suggests that in
Britain also it may yet prove more of a pest than it is to-day.

IMPORTS WITH WHEAT

Since secrecy is of the essence of pest distribution, many
of the imported skulkers had become widely spread before
their identity or even their existence was recognized, so
that definite trace of their original place of habitation has
been lost, and we can only urge their known habits and
their wide distribution in plea of the thesis that they have
been introduced and dispersed by commerce. The number
of these introductions is so large and their own size and
interest is as a rule so small, that it is impossible here to do
more than indicate a few of special interest, either because
of the importance of their human relationships, or because
of the probability with which their history can be traced.

Animals which feed upon wheat may be introduced
in several ways and at several particular stages of their
existence. Some insects slip into new countries as full-
blown adults, some as active larvae, others as resting
pupae ; some come, making no pretence of hiding, lying or
wandering openly amongst the grains they feed upon, while

SKULKERS IN DRY FOOD MATERIALS * 439

others bore into and are concealed within individual grains
of wheat.

The Hessian Fly (Mayetiola (Cecidomyid) destructor],
a notorious destroyer of growing wheat, is an excellent
example of introduction through insignificant passivity.
The damage is caused by the Fly in its grub stage, the
maggots attacking the stems of growing corn at one of the
lower joints. or knots. Now this being so, it seemed likely
that the insect had been introduced in the maggot stage with
straw, but careful and prolonged examination of imported
straw revealed no trace of the foreign pest. The resting
period of the fly, which succeeds the maggot stage, is passed
in a dark brown oval pupa case, resembling, in both shape

Fig. 70. Hessian Fly (Cecidomyia destructor] natural size and enlarged. The seed-
like puparia, in which form the Fly was probably introduced to Britain, are shown as
of natural size.

and colour, a rather small flax-seed. There can be little
doubt that to this resemblance we owe the Hessian Fly — that
it was first brought to Britain in cargoes of foul grain, where
the pupa cases of the insect passed unnoticed amongst the
real seeds of flax and of a dozen other weeds.

Whence it reached Britain has never been satisfac-
torily determined, but the fact that the insect parasites bred
from the imported pupae were identical with those which
had been found in native Russian pupae, suggested very
strongly that the Hessian Fly came to Britain from Eastern
Europe. But wherever its original home may have been it
was not long in advertising its settlement in our Islands.
First discovered in 1886, it spread in the following year

440 ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

over the whole country, from Kent to Cromarty, causing
incalculable loss of wheat and barley by its devastations.
Since then there has been no serious or general attack in
this country, but the Hessian Fly is still with us, and may
be ''biding its time." Commerce has carried the Hessian
Fly to many lands. In the United States of America,
where its name originated on the supposition, probably
erroneous, that it was brought in straw from Europe by the
Hessian troopers of the Revolutionary War, it has been the
cause of greater destruction than even in Europe. Millions
of bushels of the wheat crop of 1915 were ruined by it, and
the annual damage to crops in the United States caused by
this tiny insignificant insect has been estimated at about
,£2,000,000.

Probably much the same mode of transportation as gave
the Hessian Fly to the world accounts for the wide distri-
bution of its near relative, the Wheat Midge (Contarinia
(Cecidomyia) tritici), the " Red Maggot " of which does a
considerable amount of harm in this country as well as in
Europe generally and in North America. With it, as a
creature of uncertain provenance, may be placed the Corn
Aphis (Macrosiphium granariuni] which has caused an ap-
preciable amount of damage in southern Scotland, is common
throughout Europe, was unrecorded from only ten of the
United States of America in 1916, and has been found in
East Africa — clearly a camp-follower of commerce.

A minute yellow ant (Solenopsis molesta], and the so-
called White Ant of the United States, a Termite (Leuco-
termes flavipes], have been transported with food materials
from America to Europe, where both have done much
damage. The former, occurring amongst stores, is said to
have proved very troublesome to English housekeepers. In
Scotland, another American species, the Small Red House
Ant {Monomorium pharaonis], a common inhabitant of
London eating-houses, has been found in great numbers in
Edinburgh, as well as in Roxburghshire and Aberdeenshire.
In one place in Edinburgh where fruits, cake and confec-
tionery were stored, Dr R. S. MacDougall has recorded that
it was found necessary to employ a man whose chief work
was the destruction of these ants.

Many beetles find their way to Scotland in cargoes of

SKULKERS IX DRY FOOD MATERIALS

441

wheat, either in the adult or in larval stages. African Grain
Beetles, Tribolium castaneum or ferrugineum and Tene-
brioides mauritanicus, have been found in wheat imported
from Egypt to Glasgow. Both species, as well as Tribolium
confusum, are thoroughly naturalized under cover in Britain,
and the first has already been carried to India and the
United States as well as to Europe. The fact that all
three have been found damaging army biscuits suggests

Fig. 71. Granary Weevil (six times natural size) and destroyed wheat (nat. size).

that the Great War may be an important factor in dis-
tributing them throughout the world. The most destructive
and widely spread of Grain Beetles, however, are probably
the tiny brownish-black, long-snouted Corn or Granary
Weevils, Calandra granaria, the adults of which gnaw the
grains from the outside, while the grub spends its whole life
within a grain, devouring the inside until only an empty
shell remains. Whole cargoes of wheat and barley, worth
many thousands of pounds, have been completely destroyed

442 ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

during a voyage by the ravages of Corn Weevils. Calandra
probably belonged originally to a warmer country than ours,
but now commerce has added it to the faunas of almost all
parts of the world. In the British Isles it is frequently found
amongst wheat or barley in mills, granaries or breweries,
and its presence has been recorded and its ravages deplored
in Canada and the United States, in Europe, Asia, Africa,
and even in far Australia.

S(T often it happens that the dispersal of a species has
been completed by man before the stages of its progress
could be observed, that particular interest attaches to a form
which is just beginning to find a place in a new country, and
which still is treading the progressive steps which lead to
universal distribution. Of Beetle species which by long
standing naturalization have become part and parcel of our
fauna are such household tenants as the Store Beetles,
Niptus hololeucus and N. crenatus, but their congener
Ptinus tectus, regarded as hailing originally from Tasmania,
is a recent arrival in this country. The earliest specimens
were found in 1901, and since that time it has been dis-
covered in bakers' shops, granaries, and store-rooms in
several places, including, in Scotland, a meal-mill at Dun-
fermline (1905) and a bake-house at Stromness in Orkney
(1905). So far this invader has occurred predominantly at
seaports or in the immediate neighbourhood of ports.

Because of its recent discovery in Scotland the occurrence
of a small pale greyish-brown moth much resembling a
Clothes' Moth in appearance, may be noted. The Angou-
mois Grain Moth (Sitotroga cerealella] infests Indian corn,
wheat and barley, and in such cargoes has been carried
over the whole world ; for it is regarded as a pest in Africa,
from Algeria to Nyassaland, as much as in Europe, and in
Australia as much as in Canada and the United States.
Dr R. S. MacDougall states that it has been taken in Scotland
as well as in England, and some idea of the abundance of
such pests and of the destruction wrought by them may be
gained from a description quoted by him of a whole cargo
of Indian corn, recently condemned in an English port

on account of its being infested with the parasites. The warehouse was
a crawling mass of them. There were millions of small grey-white moths,
and nearly every grain contained a weevil.

SKULKERS IN DRY FOOD MATERIALS 443
IMPORTS WITH FLOUR

Grain escapes the attacks of some of the pests only to
be devoured in its more specialized forms as flour or biscuits.
The American Meal Worm, the hard-skinned waxy-looking
grub of a brownish, half-inch long Beetle, Tenebrio obscurus,
is now almost as common in our flour and meal, in stables,
stores and pantries, as its relative, the original European
Meal Worm ( Tenebrio molitor] ; and both species have been
dispersed throughout the world by the traffic in food stuffs.
A similar fate has befallen the Meal Snout Moth (Pyralis
farinalis], owing to the success with which its caterpillars
conceal themselves in stored cereals, flour or biscuits. But
the worst of the introduced flour pests is another Pyralid, the
Mediterranean Flour Moth (Ephestia kiihniella], of pale
leaden-grey colour with wing expanse less than an inch
across, for this in the course of some fifty years has established
posts throughout the world. First recorded in a flour-mill
in Central Europe in 1877, it appeared in England ten years
later, and since 1888 has sporadically caused damage there
and in Scotland as far north as Aberdeen. Now, it is well
known throughout Europe, and in the New World, where
it appeared in 1889, it has spread from Canada to Chili.
The damage caused by the lumping of flour on account of
the silken galleries woven in it by the caterpillars is reckoned
at many thousands of pounds a year. Destruction of a
similar kind is caused by the European Grain or Wolf
Moth (Tinea grane lla\ which has become established in the
New World.

The presence of so many well-fed inhabitants of grain
and flour has led to the introduction of animal types different
from themselves, which find in them an easy and abundant
food supply. Thus the carnivorous Grain Mite, Pediculoides
ventricosus, has been carried with the soft larvae it devours
to many a new country, to the annoyance of mankind, for
the mite readily transfers its attention to the human body
and gives rise to an irritable skin eruption known as grain-
itch. So troublesome is the red rash due to the mite attacks,
that, when in 1913, several cargoes of grub-infested cotton-
seed arrived in London from Alexandria in Egypt, it was
found necessary to raise by 50 per cent, the wages of the

444 ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

labourers discharging the cargoes in order to keep them at
work. In several widely scattered places in Europe, Africa
and America the presence of.the Grain Mite has been betrayed
by its evil deeds.

ALIENS IN BISCUITS

How many voyagers on ships, rejecting " weevily " bis-
cuits put before them, have realized that they were helping

Fig. 72. Piece of Dog Biscuit perforated by Biscuit Beetles (Sitodrepa panicca). '
Lying on the surface are other insects found amongst biscuits. Natural size.

to add new elements to old faunas ? It is matter of common
knowledge that biscuits carried on board ship during a long
voyage become riddle'd by the grubs and adults of Biscuit
Beetles, especially Sitodrepa (Anobiuni) panicea, and this
even although the greatest precautions are taken in packing
and preserving the food. Many species of Beetles, and of
Moths as well, have been distributed over the world through
the unconscious wanderings of biscuits. Even before the
Great War, the ration biscuits supplied to the widely scat-
tered outposts of our Empire were frequently found unfit

SKULKERS IN DRY FOOD MATERIALS 445

for food, notwithstanding that they were securely packed in
tin boxes in the factories. A chance lot of unopened biscuit
tins, drawn at random from stores at various foreign stations,
revealed the fact that the biscuits harboured four different
species of Moths1 and eleven distinct species of Beetles2. The
authors of this investigation, Messrs Durrant and Beveridge
(1913), came to the conclusion that these pests had gained
access to the biscuit box before it was sealed up in the factory.
But the pests were not necessarily natives of the country
where the biscuits were manufactured, for they may have
come thither in flour from the ends of the earth. It is no
simple chain of events which has distributed Biscuit Beetles
and Moths throughout the civilized world.

SUGAR AND TOBACCO

Other materials have brought their own pests. Raw
sugar imported to this country swarms with minute mites
(GlycyphagMs), which set up a slight irritation, known as
"Grocers' Itch," on the skin of persons handling the sugar
in quantity. Wherever tobacco or cigarettes may go, only
too often the Cigarette Beetle (Lasioderma serricorne]
accompanies them.

PEAS AND BEANS

Peas, Beans, and possibly Lentils also have been the
means of contributing to the fauna of Scotland, for each of
these harbours its own peculiar pest. While pea-pods are
green in the fields, the Pea Beetle (Bruchus pisoruni], a small
beetle one-fifth of an inch long, of rusty black colour broken
by a white spot on the thorax, lays its eggs upon the pods.
The grubs, so soon as they hatch, bore their way through
the pod and into the peas, and there they feed, hidden from
the eyes of the world. As the pea ripens the larva still
continues to feed within, until only a shell, concealing a
mature larva, remains. In this safe shelter, the Pea Beetle,
a native of North America, has been transported to most
civilized countries. It has been reported from several

1 Ephestia kiihniella, E, cautella, E. elutella, and Corcyra cephalonica.

" Silvanus surinamensis, Trogoderma sp., Sitodrepa panicea, Lasioderma
serricorne, Rhizopertha dominica, Ptinus tectus, Tribolium castaneum, T.
confusum, Tenebrioides mauritanicus, Calandra oryzae, and C. granaria.

446

ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

Scottish localities, and although its ravages are not so notice-
able here as are those of its near relatives, the Bean

• ft

Fig- 73- Beans and Peas damaged by larvae of Bean and Pea Beetles. Natural size.

Beetles, infested peas may sometimes be seen in shops. The
habits of the Bean Beetles and of the Lentil Beetle are
essentially the same as those of the Pea Beetle, except that

the adults select, and the grubs
feed upon different legumes.
Bean Beetles (Bruchus ritfima-
nus, Fig. 74, and B. obtectus],
originally members of the North
and Central American faunas, are
brought to Scotland every year
with imported beans, and " wee-
viled " beans exposed for sale
may be found without difficulty,
those of the Seville and Aqua-
dulce varieties, Dr R. Stewart
MacDougall states, being speci-
ally liable to infestation. Of recent
years, Lentil Beetles have also been found in the seaport
towns of Britain — Bruchus lentis, having been identified by
Messrs J. Edwards and E. C. Champion from Egyptian
seeds at Gravesend and Birchwood, and the Chinese
Lentil Beetle (Bruchus chinensis] in imported lentils at
Dartford and Darenth Wood in Kent, Putney in Surrey,
and New Forest in Hampshire.

Fig. 74. Bean Beetle. Seven
times natural size.

VIII. 4
FOUNDLINGS AMONGST FRUIT

MANY and confused are the diverse types of creatures
that have been imported unknowingly into Britain, yet the
diversity ranges itself round definite main methods of dis-
persal. Each carrying agent, it will be seen, bears its own
characteristic types of animals, so that from the nature of an
imported animal it is possible to say, with close approximation
to accuracy, with such and such a kind of cargo this traversed
the oceans to our shores.

So we Jeave the Beetles and Micro-Lepidoptera of dry
goods, for the varied assortment of aliens which have taken
advantage of the transport of fresh fruit. The development
of this trade is largely of recent date, and well illustrates
the influence upon our animal life of commerce, which brings
an influx of new animals with its every extension.

THE LIVING FREIGHT OF BANANAS

Bananas in their great clusters have been fruitful carriers
of strange animals. From widely scattered towns in Scotland,
from Aberdeen in the north, from Cupar, Edinburgh, Leith,
Musselburgh, and from Dumfries in the south, 1 have seen
many unexpected arrivals, exotic Jacks-in-the-box that
appeared when cases of foreign fruit were opened. Most
interesting of these was a Green Tree- Frog, a species of
Hyla, which from the tropics, as it were with one bound,
landed full of activity in an Edinburgh fruit shop. More
terrify ing are the appearances of that heavy and fierce-looking
monster, a Bird-Eating Spider (Mygalid), which has ap-
peared in Edinburgh, though it is fortunately a less frequent
visitor than the delicate Snowy Tree Cockroach (Oecantkns
(Pancklora) niveus) (¥'\g. 75, p. 448) of the East and middle
West of America. The slender, half-inch long, ivory-white
body, tinged with the palest green, and armed with long

448 ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

antennae and long legs, gives a tropical beauty to these
Cockroaches, which are the most common of the banana's
living freight. In addition to the above I have occasionally
seen, forwarded to the Royal Scottish Museum, different
species of Cockroach, a Locust, and on one occasion a
Burnet Moth (Syntomidae or Zygsenidae) — all of which were
imported amongst bananas from Jamaica. Other records
include such curious finds as Snakes, Lizards, and even a
bird's nest with eggs intact, that has been said to have arrived
safely in London hidden in a cranny of a banana cluster. In

Fig. 75. Snowy Tree Cockroach — frequently imported with bananas. Natural size.

addition, the packings of banana consignments carry a lesser
but more dangerous cargo : old banana leaves are frequently
infested with injurious Scale- Insects (such as Hemichion-
aspis minor and Chrysomphalus aonidum), and the H ilo Grass
packing often brings with it pupae of the pestilent Medi-
terranean Fruit Fly (Ceratitis capitatd].

The efficiency of the banana as an animal smuggler de-
pends upon the generous concealment afforded by its rugged
bunches of fruit. There is little room for concealment, one
would imagine, on fruits which are picked singly and packed
•with moderate care, yet insects find a way.

FOUNDLINGS AMONGST FRUIT
THE APPLE AS A SMUGGLER

449

Take for example the apple as illustrating the different
modes in which fruit may harbour and distribute pests.

Fig. 76. Branch of Apple-tree covered with Apple Mussel Scale.
Four times natural size.

Minute creatures may attach their almost invisible selves to
the exterior of the apple, and so escaping careless examina-
tion may be carried to the ends of the earth.

450 ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

THE APPLE SCALE

The Mussel or Apple Scale (Leptdosaphes ulmi or
Mytilaspis pomoruni] (Fig. 76, p. 449), a tiny Hemipterous
Insect or Plant-bug, is supposed to have belonged originally
to the Old World, but wherever the apple has gone the
Mussel Scale has kept it close company, travelling most
frequently perhaps on the stems of transported apple-trees,
but sometimes on the apples themselves. It is common in
Britain, common indeed throughout Europe, northern and
southern Africa have it, and it has reached far Japan ; in
the New World, Canada and the United States have
publicly declared it a pest, and strive to intercept new
arrivals, and Chili is concerned about its ravages ; across
the seas, Australia and New Zealand 'have been forced to
make efforts to control it within their boundaries.

MEDITERRANEAN FRUIT FLY

It is the habit of another series of animals to conceal
themselves, still more effectively, within the apples which
are to scatter them abroad. Of such none offers a better
illustration than the Mediterranean Fruit Fly (Ceratitis
capitata), a notorious pest of many fruits. The female of the
Fruit Fly, a small two-winged fly with spotted yellowish-
brown body and yellow wings, pierces the apple skin and
lays a few eggs in each puncture. In from two days to over
a week, according to the warmth or coolness of the weather,
the larvae hatch from the eggs and feed upon the pulp of the
apple for from one to three weeks, when they are full-fed
and emerge from the fruit, ready for pupation. In a like
period, the adult fly emerges from the pupa case and in
from five to ten days thereafter is ready to commence the
egg-laying which is to found a new generation. Now it is
evident that this life-history and the impartiality with which
the Fly attacks many kinds of fruit, afford much opportunity
for the unnoticed dispersal of the Fruit Fly ; for fruit in
which the eggs have been placed in one continent may set
free its cargoes of full-fed larvae in another. It is not
surprising to find, therefore, that while the original home
of the so-called Mediterranean Fruit Fly appears to be in
the West Indies, the pest has established itself, thanks to

FOUNDLINGS AMONGST FRUIT 451

the ramifications of commerce, in almost all tropical and
temperate lands. Every year its larvae are imported into
Britain in hundreds within Spanish oranges, to perish
miserably in the marmalade pot — uncomfortable thought!
Yet even when the Fly emerges in Britain, it does not seem
to establish itself, owing probably to our temperate clime or
to our weather. But it is common in southern Europe, and in
Africa, from Tunis to the Cape; it has obtained a foothold
in Australia and New ^Zealand, has been intercepted in
California, and has been declared a pest in British Columbia.
There are indeed few worlds left for the Mediterranean
Fruit Fly to conquer.

Every fruit has its pest, and if the apple has carried
the Mediterranean Fruit Fly whither it knew not, the Pear
has performed the same service for another two-winged
(Dipterous) Fly, the Pear Midge (Contarinia (Diplopsis]
pyrivora). Since it was introduced to Britain, probably from
Europe, many years ago, this insect has done much and
ever increasing injury to the pear crop. It is distributed
throughout Europe and has become a nuisance in the
north-eastern parts of the United States.

CODLIN MOTH

Other pests utilize the apple much in the same way as
the Fruit Fly; take for example that notorious destroyer of
orchards, the Codlin Moth (Cydia (Carpocarpsa] pomonella]
(Figs. 77 and 78, p. 452). See with what fine adjustment
the life-cycle of the Codlin Moth has been arranged for its
own success and man's distraction! The adult moth, a tiny
creature less than three-quarters of an inch across the ex-
panded wings, has deep grey forewings, with heavy brown lines
and golden tips, and darker shimmering golden hindwings.
It lays its eggs in the "eye" of a young apple and the cater-
pillar on hatching bores into the pulp, and spends the next
three or four weeks of its life feeding comfortably and eating
its way towards the centre of the apple, where it destroys
seeds and core. It is now that the danger of transportation
is to be feared, for the duration of the caterpillar stage
within the apple is sufficiently long to afford plenty of
opportunities for travel. In any case, if the apples be
stored, the moth larvae are safely tucked away within them

29—2

452 ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

in sheltered cellars, and, unless they come to an untimely
end in the meantime, eat their way out of the apple and form
chrysalids in the spring. The Moths begin to emerge from
the chrysalids about the end of May — in time to attack the
new apple crop. By right of birth the Codlin Moth probably
belongs to Europe, but Europe has dispersed the pest with

Fig* 77. Section of damaged apple containing larva of Codlin Moth. Natural size.

lavish carelessness, and from countries to which she sent it
generations ago, it returns in fresh imports, to heap coals of
fire upon her distracted head. Wherever it goes its presence
is marked by widespread destruction. In the United States

Codlin Moth. Twice natural size.

of America, this frail night-haunting species is estimated to
do damage to the extent of ,£2,000,000 a year; in the New
World it ranges from Canada to the southern States of South
America ; in the Old World, from Norway to South Africa,
and from Great Britain to the far east ; while in the midst
of great seas, Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand de-
nounce its presence.

FOUNDLINGS AMONGST FRUIT 453

APPLE SEED CHALCID

And last of the types of smuggled goods transported by
the apple, is one that, concealed in the secret of secrets, is
almost certain to elude the watchfulness of man. For the
larva of the Apple Seed Chalcid Fly (Syntomaspis druparuni)
is hidden within an apple seed. This little four-winged
Chalcid, somewhat wasp-like in shape, bright green in colour
with coppery or bronzy metallic reflections and brownish
yellow legs, is only about three-tenths of an inch long, yet
it has contrived to give its offspring an excellent start on a
traveller's career. In July, where they are plentiful, the adult
Apple Seed Chalcids may be seen flitting with a rapid zigzag
course in the orchards. Here and there a female stops upon
an apple, at this time grown to half an inch or an inch in
diameter, pierces the skin with a slender ovipositor as long
as its own body, pushes this delicate weapon home until its
tip has penetrated a seed, and finally deposits one or more
eggs in the seed's soft interior. The eggs hatch and the
larvae begin their existence with a battle for life or death,
for the six or seven which sometimes hatch in one seed are
reduced to one by the old expedient of cannibalism. The
grub having consumed all the store of food contained in the
seed becomes full fed and moribund, and in this condition
spends one, two or three winters in the apple seed, till the
warmth of May restarts life activity, pupation takes place
and the adult emerges in late June or early July.

The opportunities for unwitting transport furnished by
this habit of life are obvious, and these have been taken full
advantage of. The Apple Seed Chalcid is undoubtedly a
European species. It was observed in Switzerland so early
as 1803, in France about 1865, and in 1885 or 1886 the
failure to germinate of forty pounds of apple seed which
had been planted in Hungary, led to the discovery that the
kernels had been devoured through its ravages. Its name
occurs also on the list of British Chalcids.

The Apple Seed Chalcid was not noticed in the United
States till 1906, but there can be little doubt that it had long
existed unobserved in that country, for after attention had
been drawn to its presence, it was found to be widely spread
throughout the eastern and northern states. At what period

454 ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

it was carried to the United States we can only guess, but the
early colonists, who are known to have planted apple-seeds
from the old country, may have carried it thither. It may
have passed from the settlers, with apples, into the hands of
trading Indians, and been scattered by them, as they threw
away the seeds, along the western trails. The westward
spread of the apple, due chiefly to the Indians, may have
meant also the spread of the lurker in the apple seed.

It is easy to realize how large and soft fruit may harbour
pests, but less easy to see how evil can lurk in the heart of
a tiny seed. Yet the seedsman's traffic, so it has been dis-
covered, has been responsible for the transportation to this
country of several injurious insects.

Fig. 79. Douglas Fir Seed Chalcid (female). Enlarged eight times.
DOUGLAS FIR SEED CHALCID

Take the interesting case of the Douglas Fir. The
Columbia Red Wood or Douglas Fir is a native of western
North America. For ninety years it has been grown in this
country, first from seed brought across the Atlantic, and
thereafter from seed ripened in Scottish woods. On a single
estate, that of Durris in Kincardineshire, 300 bushels of good
seed used to be gathered in a season, but in 1 905 the forester,
Mr Crozier, had to report that the seed was "not worth the
trouble of gathering." And why ? Because, as Dr R. Stewart
MacDougall discovered, the kernels of the seeds harboured
and had been devoured by myriads of grubs of a Chalcid Fly

FOUNDLINGS AMONGST FRUIT 455

(Megastigmus spermotrophus] (Fig. 79). In the spring time,
from May onwards in Scotland, the tiny female insects, three-
twentieths of an inch long, wasp-like in shape, brownish-
yellow in colour, with clear wings, hover about the tops of
the Douglas Firs, and have actually been seen inserting a
long ovipositor between the scales of the fir cone and de-
positing an egg within the seed concealed there. There the
frubs hatch and feed, invisible and safe, for no trace of a
ole betrays their presence. Resting in their seed over
winter, carried whither the winds or man determine, they

Fig. 80. Douglas Fir Seeds from Peeblesshire — showing, in the proportion in which
they occur, seeds with escape holes of the Douglas Fir Seed Chalcid, an individual of which
is issuing from a central seed. Enlarged slightly more than twice natural size.

finally emerge as adults, thousands of miles perhaps from
the place where they fell asleep. This parasite has been
found in Douglas Fir seeds imported from Colorado, and the
obvious supposition is that it was originally brought in such
seed to this country. Here it has taken increasing hold, for
Mr Crozier records that though it was present on his trans-
ference to Durris in 1896, the damage it then caused was
comparatively trifling. Nine years, however, sufficed to give
its ravages "a serious aspect," a very large proportion of the
seeds being destroyed. Since then it has spread widely in

456 ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

Scotland, from Kincardineshire to Peeblesshire, for in a
sample of Douglas Fir Seed of the 1915 crop which I have
examined from the latter county, 5 1 per cent, of the seeds
contained a tiny circular opening through which the adult
Chalcids had escaped (Fig. 80, p. 455).

Several related Chalcid Flies have been brought to Scot-
land, concealed in the heart of foreign seeds. I have seen
specimens bred from seeds of the American Spruce (Abies
grandis) grown in Dumfriesshire, and from seeds of the Japan-
ese Larch (Larix Leptolepis) imported from Japan.

Even the fragrant rose has a pestilence gnawing at its
heart, and within its seed the Rose Seed Chalcid (Megastignms
aculeatus\ whose grubs are found in both wild and cultivated
varieties, has been scattered throughout Europe and North
America.

VIII. 5

CREATURES CONVEYED BY PLANTS
AND VEGETABLES

IN recent times a great increase in the introduction of
the pests of green plants has taken place. Even in the old
days of sailing ships fresh or living vegetation could be trans-
ported from the Continent, and to this traffic we may possibly
owe those pests of cultivation, the Common and Small
White Butterflies, for who knows what past centuries
may not have brought ? But distance and time placed an
embargo on the carriage of fresh plants from much further
afield. The development of rapid transport has, however,
broken the spell which protected us from many an undesir-
able alien, and America and Britain now exchange their
pests of vegetation with disconcerting readiness.

Vegetables, stocks for orchards, and flowering plants for
garden or greenhouse, have all encouraged this undesirable
testimony to the extent of our commerce.

TYPES TRANSPORTED BY VEGETABLES

The transport of vegetables from Europe to Britain,
especially for planting, may have in past times added new
forms to our fauna just as it certainly now adds new numbers
to old established species. It is no uncommon thing to find
live Locusts in the sale-rooms of Covent Garden, escapes
from consignments of cauliflowers brought from Naples — a
hint of the carrying powers of green food.

The general resemblance which the fauna of Britain
bears to that of Europe makes it difficult definitely to say
that such and such an obscure European creature was un-
known here until commerce introduced it. But no such
disability applies to comparison of the inhabitants of the old
and the new countries. So seldom are the native species of
the New World, or of our colonies elsewhere, identical with
those of Britain, that the naturalization credentials of a species

458 ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

common to both must be examined with suspicion. Speak-
ing generally, the further distant two countries are from one
another the easier is it to trace their commerce in living
things.

Consider the influence of the introduction of cabbages
or similar cruciferous plants upon the distribution of very
different kinds of insects. A common British Butterfly —
only too familiar — the Small White (Pieris rapae], a species
widely distributed in Europe from the Mediterranean Sea
to Scandinavia, was carried to Quebec by accident about
1860. Since then it has spread throughout the whole of
Canada and the United States by an invasion, the progress
of which, according to Professor Riley, can be traced step
by step westwards, from the landing-place on the Atlantic
coast. By a further lift it has also become established
in the distant isles of Hawaii. It has long been the most
serious of Butterfly pests in North America, and there its
chance introduction has led to another addition to the fauna
— the deliberate introduction of the tiny Hymenopterous
Braconid (Apanteles glomeratus\ whose grubs feed within
and upon the caterpillars of the Cabbage Whites, and with-
out whose active assistance cabbage beds in Britain would
be wholly given over to ravenous caterpillars.

A very different insect, the Cabbage Fly (Chortophila
(Phorbid] brassicae) is an equally notorious pest. The mag-
gots of this small light-grey two-winged (Dipterous) fly,
related to and somewhat resembling a House-fly, but on a
much smaller scale, bore into the roots of cabbages, cauli-
flowers and other crucifers, destroying the plants, even to
the extent of tens of thousands of acres in a year. This pest
of European origin occurs in northern Africa and has been
carried with cruciferous plants to North America. Here it
has gradually subdued Canada and the United States, having
reached the limit of the continent in 1914, when it did serious
damage amongst cabbages, cauliflowers, turnips and radishes
in Alaska.

Another example will suffice, for our purpose, to com-
plete the tale of the cabbage and its introductions. In
summer and autumn, the outer leaves of cabbages may often
be seen wrinkled and covered with myriads of Greenflies
— the Cabbage Aphis (Aphis brassicae\ whose attacks finally

BY PLANTS AND VEGETABLES 459

stunt and deform the whole plant. The order of its going
I know not, but this Aphis has travelled to the ends of
the earth, probably from Europe where it is widespread and
abundant. Southwards it has made a home in Africa, furthest
east it is known in Japan, furthest west in Canada and the
United States, and it has reached the isles of Hawaii in the
midst of the Pacific Ocean.

Butterflies, Two-winged Flies, and Plant-bugs — the
cabbage and its kind disperse them with equal impartiality,
but occasionally an unlooked-for alien is smuggled in under
the mantle of the cabbage leaves. In this way a couple of
young Land Snails {Achatinafulica) were brought to Ceylon,
and were thrown unwittingly into a garden. These refugees
grew in size and multiplied, their descendants spread from
their garden into other gardens and over a district, peopling
in 1910 an area of three or four square miles with incredible
numbers. In spite of the fact that a fully developed Achatina
fulica has a shell 4^ inches long, shaped like a " Buckle " or
Dog-Whelk, 375 of these pests were counted in a garden
in a space of four yards square, 227 were found in a single
cluster on a coconut tree, and millions in all could be seen
crawling upon the ground, or climbing walls, poles or the
trunks of trees. They did little serious damage, but serve
to prove the influence of the cabbage as a smuggler.

Many an old-established vegetable is accompanied in its
travels by its own peculiar camp-followers. Asparagus has
carried the European Asparagus Beetle (Crioceris asparagi],
— a red, yellow and black pest which devours the crowns of
young plants, — to Canada and the United States, as well as
to the Argentine, in all of which countries it has become an
established nuisance. And so with many other vegetables
and their pests ; but enough has been said to show the effects
of a mode of transference, the operations of which in Scotland
have been obscured by the passing of time.

TYPES TRANSFERRED BY NURSERY STOCKS
AND LIVING TREES

Stocks and trees, like vegetables, have their own peculiar
population : it is remarkable how large a proportion of the
creatures introduced to new countries through the agency
of living trees, belongs to groups of Plant-bugs — the

46o ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

Greenflies and the Scale Insects. I have already mentioned
the Mussel Scale as having benefited by the traffic in apples,
but in-all likelihood the trees are more to blame for its spread
than the fruit. An equally clear case is that of the Mulberry
Scale, called because of its shape, Aulacaspis pentagona, a
pest upon great variety of trees and shrubs. The female
Scales are unable to fly, and the larvae can move only a short
distance, so that what progress the species has made in its
distribution is due to the interference of man. Supposed
originally to have belonged to Japan, it is now found in
all tropical or warm temperate lands : throughout southern
Europe, in Africa, in Canada and the United States, in
Brazil and the Argentine, in Australia and in the lesser
islands — West Indies, Seychelles, Zanzibar. There is no
doubt as to the means of its dispersal : it has actually been
intercepted over and over again in the act of being smuggled
into the United States and the isles of Hawaii upon the
stems of trees and shrubs. In 1898 it was introduced to
Britain on a consignment of several hundred Flowering
Cherry trees from Japan, and these were distributed through-
out the country before the presence of the pest was discovered.
Change of climate seems to have no ill effect upon the inter-
loper.

The progress of the naturalization of such alien immi-
grants can often be traced. The Camellia or Cottony Scale
{Pulvinaria floe cif era), a traveller of cosmopolitan experience,
found in British glasshouses, cool or warm, has only recently
been imported to California, although it is common in the
eastern and southern regions of Canada and the United
States, and in the western State it has so far obtained foot-
hold only in a single locality near San Jose.

Scale Insects undoubtedly owe their wide distribution to
the smallness and insignificance which enables them to elude
observation. Where no system of expert examination of
imported plants is in force, the introduction and establish-
ment of injurious Scales may, under the conditions of modern
commerce, be absolutely relied upon. Britain, with her lofty
disregard of the benefits of a humble science, reverses the
old saw, and prefers the cure to prevention. As a result,
there has been added to her fauna during the present gene-
ration, and this is only one of the items, a long series of

BY PLANTS AND VEGETABLES 461

foreign scale insects1 all of them injurious to vegetation and
some of them, such as the Mulberry Scale (Aulacaspis pen-
tagona) and the Lantana Bug (Orthezia insignis] which
is steadily extending into fresh districts, containing great
possibilities of damage and destruction.

It must not be supposed, however, that trees confine their
imports to Scale Insects. The name of one of the most
widespread and persistent pests of our orchards — the Ameri-
can Blights-indicates its origin, though it is hard to believe
that in a century and a half an alien could have so thoroughly
become part and parcel of our fauna. The American Blight
or Woolly Apple Aphis (Eriosoma lanigera] a species of
plant-bug or greenfly, was unknown in England till 1787
when it was traced by Banks to a nursery in Sloane Street,
London. Several facts, apart from the tradition of its origin,
suggest that America is the true home of the Woolly Aphis;
but, much against his will, man has established it in practi-
cally all the apple-growing countries of the world.

America has also been generous in her dispersal of a
closely related plant-bug — the Grape Phylloxera (Phyl-
loxera vastatrix). Introduced into France before 1863,
upon rooted vines from America, the Grape Phylloxera
gained so secure a footing that by 1884 it had destroyed
about two and a half million acres, more than a third of all
the vineyards of France, and to-day there is scarcely a vine-
growing country of any importance where the Grape Bug
has not appeared, to the dread and loss of vine-growers. It
is a curious comment on the thoroughness of the distribution
of animals through, commerce, that this American Vine Bug,
which under natural conditions never reached California from

1 Prof. R. Newstead in 1901 gave the following list of Scale Insects
imported on living plants into Britain during the twelve years which closed
the past century. (For the sake of uniformity I have substituted the modern
synonyms and have added the popular names.) Aspidiotus alienus, discovered
in 1889; the Mulberry Scale, Aulacaspis pentagona, imported in 1898; the
Orange Mussel Scale, Lepidosaphes beckii, common on oranges and lemons and
found also on imported plants; the Coffee Scale, Ischnaspis longirostris, now
a frequent greenhouse pest ; Gymnaspis cechmece, well established and in-
creasing; Fiorinia fiorinice and-/'! kewensis, on palms; the Screwpine Scale,
Pinnaspis pandani, a very destructive palm pest; the Lantana Bug, Orthezia
insignis, steadily extending its area; and the Egyptian Cushion Scale, Icerya
aegyptiacum, which was discovered and destroyed with its host plants on
importation.

462 ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

its home in the eastern States, should have been introduced
there by way of Europe. To California it was brought from
France on vine-cuttings imported before 1874; and since
then it has spread over the whole State, having destroyed
in its progress some 30,000 acres of vineyards.

Moths also have been introduced to new countries upon
trees. The Gypsy Moth (Porthetria dispar), a common
European plague upon shade and fruit trees, was ac-
cidentally carried to Massachusetts from Europe in 1869,
and is now so widely established and so destructive through-
out eastern New England, that the State of Massachussetts
has expended over a million dollars in unsuccessful efforts
to exterminate it, and the United States Department of
Agriculture has instituted a special investigation aiming at
the discovery of the best means of control.

In addition to the pests causing surface sores, trees
have been known to carry to new countries the canker at
their heart. In feeding, the caterpillars of the Leopard
Moth (Zeugera pyrina), a British and European species,
tunnel in the live wood of many fruit and ornamental trees.
Probably in such a secret place were hidden the specimens
carried unawares to the United States a short time ago,
the founders of a colony which now extends throughout the
Hudson Valley and along the Atlantic Coast from Massachu-
setts to New Jersey.

TYPES INTRODUCED WITH PLANTS OF THE
FLOWER GARDEN

A strange variety of creatures accompanies the intro-
duced plants of the flower garden. Although they include
no pests so serious as some of those which have accompanied
the produce of the vegetable garden and of the orchard,
they afford in one respect a feature of interest absent from
the others. Many of our flowering plants imported from
tropical regions bring with them the lesser inhabitants of
warmer climes. Under ordinary conditions the aliens, un-
accustomed to cold and bitter weather, would soon disappear
from our fauna, but the shelter and artificial heat of glass-
houses supply them with a climate like their own. So there
have arisen in these havens of refuge well established and
thriving colonies of insects and other creatures, accidentally

BY PLANTS AND VEGETABLES 463

introduced, which reproduce on a small and limited scale
the minute life of warmer lands.

In these exotic colonies surprising variety 'of life is
represented. Of Spiders, Tkeridion tepidariorum is now
very common injnost large greenhouses, where it is to be
found in all stages of development at all times of the year,
and Hasarius adansonii has occasionally occurred in the
warmer glasshouses. Insects of many orders are numerous:
Ants from the tropics, such as Tetramorium guineense, and
Technomyrmexalbipes, an inhabitant of India and the islands
of the Pacific, have been found in the Royal Botanic Garden
in Edinburgh. A common Indian Ant, Triglyphothrix
striatidens, which has been imported to the United States
on tropical plants, has recently been reported to be spreading
there. Beetles have come to us in orchid bulbs wherein
the grubs tunnel and feed : Dr R. S. MacDougall has
found a species of Xyleborus attacking Dendrobium in an
orchid house at Pitlochry, Perthshire ; he has also obtained
a Beetle, native of the Straits Settlements, Baridium ater-
rimus, in orchid bulbs from Penang, and has collected
several specimens of a Burmese Longicorn Beetle Diaxenes
dendrobii, from orchids growing in Midlothian. This Indian
immigrant has of late been found in a number of orchid
houses in England and Scotland.

A tiny species of Thrips, Euthrips orchidaceus, has
recently been found on hothouse orchids in the Royal
Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, and in the Glasgow Botanic
Garden ; and it is more than likely that the Springtail,
Smintliurus igniceps, which is confined to greenhouses,
ranging from Edinburgh and Glasgow, to Germany, Norway,
and Sweden, is a foreigner by ancestry.

In another connection, I have mentioned that Cock-
roaches from America (Periplaneta americand] and from
Australasia (P. australasiae) flourish in many Scottish
greenhouses ; and isolated examples of other foreign Cock-
roaches are occasionally captured, such as the specimens of
"probably Lucophaea surinamensis and Blabera gigantea"
which, Prof. ]. }. F. X. King reports, paid an unexpected
visit to the Broomielaw in Glasgow a few years ago. Even
more recently two species of Japanese Grasshoppers, Die
strammena marmorata and J^ackycines asynamorus, the

464 ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

former of which has been captured in British hothouses,
have become naturalized in the greenhouses of Central
Europe and have multiplied so greatly as to become pests.

Several other classes of animals have their foreign
representatives in our hothouses. An exotic Myriopod,
Paradesmus gracitis, is well established in several such
retreats about Edinburgh, individuals of all ages having
been noticed by Mr W. Evans. Even Worms have thus
been added to our fauna : a wiry, agile, Indian species of
Earthworm, Perichaeta indica, which like its congeners
possesses unusual activity and power of springing when
touched, occasionally accompanies plants, and has become
naturalized in the congenial climate of hothouses in Kirk-
cudbrightshire and Edinburgh. Perichaeta is familiar to
gardeners in this country, and though its home is in the East,
the genus is now widely distributed in Europe and America —
evidence of the ease with which its members, hidden in soil
about plant roots, can be transported by man.

It would, however, be matter for surprise that "Leaf-
worms " or Land Planarians, which, like Placocephalus (Bi-
palium) kewensis, may measure 6 to 9 inches in length, and
sometimes attain 18 inches at full stretch, should have
been introduced unobserved, were it not that they too, like
Earthworms, burrow in the soil under conditions of drought.
Clearly the species just mentioned is no rare wanderer from
its home in the tropics, for it has been observed in several
Scottish greenhouses, and has been imported with tropical
vegetation and soil to England, Germany, South Africa,
and Australia. The transference to foreign and unaccustomed
climes has had one curious effect upon the habits of this
flattened delicate " Leaf-worm," for it no longer multiplies
after the routine manner of its kind through the stages of
egg and young, but simply splits into several portions each
of which grows into an adult, with a full complement of
senses and organs. Plant-browsing animals, such as Snails,
are very liable to transportation, and several, such as the
West Indian Bulimus octonus, and B. goodalli, have fre-
quently been found in British greenhouses, while many
years ago Cfaisilia papillaris was detected by Joshua Alder
amongst exotic plants at Granton, near Edinburgh.

I have already said in effect that the more strange in

BY PLANTS AND VEGETABLES 465

appearance an animal is compared with the ordinary natives
of a country, the more likely is its appearance in a native
fauna to be detected. Hence it comes about that the majority
of the stowaways recognized as imported with garden plants,
hail from distant and usually tropical lands, although the
factor must not be ignored that on account of their very
strangeness exotic plants are specially sought after by
collectors, and are imported, with their animal associates,
in large quantities. This tropical aspect adds a special
interest to the transportees of flowering plants, but the
peculiar adaptations imposed by the natural habitat of such
a fauna have prevented it from obtaining any secure hold
at large in Britain. Where they have escaped from the
genial warmth and moisture of the greenhouse, the exotic
aliens have as a rule, made only a spasmodic appearance in
our fauna. Even Mediterranean species, such as the White-
keeled Snail {Helix limbatd) and JBulimus decolletus, the
former of which was common in hedges around London in
1837, while the latter bred in great numbers in Devon for
many successive years about 1826, have generally a short
life and not always a merry one. Odd specimens of many
other Molluscs, introduced with plants, have appeared in
Britain only to disappear again.

Nevertheless, native faunas have been occasionally en-
riched by plant transportees. There is strong presumption
that a number of our familiar types of Earthworms (Liimbri-
cidae), which are common to this country and to North
America, accompanied the early settlers and their chosen
plants from the Old \Vorld to the New. Or take that plague
of bulbs, the Narcissus Fly (Merodon equestris] whose grubs
feed upon the juicy scales of the bulbs, not only of Narcissus,
but of half a dozen genera besides. A native of southern
Europe, the Narcissus Fly has spread to northern Europe,
causing serious damage every year amongst the bulbs of
Dutch growers, and it was first noticed in Britain in 1869.
The later wanderings of infested bulbs have established the
pest in Canada, in the United States of America and in New
Zealand. It is probable also that the curious "Snail-slug,"
Testacella maugei, which carries its shell on its tail instead of
on its back, was introduced with the soil in which it lived.
Its native abodes are in south-western Europe, Madeira,

R. 3°

466 ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

the Canary Isles and such southern lands ; but it was first
noticed in England in a nursery near Bristol between 1812
and 1816, and in 1822 was described as breeding freely in
the open. Now it has obtained permanent footing in many
of the south-western counties of England and has been
found as far north as Cheshire.

From Aberdeen comes a strange instance of a halfway
stage to naturalization. Three or four ponds at the Banner
Mill in Aberdeen were inhabited for many years by a
warm-country Freshwater Snail, Physa acuta, which is
common in pools in the West Indies and in southern France.
With it lived Goldfish and water-plants, as well as the
Common Pond Snail, Limncza peregra. There can be
little doubt that the foreigner, introduced with either the
Goldfish or the plants, was saved from extinction by the fact
that the ponds were filled by a flow of warm water dis-
charged from the mill. In these congenial habitations, the
visitors flourished and multiplied. If the Common Pond
Snail, accustomed to the icy pools of Aberdeenshire, could
bear with equanimity the artificial warmth of the Banner
Mill overflow, is it not possible that there might also be a
halfway stage by which the warm-temperate species might
step down from its own to our colder climate? Physa acuta
has been accidentally introduced and has been found to
thrive in the lily tanks of Kew, and in tanks and vessels con-
taining plants in the Royal Botanic Society's Garden in
Regent's Park, London.

VIII. 6
TIMBER TRANSPORTERS

TIMBER has been a staple import to Scotland for many
centuries, since long before those days in the reign of
James VI when the prohibition of Danish timber threatened
to stop house-building throughout the country. It is little
wonder then that animals brought from Europe in the early
days of the trade, finding the new climate congenial, should,
having become established, so spread that they are now
indistinguishably part and parcel of our fauna.

LONG ESTABLISHED WOOD-WASPS

So, I imagine, it has been with the Wood- Wasps, — the
Greater, Sirex gigcts, and the Steel- Blue, Sirex noctilio.
They are common on the Continent, and are ever and again
turning up in imported wood, for within tree trunks the female
lays her eggs, using in the process a long stout sting-like
ovipositor, which has earned the group the American name
of "horn-tails," and is the cause of much needless alarm
among the unsophisticated discoverers of these fine insects.
Within the tree the larvae grow and feed for two years,
before emerging as adults in the warm days of summer.
In many fir woods throughout Scotland, the Greater Wood-
Wasp seems to have become permanently established, and
the tunnelling larvae do serious damage to the trees,
especially of Scots Pine and Silver Fir. The Steel-Blue
Wood-Wasp is less common, though it also is held to be
destructive amongst conifers, in particular Spruce and Larch.
So much at home do the two British species of Wood-Wasps
appear to be that some naturalists have regarded them as
aboriginal natives of this country. It is next to impossible
at this date to prove the former absence of insignificant
creatures, where they have been introduced by chance and
are long established, but it is tolerably certain that the

30—2

468

ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

majority of the Wood-Wasps still captured in Scotland are
recent imports in timber. Two examples will enforce the
statement. Owing to the long period of two years which
the larva spends burrowing in solid wood, it frequently
happens that, before the adult insect has emerged, the trees

Fig. 8 1 . Steel- Blue Wood- Wasp (Sirex
noctilio) (male). Natural size.

Fig. 82. Steel-Blue Wood-Wasp (female).
Natural size.

Fig. 83. Steel-Blue Wood- Wasp eating its way out of a pine stem after
emerging from pupa. Natural size.

have been rut and the timber put to some use. Thus the
appearance of adult Wood-Wasps from finished furniture is
no rare occurrence. Dr D. Sharp has recorded that

large numbers of a species of Sirex emerged in a house in this country
some years after it was built, to the great terror of the inhabitants. The
wood in this case was supposed to have been brought from Canada.

TIMBER TRANSPORTERS 469

And Mr. A. T. Gillanders relates " that one of the best
consignments of those insects I ever had sent me was
captured by a miner, issuing from props within the coal-pit."
Most pit-props are imported from Norway.

TIMBER CARRIES BORING CREATURES

No set of imported animals is more characteristic than
the timber transportees. They are almost without exception
creatures whose larvae bore in the solid wood of trees, and
on this account their kind is mainly limited to Sawflies,
such as the Wood- Wasps, and to Beetles, particularly of the
boring Longicorn group. In addition, parasites may be
•carried in the Wood- Wasp or Beetle larvae, and thus foreign
Ichneumon flies may emerge on our side of the ocean.

A FEW EXCEPTIONS

There are at least two striking exceptions to the rule
that timber carries only boring creatures. I have seen two
specimens of theblack and blue, yellow-banded shining lizards
known as Blue-tailed Skinks (Eumeces quinquelineatus},
which a few years ago accompanied a cargo of timber to a
Musselburgh timber-yard. The timber had been imported
from North America, where, in the United States, the Blue
tailed Skink has a wide range. It has a habit of concealing
itself under the loose bark of trees, and this no doubt led to
its long and involuntary journey.

It is unlikely that the Blue-tailed Skink would have
established itself in this country, for even in North America
its range is limited ; but another rather unexpected intro-
duction with timber has met with greater success.

In 1824, the Linnean Society received the first recorded
British specimens. of the Zebra Mussel (Dreissensia poly-
morpha), these having been found in abundance attached to
shells and timber in the Commercial Docks on the Thames.
The Zebra Mussel lives in fresh water, in the Danube and
the rivers of Russia, and in northern France, Belgium and
Germany. It is supposed to have been originally carried to
Britain with cargoes of wood from the Volga, and it has
actually been seen attached to Baltic timber ere yet the
timber was removed from the ship's hold. The success of

470 ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

the Zebra Mussel as a colonist has been remarkable. It
has spread from one locality to another until it has stations
in some twenty English counties. In Scotland it is common
in the Paisley Canal and in the Forth and Clyde Canal,
where it used to be found "in vast abundance." Even in
the most out-of-the-way places it has succeeded in obtaining
a hold and in making headway ; it is a common member
of the fauna of water-pipes, and in 1912 a stoppage of the
water supply at Hampton-on-Thames led to the discovery
that the diameter of the 36-inch main for unfiltered water
had been reduced to 9 inches by masses of Zebra Mussels
which were growing attached to the inside of the pipe.
Ninety tons of the shells are said to have been removed
before the main was again put in working order (see Fig. 68,

P- 415).

Other Molluscs have been carried with timber, such as
the West Indian Bulimus undatus, which arrived in Liver-
pool attached to tropical timber and alive, and is said to
have formed a colony near that city. But success seldom
greets such casual voyagers.

The characteristic travellers with timber are the boring
insects, especially the tunnelling Beetles, whose larvae are
long-lived and lie unobserved and secure in their burrows
until the time of their transformation and emergence.

LGNG-HORNED INVADERS

Of invading Beetles the most interesting in appearance
are the striking "long-horned" Beetles (Longicornia), easily
recognized by the extraordinary length of their antennae,
which may twice or three times exceed that of the body.
Often their wing-cases display rich patterns and colours, and
this and their size make them conspicuous visitors. Not
many native beetles can rival in appearance the oak-boring
Timber Beetles or Capricorns, Cerambyx heros and Cerambyx
cerdo, with their rich brown wing-cases and their fine
antennae, in the male almost twice as long as the inch-and-
a-half long body. Their distribution in England betrays
their origin. By far the greatest number of specimens has
been found in the neighbourhood of dockyards, whither

TIMBER TRANSPORTEES 471

clearly they had come as larvae, hidden within beams of
oak.

These fine species have not yet been found in Scotland,
but in North Britain almost equally handsome relatives
have ^occasionally been captured : Monochammus dentator
— a North American species, has been found alive in Glasgow,

Fig. 84. Timberman Beetles (upper, female; lower, male) imported to
Aberdeenshire in Norwegian pine logs. Natural size.

and Monochammus sutor in Colinton Dell and Berwick ;
the North American Goes tigrina has also been found in
wood landed in Scotland. A specimen, probably imported, of
the large ashy-grey Saperda carcharias, a species native to
England, was caught in the woods of Strathspey at Cromdale
in 1891 ; another English species Callidium variabile has
been introduced with timber to the Forth area ; the lesser

472 ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

Agelastica alni has been found in Edinburgh, Pogono-
chaerus fasciculatus at Bo'ness Docks, and the North
American Arhopalus speciosus in the Glasgow district.

None of these Long-horned Beetles has made more than
a fleeting visit to our shores, but one interesting form — the
Timberman, Acanthocinus aedilis^ig. 84, p. 47 1) — has made
persistent efforts at establishment: No imported Longicorn
appears so often as the greyish brown, three quarter inch long
Timberman, with extraordinary antennae, which in the male
are four times as long as the body. In many parts of the
country and in all sorts of curious situations, the Timberman
turns up ; at one time in a railway carriage near Greenock,
at another in a coalpit at Coatbridge, more often near timber
yards, as at Bo'ness, Granton, Kilbarchan in the Clyde area,
at Berwick and Tweedmouth just beyond the southern
border. In the last locality a workman had "frequently seen
others [of the Timberman] sticking out of holes in Baltic pine-
logs." And the importation of Baltic pine containing the
living larvae accounts for most of the specimens captured in
Scotland. When a boy, I found a living female Timberman
resting upon the doorstep of my home in Aberdeenshire,
and on the same day a male was captured not far off. Both,
presumably, had come from a stacked cargo of Norwegian
pine logs brought to the Inverurie Paper Mills for paper
making. The Timberman has been found in most of the
Scottish faunal areas from Tweed to Moray, and it is
possible that in a few places it may have become established.

OTHER BEETLE IMMIGRANTS

Beetles, other than Longicorns, occasionally find their
way to Scotland from foreign parts, but they too are of the
boring kind. Thus the South European Bupestris hae-
morrhoidalis has been captured in a house in Ayr, and
in the Royal Scottish Museum in 1915 Lyctus brunneus
made its appearance in several cases, the larvae having been
contained in wood used by a London taxidermist in mount-
ing some foreign mammals. The destructive Banded Pine
Weevil, Pissodes notatus, and its relative the Pine- bole
Weevil, Pissodes piniphilus, are frequently brought with
European fir trees to Scotland, and, even if they may not

FINAL REMARKS 473

have come thus as new members of the fauna, they at
least add their numbers to the somewhat scanty native
stock, to the great damage of young pines throughout the
land.

Fig. 85. Some Chance Introductions to Great Britain ; shown diagrammatically,
associated with the country of their origin.

FINAL REMARKS

The increase and extension of commerce is an end to-
wards which all civilized nations have worked, yet a reading
of the summaries given in this chapter will show that
the gain in these respects has been no unmixed blessing.
"Half the weeds of American agriculture/' Professor Riley
once said, "and a large proportion of her worst insect pests,
have been imported among us from Europe"; and Europe's
debt to America stands little in arrears — we think of the
Canadian water weed (Anacharis canadensis], the tangled

474 ANIMALS INTRODUCED UNAWARES

and exuberant growth of which has choked ponds and rivers
and blocked canals to traffic, of the American Blight upon
our apple trees, of the Pea Beetle, and most damaging of
all, of the Plant-bug or Phylloxera of the vine (see also intro-
ductions from America, in Fig. 85, p. 473).

Many years' experience of the damage caused by unfore-
seen introductions from other countries, has led progres-
sive nations whose wealth depends largely upon the products
of their fields and orchards, to endeavour to check by all
means in their power the constant stream of undesirable
immigrants amongst animals. Believing the old saw that
prevention is better than cure, the agricultural departments
of various States, prominent among them California and
Hawaii, have set up strict quarantines, so that each intended
import passes under the scrutiny of experts and is declared
clear before it is admitted to the State.

The monthly reports of the quarantine inspections in
California and Hawaii make interesting reading, not only
because they demonstrate the value of this method of com-
bating noxious stowaways, but because they show, more
strikingly than one could have imagined, the efficiency of
commerce as a distributor of animal life. I cannot do better,
in closing this chapter on the camp-followers of commerce,
than state, in summary form, the insect pests detected during
a single month on the point of entering California from
abroad. I take one at random from the reports before me ;
it chances to contain the pests intercepted during November
1916, — a month, it is to be remembered, in the midst of a
great war which has upset traffic and the ways of commerce.
Nevertheless these are the month's visitors. From Belgium,
seven species of Leafminers, Thrips, Scales of azaleas and
bay trees ; from Holland, the Narcissus Fly in narcissus
bulbs, and the Mussel Scale on box shrubs ; from China,
Scales upon oranges, the Sweet Potato Weevil in
sweet potatoes, and the Rice Weevil in rice ; from Japan,
Weevil larvae, Pine-cone and unidentified Weevils on chest-
nuts, a Coccid on oranges, and Lepidopterous larvae in
Chili peppers ; from Hawaii two kinds of Scale Insects on
pine-apples, Scales on betel leaves, Red- Spotted Scale and two
other kinds on bananas, Fruit-Fly (Trypetid) larvae in string
beans, the Scarabee Beetle (Euscepes batatae] in sweet

FINAL REMARKS 475

potatoes, Lepidopterous larvae on dates, the Purple Scale on
oranges; from South America (Colombia), the Coconut Snow
Scale on orchids ; from Central America, two species of Scale
on bananas, and Weevil larvae in avocado seeds ; from Costa
Rica, the Purple Scale on oranges ; from Mexico, Lepidop-
terous larvae in dates, Long Scale on limes, and this and
the Purple Scale on oranges. From various other States
in the Union many pests were brought : New Jersey con-
tributed a Chalcid Fly on orchids ; Pennsylvania, Scales
on gardenia, begonias, coleus, cyclamens, fuschias and
spiraea, and Citrus White Fly on citrus ; Florida, Scales
on pine apple and Black Scale on avocado; Maryland, San
Jose Scale and Codlin Moth with apples ; from Mississippi
came Citrus White Fly on gardenia ; from New York,
Coconut Snow Scale and Shield Scale on orchids, San Jose
Scale on apples, Common Mealy Bug on Otaheite orange,
Aspidotus Scale on jasmine ; Washington was content to
send only Rhizoctonia on potatoes.

Close on half a hundred different kinds of Insects caught
attempting to run the blockade of the Californian quarantine;
and this the fruit of a month's inspection of one tiny stream
in the world's great ocean of commerce1 !

1 Since these notes were written the United States, having suffered much,
have recognized that the unforeseen introduction of pests has become so
serious that a " Notice of Quarantine, No. 37 " has been issued, totally
prohibiting "on and after June i, 1919, the importation of such nursery
stock and other plants and seeds as harbour certain injurious insects and
fungous diseases new to or not heretofore widely distributed within and
throughout the United States."

Britain has not yet instituted a systematic examination of imports for
transported pests !

CONCLUSION

CHAPTER IX
CHAINS OF CIRCUMSTANCE

The question of animal and vegetable life is too complicated a pro-
blem for human intelligence to solve, and we can never know how wide a
circle of disturbance we produce in the harmonies of nature when we throw
the smallest pebble into the ocean of organic being.

G. P. MARSH.

IN order that he might gain a full and concrete notion of
the effects of man's sway over animal life, the reader has
been led through a forest whose trees are solid facts, whose
undergrowth, thickets of circumstance. There is a danger
that in toiling a laborious way through these thickets, he
may have lost sight of the wood amongst the trees. Let us
turn, then, from the infinite details of the process, in an
endeavour to gain a broad view of the results ; remembering
that the broad view is a limited view, remembering that the
human mind is not built on the principle of a fly's eye
that sees all ways at once, but that the span of its vision
is limited to steps and stages and incidents ; remembering
most of all that each act of man is no simple deed, done and
forgotten, but a complex of actions and interactions whose
influences spread and spread like the circles in a disturbed
pool, or rather that, like the sound waves impelled from a
bursting bomb, reach up and down and all around. To
recast the statement on the lines of bare demonstrable fact
— no deeds of man permanently affect the existence of any
member of a fauna even in a lesser degree, but the shock
of the interference is felt amongst the winged creatures of
the air, amongst the beasts of the field and even amongst
the burrowers beneath the earth's surface. The widening
spheres of influence may be traced some distance from the
source of their origin, but soon their waves are intersected
and lost to view amidst their own reflected wavelets, and
amidst new waves and counter-waves from other centres of
disturbance.

Granted then that the broad view is still a limited view
and neglects all the finer tracery of man's influence, there
is still something to be gained from its survey.

IX. i
A RETROSPECT

MAN'S INFLUENCE A DEVELOPING FACTOR

IT is strikingly apparent that the influence of man upon
animal life has not been a constant factor throughout. But
this is little to be wondered at, when account is made of
the changes which have taken place in man's mental attitude
towards animals and his consequent relationship to them.
Primitive peoples are creatures of the wilds, and fall in
with Nature's ways. They kill where food or safety de-
mands, and are killed by the other wild creatures almost
on an equal footing. There is yet no enmity between man
and the beast ; indeed a suggestion of identity with the
animal and vegetable kingdoms pervades the simple peoples,
so that they see in birds and beasts, in trees and flowers,
creatures like unto themselves in essence, which in the
myths and folk-tales share their own thoughts and feelings
and speech. So when a particular animal comes to be
selected to represent their families or tribes, the race of this
totem animal becomes as their own race, to be protected in
life and avenged in death.

In such conditions man was almost as much a part of wild
nature as the beasts themselves ; he made clearings in the
forest, but the clearings he made for his settlements nature
healed in a few years after he had forsaken them ; he slew
animals, but the thought of destruction other than for his
own food or clothing or protection or such simple necessity
had not entered his mind.

So we find that the faunas of the older human stages
were those least influenced by man. The simple hunters and
fishermen of the Old Stone Age left little permanent trace
upon their contemporaries of the wood and plain. But with
the passing of years man left his place in the woods to
seek a place in the sun, and gained in humanity just as he
raised his head above wild nature's level. Now began an
antagonism to nature uncontrolled, that has grown and

A RETROSPECT 481

intensified with each new stage of culture. The first great
step was taken by Neolithic man when he brought creatures
of the wild under the yoke, and cleared the ground of its
natural plants for the sake of his cultivated grains. A
classification expressive of his new relationship to nature
was emphasized : plants were useful, to be preserved, or
"weeds" to be rooted out; animals likewise fell into the
categories of good and bad, and the latter, mainly the
beasts and birds of prey, became marked for persecution
everywhere and at all seasons.

In spite of this new rivalry, Neolithic man, and even
his successors of the Bronze and Iron Ages, left few marks
of their passage upon the fauna of Scotland ; their weapons
were primitive and their needs were simple. It is a remark-
able fact that of all the creatures which Neolithic man found
inhabiting the forests and moors of Scotland on his settle-
ment there some 7000 years before the opening of the
Christian era, only four, so far as we can judge, failed to
carry on their race to the dawn of Scottish history in the first
century of our era — the Giant Fallow Deer, the Lemming,
the Northern Lynx, and the Northern or Rat Vole — and of
these it is doubtful if the Giant Fallow Deer (Megaceros
giganteus] had not died out even before man's arrival, while
the remainder are Arctic or northern animals upon which
Scotland's fluctuations of climate must have told with special
severity.

Nevertheless in domesticating wild animals, Neolithic
man set in motion a force which directly and indirectly has
been the most potent factor in changing the old order of
nature and setting in its place the new order of mankind.
In Scotland the intensity of this force increased after
the Roman conquest of the Lowlands and the incoming of
Christianity. The greater necessity for food and fire for an
increasing population led to the spread of agriculture and
the destruction of the forest, so that about the tenth century
several interesting and long familiar animals had disappeared
or were on the verge of extinction, among them the Brown
Bear, the Reindeer and the Elk.

The introduction of a new factor — the active encourage-
ment and protection of certain animals by law — cut both
ways, for while it helped to make secure the position of

R. 31

482 CHAINS OF CIRCUMSTANCE

certain favoured creatures, it intensified the warfare against
others. Yet over all is the influence of the spread of culti-
vation and of the care of flocks and herds, ever increasing
in its power and in its enmity towards wild creatures, till,
reinforced by the invention of gunpowder and guns, in
the centuries following upon the sixteenth it swept away a
great remnant of the original fauna, blotting out from the
land such as the Wolf, the Beaver, the Great Bustard,
the Crane and the Bittern, the White-tailed Eagle, the
Goshawk, the Kite and the Osprey, and driving into corners
of the shrinking forests, or to the wilds, such as the Wild
Cat, the Pine Marten, the Golden Eagle, the Raven, the
Carrion Crow, and other foes of domesticated things.

Lastly the development of the means and ease of travel-
ling, the spread of commerce, and the rapidity of ocean
transit have removed almost the last shackles from man's
influence, throwing the world at the mercy of a power that
heretofore has been limited by nature's barriers.

A CONTRAST— THE WAYS OF NATURE AND MAN

One is tempted to contrast the ways of Nature and
Man in their bearing on animal life. A little consideration
of the examples given in the preceding pages will show
how different in degree are the methods by which natural
processes and man's direct intervention reach the same
ends.

Nature may indeed destroy by cataclysm, else how can
we account for the shoals of dead fish, which died simul-
taneously in inland waters covering, million of years ago, the
spot where Caithness now is, and which became embedded
in layers of the Old Red Sandstone Period. In our own
day the eruptions of submarine volcanoes work such havoc.
But as a rule Nature's method is different. She exterminates
an animal : long she seems to ponder over the process,
slowly the conditions creep in which render existence more
difficult, time gives many opportunities for changing a
habit, even for modifying a structure, so that new adaptation
may turn aside the threat of extinction — only to incompetence
of adjustment does Nature meet out its reward.

But Man is still " Nature's insurgent son," her methods

A RETROSPECT 483

are too slow for him, he rebels against her deliberation.
Man exterminates an animal : he slays rashly, rapidly, re-
morselessly, and, the deed done, takes time to regret his
impetuosity. Nature, it would seem, considers well before
she deals the final blow; Man deals the final blow and then
considers.

With the introduction of animals, it is as* with their
extermination — the same coarse handling marks Man's ways.
Nature introduces, say, a new molluscan shell-fish to our
fresh waters. A single egg, no bigger than a pinhead, or
perhaps a dozen mixed with the clay attached to the foot of
a migrating duck, form the possible foundation of a colony.
But the colony is so small that, the newcomer creates no
violent revolution in its surroundings. It may die out under
competition, leaving no trace; it may increase and in the
end choke its neighbour's life, but the latter process is
generally a slow one, there is no fierce apparent struggle,
ajid, besides, with the gradual increase of the newcomer,
fresh foes develop which tend to keep it in check.

How different when man interferes! He introduces a
new mollusc: he dumps basketsfull time and again at the
same spot, upsetting the balance of life in the neighbour-
hood, offering the newcomer, if conditions be suitable,
chances of increase, which may cause the countryside to be
overrun before a natural enemy arises to keep the alien
within bounds.

Even his unforeseen and accidental introductions have
the same effect, for the persistence with which the same
pest is introduced time and again, in timber or food, with
plants or fruit, makes sure that, unless conditions are actively
hostile, it will at one time or another set down its foot and
become an established guest.

MAIN TRENDS OF MAN'S INFLUENCE

Along three broad lines man's influence has played upon
the animal world. On one hand it has tended to reduce the
numbers of one set of animals, to limit their range and to
exterminate them ; on the other hand it has leaned towards
increasing the numbers of another set of animals, compelling
them to enter fresh areas, which often enough they have

31—2

484

CHAINS OF CIRCUMSTANCE

added securely to their original territory. Along with these
influences, in conjunction with the one or the other, or inde-
pendently of either, man has both consciously and uncon-
sciously shared in bringing about changes in the physical
structures as well as in the habits and temperaments of
many wild creatures.

INFLUENCES TENDING TO INCREASE ANIMAL LIFE

Man has enriched the fauna of Scotland in two different
directions — in quantity, by encouraging an increase of num-
bers amongst certain animals, and in quality, by adding new

IN PREHISTORIC SCOTLAND .

PRESENT DAY

Fig. 86. Comparison of the surface features of Scotland in prehistoric times1
and at the present day; showing the extent of man's interference with the natural haunts
of animals.

creatures from other lands. Both quantitative and qualita-
tive increases involve new demands on the food supply, and
these, under natural conditions, entail a decrease in other
living things whose food is appropriated by the new-comers.
But here again man has stepped in, and has to a certain
extent solved the problem of increase without decrease, first
and mainly by his cultivation of the soil, and more recently
and secondarily by his importation of food stuffs from other
lands.

1 This diagram is based upon the estimated extent of the Upper Forest
of the Peat, checked, with allowance for the different physical configuration
of the countries, with the present condition of Scandinavia where only
6 per cent, of the land is cultivated.

A RETROSPECT 485

The importance of cultivation of the soil from the point
of view of increasing animal life cannot be over-estimated.
The vegetation of even an indifferent pasture is much more
abundant than the yield of the same ground unfilled, and the
value, as feeding stuff, of the produce of an equal field of
grain is greater still. Good arable land can be made to
yield more and more under intensive methods of cultivation
so that, acre for acre, the food-supply has multiplied many
times since man turned the first sod in Scotland. When to
this increased yield, due wholly to the skill of agriculture,
we add the crops of such land — formerly almost unpro-
ductive of even wild vegetation — as has been reclaimed
from the marshes and sandhills, or stolen from the forest,
we gain some vague idea of the increase in vegetable food
which has resulted from the cultivation of close on five
million acres, one quarter of the total land area of Scotland.

Almost all this increased yield of vegetation has been
added to the natural food supply of the inhabitants of
Scotland, man and beast, to their enormous multiplication
in numbers. Finches and grain-eating birds, Rabbits, Rats.
Mice, and vegetarian animals in general, as well as the
Stoats, Weasels, and beasts and birds of prey which feed upon
them, have benefited by the bounty of the fields : but most
•important of all, man himself has multiplied, and has been
enabled to increase his domesticated stock far beyond the
natural bearing capacity of the country.

In another way, man has laboured for the increase in
numbers of certain elements in the fauna, by affording them
protection from indiscriminate slaughter and by encouraging
their multiplication for the sake of sport, for their own in-
trinsic value, or for the pleasure their presence gives him.
This direct protection has been on the whole far less
effective from the faunistic point of view than might have
been supposed, partly because any success it met with merely
stimulated increased slaughter, partly because it was often
applied to animals already on the downgrade from causes
other than direct destruction, and partly because it tended
to clash with agricultural developments and improvements.
Yet it has succeeded in preserving for us the Red Deer,
which, otherwise, would almost certainly have been exter-
minated long ago, as were its relatives ; it has succeeded in

486 CHAINS OF CIRCUMSTANCE

keeping up the stocks of many game-birds which adverse
conditions might have brought near the vanishing point,
and in recent years it has certainly been instrumental in
increasing the numbers of several rare and of many inter-
esting and useful birds.

Apart from increase in sheer weight of numbers, the
animal life in Scotland has been varied in kind by the
introduction from abroad of creatures which have found
climate and food suitable for their firm establishment.
Amongst these naturalized aliens, domestic animals are
the chief, not only because of their numbers, but also
on account of the pressure they have exerted upon the
native fauna ; for with man the welfare of his stock has
always had first consideration. How great this indirect
pressure has been we can scarcely realize, but now and
again we have caught glimpses of its power, as when the
development of sheep pasturage led to the destruction of
tracts of forest land in the Highlands as well as in the Low-
lands, banishing their tenants and in the latter district
finally driving the Roe and the Red Deer to extermination.

How could it be otherwise when new places and new
food supplies have had to be found for the millions of
domesticated animals man has imposed upon the country ?
We are apt to forget that by nothing short of a miracle
could 8,635,918 foreigners, however desirable, be added to
the fauna of a country without disturbing the food and
dwelling arrangements of the aboriginals. But this number
includes only the larger domestics — Horses, Cattle, Sheep
and Pigs1 — inhabiting Scotland in 1916, and the wonder is
that they have found places without entirely dispossessing
the old fauna, for, were they equally distributed throughout
the land, on barren mountain-top, as well as in fertile plain,
they would represent, roughly, an addition of one animal to
every two acres. But under natural conditions each Red
Deer requires at least 18 acres of moderately good "forest"
to keep it in heart ! The domestic animals have, it is true,
enormously affected the wild fauna ; but nevertheless man
has accomplished the miracle of heavily overloading the
scale without entirely upsetting the balance — of feeding the

1 The numbers were horses, 207,290; cattle, 1,226,374; sheep, 7,055,864;
pigs, 146,390.

A RETROSPECT 487

multitudes of newcomers on the few loaves and fishes of
the aboriginal creatures and yet leaving over more than a
few crumbs for the old races, and this miracle has been
accomplished through the marvellous art of agriculture
which has created fresh food supplies as the domestic
animals increased in number and required them.

Although domestic animals still take the lead amongst
introduced creatures, other deliberate importations have to
be reckoned with in the modern make-up of the fauna.
The Squirrel and the Rabbit both play important parts in
the economy of vegetation, the interference of the latter,
as I shall have occasion to point out later, being particularly
effective and widespread. Yet we should be sorry to lose
these sprightly guests from our woods and dells, and bleak
sand-dunes, just as we should miss the presence of the
graceful Fallow Deer or of the brilliant Pheasant now that
these have made their homes in wood and covert.

On the other hand we would gladly dispense with the
presence of most of the chance introductions which have
followed in the trail of commerce. They have added
enormously in variety as well as in numbers to the fauna of
Scotland, but, as I have already pointed out, their methods
of secret insinuation into new countries ensure that a large
proportion of these skulkers and stowaways shall prove
pests and nuisances. How many anxious housewives, farmers,
gardeners, and fruit-growers must bemoan the generous
bounty of a commerce which has freely given them the Cock-
roach, or "Black Beetle" of the kitchen, the loathsome
Bed Bug, the Black Rat 'and his cousin the Brown, the
American Blight of apple trees, the Phylloxera of the vine,
and scores of other minute but destructive enemies of
growing crops, of manufactured goods and indeed, it would
seem, of anything man particularly wishes to conserve.
Other influences have favoured multiplication and the forma-
tion of new resorts for colonization ; we think of the
inhabitants of houses, of coal-pits, and of water-pipes. But
the introduction, fortuitous or deliberate, of new animals,
the protection of certain members of the old stock, the
multiplication of vegetable feeders and through them of
flesh eaters by the arts of land reclamation and cultivation —
these are the chief methods by which man has encouraged

488 CHAINS OF CIRCUMSTANCE

the increase, in numbers and variety, of the animal inhabi-
tants of Scotland.

INFLUENCES TENDING TO REDUCE ANIMAL LIFE

Two main lines of action have told severely upon the
original fauna of Scotland. The first is patent in its direct-
ness— the deliberate destruction of creatures, whether for
food or profit or because they threatened to destroy the
security of man or of his domestic stock. The former lost
to us the Great Auk, the latter the Wolf and many beasts
and birds of prey. The second group of influences, indirect
in their incidence, is associated with the disturbance of the
haunts of wild creatures, and can be traced to the needs of
cultivation and the demands of advancing civilization (see
Fig. 86, p. 484). The former banished the creatures of the
moorland when fields were tilled, and the birds and creeping
things of the marsh when swamps were drained ; both agri-
culture and civilization, but especially the latter on behalf of
its growing industries, contributed to the destruction of the
forest and in consequence to the disappearance of the wood-
land animals; and civilization is responsible for the ill effects
of the pollution of rivers and of the obstacles placed in the
way of migrant fishes.

It need not happen that the creatures against which
man sets his hand, unwittingly or with intent, necessarily
become exterminated. Adverse influences are as clearly
marked by simple reduction in numbers, or by a gradual
drawing in of the outposts of a species, so that its territory
becomes less.

It must not be supposed that these influences making for
the increase or decrease of a species are simple in their work-
ings. So far from being mutually exclusive they are highly
involved, and the final tendency in the history of any creature
must be interpreted with due regard to the conflicting influences
which have played upon it. Take, for example, the case of
the Stoat. On the one hand its numbers have been reduced,
directly, by slaughter for the value of its skin, and on
account of its depredations on game, and indirectly by the
destruction of woods and its safe retreats. On the other
hand its numbers have tended to increase because of the

A RETROSPECT 489

killing of the larger beasts and birds of prey which shared
the same food supply, and because of the actual increase of
its prey, owing to game preservation and to the increase of
food through cultivation and the accumulation of garbage.
The final effect upon the Stoat's welfare depends upon the
tilting of the balance to one side or the other. Other animals
are subject to similar diverse and contradictory influences —
it is seldom that the influence of man follows an undeviating
path.

INFLUENCES TENDING TO MODIFY STRUCTURES AND HABITS

There is a third indication in the history of a species
which points to adverse influences — a decline in physique.
Where this degeneracy has taken place dependent upon
changes in environment caused by man, the structural
change may be attributed to his agency. Between pre-
historic times and the present day, the weight and complexity
of the antlers of Stags have undergone an extraordinary
decadence. This I have endeavoured to trace to the adverse
influences which have driven Red Deer, from the forest which
is their natural home, to the uncongenial bleakness of the
moors and mountain sides, where food is less luxuriant and
where shelter from hard weather is less perfect. But man
destroyed the forest and drove the Deer to the wastes, and
to him therefore can be traced the new moulding of the
Deer's antlers.

It is not only in the alteration of characteristic features
that the influence of man can be traced, for it seems also to
be exhibited in an actual reduction in size of body amongst
four-footed beasts. In a country such as ours where domestic
animals and the acts of man have usurped and destroyed the
food supplies of wild creatures, this reduction is probably of
a much more general nature than one would suppose, but
many careful observations of the refuse of the prehistoric
settlements and other deposits must yet be made, before the
size relationship between the old and the modern representa-
tives of mammals can be determined generally. This we can
say, however, that of the survivors of the race of native
Scottish Deer, one, the Scottish Red Deer, has decreased in
size by about one third since the days of Neolithic man ; while

490

CHAINS OF CIRCUMSTANCE

in the other, the Roe, there are suspicions of a reduction.
The limb bones of the Mountain or Variable Hare found
in the Neolithic deposits of the Inchnadamph Bone Cave
are considerably larger than the corresponding bones of a
modern individual. The limb bones of a Wild Cat which I
examined from the settlements at Dunagoil in Bute showed
that the length of limb was considerably greater than that
of a modern Wild Cat, which again is larger than that of
the domestic race1. Indeed the thigh bone (femur) resembled
in length that of a modern Fox. A single hint suggests
that this latter creature, too, may have been greater in
former days, for one of the few records from prehistoric
Scotland is that of "a very large fox" found in the "harbour-
mound" at Keiss. Remains of the British Brown Bear also
indicate proportions greater than those of its modern re-
presentatives on the Continent, a fact which Dr J. A. Smith
attributed to the greater abundance of food in prehistoric
days and to the greater age probably reached by in-
dividuals.

More directly man has played upon the physical charac-
ters, and temperament as well, of the creatures he has tamed
for his own uses. By selecting the animals best suited for
his purposes, by using only such animals to perpetuate the
race, and by interbreeding the best blood with the selected
animals of other lands, the descendants perhaps of a different
wild race, he has lengthened the wool of Sheep and bleached
its colour, he has increased the bodies and banished the
horns of Cattle, he has evolved the strength of the Clydes-
dale and the Shire, he has trained dogs to hunt by sight,
or by scent, and so on. In a hundred ways he has altered

1 The following table indicates these differences :

.:

Prehistoric
Wild Cat

Modern
Wild Cat

Domestic
Cat

Humerus ...

120 mm.

1 06 mm.

90 mm.

Ulna | 140 mm.

119 mm.

101 mm.

Femur 135 mm. 119 mm.

99 mm.

A RETROSPECT 491

structures and habits in accord with his own ideals. In
many animals, by rigorous restriction of liberty, he has
tended to produce bulk rather than brain — developed by
activity ; in most he has replaced the savage nature of the
wild by the docility of domestication : it is typical of his
moulding that he has turned the Wild Boar into a common
Swine.

IX. 2

SOME FINAL CONCLUSIONS

INCREASE IN NUMBERS

THE most striking result of a broad comparison between the
animal inhabitants of Scotland at the time of the coming of
man and at the present day, is the discovery that the total num-
ber of living things should have so markedly increased. It is
true that when we cast back to the animal assemblage of the
New Stone Age, with its Reindeer and Elk, its Brown Bear,
Lynx and Wolf, its Lemming and Arctic Vole, our first
impression is one of present day loss and meagreness ; we
feel that a once varied and interesting fauna has become
thin and dull. The first impression has some justification.
Yet as a matter of fact the fauna as a whole has gained both
in numbers and variety owing to man's presence and inter-
ference.

To what extent did the "original fauna" found in Scot-
land by man when he arrived some 7000 years before the
Christian era, differ in numbers from that of the present
day ? The question is no simple one to answer, but some
general indications may be gathered. The undisturbed
natural fauna was a sparse one compared with the fauna of
to-day, that is to say, each animal, vegetarian or carnivore,
then required on an average a larger extent of territory to
support it. In many of their " forests " Red Deer still, to a
great extent, live upon the natural produce of the land.
How are they distributed? Take Mr Henry Evans's account
of the Red Deer of Jura. In one forest of 7000 acres (the
Inner District), he found 426 hinds, 80 calves and 250 stags,
in another of 9000 acres only 170 hinds, 80 calves and 250
stags; in the former 10 acres supported a deer, but this was
in the best breeding ground of the island, in the latter each
deer required 18 acres. The whole area of the Jura deer
forests, 27,506 acres, carried 2002 Red Deer of all sorts, so
that over this extensive region, roughly 14 acres were

SOME FINAL CONCLUSIONS 493

necessary for the support of a deer. But it is to be remem-
bered that Jura is an island favourable to Deer, and that,
even so, when this examination by Mr Henry Evans was
made, the Jura forests were, to all appearance, stocked
beyond their capacity, for apart from the numbers slain for
sport, a ten years' count showed a heavy mortality, averaging
fully one hundred each year.

Several factors of unknown weight tell on one side or
other of the scale. In the days before man, many natural
enemies, beasts and birds of prey, tended to keep down the
numbers of Red Deer, and though they were probably no
more deadly taken altogether than the sportsman's gun, yet,
contrary to the ways of the gun, they discriminated against
the more easily captured hinds and calves, a discrimination
which must have leant towards keeping the numbers at a
low ebb. On the other hand, food was perhaps more
abundant in the old days ; but then the Deer were larger and
would have required more. Probably we should be not far
from the truth, if in view of these facts we estimated that
in prehistoric times Deer were not more plentiful than, on
an average, one to 20 acres, even when the ground was
moderately favourable. But in the prehistoric days just before
man's arrival a very much larger portion of the country than
now was impassable bog and treacherous swamp. I think it
likely, therefore, that Scotland could scarcely have carried
more than the equivalent of about 700,000 Red Deer.

Yet in 1916, notwithstanding that in Scotland just about
one-fourth of the total land surface is cultivated — that is to
say, bears crop or permanent grass — the number of domes-
ticated animals alone amounted to 8,635,918, or an average
of one animal for every two and one-fifth acres over the
whole of Scotland. Read in the light of Red Deer equivalents
this number is somewhat inflated, for although each of the
207,290 Horses, and 1,226,374 Cattle eats considerably more
than a deer, each of the 7,055,864 Sheep and 146,390 Pigs
eats considerably less. Making allowance for these diversities
it seems to me that the average population of the larger
animals, taken over the whole country, has been increased
about eight to ten times over.

Almost all this gain has been made in the cultivated
areas, and a good and sufficiently accurate idea of the

494

CHAINS OF CIRCUMSTANCE

extraordinary power of agriculture in multiplying numbers
can be gained from a very simple comparison of the bearing
power of cultivated and uncultivated land at the present
day. Contrast the cases of the wild districts of Ardna-
murchan in Argyll or Lochaber in Inverness, with the highly
cultivated Linlithgow district, taking in each, lest the differ-
ence should be over-emphasized, only the areas given over
to domestic stock and crops.

Year
1916

Ardnamurchan,
Argyll

Lochaber,
Inverness

Linlithgow
District

Mountain-grazing ...
Crops & Pasture ...

203,168 acres
4,638 „

402,148 acres
8,802 „

83 acres
28,654 „

Horses

202

$26

i 261

Cattle

T..22Q

A.Q-2Q

A. 6l ~\

Sheep

68 302

14? 4C7

II 189

Pigs

52

149

960

To put these figures in comparative form : The burden
of each 1000 acres in the three districts is :

Ardnamurchan

Lochaber

Linlithgow
District

Horses

I

I

45

Cattle

II

12

161

Sheep

329

349

39°

Pigs

i

i '

33

This comparison, graphically represented in the accom-
panying diagram (Fig. 87), markedly as it shows the
influence of agriculture in increasing numbers, minimizes
the effects of cultivation, for neither Ardnamurchan nor
Lochaber were wholly uncultivated, the former having 4638
and the latter 8802 acres under grass and crops, while even
a part of Linlithgow district was unbroken moor. Further

SOME FINAL CONCLUSIONS

495

it must not be forgotten that in a highly cultivated district a
much larger proportion of the produce, such as potatoes,
wheat, pats and barley, goes to the feeding of the humari
population and is lost to the animal inhabitants. This loss
is by no means balanced by the import of foreign feeding
stuffs. On the other hand, the primitive fertility of the

CULTIVATION

AND

NUMBERS

Fig. 87. Comparison between the livestock carried by 1000 acres of cultivated and
of uncultivated land. The full height of the columns represents the average numbers of
domestic animals on 1000 acres in Linlithgovv district (highly cultivated); the black
portions those in the same area of Ardnamurchan (almost uncultivated) (see text). The
lined portions of columns therefore indicate roughly the increase in numbers due to culti-
vation. The actual average numbers are given alongside the columns.

district now highly cultivated would probably have been
greater.

While an increase in numbers of animals is an un-
expected result of the interference of man, it is neverthe-
less clear that the wild fauna, the animals which are not
confined by fences nor tended by human protectors, has
suffered serious curtailment Centres of industry have been
planted in its pastures and feeding-grounds, its breeding

496 CHAINS OF CIRCUMSTANCE

covers and secluded places have been turned into fields.
Even the wastes whither it could retire when hard pressed,
have become the grazing grounds of multitudes of Sheep.
Throughout this country where the wild beast once roamed
free, only one quarter of the surface remains clear of the
influences of domestication and civilization, and much of this
is barren mountain side. The forests have shrunk, till only
one-twentieth of a country which was once half woodland,
remains under trees, and under the stress of war this remnant
too is disappearing (Fig. 86, p. 484).

But the centres of industry have offered new homes, the
crumbs that fall from the table sustain many dependants,
and on the multiplied food supplies of the fields new multi-
tudes find a living. So that man seems to have cleared
away one race of animals only to make room for others.
Have the actual numbers of the wild fauna fallen, since man
first put his spoke in the wheel of Nature ? I doubt it.
Think of the multitudes of Sparrows and other seed-eaters
he has created, of the swarms of Rabbits and Rats, Mice,
House Flies and other pests which gather about his doors and
houses and fields, even of the increasing Earthworms of his
gardens. Do their numbers not compensate (as numbers)
for the disappearance of a few Reindeer, Elks and Brown
Bears, and even of many Wolves, Wild Cats, and other
decadents ?

INCREASE IN VARIETY

Is then the feeling of meagreness which always arises
when we compare the present fauna with the old, due to a
new lack of variety ? This cannot be, for the fourteen, or
so, species of beasts and birds and the few additional insects
which have been banished from Scotland since man interfered,
are more than replaced, so far as species go, by the creatures
he has introduced either deliberately, like the Fallow Deer,
the Rabbit, the Squirrels, the Pheasant, and many others,
or has brought accidentally with his commerce from foreign
lands— the Black and Brown Rats, and a score of parasites
and pests which have settled comfortably in the land.

SOME FINAL CONCLUSIONS 497

THE GREAT CHANGE

How then can we account for our impression of loss in
the fauna, since in reality it has gained both in numbers and
in variety? The secret lies in the great change. De-
struction of feeding grounds and dwelling haunts, as well as
deliberate slaughter, makes first for the decrease or extermi-
nation of the larger animals, whose demands upon covert and
food and whose destructiveness are greater. And while man
lops off the giants at the head of the scale he adds insignificant
pigmies at the bottom — insect marauders which enter un-
observed and which are often first noticed, only when they
force themselves upon his attention in their myriads.

The wild fauna has not fallen off in numbers nor in
variety, but visible numbers and varieties have gone, and
their places have been taken by invisible hordes ; the smaller
things have been added in a bigger ratio than the larger
have been lost. The standard of the wild fauna as regards
size has fallen and is falling. In spite of statistics and of
multitudes of species, we have in effect lost more than we
have gained, for how can the increase of Rabbits and Sparrows
and Earthworms and Caterpillars, and the addition of millions
of Rats and Cockroaches and Crickets and Bugs ever take
the place of those fine creatures round the memories of which
the glamour of Scotland's past still plays — the Reindeer and
the Elk, the Wolf, the Brown Bear, the Lynx, and the
Beaver, the Bustard, the Crane, the bumbling Bittern, and
many another, lost or disappearing ?

IX. 3
SOME INDIRECT RESULTS

ENUMERATION NOT THE WHOLE STORY

BUT when we have completed this tale of man's influence
upon the numbers and character of the fauna, there is yet
more to be told. We have focussed our attention mainly
upon first causes and first effects ; we have, as it were,
listened to the bursting of a thunderstorm, and arrested by
the first great crash, have failed to notice that sound after
sound succeeds, reverberating amongst the hills, echoed back
by wood and mountain until in a million eddies and whispers
it passes beyond human ken. So it is in the animal world ;
the chains of circumstance are strong, and the invisible bonds,
which link creature with creature and animal life with vege-
table, and make each least being a necessary link in the
welfare of another, cannot be tampered with without setting
loose forces the final workings of which we cannot see :

Where one step broken, the great scale's destroyed :
From Nature's chain whatever link you strike,
Tenth, or ten thousandth breaks the chain alike.

Did the Italians, as they slew wantonly and recklessly
their birds of prey, realize that Moles would increase in num-
ber and with their burrows riddle those dykes 'laboriously
constructed by man to keep in check the river Po, so
that many square miles of fertile land have been flooded ?
Did the colonists dream of the ultimate influence of the
Sparrows and Starlings, the Rabbits and Foxes and Weasels
they were so ready to plant in their new lands ? Did the
early navigators, who in goodwill to their fellowmen, placed
Pigs on many of the islands they touched, suppose that
history would lay at their door the total extirpation of the
Dodo of Mauritius, and possibly of the Solitaire of
Rodriguez ?

SOME INDIRECT RESULTS 499

THE COMPLEX OF LIFE

I have already traced in the foregoing pages some ex-
amples of the secondary results of man's influence in Scotland :
the slaughter of birds of prey and increase of vermin, the
increase of cultivated crops which has multiplied gramini-
vorous beasts and birds, which again have benefited their
enemies, the beasts and birds of prey, and so on. Here I
would add a few more illustrations to emphasize how all-
pervading is the complex of life.

It would be easy to invent a series of likely chains of
circumstance which ought to happen. It would be easy to
argue that the less wild ground there was for the rearing of
game the more gamekeepers would be necessary: for culti-
vation curtails wild ground, but cultivation increases the
numbers of insect pests, and this the number of insectivorous
birds ; these again increase the numbers of hawks and other
birds of prey, and so in the long run gamekeepers would
have to be multiplied. We are familiar too with Darwin's
famous chain of the cats, which, by eating field-mice, and
these by eating humble bees, diminish the clover crop, which
cannot form ripe seeds in the absence of the humble bee.

But such sequences are frequently little more than purely
imaginary, since Nature is not restrained by the limitations
of human logic. Yet the succession of events in Nature is
no less striking.

RABBITS AND VEGETATION

Man introduced the wild Rabbit to Britain at a not very
distant date. It has spread from cultivated field to wild
glen and rocky hillside until it has possessed the land, And
everywhere it is affecting the vegetation. Mr E. P. Farrow
has shown that on moorland a favourite food is the tender
stems and shoots of heather (Calluna vulgaris], and as a
result, heather is eaten bare to the root. Under such con-
ditions, the heather moor rapidly degenerates, and benefiting
by the discomfiture of its rival, the sand sedge (Carex
arenarid] association of plants makes fresh growth and
captures the places formerly occupied by heather. This in
turn the Rabbits attack, making way for the advance of a
"grass-heath" association. So that a simple consequence

32—2

500 CHAINS OF CIRCUMSTANCE

of the introduction of Rabbits is a tendency on the part of
heather moor to disappear and be replaced by grassy moor-
land. How this change from heather to grass must influence
the animals in the area affected the reader can guess.

INFLUENCES OF SHEEP, GOATS AND RABBITS

When Neolithic man drove his flocks before him across
the dry ground of the English Channel, he left them as far
as possible to roam at their own free will. Their numbers
were greater than those of the animals they displaced, so
that cropping of herbage became more intensive, and within
the forest and on its margin seedling trees were devoured
for their succulent leaves. As under the influence of Rabbits,
the general covering of the ground was affected. For many
years, on a portion of Scotstown Moor in the neighbourhood
of Aberdeen, Professor J. W. H. Trail has told me, Sheep
have been annually penned for short periods of ten days or
a fortnight, on their autumn migrations from the highlands
to the lowland feeding-grounds. There even so short en-
campments have caused noticeable changes in vegetation,
for the areas of the pens stand clear cut to-day in the midst
of the moor as areas in which heather has been banished and
has been replaced by "grass-heath" associations of plants.
Other results, to which I have already alluded (p. 323),
followed when the higher lands were cleared of their wild
fauna and the custom developed of sending Sheep and
Goats to pasture on the upland moors and hills. Here, as
food became scarce in winter time, they fed upon the seed-
lings which formed the advanced posts of the forest and
paved the way for new extensions of forest growth. The
extension of woodland in all areas open to the inroads of
flocks has been prevented.

Further, even within the woodland, Sheep, Goats and
Rabbits are exceedingly destructive; young seedlings and
even sturdy trees up to three or four feet high are ruined
by the demolition of their foliage and leading shoots and
by the gnawing of their bark. So that when nature claims
an aged and timeworn member of the forest, there is no
fresh growth spontaneously to take its place; and the wood-
land, which was prevented from extending by these aliens,

SOME INDIRECT RESULTS 501

is also prevented by them from recuperating in its old age.
Thus there has resulted a general decay of forests bordering
the heath and moorland pastures of sheep, the limit of the
growth of forest upon the hillsides has been lowered, and
woodlands have been forced down the mountain sides into
the sheltered valleys where more rapid growth helps to
counteract the influence of herbivorous enemies.

Such a consequence of the introduction of new animals
is so gradual in development that it is scarcely noticed amidst
a confusion of causes and effects. But St Helena offers a
vivid presentment of its stages. When it was discovered
by the Portuguese in 1502, the island was covered with
luxuriant forests and a rich assemblage of peculiar plants.
Goats were introduced in 1513 and multiplied rapidly ; then
native plants and even the tropical forest began to disappear.
yet even in 1709, the native ebony was so abundant that it
was used as fuel for burning lime. With the enormous in-
crease in numbers of the Goats, however, new forest growth
ceased, and when the older trees had been cut down by man,
it was realized, in 1810, that the forests were gone, leaving
no successors to take their place. The island, which was a
precious oasis of tropical plant life set in the midst of the
Atlantic, has become a barren and rocky waste.

Results of similar nature, but on a less noticeable scale,
have followed the introduction of Sheep, Goats, and Rabbits
in Scotland, and the destruction of the forest, for which they
were in part responsible, set in motion many trains of cir-
cumstance, the origins of some of which have been traced
in an earlier chapter.

THE CASE OF GULLS AND MOORLAND

Of necessity these pages have been confined to the main
currents of man's influence, but it must not be supposed that
his little, insignificant interferences pass unnoticed in the
world of nature. Since it has been impossible to illustrate
these step by step, it must be taken as sufficient and as
typical of many others if I trace a single particular case— that
o'f Gulls and the Moorland, to which my attention was
drawn by Mr O. H. Wild.

In the northern confines of Peeblesshire, on the southern
slopes of the Pentland Hills, there is a considerable area of

502 CHAINS OF CIRCUMSTANCE

peaty land not far from West Linton, known as the White
Moss. In 1890 this area was covered with a close growth of
heather: it was indeed a typical heather moor with peat and
moisture underneath. In 1892 or 1893, according to a former
gamekeeper on the estate, a man of intelligence and close ob-
servation, a few pairs of Black-headed Gulls came to nest
upon the Moss. These were protected and encouraged by
the proprietor for the sake of his Pheasants, the eggs of the
Gulls being used for feeding the gamebirds. The collection of
eggs was made systematically, only the early clutches being
taken, while the last clutch was invariably left to hatch. As
a result of protection the Gulls increased enormously in
numbers, so that in 1897, Mr William Evans regarded the
colony as the most populous in the district, and in 1904
came to the conclusion that there could not be fewer than
1500 to. 2000 pairs of birds.

With the extension of the gullery, the vegetation gradu-
ally underwent a noticeable change. At first the heather
(Calluna) gradually disappeared and its place was taken by
coarse grass, which grew so rankly that the villagers cut
from it heavy crops of hay. Then the grass gave way to a
dense growth of rushes (Juncus glomeratus] amongst which,
after a time, sprang up weeds of cultivation, which had be-
fore been unnoticed in this peaty ground. Of these some
thrived with extraordinary vigour, and a forest of docks
(Rumex) arose which almost choked the rushes and the
disappearing grass.

So crowded did the original gullery become, that an
offshoot from it settled upon a part of the White Moss half
a mile away, where the surface also was entirely covered
with heather (Calluna). Here similar changes took place
in the vegetation — the heather was successively replaced
by rough grass, then by rushes, and lastly docks predomi-
nated. Nothing could be more striking than to visit these
areas in spring before the new year's growth has commenced,
and to see, clear cut in the midst of a black heather moor,
a circular patch of withered tawny-yellow stems and grass
of the past season — the site of the gullery (Fig. 88). Closer
inspection shows that the margin of the gullery shades, as
one would expect, into the surrounding heather, the borders
of which are broken by scattered tussocks of grass becoming

SOME INDIRECT RESULTS

503

Fig. 88. Alteration of moorland by nesting of Gulls, White Moss, West Linton,
Spring, 1917.

Site of gullery shown by pale band of withered grass in middle of moor ; subsidiary
gullery beyond.

Fig. 89. Alteration of moorland by nesting of Gulls; near view of part of above
guljery showing merging of tussocks of grass into heather.

504 CHAINS OF CIRCUMSTANCE

more and more frequent until they unite in the solid mass of
the gullery itself (Fig. 89, p. 503). *.

The changes of vegetation which took place in the main
and subsidiary gulleries seem to have been due partly to
the fertilizing of the soil by the food refuse and excreta of
the enormous numbers of birds, partly to the puddling of the
surface by their feet and to the surface accumulation of their
nests, so that superficial water was retained, and the peat
bed with concealed and deep moisture was transformed into
a surface marsh.

Such changes did not come alone. No observations
were made upon the minute insects and lesser creatures of
the moor, although the development of a surface marsh must
have closely affected their welfare, their numbers and even
their kind. From his practical point of view, however, the
keeper noticed that the Grouse ceased to nest and dis-
appeared, and that in their place, attracted by the marsh
and the cover of the rushes, there came to feed and nest
first a few, then many Teal Ducks. A single flock of these
containing as many as seventy birds was seen when the
gullery was at its height.

Now after the Gulls had been protected for some fif-
teen years, they were ousted from the White Moss. /The
villagers, incensed at the destruction of their hay crop, which
had been replaced by docks, made persistent raids on the
gullery, and the proprietor, regretful at the disappearance" of
Grouse, ceased to protect the Gulls for his Pheasants. In the
early summer of 1917, scarcely a Gull was to be seen, and
not more than thirty pairs nested, where a few years before,
there were some 2000 pairs. As a result of the disappear-
ance of the Gulls a gradual reversion towards the old state
has been in progress. The docks have almost disappeared,
and the rushes are giving way to rough grass and even
to heather. The Teal have gone, in 1917 only one pair
nested, and the Grouse are returning, so that on a moor
where only three brace of Grouse were shot in the heyday
of the gullery, now some twenty brace fall to the sportsman's
gun.

In the case of the Gulls and the Moorland, an insignifi-
cant influence — the protection at first of a few Gulls— set in
motion an endless chain of circumstance, of which we have

SOME INDIRECT RESULTS 505

done no more than glance at the most obvious links. And all
the changes I have, recounted took place in a remarkably
short period, the maximum of change being attained just
after 1 5 years, when the Gulls were disturbed and the evolu-
tion of the moorland-marsh was checked. In a few years the
people had rejoiced at a newly arisen haycrop, which, thanks
to the Gulls, had replaced useless heather; and in a few
more years, they lamented the growth of rushes and docks,
which, malisons upon the Gulls, had ruined their bountiful
hay.

The interest of the story of the Gulls and the Moorland
lies partly in its suggestiveness. If the natural processes
set a-rolling by a tiny and temporary interference of man
can be so marked, how can imagination grasp the total
effects of man's influence, impressed upon the world of
Nature often with great power, and persisted in, not for a
few years, nor for a few centuries, but for thousands, nay,
even for tens of thousands of years?

IX. 4

THE RECOIL UPON MAN OF HIS
INFLUENCE UPON ANIMAL LIFE

THERE is one last aspect of man's influence upon animals
to which I would refer: it might more properly be called
the influence of animals upon man, for great as is man's
faith in his own independence, he is subject to the recoil of
his own actions and influences as surely as the animals he
handles.

Man himself would be in a sorry plight indeed were the
plaint of the melancholy Jacques the whole truth, that we

Are mere usurpers, tyrants, and what's worse,
To fright the animals and to kill them up
In their assign'd and native dwelling place.

Fortunately there is another side to the matter. Man has
not always been the usurper and tyrant, and just in the
degree that he has avoided tyranny, he has benefited in a
spiritual sense from the recoil of his own influence. On the
whole these indirect reactions have been to the advantage
of mankind.

A few examples of the material and spiritual influences
that have played upon Man and his welfare, as the result of
his interference, direct or indirect, with the animal kingdom,
will indicate how deeply human life is affected thereby.

RECOILS ON HEALTH
FLIES AND DISEASE

Take the case of health. Only a few examples from
the hosts available can be given. Man, by his deposition
of garbage, stable-manure and rotting organic matter has
enormously increased the numbers of the Common House
Fly (Musca domestica], to which he has furnished suitable
breeding-places without number. But the Fly from its very

THE RECOIL OF MAN'S INFLUENCE 507

habits is a menace to human life, since it contaminates, with
bacteria carried on its feet, food and drink set aside for
human use. Thus it has been found to spread cholera,
typhoid fever, and tropical dysentery ; and a relation, more
than suspicious, which has been traced between the numbers
of Flies and of human deaths in Manchester, suggests that
the House Fly is closely connected with the epidemics of
summer or infantile diarrhoea, which in some towns sweep
away so many children's lives. It seems obvious too that
the Fly may readily help in the dispersal of the "germs" of
such diseases as tuberculosis, anthrax, smallpox, ophthalmia
and infantile paralysis.

RATS AND DISEASE

Rats have spread vastly under the influence of man.
Not only have they been introduced to new countries in
ships, — the ancestors of the whole stock of rats in Britain
were voyagers brought from across seas, — but in most
countries, the increase of offal and of garbage in general,
and the development of sewer systems which afford food
in abundance and perfect security, have multiplied the
numbers of rats beyond belief. This effect of man's civili-
zation results in direct damage to his goods and stored food
and buildings, but it is of more account on other grounds.
Rats — and the Black Rat and the Brown or Norway Rat
are almost equally guilty — nourish undesired colleagues
in the many species of Fleas which infest them, and these
two allies, rats and rat-fleas, have been responsible for the
deaths of upwards of 7,000,000 people in the course of
fifteen years (1896-1911) in India alone.

It has been conclusively shown that bubonic plague in
man depends entirely upon the disease in the rat, and that
the disease is conveyed from one rat to another and from
the rat to man solely by one or other of the rat-fleas. Up
to the present time eight species of rat-fleas have been shown
to be capable of transmitting plague, and of these five are
common British species, while the chief sinner, the eastern
Plague Y\tdi(Xenopsylla cheopsis], is occasionally brought from
abroad to our seaports.

There is no need to recall how in past days epi-
demics of plague flew like messengers of death across the

508 CHAINS OF CIRCUMSTANCE

face of Europe, harassing and devastating the great cities,
until none were left fit to bury the dead. This infectious
and air-borne pneumonic plague is a possible successor of
the rat-carried bubonic plague, so that the Great Plagues
may well be examples of the recoil upon man's own health
of his influence in spreading the Black and the Brown Rats.

Although the danger of great outbreaks in this country
seems to have largely disappeared, it is well to remember
that in Britain there have been epidemics of plague so
recently as 1900 and 1910, and that the disease is almost
constantly present in the great seaports of the world. So
effective is commerce in its distribution that tjie epidemic
which started in China in 1894 had by 1908 afflicted 51
different countries and had been carried to all the continents
of the world.

But the rat is a source of further mischief: it is the chief
medium whereby the Round Worm (Trichinella spiralis]
infects pigs, whence it reaches man through the eating of
improperly cooked pork. So widely spread and so serious-
for man is the resulting disease of trichinosis, due to the
lodging of the parasite in muscle or intestine, that most
civilized countries have been compelled to institute strict
inspections for the detection of infected pork. And rats
besides are mechanical distributors of all the ugly con-
taminations of the sewers — typhoid fever, scarlet fever,
diphtheria and many more; for the sewer and the drain
are the rat's main thoroughfares.

Fortunately, however, man's influence upon the animal
world has not always recoiled upon his own head in new
and fell diseases.

AGUE IN SCOTLAND

Of the ailments which laid hold of our forebears a couple
of centuries ago, none was more prevalent or more persistent
in its attacks and effects than the Ague. Especially in the
spring-time, when trying conditions of weather and reduced
physical fitness due to bad housing and poor food and clothing,
paved the way for relapses, the ague passed through Scotland
like a blight. Contemporary references to the disease show
that it prevailed in particular amongst the labouring classes,
so that in many districts it was with difficulty that the heavy

State of Miles

UE OR MALAR/A
FORMER DAYS

DISTRIBUTION OF AGUE OR MALARIA IN SCOTLAND IN
THE 18th CENTURY.

Each dot indicates a parish where Ague was common.

THE RECOIL OF MAN'S INFLUENCE 509

agricultural operations of the spring-time could be performed.
The case of the parish of Kirkden in Forfar is typical, where
about 1765 the ague was "so general that many farmers
found it difficult to sow and harrow their lands, in the proper
season, owing to their servants being so much afflicted with
it." It is said that in Berwickshire the' disease so frequently
laid the men aside that the bond women had .to leave their
lighter labours in the field to take up the heavy work of
ploughing. And the writer of the Old Statistical Account
of the parish of Abernyte in Perthshire was assured that,
about 1760,

if a farmer in the spring wanted four of his cottagers for any piece of work,
he generally ordered six, knowing the probability that some of them, before
the work could be finished, would be rendered unfit for labour by an attack
of the ague.

Through the lowlands and midlands of Scotland, the
disease was common; from Berwickshire, Kirkcudbright and
Roxburghshire northwards to Forfar and Kincardine, but
north of this region, ague seems to have been less prevalent1.
In the affected areas, the malady reached its height in certain
well-defined districts. Of these the Carse of Gowrie was
the chief, for scarcely a parish in the region of the tiat carse-
land but lamented its ravages.

Now the ague gradually disappeared from the infested
districts of Scotland, just as it vanished from the fens of Lin-
colnshire and from other districts in England. About 1734
it was still very common in Linlithgowshire. about 1 740 to
1750 in Kincardineshire and Forfar, about 1760 it was "very
prevalent" in Perthshire, and in 1780 161 cases occurred
in Kelso district alone. Yet by the end of the eighteenth
century, ague had almost disappeared from Scotland.

A few* cases, typical of many, will illustrate this extra-
ordinary and almost simultaneous disappearance over a wide
area. The parish minister of St Vigians in Forfar. writing
in 1 793 or 1 794, says from his own experience that

for many years after 1754, agues were so common in this parish that the
incumbent has often seen, in the months of March, April and May, and

1 Since the Map (VIII) was prepared I have found from further investiga-
tions of original records, that in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
century ague was very widely distributed, though less common than in the
Lowlands, in Aberdeenshire and the neighbouring counties.

5io CHAINS OF CIRCUMSTANCE

sometimes in autumn from fifteen to twenty-five persons in that distemper.
He does not remember to have seen a single person in the ague for 20
years past.

A Perthshire record reads : " The ague, which used greatly
to prevail here (St Madois parish) as well as in other parts
of the Carse of Gowrie, is now hardly known [in 1792]."
In Kirkcudbrightshire, it was written in 1744 "agues
formerly prevailed very much. There has not, however,
been one instance of this disorder for 9 or 10 years past [in
the parish of Borgue]." In Berwickshire agues had "almost
totally disappeared" in 1 792, and the virulence of the disease
had much diminished, though, in some districts, it "still
returns with such unexpected frequency and force as often
baffles all speculation concerning it." And lastly the records
of Kelso Dispensary, which I have examined, show that the
number of cases treated there declined after 1781, from 161
in that year, to no in 1782, after which a gradual fall is
noticeable, so that after 1797 they did not exceed 10 in any
year, and after 1840 completely disappear.

But what has all this got to do with the influence of
man upon animal life ? The old writers who have recorded
the facts of the prevalence of ague in Scotland and of its
disappearance could not have answered the question. To
them the miasma of the marsh was a sufficient cause of the
disease, though some essayed other speculations. Marshi-
ness, foggy atmosphere, mean houses, defects in cleanli-
ness, and lack of animal food all bore the blame for the
mysterious pestilence. Since marsh miasma was the gener-
ally assigned cause of ague, the decrease of the latter was
generally put down to the drainage of mosses and bogs. Two
interesting suggestions of the Scottish chronicles of the late
eighteenth century are worth mentioning in view of later
discoveries. The Rev. Mr Samuel Smith of Borgue parish
in Kirkcudbright held that the disappearance of "intermittent
fevers" could not be assigned to the disappearance of bog
land since in his district "no mosses or marshes have been
drained, of any consequence, for many years past," and he
suggests that

when land is deepened and pulverised in consequence of improvements, by
lime, shells arid marls, it absorbs the rain more quickly and plentifully.
Hence less moisture will arise in evaporation; less water will run along the

THE RECOIL OF MAN'S INFLUENCE 511

surface, and stagnate in the hollows, which are here to be found in every
field.

To these stagnant pools he attributed the " remote cause of
intermittent fevers." Even more interesting is the statement
of the incumbent of Kirkbean parish in the same county of
Kirkcudbright :

Formerly many of the inhabitants went into Lincolnshire [an area long
noted for the prevalence of ague] for employment during the harvest, and
returned infected with this disease, now they have work sufficient to
employ them in the parish and the disease is seldom a complaint.

In recent years science has thrown a new light on the
cause of ague, intermittent fever, or malaria, as it is variously
termed. The malady is due to the presence of minute para-
sites of low organization in the human blood. At one stage of
their existence these haemamcebse (Plasmodium) attack and
bore their way into the red blood-corpuscles, in which they
undergo a process of multiplication until at last the blood-
cells break down and the multitudes of freshly formed
parasites are set free in the blood stream. It is at this
stage of the disruption of the blood-cell, that the patient has
a relapse of fever, the interval between relapses — about
forty-eight hours in tertian ague, seventy-two in quartan
ague, and an uncertain interval in the irregular fever — de-
pending directly on the length of the life-cycle of the parasite.

No\v an interesting and vital connection exists between
the tiny Plasmodium parasite of the human blood and the
insect world, for the virulence of the parasite in man dwindles
if it does not undergo a periodic reincarnation within the
body of a Mosquito. The Mosquito becomes infected by
stealing a drop of the parasitized blood from a malarial
patient, and it passes on .the parasites and the infection when
it punctures the skin of a healthy subject. The Mosquito
therefore is essential to the spread of malaria or ague amongst
men.

The habits of Mosquitoes, and by such I mean Anopheline,
or, as a rule, "spot-winged" Gnats, are familiar to every
naturalist. They like moist, warm, humid places, and the)'
most often frequent marshy and boggy ground, sluggish
streams, and stagnant pools, large or small. On the surface
of the water, often along the weedy margins of pool or
ditch, the eggs are laid and the wriggling larvae and

512 THE RECOIL OF MAN'S INFLUENCE

pupae develop beneath the surface, until such time as the
fully formed pupa comes to rest at the surface, and from
its split skin the winged Mosquito flies into the air, ready, if
it be a female, to do its worst to the race of men.

Look again at the Scottish records of ague in the light
of the discoveries of Grassi and Laveran, Manson and Ross.
Where did it most prevail ? In the low-lying and marshy
counties bordering the east coast and the Solway,or along the
lines of the great rivers, where spring and autumn floods left
abundance of stagnant pools ; and especially in the Carse
of Gowrie, still characterized by its warm humidity : that is
to say in just those areas where in the days of unreclaimed
marsh we should have expected to find Mosquitoes. It was
less common apparently north of the Grampian Hills ; but
Mosquitoes prefer warmth, and the lower temperature of the
northern counties may have been just sufficient to have
checked the profusion of multiplication which seems to be
necessary for the effective spread of malaria. We know that
at the present day, Anopheline Mosquitoes still live in
Aberdeenshire, Inverness-shire and as far north as Suther-
land, but their numbers are small.

Whom did ague attack ? There is scarcely a reference
to the upper or artisan classes having suffered, and again
and again the farm labourer is singled out for notice on
account of his susceptibility to the distemper — just the very
man whose work in the fields laid him open to the attentions
of the mosquito amazon.

Last link in the chain : In the latter part of the eighteenth
century in Scotland agriculture made great strides forward :
regular systems of cropping began to replace the primitive
and wasteful ways of the "outfields," and the "infields," and
the success of the use of marl arid lime upon peaty soils led
to the reclamation of much marsh and bog-land and to the
thorough draining by closed conduits or open ditches of land
which previously had lain sodden with moisture throughout
most of the year. It never entered man's mind that, by the
way, he was destroying Mosquitoes, since he was destroying
their breeding-places ; he probably never noticed, as the
years passed, that he had less often to stop to revenge the
prick of the Gnat. Yet unwittingly he had set in motion a
chain of circumstances which was to circle and wheel till it

THE RECOIL OF MAN'S INFLUENCE

513

returned to him again, when the sweat of his brow was repaid
a thousand-fold in the health of his body.

Man drained the marshes and the stagnant pools and so
destroyed the Mosquitoes, which could multiply only there,
and so he destroyed the only transmitters of the tiny Plas-
modium of the human blood, and malaria or ague was no more.
Man, Marshes, Mosquitoes, Malaria — steps and stages of a
progress which, starting with man, returns through the
worlds of inanimate and animate nature, to heap blessings
on his head.

AN EFFECT

OF

CULTIVATION

OF THE

SOIL

RESULT

OF A

CHANCE
Q^ INTRODUCTION

GO

ACCOMPANIMENT

OF

CIVILIZATION

\

\

Fig. 90. Diagrammatic representation of Recoils on man's health, due to different
types of his interference with animal life.

RECOILS ON MAN'S PROSPERITY

But even where man has not been affected in his own
health, the influences he has set a-rolling have recoiled upon
his well-being. The draining of the marshes affords a case
in point. Man acted unwittingly, for not till long after the

p 33

5H CHAINS OF CIRCUMSTANCE

chain of circumstances had been completed and had become
effective, were the separate links of the chain discovered.
Man drained the marshes and strange to say, one of the
most serious of the diseases of his domestic stock- — the Liver-
rot of Sheep,— began to disappear. At its worst, liver-rot
caused a mortality of three million sheep in England in a
single winter, that of 1879-80, in that of 1830-31, more
than two million are said to have succumbed, and Youatt,
writing in 1837, considered that the average number of
deaths amounted to more than one million sheep and lambs
every year. The older writers recognized that the disease
was confined to wet seasons, or followed upon pasturing
sheep upon ground moist and marshy at all seasons, but
who could have guessed the strange stages that led to the
reduction of the rot in Britain ? Many years of research
were necessary before the links in the chain were appreciated.

The rot was caused by a flat-worm— the " Liver-fluke,'
Fasciola (Distomum) hepatica — which choked the bile-ducts,
and to the number of 870 has been found in the liver of a
single sheep. But the liver-fluke has a curious life-history :
the eggs develop in water, 'and the wriggling larva which
hatches from each, dies if it cannot find a Pond Snail
(Limn&a truncatula); within which it passes through suc-
cessive stages of development, until, reaching an active stage,
it leaves the snail, and forsakes the water to wriggle up any
convenient blade of grass. Here it comes to an untimely
end if a sheep does not happen to eat the grass; but if a
sheep be so unfortunate, the wheel of life is set in motion
again, and an adult liver-fluke develops which finds its way
to the bile ducts, and gives rise to the deadly liver- rot. In
no other way can the liver-fluke come into being, the water
and the Pond Snail are as necessary for its development as
the sheep itself.

These then are the links in sequence which man un-
wittingly set in motion : Man drained the marshes, and so
doing he destroyed the Pond Snails, and so doing he broke
a link in the life-history of the liver-fluke, and destroyed the
parasites ; so sheep were freed from a scourge which
wholly destroyed many flocks, and in a manner threatened,
as Youatt says, to extirpate the breed of sheep in Britain.

Yet, to be effective a recoil on man's prosperity need not

THE RECOIL OF MAN'S INFLUENCE 515

follow so tortuous a path. By his cultivation of the soil man
increases the number of Earthworms it contains : the earth-
worms of an intensively cultivated garden are more numerous
than those of a cultivated field, and those of a field far out-
number those in uncultivated wilds. Yet earthworms, by
penetrating and overturning the soil, render it more porous
to moisture and more loose for the penetration of the tiny
rootlets of plants, and by dragging leaves and decaying
vegetation into their burrows, they add to the fertile humus
of the soil itself. Man cultivates the earth for his own good,
and so doing increases the number of earthworms, which in
their turn add to the fertility of the soil, and to the abundance
of man's crops.

Again, man introduced Hive Bees to Britain, or at any
rate multiplied their numbers far beyond the stock in natural
conditions, but do you think that the benefit he reaps is
measured only by the weight of honey he gathers from their
summer stores ? Do they not by scattering pollen from one
flower to another make his orchards fruitful, his garden and
his clover fields blossom to some purpose ? Darwin found
that a hundred heads of red clover (Trifolium pratense]
exposed to the visits of insects bore 69 grains weight of seeds,
or since 40 seeds weigh a grain, over 2700 seeds ; but that
a hundred heads from which insects were excluded by a net.
produced not a seed at all. And the Hive Bee is the chief
fertilizer of the wild white clover, which in recent years
has enormously increased the value of thousands of acres of
pasture.

Its work, little though it be evident, is important in the
orchard. Mr Harold Bastin records a story of 1907, when,
following a cold and wet spring the apple crop was a general
failure. In a Huntingdonshire district where there are many
orchards, scarcely any fruit was to be found except in three
orchards — and these stood close to an apiary of fifty hives.
The cold and wet weather restricted the journeys of the
bees so that they moved mainly on the trees nearest their
hives, and the fruit grower reaped where the bee-keeper had
unintentionally sown.

The indirect benefit wrought by the bee is -no new or
fantastic notion. Fruit growers have accepted it as a matter of
course, and the absence of bees due to the ravages of "Isle

33—2

5i6 CHAINS OF CIRCUMSTANCE

of Wight" disease, has made necessary other measures for
the fertilization of the apple blossom. So it has come about
that in several English orchards, in the spring of 1917, girls
were employed to dust with powder-puffs the pollen from
one- flower to another, a labour hitherto performed almost
entirely, and who will say less satisfactorily, by the honey
bee. Man keeps the bee for its store of sweetness, and
the bee, having paid its debt, throws ungrudgingly into the
bargain the fruit of a thousand orchards.

THE RECOIL UPON MAN'S CHARACTER AND CIVILIZATION

In other ways man's influence over animals has had a
vital power in moulding his own character and in guiding
the lines of his civilization. And this is true in particular
of the deliberate part he has played in domesticating animals.
The attention he has devoted to the fostering of the creatures
he has selected for his personal service has given birth to a
new feeling of regard for life and living things, a new feeling
of proprietorship and of responsibility. And these new
feelings of community and of responsibility have together
formed the foundations of the complex structure of social
life.

It is instructive to trace the steps of early civilization in
the light of man's influence upon animals. Primitive man
is a child of nature, a simple hunter who claims no country
as his own, and has few rights and no comforts save what
the strength of his own right arm can bring. But even with
the early domestication of such animals as sheep and cattle,
man is relieved from the immediate cares of the morrow ;
for food and raiment lie to his hand, and new responsibilities
and interests claim his attention and develop his mind.
The herdsman is greater than the hunter, the Eskimo
only hunt the Reindeer, the Tunguses of Siberia tame them
and live by their herds. The herdsman too has gained in
his sense of community, for the herdsman peoples share in
the great religions of the world, the Arabs are Moslems, the
herdsmen of the steppes of Asia, Buddhists. As flocks and
herds increase, the wanderings of the nomad herdsman
become more and more pronounced, until the art of the
herdsman combines with that of the cultivator, and the

THE RECOIL OF MAN'S INFLUENCE 517

family settles into the steady responsibility borne by pastoral
tillers of the soil. Now new rights arise, justice comes to
replace the rule of might, communities become more per-
manent, social institutions become fixed and assume greater
importance, the earth itself becomes part of man's heritage,
and patriotism is born.

It is easy to see how domestication has been a pre-
dominating factor in setting the civilization of the settled
herdsman-tiller above that of the independent solitary
cultivator. Where at first man's own labour tilled a meagre
plot or two in the easiest land, his yoke of oxen ploughed far
and wide across the plain, and by the labour of his beasts,
land, which from its nature lay beyond the power of his arm,
was added to his fields. A new wealth arose, more food
flowed to his granary, his animals multiplied, and with their
multiplication still more fields were added and more wealth
accrued. And so came a time when, relieved of the necessity
of the daily drudgery of the bread-winner, the choice spirits
of the community were free to turn their attention to the
development of the arts and sciences, and culture was sped
upon its way.

At the heart of the secret of civilization lies the domes-
tication of animals, training man unconsciously in the ways
of government and control, adding a new tenderness and
regard for life to his nature, guiding him from barbarism to
civilization, and impelling him along the ascending pathway
of humanity with a force he has been slow to recognize and
acknowledge.

So the study of Man's influence upon animals ends where
it began — with Man.

INDEX

Abbey Crag, 200

Aberdeen, 100, 116, 222, 250, 415, 428,

443. 44.7. 466, 59°
Aberdeenshire, ague in, 509

Ant, Small Red House, in, 440

Buzzard in, 135

Capercaillie in, 270, 272, 356

Deer, foreign, in, 254
Red, in, 211

Dog, early remains in, 87

Eagle, Golden, in, 128

forests of, 3 1 r

destruction, by storm, 324
for agriculture, 322

Fox in, 122

Gulls, change of food habit in, 412
Kittiwake, as food, 142

Horses, early remains in, 72
"wild" in, 80

Kite in, 133

Marten in, 161

Mosquitoes in, 512

pearl fishing in, 194, 195

Perch in, 279

Polecat in, 165

Rabbit warren in, 250

Rat, absence from eastern, 426
Black, in, 427

Salmon fisheries of, 380, 384

Squirrel, Red, in, 294, 296, 297

Tench in, 279

Trout, "Rainbow," in, 278

Urns, prehistoric remains in, 51

Wolf in, it 6, 121, 311

Woodpecker, Great Spotted, in, 358

wool of, 46
Aberfoyle, 128

Abernethy, 314, 321, 354, 358
Abernyte, parish of, 509
Aboyne, 294

Abraxas grossulariata. See Moths, Mag-
pie

Acanthocinus adilis, 472
Achatina fulica, 459
Actora cestuum, 395
Adamnan's Life of St Co'umba, 222
Africa, dispersal of pests from and to, 421,
442, 444, 450, 451, 458, 459, 460

East, 440

South, 452, 464

Ageltsus ph&niceus. See Starling, Red-
winged

Agelastica alni, 472
Agriculture in Scotland. See Cultivation

Ague in Scotland, 373, 508-513

Ailsa Craig, 130

Airleywight, 346

Alaska, no, 246, 257, 458

Alauda brachydactyla, 394

Alca impennis. See Auk, Great

A Ices alces. See Elk

Alder, Joshua, 464

Aleurobius, 410

Alexandria, 289

Alford, 125, 272

Vale of, 294
Algeria, 442
Allman, Prof., 386
Allt nan Uamh, Bone Cave of. See Inchna-

damph

Alnwick, River, 277
Alosa alabamae. See Shad
Alston, E. R., i86f.-n., 288
America. See belmv, and also Canada
dispersal of pests to and from, 435, 444,

447, 457, 473
introduction of animals and plants to and

from, 242, 258

America, North, dispersal of pests to and
from, 446, 454, 456, 458, 465, 469, 471,
472. See below, and also Canada
forest, destruction of, 327
America, South, dispersal of pests to and

irom, 452, 475

America, United States of, animal pre-
serves of, 236, 387
Colorado Beetle in, 387-388, 397, 409,

4n

counter-pests in, 259, 260
dispersal of pests to and from, 259, 423,
436, 440, 441, 442, 450, 451, 452, 453,
458' 459' 46°. 461, 462> 463> 465>
469

Earthworms in, 393
fisheries in, 220, 258, 277
protective legislation relating to animals,

187, 206, 227
Rats in, 431
river barriers affecting salmon fisheries of,

380

Seal, Fur, protection of, 223
American Blight. See Aphis, Woolly

Indians, 28, 454
Anacharis canadensis, 473
Anderson, Dr James, 47

Dr Joseph, 58, 87
Angel fish, 19
Anglesey, 423

INDEX

Angus, 356

Animals, acclimatization of, 246

balance, even, necessary for successful
adaptation, 255, 257, 419, 486, 489

chains of circumstances affecting, 479

changes in habits, 400-416

complex of life, 498, 499

decline in physique, 489

decrease due to cultivation and civiliza-
tion, 365-386, 488

deliberate destruction of, 109—196, 480,
481

deliberate interference with, 25 et seq.

development of man's influence upon,
480

dispersal of, 397~399

domesticated, numbers added to fauna,
486

domestication of, 27-107. See Domes-
tication

extermination of larger and addition of
smaller, 497

fauna, the great change in, 497

forest, destruction of, affecting, 327-364

increase, due to cultivation and civiliza-
tion, 387-396
in numbers, 492-496
in variety, 490

indirect interference with, 303 et seq. , 498-

5«>5

influences tending to increase numbers,
387-396, 481-488, 492-49.6

to modify character and habits, 489

to reduce numbers, 488
introduction of, deliberate, for amenity,
264, 283-300

for sport, 264-282

for utility, 246-263
introduction of, unforeseen, 417-47*,

48o, 487
native, on Man's arrival in Scotland, 1 2

et seq.

post-glacial, 12

protection of, 197-240, 481, 485, 487
recoil upon man of his influence upon,

506-517

sanctuaries, 736

selection of domicile by, 400

transportation of, 278-282
Annan, River, 176
Annandale, 429, 430
Anobium domesticum, 404

paniceum. See Beetles, Biscuit
Anser anser. See Goose, Grey Lag
Anthonomus pomortim, 392

signatus, 392
Antilles, the, 421
Ants, as food of pheasants, 268

introduction in food materials, 440

Red House, 440

tropical, introduced into greenhouses,

463

Antwerp, 414

A fan teles glomeratus, 458
Aphis, Cabbage, 458

Corn, 44o

Turnip, 392

Woolly (American Blight), 392, 461,

474. 48/

Aphodius, increase of, 396
Appin, 352 398

Apple, introduction of pests with, 449
Apple seed chalcid, 453
Apple trees, American Blight on. See
Aphis, Woolly

Codlin Moth as pest on, 451, 475

Scale insects on, 450
Aquila chrysaetus. See Eagle, Golden
Arctic fauna, 12, 13

flora, 10, 305, 306

Arctocephalus ursinus. See Seal, Fur
Ardea egrctta and candidissitna. See Egrets
Ardnamurchan, 164, 296, 494
Ardrossan shell-mound, 19, 71, 158
Argali, the, 44
Argentina, 262, 459, 460
Argyllshire, Cattle, Highland, in, 61

Capercaillie in, 270, 273

Celtic shorthorn in, 57, 58

Chough in, 178

Deer, Fallow, in, 287
Red, in, 31, 334
Roe, in, 31, 331, 332

domestic stock in, 494

forest, destruction in, 319, 320, 354

Marten in, 161

Minnow in, 279

Polecat in, 164

Rabbit in, 252

Squirrel in, 294, 296, 352, 353, 354

Starling, Red-winged, in, 283

Willow Grouse in, 275
Arhopalns speciosus, 472
Arkaig. Loch, 314
Arran, Capercaillie in, 270, 355

Chough in, 178

Deer, Virginian, in, 254, 287

Hare, Common Brown, in, 280
Mountain or Variable, in, 281

Minnow in, 279
Arrochar, 161, 288
Arthur's Seat, 190

Arvicola ratticeps. See Vole, Northern
Ascaris litmbricoides, 422

megalocephala, 422
A stilus aquaticns, 414
Ashby, Lincolnshire, 139
Ashiestiel, 314
Ashkirk, 336

Ash worth, Prof. J. H., 403
Asia, 421, 442
Askaig, Loch, 134

Asparagus, pests introduced with, 459
Aspidotus a/i&tus, 461 f.-n.

ffrniciosus. See Scale Insects, San Jose
Assam, 328

520

INDEX

Assynt, 120, 126, 177

Astur palumbarius. See Goshawk

Athalia colibri, 392

Athene noctua. See Owl, Little

Athole, foreign Deer in, 254

Forest of, 114, 200

royal hunts in, 119, 210-211, 265,

266, 283, 285, 331, 355
Auk, Great, 17, 148

destruction of, no, 138, 142-146, 488
Aulacaspis pentagona. See Scale Insects,

Mulberry
Australasia, 463
Australia, Apple Scale in, 450

Bed-Bug, Tropical, in, 421

Codlin Moth in, 452

Corn Weevils in, 442

Greenbottle Fly in, 423

Hare and Rabbit in, 241, 253, 255

Land Planarians in, 464

Mediterranean Fruit Fly in, 451

plants and animals introduced into, 241,

242, 245, 255
Awe, Loch, 126, 134, 164, 278, 294, 319,

322, 331

Ayala, Don Pedro de, 41, 149
Ayr, 472

Ayr, River, 276, 277, 293
Ayrshire, Alpine Hare in, 282

American Brook Trout in, 277

Beaver, prehistoric remains in, 158

Boar, Wild, prehistoric remains in, 90

Capercaillie in, 270, 273

Cattle, prehistoric remains in, 34, 51, 56,

57

Chough in, 178
Deer, Red, prehistoric remains in, 34,

333

Dog, prehistoric remains in, 34, 87
Goat, prehistoric remains in, 34
Grayling in, 276
Hawks in, 199
Horse, prehistoric remains in, 34, 70,

Kite in, 133

Marten in, i6r

pearl fishing in, 195

Polecat in, 164

pollution of rivers in, 384

Rabbit in, 252

Reindeer, prehistoric remains in, 338,

340, 344

Sheep, prehistoric remains in, 34
skin produce of, 156
Squirrel in, 293

Trochus lineatus in shell-mounds in, 20
Urus, prehistoric remains in, 51
Wolf, prehistoric remains in, 115

Baddingsgill, 402, 403
Badenoch, 211

Badger, denizen of ancient Scottish forests,
308, 329

Badger— Cont.

destruction of, 229, 369
for skin, 156, 166, 170
for sport, 184-186

drowned by floods, 328

Flea, Human, parasitic on, 420

importation for sport, 264

protection through popular favour, 233
Bal&namysticetus. See Whales, Greenland
Baliznoptera. See Whales, Rorqual
Balance of animal life, 257, 486, 488, 489
Balamis tintinnabulum. See Barnacle,

Common Acorn
Balgone, 69, 89
Ballochbuie Forest, 314
Balquhidder, 161
Baltimore Oriole, 299
Bananas, introductions with, 447, 474
Banchory, 272, 294, 358
Banffshire, "bog butter," discovered in, 58

Capercaillie in, 272

Great Spotted Woodpecker in, 35 s

Kite in, 133

Squirrel in, 296

Wolf in, 120
Banks, Sir J., 46 r
Barclay, Dr William, 285
Baridium aterrimiis, 463
Barnacle, Common Acorn, distribution by

ships, 432
Barra, 75, 277
Barrett- Hamilton and Hinton, Messrs,

248, 425, 429
Barry, Rev. Geo., 284 •

Sir F. T., 348
Barvas, 280
Bass, Black, 258, 259

Striped, 380

Bass Rock, 147, 171, 251
Bastin, Harold, 515
Bates, H. W., 17!
Bats, 379
Battle Abbey, 401
Bealach na Uidhe, Loch, 279
Beans and peas, pests introduced in, 445,

446

Bear, Brown, denizen of ancient Scottish
forests, 308, 329

effect of destruction of forests upon, 351

extermination of, 1 12-1 15, 481, 496, 497

prehistoric remains of, 17, 20, 112, 114,
33°

reduction in size, 490
Beasts of prey, destruction of, 109, ni

destruction of forest to extirpate, 120, 318

effects of destruction of, 197, 489
Beaufort Castle, 181, 295, 296, 297
Beauly, 273
Beauly Firth, 118
Beauly River, 295
Beaver, in Scotland, 17, 155, 157

destruction for skin, 155, 157-158, 221,
308, 329, 482, 497

INDEX

Beaver — Cont.

prehistoric remains, 157, 158

re-introduction for amenity, 242, 298
Bedford, Duke of, 288
Bedfordshire, 288
Bee, Hive, domestication of, 107

fertilization of flowers by, 5 1 5

indirect effects of Isle of Wight disease

of» 5J5

introduction to Britain, 515

to New Zealand, 257
Beetles, Asparagus, European, 459

Bean, 446

Biscuit, 410, 444

Black. See Cockroach

change of food habits of, 409, 410

Cigarette, 445

Click, increase of, 392

"Clock," 239, 416

Cockchafer, 235, 392

Colorado, 387-388, 397, 409, 411

"Death Watch," 4o4

Dung, 239, 396

Furniture, 404

Grain, 441

Heather, 206

houses selected as domicile by, 404

increase due to dung, 396

introduction, into greenhouses, 463
with flour, 443
with wheat, 440

Ladybird, 235, 260, 261

Lentil, 446

Longicorn, transportation in timber,
470

Pea, 392, 445, 474

pine, 329, 472

Scarabee, 474

Store, 442

Timber, or Capricorn, 470

Timberman, 472

Tobacco, 410

Turnip Flea, 392

Weevils, q.v.
Belfast, 436
Belgium, 469, 474
Belhelvie Moss, 51
Bellenden, John, 83, 90, 173, 251
"Ben, Jo.", 173
Ben Lui, 314
Ben More, 126
Ben Venue, 128
Bennachie, Capercaillie in woods of, 272

Forest of, 3 1 1
Bennie, James, n, 305
Berlese, A., 262
Berner, Dame Juliana, 277
Berriedale, 295
Berry, William, 395
Berwick, North, 432
Berwick-on-Tweed, 226, 471, 472
Berwickshire, ague in, 509, 510

Beaver in, 157

Berwickshire — Cont.
Boar, Wild, in, 90
Bustard in, 274
Chough in, 178
Deer, Red, in, 333
Roe, in, 330, 331
Elk in, 346, 347

Hare, Mountain or Variable, in, 282
Polecat in, 164
Rabbit in, 252
Squirrel in, 352
Tench in, 279
Urus in, 51
Wild Cat in, 125
Beveridge, F. S., 412
Bignold, Sir Arthur, 288
Bilharzia hamatobia, 422
Birchwood, 446
"Bird-butter," 148
Birds, carrion, protection as scavengers,

223-226, 395

change of food habits of, 411
change of habits induced by houses, 401
destruction, as pest on fruit-crops, 411
as vermin, 176-178
by bird-catchers, 189, 193-194
by lighthouses and other lights, 377-

379

by Little Owl, 256

for food, 139

for plumage, no. 189

of eggs, 148
dispersal of, 399

effect of destruction of forest upon, 329
^game. destruction for sport, 186-188
influence of towns upon, 405-408
insect-eating, increase due to cultivation,

393' 394, 48?

introduction for amenity, 283
marshland, decrease due to reclamation

of swamps, 370, 371, 373, 374, 488
moorland and plains, decrea>>e due to

cultivation, 366 ^
mortality due to telegraph wires, 379
of prey, destruction of, 109, in, 127-137,

217,489,493, 498
Paris Convention for Protection of, 277

?rehistoric remains of, 8, 1 7
rotection Acts relating to, 227, 228,
229, 236

protection by popular favour, 233
for aesthetic reasons, 229
for food, 216
for sport, 183, 197, 202, 203, 204-207,

486

for utility in agriculture, 227
Royal Society for the Protection of, 236
seed-eating, increase of, 389, 485, 496
Birse, Forest of, 80, 81,311

parish of. 121 f.-n.

Biscuits, pests infesting, 441, 443, 444
Bishop, A. Henderson, 19, 30, 316
Bison, in Germany, 349

522

INDEX

Bittern, in Scotland, 21, 374

destruction for sport, 187

extermination due to reclamation of
swamps, 374, 482, 497

prehistoric remains of, 18

protection for hawking, 203

use as food, 140
Blabera gigatitea, 463
Black Loch, Wigtownshire, 90
Blackbird, as pest, 228, 231

change of food habit, 411

increase of, 230, 394

protection by popular favour, 234

slaughter for food, 139
Blackgame, 241, 266, 267, 271, 329

price of, 140

protection for sport, 203, 205, 206
Blackball, 274

Blackwater, Slipper Limpet in, 424
Blair Athole, 271, 287, 293, 319
Blair Drummond, 56, 104, 273
Blastophaga grossorum, 257
Blatta orientalis. See Cockroach, Common
" Bloomeries," 320 et seq.
Boar, Wild, in Scotland, 16, 20, 89

destruction for sport, 138, 184

domestication of, 89-95, 491

prehistoric and early remains of, 30, 33,

89,90

Boar's Chase, 90
Boarhills, 90

Bobwhite. See Quail, Virginian
Boece, Hector, 38, 46, 65, 80, 87, 88, 89,
ti6, 118, 122, 127, 133, 155, 158, 200,
268, 316, 318, 355, 365, 366, 371, 3^6
Boelter, Mr, 431
" Bog butter," 58
Bonar Bridge, 295, 398
Bone implements, 7
Bo'ness, 435, 472
" Book worm," 410
Boorde, Andrew, 312
Booth, E. T., 35*
Boreray, 146
Borgue parish, 510
Borland Water, 277
Borness Cave, 56, 57, 72, 73, 331, 334
Borough Loch, Edinburgh, 371
Bos tanrus longifrons. See Cattle, Celtic

Shorthorn

Bos taurus primigenius. See Urus
Bot-fly, 423
Botanic Garden, Cambridge, 436

Edinburgh, 436, 463

Glasgow, 436, 463

Kew, 436

Regent's Park, London, 466
Botaitrus stellaris. See Bittern
Bothriocephahis lattis, 421
Braconid, 458
Braemar, 80, 122, 125, 128, 136, in, 314,

Brambling, 389

Brand, Rev. John, 77, 130, 141, 169, 201,

280, 299
Brazil, 421, 460
Breadalbane, 120

Marquis of, 270

Breaking in of waste lands, 365-370
Bream, Sea, 8, 19, 149

Black Sea, 19
Brechin, 272, 293
Bressay, 76

Bridge of Frew, 292, 398
Bridges, as means of dispersal of animals, 398
Bristol, 466

British Columbia, 242, 451
Brochs, animal remains of, 52, 54, 57, 67,
72, 76, 87,90, 112, 114, 115, 144, 331,

333> 337> 34°. 34i, 348. 35°
Brock. See Badger
Broom, Loch, 296

Brown, Prof. Hume, 47, 249, 312, 316, 371
Browne, E. T., 433
B ruckus chinensis, 446

lentis, 446

obtectus, 446

pisorum, 445

rttfimanus, 446
Buchan, 426

Forest of, Aberdeenshire, 3 1 1

Kirkcudbrightshire, 334 f.-n.
Buchan, Rev. A., 145
Buchanan, J. H., 178
Buchat, River, 278
Buckinghamshire, 288
Buffalo, American, no
Bugs, Bed, introduction of, 42 r, 487, 497
nouses selected as domiciles by,- 404

Common Mealy, 475

Lantana, 461

plant, 459, 474

Tropical Bed, 421

Vine, 461, 474, 487

Bulbs, transportation of pests with, 465, 474
Bulimus decolletus, 465

goodalli, 464

octontts, 464

undattts, 470

Bullfinch, 231, 241, 242, 390
Bunavve, 321, 353
Buntings, 140, 394, 413

Corn, 389

European, 394

Snow, 141

Bupestris hamorrhoidalis, 472
Burbot, in Hamburg water-system, 414
Burghead, 57, 161
Burnham, J. B., 206
Burra, 250
Burt, Capt., 356
Burwick, Broch of, 341
Bustard, Great, 21

destruction for plumage, 189
for sport, 187

extermination, 274, 363, 366, 482, 497

INDEX

523

Bustard— Cont.

protection for sport, 705
re-introduction, 274
Bute, Beaver in, 298
Capercaillie in, 273
Deer, Red, prehistoric remains of large,

337

Roe, in, 280
Dunagoil vitrified fort, 316

prehistoric animal remains in, 1 24, 337,

490

Hare, Common Brown in, 280
Marten in, 161
Squirrel in, 293

Wild Cat, prehistoric remains in, 1 24, 490
Buteo buteo. See Buzzard, Common
Butterflies, Artaxerxes, destruction by col-
lectors, 190, 229

Cabbage White, increase of, 392, 4*7
Small, introduction to Canada, 458
Comma, 369
Copper, Large, destruction by collectors,

190, 229

disappearance due to cultivation, 369
Orange-tip, 369
Peacock, 369
Ringlet, 369

Skipper, Large and Small, 369
Speckled Wood, 369
Wall, 369

Buxton, Sir Powell, 270
Buzzards, change of habit in selection of

nest, 401

Common, destruction of, 18, 134, 217
Honey, destruction as pest, 135
increase during War, 396

Cabbages, pests introduced with, 457, 458,

459
Caccabis fetrosa. SM Partridge, Barbary

rttfa. See Partridge, Red-legged
Cairns, horned or chambered, 8, 32, 40, si,

56, 58, 71, 89
Cairntable, 282
Cairnton of Kemnay, 427
Caithness, Bear, Brown, in, 17, 112, 114

Boar, early remains in, 89, 90

Celtic Shorthorn in, 56

Deer, Red, in, 187, 333
Roe, 331

Dog, early remains in, 87

Elk in, 348

Falcon in, 200

forest, 310

fossil fishes in, 482

Fox, prehistoric remains of large size in,
490

Goose, Grey Lag, in, 104

Great Auk in, 144

Horse, early remains in, 71, 71

Pigeons in, 100

Rabbit in, 252

Rats in, 426, 427, 432

Caithness — Cont.

Reindeer in, 14, 187, 34 iv 342, 345

bheep, Peat or Turbary, in, 40

Snow Bunting in, 141

Squirrel in, 295

Urus in, 50, 51
Calandra granaria, 441, 44jf.-n.

orysae, 445 f. -n.
Calder Wood, 312, 314
Calderwood, W. L., 151
Caledonian Canal, 397

Forest, 114, 312, 314
Wild Cattle in, 65

California, Fig Insect introduced into,
*57

fishes introduced into, 258

"Jack- Rabbit" in, 369

Mediterranean Fruit Fly in, 451

Phylloxera in, 461, 462

quarantine inspection in, 474

Scale insects and their counterpests in,

260

Callander, 273
Callidium variabilf, 471
Calliphora erytkrocephala. SH Flies, Blow

vomitffria. See Flies, Blow
Cambrensis, Giraldus, 158, 202. ^76
Camden, W.. 114

Campbell, Dr John, 27, 68. 186. M4. 221,
222

Bruce, 98

J.F., ,,4

T. G., 239

Mr, Kingussie, 153
Campsie, 292

Fells, 178, 273
Canister, 51, 56
Canada, Asparagus Beetle in, 459

Cabbage Aphis in, 459
Butterfly in, 458
Fly in, 458

dispersal of animals by water transport
in. 397

introduction of plants and animals into,
242

Moth, Angoumois Grain, in, 442
Codlin, in, 452
Mediterranean Flour, in, 443

Narcissus Fly in, 465

Scale insect, Apple or Mussel, in, 450
Camellia or Cottony, in, 460
Mulberry, in, 460

Wood- Wasp (Sirex) from, 468
Canadian Water Weed, 473
Canals as means of dispersal of animals, 397
Canary, the, 299
Canary Islands, 246, 466
Cannabina linota. See Linnet
Canobie parish, 293
Canoes, Neolithic, 9, 51, 56
Cape of Boars, 90
Cape of Good Hope, 45 1
Capello, Venetian Ambassador, 215

INDEX

Capercaillie, as food, 266

denizen of Scottish forests, 329

extermination of, 354-357

introduction of, 268-274

prehistoric remains of, 18
Capplach, Mount, 118
Capreolus capreolus. See Deer, Roe
Caprimulga europteus. See Nightjar
Cara, 178

Cardan, Dr Jerome, 41, 76
Cardiff, 414
Cardross, 199

Cariacus virginianns. See Deer, Virginian
Caribou, 329, 345
Carlisle, 292
Carluke, 299
Carmel River, 277
Carmichael of Skirling, Lord, 284
Carncruinch, 358
Carp, introduction for sport, 277

into California, 258
Carrbridge, 314
Carron Iron Works, 321, 322
Carron River, 312
Carse clays, prehistoric remains in, 9, 10.

20
Carse of Gowrie. See Cowrie

of Stirling, 9, 10, 20
Castle Coole, 104
Castle Grant, 358
Castor fiber. See Beaver
Cat, domestication of, 106

Wild, destruction of. 124-126, 176, 177,

184, 229, 329, 482, 496
effect of destruction of forests upon,

35/, 362

prehistoric remains, 124, 490
reduction in size, 490
Caterpillars. See Butterflies and Moths
Cattle, 20, 49-67

Aberdeen- Angus, 28, 60, 62

Ayrshire, 28, 61, 64

Celtic Shorthorn, 54, 55-60, 67

colour of, 62

development of milk supply, 64

domestication of, 55

early fattening of, 64

effect of grazing on forest growth, 323

Galloway, 29, 60, 62, 63, 64, 247
Belted or Sheeted, 62

Highland Kyloes, 60, 62, 64

hornless, 62, 490

modern, 60—64

native wild, 49-52

numbers added to fauna, 486, 493

Orkney and Shetland, 60

parasites introduced with, 422, 423

prehistoric and early remains, 14, 31, 32,
33. 5i, 55. 56, 57- 58, 73

Shorthorn, 60, 62, 64

South American Wild, 1 10

Urus. See Urus

" Wild " White, 54, 65

Cave dwellings, animal remains in, 32, 34,
87, 89, in, 112, 115, 331, 334, 337,
340, 344, 373
Cawdor, 125, 296, 297
Centipedes, increase of, 393
Cerambyx ferdo, 470

heros, 470

Ceratitis capitata, 448, 450
Cercyon, increase of, 396
Cervus dama. See Deer, Fallow

sika, See Deer, Japanese
Cessnock River, 277
Ceylon, 459
Chad. 5«Shad
Chaffinch, 389, 390
Chalcids, 456

Apple Seed, 453

Douglas Fir Seed, 454, 473

Rose Seed, 456
Champion, E. C., 446
Changes in fauna, v

Char, destruction by pollution in Lake
Coniston, 385

destruction for food, 152

disappearance from Loch Leven, 372

in prehistoric Scotland, 19

introduction for sport, 277

transportation of, 279
Chatauqua Lake, 258
Cheimatobia brumata, 392
Cheltenham, 405

Cherry trees, Scale insect on, 460
Cheshire, 466

Chesters, Roman Camp at, 1 1 2
Cheviot Hills, 128, 160, 292
Chichester, 431
Chili, 450
Chillingham Forest, 310

White Cattle in, 65
Chilocorus similis, 261
China, 423
Chironowus, 415
Chloropisca ornata, 403
Chortophila (Phorbia] 'brassicae, 458
Chough in Scotland, destruction as pest, 177
Christian monuments, early, 76, 342
Chrysomphalns aonidum, 448
Chrysophamts dispar. See Butterflies, Large

Copper
Cimex hemiptera. See Bugs, Tropical Bed

lectularius. See Bugs, Bed
Cinclus cincl-us. See Dipper
Cinn Trolla, Broch of, 87, 331, 341
Circus cyaneus, 1 34

Civilization, change in habits of animals
. induced by, 400-416

influences on animal life, 363, 3/7-417,

488, 516
Clackmannanshire, Capercaillie in, 273

Deer, Roe, in, 332

Rabbit in, 252

Squirrel in, 292
Clams, destruction for food, 153

INDEX

525

Clarke, Dr W. Eagle, 1 41. 375, 3/8, 399,

401, 428
Clausilia, 329

papillaris, 464
Cleadon Hills, 144
Cleaves Cove, Dairy, 158
Clelland, Prof., 34, 87
Climate of Scotland, changes in, 10, 305,
306, 308, 48 r

destruction of forest due to, 308

effect of destruction of forest upon, 327
Clova Hills, 178

Clover, red, in New Zealand, 257
Clusius, 225
Clyde, River, 69, 178, 276, 277, 385

area of, 51, 312, 472
Clythe, 51, 56, 71
Coal, use of, 315
Coal-pits, Cockroaches in, 435

fauna of, 415-416

Wood Wasps in, 469
Coalecken iron-furnace, 322
Coatbridge, 472
Coccid. See Scale Insects
Coccothraustes coccolhraustes, 230
Cockle-beds of Forth, 386
Cockroaches, American or Ship, 436

as pest, 487

Australian, 436

Common, 435

German, 438

houses selected as domiciles, 405

in coal-pits, 435

introduced in dry food materials, 435-438

introduced with bananas, 448

introduction into greenhouses, 463

Snowy Tree, 447
" Cod, Murray," 259
Codlin Moth, 451, 475
Calopa frigida, 395
Colchester, Essex, 112
Coldingham, 330, 346
Coldstone parish, 324
Colinton Dell, 471
Colintraive, 161

Colinus virginianus. See Quail, Virginian
Coll, 280
"Collectors," destruction of animal life by,

189

Collembola, introduced. See Springtails
Collessie, 58
Coin, River, 424
Colombia, 475
Colonsay, Chough in, 178

prehistoric remains in, 31, 32,33, 34, 74,

89

Columba, St, 222
Columba livia. See Rock Dove
Columbia Red Wood, 454
Commerce, introduction of animals un-
awares by, 416-475, 487
Condor, destruction for plumage, 189
Conger-eel, 8

Coniston Lake, 385
Connecticut River, 380
Constantine's Cave, 173
Contarinia (Ceeidomyia) tritici, 440

(Diplopsis) pyrivora, 45 1
Cony, origin of name, 248. See Rabbit
Coot, 1 8

Coralline, Oat-pipe, 433
Cormorant, 8, 17, 141
Corncrake or Landrail, decrease in num-
bers, 368

protection for sport, 205
Cornwall, 411
Corra Linn Fall, 178
Corrour, 399, 401

Forest of, 337
Corse Burn, 294

Corstorphine, io, 233, 254, 289, 428
Cortachy, 272
Car-cm corax. See Raven
Costa Rica, 475
Coturnix coturnix. See Quail
Counter-pests, introduction of, 259-263,

-M9

Cowden Burn, 50
Crab, destruction for food, 154

prehistoric remains of, 19

protection for food, 220
Craig Green, 340

Phaidrich, 33 1
Craigcrook, 346
Craigleith, island of, 432
Crail, 207, 249, 250
Cramond, 346
Crane in Scotland, 21, 375

as food, 140, 266

destruction for plumage, 189

extermination due to reclamation of
swamps, 375, 482, 497

in Ireland, 376

introduced specie?, 299

prehistoric remains, 18

price of, 140

Cranefly, increase of, 391
Crannich, Forest of the, 358
Crannogs, 40, 57, 71, 89
Crawfordjohn, 178
Cree, River, 293, 347
Crepidnlafornicata. 424
Crex crex. See Corncrake
Cricket, House, houses selected as domi-
ciles by, 405

increase of, 497

introduced in dry food materials, 434
Criffel Moor, 282
Crinan Canal, 273
Criotcris asparagi, 459
Croftamie, 338
Crofthead, 50, 68, 69
Cromarty, 31, 211, 440

Firth, 295
Cromdale, 471
Crossbill, 329

526

INDEX

Crouch, River, 424

Crow, Carrion, destruction as vermin, 136,

177,217,482

increase as scavengers, 395
increase during War, 396
Hooded, destruction of, 137
prehistoric remains of, 18
protection as scavengers, 224, 225, 226
Ciyptopleurum, increase of, 396
Cuckoo, 234
Culdross, 289
Cultivation, breaking in of waste lands, 365,

481, 485
change of habit induced in animals by,

400-416
decrease of animal life due to, 365-386,

488

destruction of forest for, 322
disappearance of ague due to, 512
increase of animal life due to, 387-396,

484, 485, 486, 487, 493-496
influences on animal life, 363—417

proportion of land in, 484, 493
Cumberland, 293
Cumbrae, 280

" Cunningares." See Rabbit-warrens
Cunningham, J. T., 150
Cupar, 447

Abbey, 250, 376
Curie, A. O., 214, 316, 426

James, 72, 79
Curlew, 266, 363

decline due to reclamation of swamps,
376, 377

price, 140
Currie, 55, 86
Cydia {Carpocarpsa) pomonflla. See Moth,

Codlin
Cyprinus carpio. See Carp

"Daddy-long-legs," increase of, 392
Dalkeith, 292, 293, 435

Palace, 286, 292
Dalmeny, 290
Dalmuir, 10
Dalnaglar, 126
Dalnaspidal, 399
Dairy, 158

Forest of, 126
Dalzell, Sir J., 259
Damon, Mr, 154
Danube, River, 469
Daphnia pulex, 373
Darenth Wood, Kent, 446
Dark Forest, the, 314
Darnaway, Forest of, 133, 334, 358
Dartford, 446

Darwin, Charles, 95, 98, 323
Dawkins, Prof. Boyd, 56
Day Poaching Act, 205
Decoys, destruction of wild-fowl by, 139
Dee, River, 272, 293, 294
Deeside, 165

Deer, conclusions regarding the race of, 349
Elk, g.v.

export of skins, 155, 156
Fallow, introduction for amenity,

284-287, 496
protection of, 213, 286
foreign, failure to acclimatize, 254
Giant Fallow, 14, 50, 52f.-n., 68, 481
"Irish Elk." See Giant Fallow Deer

above

Japanese, introduction of, 287, 288
Red, banishment from lowlands owing to
pasturage of sheep flocks, 42, 331,
334, 486
denizen of ancient Scottish forests, 308,

3", 329

destruction as pest, 181, 212
destruction for sport, 138, 187, 207,

213
effect of destruction of forest upon,

333~338> 35°
fewer numbers in modern Scotland,

493

importation from Germany, 264
in Jura, 212, 492
in Lowlands, 207
introduced into New Zealand, 242
physical degeneracy, 16, 335, 489
prehistoric and early remains, 16, 30,

31, 34, 284,331, 333, 336, 337
protection for food, 217
protection for sport, 207-213, 286, 485
restriction of range, 208, 333, 334, 486
Reindeer, q.v.
Roe, denizen of ancient Scottish forests,

308, 322, 329
effect of destruction of forest upon,

330-333

physical degeneracy of, 332, 490
prehistoric and early remains of, 16,

31, 284, 330, 331
protection for food, 217
protection for sport, 213
restriction of range, 330
transportation of, 280
royal hunts in Atholl, 119, 210-211,265,

283, 285, 331, 355
Virginian, introduction of, 254, 287
Wapiti, introduction of, 254
Deer forests, 207

of Jura, 212, 492
Deerness, 250
Denmark, 43 r

Dermacentor reticulatus, 423
Dermanyssus gallinae, 423
Derwent, River, 276
Destruction of animals, as vermin and pests,

176-183, 212
deliberate, 108-196,488
due to cultivation and civilization, 365-

386, 488
for food, 138-154
for pleasure or luxury, 189-196

INDEX

527

Destruction of animals — Cent.

for safety of man and his domestic stock,
109, 111-137, 488

for skins and oil, 155-175

for sport, 1 84- [88

indirect results of, 137, 488
Deveron, River, 272, 279
Devon, 465

Diaxenes dendrobii, 463
Diestraminena marmorata, 463
Dipodomys, 389

Dipper, destruction as pest, 181, 182
Dispersal of animals due to transport,

397-39?

Dochart, River, 273
Dochfour, 296

Dochmius (Ancylostomum) duodenale, 422
Dodo, extermination of, 498
Dog, domestication of, 29, 86-89, 490

early remains of, 32, 33, 34, 86

introduction to Australia, 243

parasites introduced with, 422

Scottish varieties of, 88
Dog-fish, 8

Spiny, 19, 149
Dolphin, 8, 19
Domestic animals, 21, 25, 35-108

introduction of, 246
into colonies, 242

numbers added to fauna, 486

parasites introduced with, 420, 422

sequence of introduction, 32
Domestication of animals, 27-108

beginnings of, 28, 29

distinctive Scottish breeds, 28

general effects of, 27

potent factor in fauna! changes, 481

recoil upon man, 506-517
Domiciles, selection by animals of, 400
Don, River, 195,278, 279,294,380,381,384

area of, 125, 165, 272
Dordogne, Caves of, 344
Dormouse, 233
Dornoch, 287

Firth, 126
Doryphora (Leptinotarsd) decem-lineata. See

Beetle, Colorado
Dotterel, 140

Douglas Fir Seed Chalcid, 454
Dovecots, 97, 98
Doves. See also Pigeons

introduction of exotic, 283

Rock. See Rock Dove

Turtle, 234, 241, 242, 266
Dowally, 252
Dowalton, Loch of, 57
Drake, Sir Francis, 435
Dreissensia polymorpha, 414, 469
Drumblade, 296
Drumlanrig, 287
Drummelzier, parish of, 323
Drumoak, forest of, 311
Drymen, 289

Ducks, domesticated, 106

Eider, 18

Golden Eye, 104, 203, 266

Shoveller, 203

Teal, q.v.

Wigeon, q.v.

Wild, change of food habits in, 411, 412
destruction of, 139, 188
domestication of, 106
prehistoric remains, 17
price of, 140, 265
protection for food, 17
protection for hawking, 203
Duddingston Loch, 346, 347
Dulnan Valley, 314
Dumbarton, 105
Dumbartonshire, Capercaillie in, 273

Falcon eyries in, 199

Marten in, 161

Polecat in, 164

Reindeer, prehistoric remains in, 338

Squirrel, Grey, in, 289

Red, in, 292, 352
Dumfries, 282, 293, 434, 447

Fur Fair, 156, 162, 165, 167, 169, 170,

1 80, 252, 390

Dumfriesshire, Bear, Brown, prehistoric
remains in, 17, 112

Beaver, prehistoric remains in, 157

" blooineries " in, 320

Chalcid flies imported, 456

Deer, Fallow, in, 287

Red, prehistoric remains in, 333
Roe, prehistoric remains in, 16, 330

forests of, 310

Fox in, 122

fur produce of, 156

Grayling in, 276

Osprey in, 133

Pigeon in, 100

Polecat in, 164

Rabbit in, 168

Reindeer in, 14, 340

Squirrel in, 292, 293

Wolf in, 12 c l.-n.
Dunagoil, Bute, vitrified fort of, 316

animal remains in, 124, 337, 490
Dundee, 174

Dunfermline, 161, 172, 442
Dunipace, 199

Dunkeld, 252, 254, 270, 293, 360
Dunnet, parish of, 427
Dunottar, 293
Dunrobin, 126, 178, 295
Duns, 347

Castle, 292

Duntroon, Bone Cave at, 31
Durham, 144
Durness, 126, 278

Durrant and Beveridge, Messrs, 445
Durris, 454, 455
Duthil, 358
Dyce, Forest of, 311

528

INDEX

Eagle, destruction for protection of food

animals, 217

Golden, destruction of, 127-128
increase of, 230
prehistoric remains of, 18
White-tailed, or Sea, extermination of,

130-132, 482

Skua as enemy of, in Shetland, 228
Earn, River, 272, 333, 381
Earthworms, exotic, in hot-houses, 464
in coal-pits, 416
increase due to cultivation, 392—393, 496,

497

effects of, 515
transportation of, 464, 465
East Anglia, 275, 376
East Grange, 256

East Lothian. See Haddingtonshire
Edderton, 126
Eddystone Lighthouse, 378
Ederachillis, 119
Edinburgh, animals as scavengers in streets

of, 224, 395

Ant, Small Red House in, 440
Ants, tropical, in Botanic Gardens, 463
Arctic fauna of district, 14

flora of district, 10
Artaxerxes Butterfly on Arthur's Seat,

190

Badger near, 233
Beetles, Longicorn, in, 472
Celtic Shorthorn, prehistoric remains in

Nor' Loch, 55
Cockroach, American, in, 436

German, in, 438
Cricket in, 434
Death's Head Moth in beehives near,

409
Deer, Red, prehistoric remains of large

size in, 336

Dove, primitive type, in, 96
Flies, swarms of, in, 403
Owls in, 406
Perich<zta indica in, 464
Rat, Black, in, 427
Raven in, 136, 395
Reindeer, prehistoric remains near, 340

in Zoological Garden, 254
rookeries in, 405
Snake, Smooth or Ringed kas "escape"

in, 299

Thrips, in Botanic Garden, 463
Tree-Frog transported in bananas to, 447
Wagtail, Pied, in, 406
Water Flea in pond near, '3 7 3
Wild fowl in, 371
wooden houses of, 316
Eclrom, 157, 331
Edward, Robert, 356
Edwards, J., 446
Eel, Common, in waterworks, 413

migrations of, 278
Conger, 149

Egew, Schir Robert, 46, 251
Eggs, birds', destruction for food, 148
destruction of bird-life by collectors of,

191
Egrets, destruction for plumage, 110, 189

EgyP1' 441. 443. 446

Eil, Loch, 296

Einig, Glen, 296

Eird, or Picts' Houses, animal remains of,

40, 52, 57. 72, 74, 87, 331, 333
Elgin, 279, 371
Elginshire. See Morayshire
Elibank, 314
Elk, as denizen of Scottish forests, 14, 329

extermination of, 207, 213, 346-349, 481,
496, 497

effect of destruction of forest upon, 346-

"Elk, Irish." See Deer, Giant Fallow

Ellis, Sir H., 401

Ellon, 161

Elwes, H. J., 39

Emberiza hortulana. See Ortolan

Emu, destruction for plumage, 189

English Channel, the, 12, 13

Enniskillen, 104

Entomostraca, dispersal by £anals,r397

Ephestia kuhniella, 443, 445f.-n.

Erie Canal, 397

Eriosoma lanigera. See Aphis, Woolly

Eriska, Isle of, 57

Ermine. See Stoat

Erne. See Eagle, White- tailed

Ernie, Lord, 391

'"Escapes," 298

Esk, North, River, 272, 293

Eskdale, 117, 199, 331

Esmore, 320

Esox Indus. See Pike

Essex, 330

Ettrick, River, 347

Forest, 310, 313, 314, 334

Deer, Red, in, 334

royal chase in, 119, 208

Sheep in, 41

Wolf in, 119

Ewneces qttinqiielineat-us, 469
Euxoa (Agrotis] segetum. See Moth, Dia-
mond-backed
Evans, Henry, 493, 494
Evans, William, 190,369,378,428,429^.,

435. 464, 492, 502
Ewart, Prof. J. Cossar, 37, 39, 4o, 44, 51,

62, 69, 72, 75, 79

Fair Isle, 97, 141
Fala Hill, 164

Falco peregrinus. See Falcon
Falcon, Peregrine, change of habit in
nesting, 401

destruction of, 134

protection for sport, 199-203
Falkirk, 322

INDEX

Falkland, 164

Islands, 175
Famham, 323
Farquharson, Rev. J., 324
Farrow, E. P., 253, 499
Fasciola (Distcmum) htpaiica. See Liver

fluke

Fauna, changes affecting, v
Ferenze, forest of, 207
Ferret, 107

Fertilizing agents, introduction of, 5 1 5
Feugh, River, 294
Fiddich, 384
F'.eldfare, 266, 394
Fife, Capercaillie in, 270, 272, 273

Celtic Shorthorn, early remains in, 57

Deer, Red, in, 207

early remains of large size, in, 337
Roe, in, 332

Dog, prehistoric remains in, 87

Flies, swarms of, in, 403

forests, destruction in, 312, 318

lochs and swamps in, 371

Marten in, 161

Owl, Little, in, 256

Partridge, Red-legged, in, 275

Pigeon caves and dovecots in, 97, 100

Polecat in, 164

Rabbit warrens in, 249, 250, 252

Rat, Brown, in, 395

Squirrel in, 292
Fifty-foot Beach, 9, 10, n, 19, 20, *6,

7°

Fig Insect, introduction to California, 257
Finches, 256, 413

increase of, 230, 485
Findhorn, River, 328
Finnart, 288
Fiorinia fioriniae, 461 f.-n.

kcwensis, 461 f.-n.
Fire, the Great, 3 1 6
Fisheries. See also Shell-Fisheries

protection of, 217, 220

yield of, 149
Fishes, decrease due to pollution, 382-386

decrease due to river barriers, 379-382

destruction for food, 149, 150, 151

dispersal by waterways, 397

food of early inhabitants, 8, 19, 149

fossil, in Caithness, 482

in waterworks, 413, 414

introduced, 258, 276, 284

introduction for amenity, 284

introduction for sport, 276-278

prehistoric remains of, 8, 19

protection for food. 217-220

transportation of, 278-279
Fish-hatcheries, 219
Fish-hawk. See Osprey
Fittis, R- S-, 116
Fleas, Brown Rat as carrier, 423, 507

Human, in houses, 404
increase during War, 396

Fleas— Cont.

introduction unawares, 420

parasitic on Badger, 420
Plague, introduction unawares, 420 ^07
"Shore/' 395
" Watery 373, 397
Flies, Apple Seed Chalcid, 453
Bot-, 423
Blow-, or Bluebottle, 404

increase during War, 396

Chalcid, 453, 454, 456, 473, 475

Citrus White, 475

Fruit, 474

Green-bottle, 423

Hessian, 439

House, 403, 404

and disease, 506

increase due to garbage, 396, 496, 506
Ichneumon, 469
in coal-pit, 416

Mediterranean Fruit, 448, 450
Narcissus. 465, 474
Pear Midge, 45 1
relation to disease. 506
" Sheep-tick, " 423
"Spider," parasitic on horses, 423
" Tick,'' parasitic on horses, 423
Warble, 423
Wheat Midge, 440
Yellow Dung, 396
Flora, po.-t-glacial, 10
Florida, 436

Flounder, in waterworks. 414
Flour, animals introduced with, 443
Flower garden, introductions with plants

of, 462

" Flukes," transportation of, 421
Liver, of sheep, 373. 422, 514
Food, habits, changes due 10 cultivation and

civilization, 408-413
materials, animals introduced in, 434-

446

protection of animals for, 216-220
scarcity and high prices in Scotland, 216,

217

supplies, increase affecting fauna, 387
Forbes, Prof. Edward, 386
Forests, curtailment of growth by sheep,

goats and rabbits, 323, 500
destruction of, 303, 304-364, 488, 496

effects on animal life, 327-364

effects on climate, 327

final results of, 325-326, 360, 362

for agriculture, 322-323

forextirpation ofbeastsofprey, 120, 318

for fuel, 315

for housebuilding, 316

for iron-smelting, 319

for safety in travelling, 318

for sheep pasturage. See under Sheep

for shipbuilding, 319

incidental to conquest, 317

34

530

INDEX

Forests, destruction of — Cont.

influence on Bear, Brown, 351
on Capercaillie, 268, 274, 354-357
on Deer, 330-338
on Elk, 346-350
on Fox, 351
on Great Spotted Woodpecker, 357-

360, 361
on Grouse, 361
on Reindeer, 338-346, 350
on Squirrel, 290, 351-354
on Urus, 350
on Wolf, 120, 318, 351
physical changes wrought by, 327
wind and fire as agents of, 324
early historical, 309-314
laws relating to, 309, 310, 311
Lower Peat, 305
post-glacial, 10, 12
prehistoric, 305
relations of Scottish fauna to, 12, 13,

328

Upper Peat, 306
Forfar, 90, 272

Loch of, 90, 372

Forfarshire, Capercaillie in, 272, 274
Chough in, 178

Elk, prehistoric remains in, 346
Horse, prehistoric remains in, 69
Marten in, 161
Polecat in, 164
Rat, Black, in, 427
Wolf in, 120

Forres, 126, 199
' ' Forrest-shire, 3 1 ;

Fort Augustus, 296
Forth, Firth of, decrease of fauna in, 386
pollution of, 385
shell fisheries of, 153, 386
Fotheringham, 274
Foula, 228

Foumart. See Polecat
Fowls. See Poultry
Fox, Blue, slaughter for skins, 1 10
, Common, 17, 329, 365
destruction of, 121-124

for skin, 155, 156, 166, 168, 221
for sport, 184, 264

effect of destruction of forest upon, 351
introduction to colonies, 243, 498
early remains of, 69, 490
reduction in size, 490
France, 431, 453, 461, 462, 466, 469
Franck, R., 426
Frankfield Loch, 298
Frew, Bridge of, 292, 398
Frogs, decrease due to reclamation of

swamps, 372, 373
Green Tree-, 447
prehistoric remains of, 373
P'ruit, introduction of animals with, 447
Fruit-crops, birds as pests of, 411
Fruit Fly, Mediterranean, 448, 450

Fulmar Petrel, 145

destruction for oil, 171

increase of, 230

slaughter for food, 147
Fulmart. See Polecat
Fulmarus glacialis. See P'ulmar Petrel
Fur- bearing animals, destruction of, 1 55- 1 74

protection of, 221-223
Furnace, 321, 353
Fyne, Loch, 294, 321
Fyvie, 161 , 296

Gairsey, 282
Gala, River, 384
Galloper Lightship, 378
Galloway, 46, 156, 239

Cattle. See under Cattle
Game Laws, 180, 198-215, 481

special Orders during Great War, 205,

212, 215

Gamhna, Loch, 193
Gannet, 8, 17, 145

destruction for food, 146
for oil, 171

increase of, 230
Ganvich, Loch na, 279
Garbage, animals as scavengers of, 223-226

dispersal of rats due to, 432

increase of flies due to, 396, 506

influence on increase of animal life, 395-

396

Garden, 164
Garden pests, increase of, 392

plants, introductions with, 462
Garefowl. See Auk, Great
Gare Loch, 289
Garelochhead, 289
Garnett, T., 134
Garry, River, 271
Garry whin, 71, 87
Garson, Dr J. G., 87
Gartmore, 10
Gartmorin Dam, 279
Gastrophilus eqiti, 423
Georgia, South, no, 170, 175
Germany, 431, 463, 464, 469

Black Rat in, 425

Capercaillie in, 269

Elk in, 349

Red Deer in, 264, 337
Gesner, Konrad v., 401
Giga, 178

Gilbey, Sir Walter, 83
Gillanders, A. T., 469
Gilpin, W., 313, 325
Glacial period, 2, 6, 10, n, 12, 49, 279
Glamis, 293

Castle, 272
Glasgow, 69, 427, 434, 438, 441, 463,471

472

Glass parish, 272
Gled. See Kite
Glenalmond, 272, 293

INDEX

531

Glenapp, 273

Glen Brierachan, 133

Glen Dochart, 126

Glendye, 125

Glen Falloch, 273, 314

Glen Feshie, 314

Glengarden, 136

Glengarry, 165

Glen Isla, 272

Glenkindie, 294

Glenlee, 164

Glen Lui, 358

Glen Lyon, 178, 273

Glenmore, 119, 122, 126

Forest, 321

Glen Moriston, 269, 296, 322, 356
Glenmuick, 136
Glen Nevis, 314
Glen of Rothes, 296
Glen Orchy, 126, 294
Glenshee, 126, 272, 348

" Spittal" of, 120
Glen Strath- Farar, 211, 323
Glen Tanar, 125, 294, 297
Glen Tilt, 285
Glen Urquhart, 296
Globicephaius melas. See Whale, Pilot
Glycyphagus, 445
Gnats. Sett also Mosquitoes

larvae in waterworks, 415
Goat, domestication of, 107

influence on forest growth and vegetation,
323, 500, 501

prehistoric remains of, 34
Coalfield, 321, 353, 354
Godwit, Blacktailed, 191
Goes tigrtna, 47 1
Goldfinch, destruction by bird-catchers,

.193

increase of, 230

Goldfishes, introduction of, 284. 466
"Goklings," 203, 266
Golspie, 122
Goosander, the, 231
Goose, Barnacle, 104, 370

Brent, 104

death caused by artificial manures, 370

destruction for sport, 188

domestication of, 34, 103-106

hawking of, 203

Grey Lag, 103, 104

change of food habit of, 412
destruction for food, 139, 266
price, 140

Merganser, 231

ornamental, 299

Pink-footed, 104, 370

prehistoric remains of, 1 7

Solan. See Gannet
Gordiidae, 415
Gordon, Duke of, 321

Rev. Geo., 353

Sir Robert, 120, 351, 356, 375

Goshawk, 200, 401

extermination of, 133, 182
Gourdas, Fyvie, 161
Cowrie, Carse of, ague in, 509, 510, 512

Squirrel in, 293
Graham, Dr Patrick, 128, 134

Lord, 115
Grain, animals and insects introduced with,

434 et seq.
Grant, Col. Sir Arthur, 254, 272, 274

Sir James, 321
Granton, 472

Grantown-on-Spey, 297, 342
Grape Phylloxera, 461, 474, 487
Grasshoppers, Japanese, introduction of,

463

Gravesend, 446
Gray, Robert, 128, 132
Grayling, introduction for sport, 276
Grebe, Great Crested, 18

increase of, 230

influence of towns upon, 406
Greenburn, River, 276
Greenfinch, 241, 389
Greenfly, increase of, 392. See Aphis
Greenhouses, introductions with tropical
plants to, 404, 436, 460, 461 f.-n., 462,
463

Greenock, 298, 427, 472
Grieve, Symington, 31, 32, 33, 74
Grilltis Focarius, 435
Grilse, destruction of, 151

protection for food, 219
Grimshaw, P. H., 206
Grocers' Itch, 445
Grosbeak, Rose -breasted, 411
Grouse or Moorfowl, 206, 266, 267, 329,

504

influence of destruction of forest upon,
361

protection for hawking, 203

transportation of, 280

Willow, introduction for sport, 275
Grus gnts. See Crane
Gryffe Water, 276

Gryllus dornesticus. See Cricket, House
Guillemot, 8, 17
Guinea Fowl, 106
Guiraca Itidoviciatta, 411
Gulls, as food, 140, 142

as pests, 228, 231

Blackheaded, 228, 231,412

change of food habits, 4 1 2

Common, 412

effect on vegetation of moorland, 501-505

increase due to cultivation, 394

influence of towns upon, 406

Kittiwake, 142

protection for eggs as pheasants' food,

207, 502
Gunpowder and guns, effects of invention

of, 109, 482
Gytnnaspis izc/imeie, 461 f.-n.

34—2

532

INDEX

Habits of animals, changes induced by

cultivation and civilization, 400-416
Haddington, 92, 224
Haddingtonshire, Boar, Wild, prehistoric

remains in, 89

Celtic Shorthorn, early remains in, 56
Deer, Red, prehistoric remains of large

size, in, 333, 337
Hare, Mountain, in, 282
Horse, prehistoric remains in, 69
Polecat in, 164
Rats in, 430
Squirrel in, 292
Tench in, 279
Traprain Law, animal remains at. See

Traprain

Haddo House, 296
Hadfield Moss, 317
Hair worms in water-pipes, 415
Haliaetus albicilla. See Eagle, White-tailed
Halichcerus grypits. See Seal, Grey
Hamburg, fauna of waterworks of, 413
Hamilton, 310
Hampshire, 446
Hampstead, 288
Hampton-on-Thanies, 415, 470
Handa, Isle of, 119

Hare, Alpine, Mountain or Variable, 14
reduction in size, 490
transportation of, 280
Californian, 369
Common Brown, 14, 365
destruction as pest, 179—180
destruction for skins, 156, 166-168
destruction for sport, 184
increase of, 391

protection of, 203, 213-215, 217
relations to Rabbits, 168, 253
roads as means of dispersal, 398
transportation of, 280

to colonies, 253, 365
Harmer, Dr S. F., 415
Harrier, Hen, 134
Harris, Carp in, 277

Celtic Shorthorn, prehistoric remains in,

57

Dog, prehistoric remains in, 87
Eagle, Sea, in, 130
Goose, Grey Lag, in, 104
Hare, Alpine, in, 282
Horse, prehistoric remains in, 72, 74
Marten in, 160
Rat, Black, as plague in, 427
Harting, J. E., 65, 116
Harvie-Brown, Dr J. A., 124, 160, 164,
186 f.-n., 270, 271, 279, 291, 325, 352,
357. 359. 36o, 398
ffaearitts adansomi, 463
Haskeir, 141, 172, 173
Hawaii, 458, 459, 460, 474
Hawfinch, 230
Hawick, 292
Hawking, 199-203

Hawks, Buzzard, q.v.

destruction of, 132-136, 217

Fish. See Osprey

Goshawk, q.v.

Hen Harrier, 134

increase during War, 136

Kestrel, 136, 182

Kite, q.v.

Merlin, 136

protection for sport, 199-203

Sparrow-, 136, 200, 202
Hawskeir. See Haskeir
Health, man's influence on animal life in

relation to, 506 et seq.
Heather, extermination by rabbits, 499

influence of gulls upon, 502
Heather beetle, 206
Hebridean Islands, Eagle, Golden, in,

128
White-tailed, in, 130

Goose, Grey Lag, in, 104

Horses of, 73, 74-76

prehistoric forests of, 305, 308

Rabbit in, 251

Rock Dove in, 95, 141
Hebrides, Inner, Chough in, 178

Hare, Alpine, in. 282

Common Brown, in, 280
Hebrides, Outer, Carp in, 277

Celtic Shorthorn in, 57

Eagle, Golden, in, 127

Great Auk in, 144

Hare, Alpine, in, 282
Common Brown, in, 280

Marten in, 160

Rat, Black, in, 427

Raven in, 226

Rock Dove in, 141

Seals in, 172, 173

whaling stations of, 175
Heiskir, Island of. See Haskeir
Helensburgh, 289
Helix, 329

limbata, 465

nemoralis, 154

pomatia, 154

Hemichionaspis minor, 448
Hendrick, Rev. J., 355
Hensen, von, 392
Heron, as food, 266

as pest, 140, 231

confusion of identity with Crane, 376

decline due to reclamation of marshes,
376

price, 140, 376

protection for sport of hawking, 202
Herring, abundance of, 149, 150
Hessian Fly, 439
Hill forts, animal remains of, 57, 124, 331,

333. 337. 49°
Hill of Bruan, 56, 71
Hillswick, 331
Hilston, Cornwall, 411

INDEX

533

Hippohosca equtna, 423

Hirsel Lough, 279

Holinshed, 184, 207

Holland, 474

Hopetoun, 287

Home, Dr John, 17, 31, nj,'34O

Horses, in Scotland, 68-85

breeding and interbreeding, 81

Celtic pony, 70, 76

Clydesdale, 28, 83, 490

"desert" or "plateau" types, 69, 70

domestication of, 34, 67 .

Great or War Horse, 83

Hebridean, 73, 74-76

Highland garron, 80

influences modifying native race, 73-80

in prehistoric and early times, 71-73

modern Scottish breeds, 83

native, 68

Norse influence on, 76, 79-80, 81, 85

numbers added to fauna, 486, 493

of Scottish mainland, 78

parasites introduced with, 422, 423

prehistoric remains of, 32. 33, 50, 68, 70,

7». 7*. 73. 76, 109

Shetland pony, 73, 76-78

Shire, 83, 490

"Wild," 14, 20, 80-82, 365
Houghton House, 292, 293
Houses, fauna of, 403, 487

influence on animal life, 401
Hoy, island of, 93, 128, 280, 282
Hudson Valley, 462
Hugues, M. A., 394
Huntingdonshire, 190, 515
Huntly, 296
Hybernia liefoliaria, 392
Hydrochelidon nigra, 191
Hydrophilidae, increase of, 396
Hydrozoa, distribution by ships, 432, 433
Hypoderma, 423
Hypothenemus eruditus, 410

Ice Age in Scotland. See Glacial period
Icerya agyptiacum, 461 f.-n.

pttrchasi, 260

Ichneumons, transportation of, 469
Imports, quarantine inspection of, 474
Inch Galbraith, 134
Inchkeith, 173
Inchmahoma, 134
Inchmarlo, 272
Inchmurrin, 115
Inchnadamph Bone Cave, 14, 17, 31, in,

112. 165, 340, 373, 490
India, effect of destruction of forest in, 328

transportation of Grain Beetles to, 441
Indian Corn, Angoumois Grain Moth in,

442
Industries, reduction of animal life due to,

488, 495
Innerarity, 118
Innerwick, 379

Innes, Prof. Cosmo, 285
Insects, decrease due to cultivation, 369
destruction by lighthouses and other

lights, 378

hordes in collected sea-weed, 395
increase due to cultivation, 391
introduced, as fertilizing agents, 515
as parasites on livestock, 423
in dry food materials, 434-446
into greenhouses, 463
with fruit, 447-456
with plants and vegetables, 457-466
with timber, 467-473
pests, transportation of, 473

detected in Californian quarantine,

474.

prehistoric remains of, 18
Scale, introduction of, 474. See Scale

insects

Insh, Loch, Char in, 153
Introduction of new animals, deliberate,

241-300, 480, 487

even balance necessary for successful
adaptation, 255, 2*7, 419, 480, 486,
489

for amenity, 283-300
for sport, 264-282
for utility, 246-263
Introduction of animals unawares. 417-

475, 480, 487
amongst fruit, 447
by ships, 425

conveyed by plants and vegetables, 457
in dry food materials, 434
in timber, 467
parasitic on Man and his domestic stock,

420

Inverary, 294
Inverbeg, 289
Invercauld forest, 358
Inveresk, 56, 248
Invergarry, 321, 354
Inverness, 155, 296
Inverness-shire, Beaver in, 158
• "bog butter," in, 58
Capercaillie in, 269, 273, 355, 356
Char in, 153
Deer, Red, in, 211, 333

Roe, 331, 332
forest, destruction in, 319, 322

by sheep, goats and rabbits, 323
Goshawk in, 133
iron furnaces in, 354
Mosquitoes in, 512
Osprey in, 134, 192
Polecat in, 165, 166
Rabbit in, 401
Scottish Crested Tit in, 230
Sparrow in, 399

Squirrel in,-i8i, 295, 296, 297, 354
Wild Cat in, 126
Wolf in, 319
Woodpecker, Great Spotted in, 358

534

INDEX

Invershin Bridge, 295, 398

Inverurie, 472

lona, Chough in, 178

Dog, remains in, 87

Horse, remains in, 72

Seals in, 171, 222
Ireland, Crane in, 376

destruction of shellfish in, 154

protection of falcons in, 202
Iron-smelting industry, 309, 319-322, 353,

. 354
Irvine, 70

River, 277, 385

Ischnaspis longirosiris, 461 f.-n.
Isla, River, 195, 271, 272
Islay, 98, 132, 178, 280, 282, 287
Italians, slaughter of birds of prey by, and

indirect results, 498
Italy, Scales and counterpests in, 262
Ixodes ricinus, 423

Jackdaw, 177

"Jack-Rabbit" in California, 369

Tamaica, 448

japan, 261, 450, 456, 459, 460, 474

[arlshof, Sumburgh, 76

Jay, 230, 329
Jefferies, Ric

icin_ii>~^, txichard, 3^

Jones, H., 225

Jura, Deer, Red, in, 212, 492
Roe, in, 280
deer forests of, 212, 492
Hare, Common Brown in, 280

Kea, 410

Keiss, animal remains in Broch and Mound
at, 52, 72, 87, 112, 114, 144,341, 345,
348, 490

Kellogg, Prof. V. L., 436

Kelly Burn, 194

Kelso, ague in, 509, 510

Kelvin, River, 340
% Kemna, Dr A. , 414
' Kemnay, 427

Kenmore, 276

Kent, 446

Kesserloch, 344

Kestrel, 136, 182

Kettleburn, 87, 331, 341

Kilbarchan, 472

Kilbrandon, 178

Kilchattan, 178
Bay, 298

Kildrummy, 72, 87, 294

Killearn, 292

Killiecrankie, 120

Killin, Forest of, 287

Kilmarnock River, 277

Kilmaurs, 331, 338, 344

Kilmuir Castle, 295

Kimmerghame, 157

Kincardine-on-Forth, 273, 292

Kincardineshire, ague in, 509

Capercaillie in, 272, 274

Douglas Fir Seed Chalcid in, 454, 455

Rabbit in, 252

Squirrel in, 293

Wild Cat in, 125
King, Colonel, 98

Prof.J.J. F. X., 463
Kingfisher, increase of, 230

Smyrnian, destruction for plumage, 189
Kingussie, 153
Kinloch, 17, 157, 346
Kinneil, 164
Kinross-shire, Capercaillie in, 272

Polecat in, 164

Rabbit in, 252
Kintore, forest of, 311
Kintrawell, Sutherland, 52
Kirkcudbrightshire, ague in, 509, 510

Celtic Shorthorn, remains in, 56, 57

Deer, Red in, 334

early remains in, 331
Roe, early remains in, 33 1

Horse, remains in, 72, 73

Marten in, 160

Polecat in, 164

Squirrel in, 293
Kirkden, parish of, 509
Kirkgunzeon, 282
Kirkmichael, Banffshire, 120
Kirkoswald, 87
Kirkurd, 346
Kirkwall, 57, 130

Kitchen middens, animal remains of, 8, 16,
17,19, 29, 31, 32, 34, 56, 57, 72, 76,
87, 89, 115, 158, 247, 331, 333, 355
Kite, as scavenger, 225, 395

destruction of, 133, 135, 136, 191, 217,

482

Kittiwake, as food, 142
Kiwi, the, 245
Knighton, H., 317
Knot, 140
Koebele, A., 260
Kyle of Sutherland, 279
Kyloe, Highland. See under Cattle

Ladybird beetles, protection by popular
favour, 235

as counterpests, 260, 261
Lagopus lagopus. See Grouse, Willow
Laing, J., 132
Lairg, 165

Lake deposits, animal remains in, 331, 333,
340, 346

dwellings. See Crannogs
Lakes, Great Canadian, dispersal of ani-
mals by, 397
Lamington parish, 292
Lammermoor Hills, 282, 292
Lanarkshire, fur produce of, 156

Hare, Alpine, in, 282

Polecat in, 164

INDEX

535

Lanarkshire — Cont.

Reindeer, prehistoric remains in, 338

Snake, Ringed, as "escape" in, 299
Landrail. See Corncrake
Langwell and Sandside estates, destruction
of pests and vermin on, 126, 128, 136,
'37, 1 7 7, 182
Lantana bug, 461
Lantz, Prof. D. E., 431
Lapwings, as insect-eaters, 394

decrease in numbers due to cultivation,
368

destruction of eggs for food, 148

transportation to colonies, 241, 242
Larch, Japanese, 456
Lark, Crested, 394

Short-toed, 394

Sky, destruction for food, 139, 266

price of, 140
Lasioderma serricorne, 445

lestacea, 410
Lathirsk, 270

Lauder, Sir Thomas Dick, 325
Lauderdale, 282

Laws, Game, 180, 198-215, 481
Leadenhall market, 139
Leaf-mining insects, 474
" Leaf- worms, "in Scottish greenhouses, 464
"Leather-jackets," increase of, 392
Leeches, 259

in waterworks, 414
Leeds, 438

Leges for estarnm, 59, 92, 309
Leith, ale of, 313

birds of carrion as scavengers in, 224, 226,

Cockroach, American, in, 436

Oyster beds near, 153, 386

Rat, Alexandrine, in, 428
Black, in, 427

Raven in, 136

shipbuilding at, 319

skins and furs exported from, 155

transportations in fruit to, 447
Lemming, Arctic, 14, 481
Lentils, pests introduced with, 445, 446
Leochel Burn, 294
Lepidosaphes beckii, 461 f.-n.

ulmi. See Scale Insects, Mussel
Lepistna, 404

I^eptyphantes nebulosus, 404
Lepus europceus. See Hare, Common Brown

texianus, 369

timidits. S*e Hare, Alpine or Variable

Leslie, Bishop Jhone, 6, 35, 39, 61, 62, 66,

88, 105, 114, 119, 140, 149, 155, 184,

194, 208, 248, 266, 312, 326, 355, 376,

426

Lesser tia dentichdis, 416
Letterfearn MS., 320
Leucotermes flavipes , 440
Leven, Loch, bird life of, 372

Char, disappearance from, 372

Leven, Loch — Cont.

Leech, medicinal in, 259

Trout, transportation of, 241, 278
Lewis, Carp in, 277

Hare, Alpine, in, 282
Common Brown, in, 280

Hive bee in, 107

Horse in, 74
Lewis, Francis J., 305
Libert on parish, 316
Lice, Clothes, 421

Crab, 421

distribution by man, 421

Head, 421

increase during War, 396

plant, 392

Liddesdale, 164, 427
Lighthouses and lights, destruction of birds

b>'. 377-379
Lilford, Lord, 256
Limax tuaximus, 416
Limtuea peregra, 466. See also Snails, Pond

stagnalis and glabra, 298

tritncatula, 373, 514
Liinnophora seftem-noiala, 403
Liinosa limosa, \ 9 1
Limpet, Slipper, 424
Lincolnshire, 371, 509
Lindsay, Alexander, 224

Robert, of Pitscottie, 41, 66, 83, 208,

210, 266
Linhope, 164
Linlithgow, 118, 121 f.-n.
Linlithgowshire, ague in, 509

Deer, Red, prehistoric remains in, 333
Roe, in, 332

numbers of domestic animals in culti-
vated area of, 494

Polecat in, 164
Linnean Society, 469
Linnets, 193, 230, 242, 394
Linnhe, Loch, 178, 314
Linton Loch, 157, 336
Liothrix htteus, 283
Liponysstis bursa, 420
Lismore and Appin, 352, 398

Island, 178
Lithgow, William, 46
Littlewood, 165

Liver-fluke of sheep, 373, 422, 514
Liver-rot, disappearance due to reclamation

of swamps, 373, 514
Liverpool, 470

Livestock, parasites introduced with, 422
Lizards, transportation with bananas, 448

with timber, 469
Lobster, destruction for food, 154

protection for food, 220
Lochaber, Beaver in, 158

Capercaillie in, 355

forest, destruction in, 312, 319

numbers of domestic stock in, 494

Wolf in, 119, 319

536

INDEX

Loch-an-Eilan, 134, 192, 193
Lochan Coire an Lochan, 401
Lochawe, 126, 134, 164, 278, 294, 319,

322- 331
Lochbrune, 318
Lochbuie lochs, 278
Locheil Old Forest, 314
Lochgilphead, 294
Lochlee, 57, 71, 90, 331, 340
Lochmaa sutura/is, 206
Lochnagar, 314
Lochrosque, 288
Lochspouts, 57, 331
Lochy, Loch, 397
Locustella luscinioides, 191
Locusts, transported with bananas, 448

transported with cauliflowers, 457
Lomond, Loch, 115, 134, 273, 277, 289,

3H
London, Ant, Red House, in, 440

bird's nest and eggs transported with
bananas to, 448 .

birds of, 284, 405, 406

Cockroaches in, 435, 438

Grain Mite in, 443

Kite in, 225, 395

Physa acuta in, 466

site on reclaimed swamps, 370

Snail, White-keeled, near, 465

timber houses of, 316

wild-fowl on site of, 371

Woolly Aphis, arrival in, 461
Long Island, 178

Loch, 288

Longicornia, transportation in timber, 470
Lossie, River, 279
Lothian, Marquis of, 276

East. See Haddingtonshire

West.- See Linlithgowshire
Lothians, the, 273
Louse. See Lice
Louth Market, 139
Lovat, Lord, 323

Low, Prof. D., 43, 93, 130, 173, 228,
776

Rev. G., 93
Lowther, C, 105, 153, 372

Hills, 282, 293
Lucas, Sir Charles, 371
Lncllia sericata. See Flies, Green-bottle
Lucoph&a surinamensh, 463
Lugar, River, 376
Luing, Island of, 331
Lundie, Loch, 81
Lundy Island, 147, 249
Luss, 289, 292
Lutra viilgaris. See Otter
Lyctus brunneus, 472
Lyne, River, 430

Lynx, Northern, denizen of Scottish forests,
20, 308, 329

extermination of, in, 481

prehistoric remains, 1 7

Macadam, Prof. W. Ivison, 320, 321, 322,

354

MacArthur Cave, Oban, 8, 34, 56
Macaulay, Rev. Kenneth, 74, 141, 146, 147,

MacDougall, Dr R. S., 44o, 442, 446, 454
Macgillivray, Prof., 98. 160, 173, 226, 280,

35.8

Mackaile, 107, 395
M'Kenzie, Sir George, 144

J. H. Munro, 75
McWilliam, Rev. J. M., 412
Macrosiphium granarinm, 440
Madeira, 465

Magdalenian cave pictures, 30, 344
Magnusson, E., 341
Magpie, in Scotland, 329

destruction as pest, 177

in French vineyards, 394

increase of, 230

protection of, 226
Malaria in Scotland. See Ague
Mallard, changed food habit of, 411, 412

destruction for sport, 188

domestication of, 106

price of, 265

protection for food, 217

protection for hawking, 203
Malloch, P. D., 328, 385
Malmesbury, William of, 236, 371

Mammoth, 108, 338
Man, arrival in Sec

cotland, 2, 6
influence on animal life a developing

factor, 480

main trends of his influence, 4, 483
methods contrasted with Nature's, 482
recoil upon himself of his influence on
animal life, 480. 506-5 i 7

Manar, 294

Manchester, 507

Mann, Ludovic MCL., 30, 316

Manor parish, 282

Mar and Kelly charter, 47, 156, 222

Mar Forest, 254, 311, 358. See also Marr,

Brea of, and Braemar
Lodge, 270

Maree, Loch, 134, 314

Marlee Loch, 157

"Marr, Brea of," 80, 356
deer-hunts in, 211

Marsh, Professor G. P., 304, 327, 393, 397,

Marshall, Dr J. N., 316
Marshes, reclamation of, 370-377

disappearance of ague due to, 373, 510
disappearance of liver-rot in sheep due to,

373. 514
extermination of Bittern due to, 374, 482,

497
extermination of Crane due to, 375, 482,

497.
reduction of animal life due to, 370-^77,

488

INDEX

537

Marten, destruction as pest, 126, 127, 176,

229, 353, 362, 482
destruction for fur, m, no. 1^0-161,

166
effect of destruction of forest upon, 350

Maries martes. See Marten

Martin, House, habit of selecting a domi-
cile, 401, 402

protection for hawking, 203
protection through superstition, 239

Martin, Martin, 74, 127, 130, 144, 145,
146, 148, 160, 172, 175, 212, 427

Maryland, 475

Massachussetts, 462

Master of Game, The, 248

Mauchline, 293

Mauritius, destruction of Mayer's Pigeon by

Macaque monkeys in, 245
extermination of Dodo in, 498

Maxwell, Sir Herbert, 191, 293

May Island, 249
lighthouse, 378

Maybole, 161

Mayetiola (Cecidomyia) destructor, 439

Meadows, the, Edinburgh, prehistoric re-
mains of deer in, 336
wild fowl in, 371

"Meal Worms," 410, 443

Megaceros giganteus. See Deer, Giant
Fallow

Migasternum, increase of, 396

Megastignms spermolrophtts, 455

Meles nteles. See Badger

Melophagus ovinus, 423

Melrose, 150, 331, 381

Menteith, Lake, 134

Merganser, Redbreasted, 17

Merlin, 136

Merodon equestris. See Narcissus Fly

Merse, the, 366

Mertoun, 347
Loch, 347

Mertrick. See Marten

Methlick, 272

Methven, 293

Mexico, 436

" Michael, the Great," 319

Michelet, Jules, 227

Micropterus dolomieit. See Bass, Black

Midge, Pear, 451

Midlothian, Deer, Red, prehistoric remains

in» 333

Dog, prehistoric remains in, 86
Elk, prehistoric remains in, 346
forest in, 314
Polecat in, 164
Squirrel, Red, in, 292
tropical Longicorn Beetles transported to,

463

Migdale Loch, 279
Miliaria europ&a, 394
Millais, J. G., 274, 332
Millipedes, increase of, 392

.Mih'iis milvus. See Kite
Minard House, 294
Minnoch Water, 161
Minnow, transportation of, 279
Minto, 292, 293
Miramichi, forest fire of, 324
Misty Law Hills, 282
Mites, Cheese, 410

Chicken, 423

Flour, 410

Fowl, 420

Grain, 443

introduced as parasites on livestock, 423
in dry food materials, 434

Itch, 421

Red, 392

Sugar, 445
Mole, destruction as pest, 1 79

increase, due to cultivation, 393

in Italy, 498

Mollusca, in water systems, 414, 415
Monkey, Macaque, in Mauritius, 245
Monnair, Forest of, 211
Monochammus dentator, 471

sulor, 471

Monomoritim pharaonis, 440
Monro, Don., 74, 160, 165, 251, 318
Monteviot, 276
Montrose, 356
Monymusk, 254, 272, 274
Moorfoot Hills, 282, 292
Moorfowl. See Grouse
Moorland, influence of Gulls on, 501-505
of Rabbits on, 499
of Sheep and Goats on, 500

reclamation of, destruction of animal life

due to, 36 s et seq., 488
Moose. See Elk

in America, 346

in New Zealand, 242
Moravia, 109
Moray, Right Hon. the Earl of, 214, 426

Firth, 125, 1 88, 296, 297, 334, 358
Morayshire, "bog butter'' in, 58

Capercaillie in, 273, 356

Deer, Red, in, 211

Goshawk in, 133

Rat, Black, in, 427

Squirrel in, 296. 352

Swans on Loch Spynie in, 372

Tit, Scottish Crested, in, 230
Morbhaich Moor, 86
Morlich, Loch, 193
Mortlake, 421
Morven, 295
Moryson, Fynes, 312

Mosquitoes, disappearance due to reclama-
tion of swamps, 373, 510

relation to ague, 5 r i
Moths, Angoumois Grain, 442

Burnet, 448

Clothes, 410

Codlin, 451, 475

538

INDEX

Moths — Cont.

Death's Head Hawk, 408, 409

destruction by lighthouses and other lights,
3/8

Diamond-backed, 378, 392, 394

distribution by biscuits, 444, 445

European Grain, or Wolf. 443

Gypsy, 462

introduction upon trees, 462

Leopard, 462

Magpie, 392

Meal Snout, 443

Mediterranean Flour, 443, 445 f.-n.

Turnip, 392

Umber, 392

Winter, 392
Moufet, 421, 435
Mouflon, 35, 36, 39, 43
Mount Rainier National Park, 236
Mouse, Field and Harvest, 391, 485

House, houses selected as domiciles, 405

in coal-pits, 416

increase of, 391, 485, 496

railways as means of dispersal of, 399
Mouswald, 310
Muck, Isle of, 432
Muckross, 90
Mull, Island of, Chough in, 178

Deer, Fallow, in, 287
Roe, in, 280

Fox, disappearance from, 124

Hare, Alpine, in, 282
Common Brown, in, 280

Horse in, 75

Rabbit in, 251

Trout, American Brook, in, 277
Lake Geneva, in, 277
Rainbow, in, 278
Munro, Dr Robert, 340
Murchison, Sir Roderick, 237
Mus(Epimys}norvegicus. .SV^Rat, Common
or Brown

(Epimys) rattus. See Rat, Black

(Epimys) rattus alexandrinus. See Rat,

Alexandrine

Musca domestica. See Flies, House
Muskelunges, 259
Mussel, beds in River Forth, 386

destruction for food, 153

Freshwater, in waterworks, 414
pearl fishery, 194-196

protection of, 220

Zebra, in water-pipes, 414

transportation of, 469
Mussel Scale Insect. See Scale Insects,

Mussel

Musselburgh, 56, 248, 447, 469
Mustela martes. See Marten

putorius. See Polecat
Muthil, 346

Mycetozoon, in coal-pit, 416
Mygalid spider, 447
Myodes torquatns. See Lemming, Arctic

Myriopod, exotic, in greenhouses, 464
Mytilaspis pomonim. See Scale Insects,
Mussel

Nairnshire, Capercaillie in, 273

forest, destruction in, 354

Scottish Crested Tit in, 230

Squirrel in, 296, 354

Wild Cat in, 126
Narcissus Fly, 465, 474
Nature, her methods contrasted with Man's,

482
Neolithic man in Scotland, 6, 7, 20, 51, 333,

340, 345. 3.47. 417. 481
Nescenas mayerl, 245
Ness, Loch, 158, 296, 322
Nestor notabilis, 410
Netherlands, the, 423
New Forest, 236, 446
New Jersey, 462, 475
New South Wales, Hare in, 253

Rabbit in, 253

New Zealand, animals introduced for
pleasure into, 241, 242

Apple Scale pest in, 450

Codlin Moth in, 452

domestic stock introduced to, 246

Honey Bee in, 257

Kea in, 410

Mediterranean Fruit Fly in, 451

Narcissus Fly in, 465

Rabbit in, 241, 255

Scottish Red Deer in, 242, 338 f.-n.

Sparrow, House, in, 255

Starling in, 256

Stoat and Weasel introduced into, 245,

255

Trout, Loch Leven, transported to, 278
Newfoundland, 241
Newhaven, 319
New lands parish, 430
Newstead, Prof. R., 262, 393, 461

Roman station at, 37, 51, 54, 56, 62, 72,

79, 87, 90, 248, 265, 331, 348, 375
Night Poaching Act, 205
Night-Reeler, Red, 191
Nightingale, 234, 266
Nightjar, 394
Nilsson, Prof, 52, 58
Niptus crenalus, 442

hololeucus, 404, 442
Nisibost, Harris, 72, 74, 87
Nith, River, 276, 384
Nor' Loch, Edinburgh, 55, 371
Norfolk, 191
Normans, probable introduction of Rabbit

by, 248, 249
North Berwick, 69, 348
North Sea, the, 12, 13
Northamptonshire, 256
Norway, Brown Rat introduced from, 429,

43°
Codlin Moth in, 452

INDEX

539

Norway — Cont.

Longicorn Beetles in timber from, 472

Springtails in, 463

Wood- Wasps transported in timber from,

469

Nuthatch, transportation of, 284
Nyassaland, 442

Oak wood, 347

Oban, 8, 34, 56, 87, 294

Ochil Hills, i2if.-n., 178, 200, 272

Oecanthus (Panchlora) nh'eus, 447

Ogilvie, Mrs D., 119

Oich, Loch, 397

Oil, destruction of animals for, 170 et seq.

Old Cambus, 125

Old Deer parish, 296

Old Stone Age, 138, 480

Oligorus mafqtiariensis, 259

Orchard pests, increase of, 392

Orchestia gammarellus, 395

Orchids, transportation of pests with, 463,

475
Orkney Islands, Bee, Hive, introduction

into, 107

birds' eggs, collection for food, in, 148
Boar, Wild, early remains in, 89, 90
Cattle in, 60
Celtic Shorthorn, prehistoric remains in,

56, 57, 60
Death's Head Hawk Moth caterpillars

in, 409
Deer, Fallow, prehistoric remains in, 284

Red, prehistoric and early remains in,

16, 284, 333, 337
Dog, early remains in, 87
Eagle, White-tailed, in, 130
fur produce of, 155
Grayling in, 276
Great Auk in, 144, 146
Grouse in, 280

Gulls, change of food habits in, 412
Hare, Alpine in, 282
Hawks in, 134, 200
Hen Harrier in, 134
Horse, early remains in, 71, 72, 76
Otter in, 169
Peregrine Falcons of, 200

Pig, primitive, in, 93
Ptinus tectus in bake"

kehouse at Stromness
in, 442

Rabbit in, 250, 251

Rat, Black, in, 427

Reindeer, attempts to acclimatize foreign,

in, 254
prehistoric remains in, 14, 338, 340, 341

Rock Dove in, 95, 98

Seals in, 169, 173

Snail, Banded Garden, in, 154

Starlings feeding upon insects in sea-
ware in, 396

Stoat, disappearance from, 299

Urus, prehistoric remains in, 52

Orkneyinga Saga, 187, 310, 341
Ormiegill, 56, 71, 87
Ornithodoros megnini, 421
Oronsay, Hares and Fulmarts in, 165

prehistoric huts in, 316

shell-mound in, 19, 30, 56, 144, 149
Orthezia itisignis, 461
Ortolan, 140, 394
Osborn, Prof. H. F., 344, 351
Osprey, extermination of, 13*3, 192, 482
Otiorrhyiuhus picipes, 392
Otis tarda. See Bustard
Otter, in prehistoric Scotland, 8, 17, 308,
373

destruction for depredations on fishing-
streams, 169

destruction for skin, 156, 166, 168-170,
221

prehistoric remains, 30

protection by popular favour, 233
Ouzel, Water. See Dipper

Ring, decrease in numbers, 370
Ovis aries palustris. Sfe Sheep, Turbary

or Peat

Owen, Prof. Richard, 345
Owl, Brown, in Edinburgh, 406

destruction as pest, 1 8 1 , 182

Little, introduction of, 256

Snowy, 1 8
Ox. See Cattle
Oxfordshire, 330
Oxyuris vermicularis, 422
Oykell, River, 295, 314
Oyster, 20

association of Slipper Limpet with, 424

beds, 153, 154, 386

destruction for food, 153

protection of, 220
Oystercatcher, 140

Pabbay, Island of, 226

Paisley, 10, 207, 299, 312, 417. 434, 436,

438

Canal, 470
Palaeolithic animal remains, 108, 109

man, 138, 344, 480

sculptures, 30, 344
Pallas, P. S., 428
Paludicella articulata, 4 1 5
Pamphila tinea, 369

si/vanus, 369
Panama Canal, 397
Pandion haliaeius. Set Osprey
Pappa Westray, 146, 250
Paradesmus graiilis, 464
Pararge megara, 369
Parasites, of livestock, 422-424

of man, 420-422
Paris, Convention for Bird Protection, 227

fauna of water-pipes of, 414
Partridge, Barbary, introduction for sport,

destruction for food, 140, 267

540

INDEX

Partridge — Cont.

Hungarian, introduction for sport, 275

protection for food, 217, 266
for hawking, 203
for sport, 204, 205, 206

Red-legged, introduction for sport, 275

transportation to colonies, 241, 242
Parus cristatus scoticus. See Tit, Scottish
Crested

major. See Tit, Great
Paterson, J., 288
Peach, Dr B. N., 9, 17, 31, in, 226, 282,

34°
Peacock, as food, 140, 266

introduction of, 265, 283
Pear midge, 451
Pearl fishing, 194-196
Peas and beans, pests introduced in, 445
Peat, formation of, n, 309

lower forest layer in, 305

upper forest layer in, 306, 326
Pediculoides ventricosus, 443
Pediculus. See Lice
Peebles, 430
Peeblesshire, Deer, Red, prehistoric remains

Douglas Fir Seed Chalcid as pest in, 456

Elk, prehistoric remains in, 346

fur produce of, 156

Gulls on moorland, effect in, 501

Hare, Alpine, in, 282

Martins' nests on house in, 402

Rat, Brown, in, 430

Squirrel in, 292

Pelican, 18

Penang, 463

Penguins, destruction for oil, 171

Penicuik, 332

Pennant, Thos., 114, 142, 195, 269, 285,
352, 356

Pennsylvania, 475

Pentland Hills, Celtic Shorthorn, prehistoric

remains on, 55
Deer, Red, on, 208, 334

Roe, on, 332

Fox, prehistoric remains on, 69
Gulls, effect on moorland on, 501
Hare, Alpine, on, 282
Horse, prehistoric remains on, 69
Martins' nests on house on, 402
Reindeer, prehistoric remains on, 69, 340
Ring Ouzel, disappearance from, 370
Wolf, prehistoric remains on, 69, 115,
121 f.-n.

Percafluviatilis. See Perch

Perch, Californian, 258
transportation of, 279

Peregrine Falcon, change of habit in selection

of nesting site, 401
protection for sport, 200, 202

Perichaeta indica, 464

Perlplaneta americana, 436, 463
attstralasiae, 436, 463

Periwinkles, use as food, 153

Perkins, Principal, 323

Pernis apivorus. See Buzzard, Honey

Perodipus, 389

Perth, 9, 276

Perthshire, ague in, 509, 510

Bear in, 114

Beaver in, 1 7

prehistoric remains in, 157

Capercaillie in, 270, 271, 272, 355, 356

Chough in, 178

Deer, Fallow, in, 285, 287
Red, in, 334
Roe, in, 331, 332

Eagle, Golden, in, 128

Elk, prehistoric remains, in, 346, 348

forest, destruction in, 319, 361

Kite in, 133

Marten in, 161

Osprey in, 134

pearl-fishing in, 195

Polecat in, 164

Rabbit in, 252, 391

Squirrel in, 293, 398

Urus, prehistoric remains in, 51

Wild Cat in, 126

Wolf in, 120, 121 f.-n. ,319

Woodpecker, Great Spotted, in, 360
Pests, Californian quarantine inspections
for, 474

counter-pests introduced to combat, 259-
263, 419

destruction of, 176-183

increase due to cultivation, 387

introduction of, 21, 255, 387-396, 417-

475- 496

Peterhead, 164, 174
Petrel, Fulmar. See Fulmar
Phalarope, Red-necked, 230
Pheasant, as food, 140

change of food habit in, 410

Chinese, or Ring-necked, 268
in America, 206

food of, 206

Gulls protected for, 206, 502

introduction for sport, 264-268, 496

Japanese, 268

Mongolian, 268

protection for sport, 205

Reeve's, 268

sensitiveness to sound, 379

transportation to colonies, 241
Philip, George, 394
Phoca vitulina. See Seal, Common
Phora riifipes, 416
Phoxinus phoxinus. See Minnow
Phthirm pubis. See Lice, Crab
Phyllodromia germanica, 438
Phyllotreta netnontm, 392
Phylloxera vastatrix, 461, 474, 487
Physa aaita, 466

Physeter macrocephalus. See Whale, Sperm
"Pictish Towers." See Brochs

INDEX

" Picts' houses." See Eird houses ;

Picus major. See Woodpecker, Great
Spotted

Pieris brassicae and rapae. -See Butterflies,
Cabbage

Piette, M., 30

Pig. See also Boar, Wild
as street scavenger, 224
domestication of, 89, 92—95, 491
extermination of Dodo of Mauritius by,

498

in New Zealand, 245
numbers added to fauna, 486
parasites introduced by, 422 '
prehistoric remains of, 32, 33, 34
primitive, in Highlands and Islands, 92,

93
Pigeon, 34, 95-100, 267. See also Rock

Dove

Crowned, destruction for plumage, 189
houses, evolution and legislation, 97-

100

introduction of exotic, 283
Mayer's, 245

protection for food, 98, 217
Wood, 389, 390
as pest, 231
in London, 406
Pike, transportation of, 279

in California, 258
Pine forests, 308

Pines, weevils transported with, 472, 474
Pinnaspis pandant, 46 1
Pipit, Tree, 399
Pissodes notatus, 472

piniphilus, 472
Pitfour House, 296

Ponds, 279
Pitlochry, 133, 360

Placocephalus (Bipalinni) kewensis, 464
Plague, Bubonic, 420, 423
relation of Fleas to, 420, 507

of Rats to, 423, 507
Plaice, destruction of, 150
Plains, animals of, 12, 13

destruction owing to cultivation, 365, 366
Planarians, Land, introduction to Scottish

greenhouses, 464

Plant-bugs, 459, 474. See also Aphis
Plants, introduction of animals with, 457-

466, 474, 475

introduction with animals of, 418
Pliny the Younger, 45
Plover. See also Lapwing
abundance of, 266, 356
destruction of eggs for food, 1^.8
Golden, mortality caused by telegraph

wires, 379
price, 140

protection for food, 217
Pltimatella emarginata, 414
Plntella maculipennis. See Moth, Diamond-
backed

Plymouth Sound, 433
Poaching Acts, 205

Podiceps cristatus. See Grebe, Great Crested
Pogonochaerusfasciculaius, 472
Polecat, in Scotland, 107, 329
• destruction as vermin, 127, 176, 177
destruction for skin, 156, 161-166, 221
effect of destruction of forest upon, 350
Pollution of rivers, 382-3*6
Polyommatits agrestis var. artaxerxes. See

Butterflies, Artaxerxes
Polyzoa, in water-pipes, 414
Pony. See under Horse
Poplar, 414
Population, increase of, 25, 394, 481,

485

Port Elphinstone, 294
Porthetria dispar, 462
Possil Marsh, 298
Potato, birds as pests on, 41 r, 412
Colorado Beetle as pest upon, 387
pests transported with, 475
plants as food of Death's Head Hawk

Moth caterpillars, 408
Sweet, pests transported with, 474
Poultry, domestication of, 34, 101-106

parasites introduced with, 423
Pralincola rubicola. See Stonechat
Predmost, 109
Pressmennan Lake, 279
Prestonpans, 154
Pribilof Islands, no, 223, 257
Prospaltella berlesei, 262
Protection of animals, 197-240, 481, 485,

487

as scavengers, 216
.by law, 198, 478
by popular favour, 198, 233-237
by superstition, 198, 237
for aesthetic reasons, 198, 229-232
for food, 216

for fur and skins, 216, 221
for special services to agriculture, 216

227

for sport, 197, 198, 199-215
for utility, 216-228
Prothero, R., 391
Psychoda hmneralis, 416
Ptarmigan, as food, 267, 356
prehistoric remains, 1 7
protection for hawking, 203, 205
Pteronus ribesii, 392
Plilinus peclicornis, 404
Ptimis tectus, 442, 445 f.-n.
Puffin, rats in burrows of, 432
PufHn Island, 432
Pulex irritans. See Fleas, Human
Pulvinaria floccifera, 460
Punjab, 328
Punt-gunning, 188
Pupa, 3»9
Putney, Surrey, 446
Pyralis farinalis, 443

542

INDEX

Quail, as food, 266

Button-, introduction of, 275

decrease in number, 367

destruction for food, 139

protection for sport, 205

Virginian, introduction of, 275
Quarantine inspections of imports, 474
Quebec, 458

Quedius mesomeli-nus, 416
Queensberry Hill, 282

Raasay, 178, 282

Rabbit, change of habit in selection of

domicile, 400
destruction as pest, 21, 137, 179-180,

252, 253, 390, 391
destruction for skin, 156, 166-168, 222,

252, 390
dispersal of, 398
domestication of, 106
effects of introduction of, 253-254, 499,

500
increase due to cultivation, 390, 485, 496,

497
influence on forest growth, 323

on vegetation, 487, 499-500
introduction and spread in Scotland,

247-253, 400, 496
"Jack," 369
pest in the colonies, 241, 243, 245, 2S5,

498
protection for food, 205, 217,221, 250,251

for fur, 221-222, 249, 250
warrens, 249 et seq.
Raehills, 287
Raesgill, 338
Railways, decrease of animal life due to,

.379

dispersal of animals by, 398
Rangifer tarandus. See Reindeer
Rannoch, 119, 126, 319

Black Wood of, 314

Loch, 271
Rat, absence from certain areas, 426

Alexandrine, 428

as pest in Harris, 427

bird -colonies infested by, 432

Black, or "Ship," 425-428, 487, 496

Common orBrown, colonization of Europe
by, 428-432, 487, 496

damage done by, 430, 431

dispersal of, 398

fleas infesting, 423, 507

in coal-pit, 416

in sewers, 413

increase of, 137, 391, 395, 432, 497, 507
during the War, 396

introduction by ships, 425 et seq.

Kangaroo, 389

"Norway." See Common or Brown

parasites introduced by, 420, 423, 507

railways as means of dispersal of, 399

relation to disease, 507-508

Raven, in Scotland, 17

as scavenger, 224, 225, 226, 395, 405

destruction of 136, 482

increase of, 230

influence of towns upon, 405
"Ravenois foullis," 136
Ray, Thornback, 8, 19
Razorbill, 8, 17
''Red Maggot," 440
Redpolls, 193, 329
Redshank, 140
Reeves, 140

Regent's Park, American Cockroach in,
436

Grey Squirrel in, 288
Reid, Clement, 1 1 , 305
Reindeer, in Scotland, 14, 20, 308, 497

destruction for sport, 187

effect of destruction of forest upon, 338-

346. 35°
extermination of, 207, 213, 481, 496,

497

failure to re-acclimatize, 242, 254
in Pribilof Islands, 257
Magdalenian sculpture of, 30
prehistoric and early remains of, 3r, 69,

33°. 338> 34°. 344

racial character of Scottish, 343-346

Woodland, 329, 343
Renfrewshire, Capercaillie in, 273

Deer, Giant Fallow, prehistoric remains

in, 68
Red, in 207

Grayling in, 276

Hare, Alpine, in, 282

Horse, prehistoric remains in, 68

Polecat in, 164

Trout, American Brook, in, 277

Urus, prehistoric remains in, 50, 68
Reyce, Breviary of Suffolk, 248
Rhidorroch Forest, 314
Rhinocola dianthi, 392
Rhizoctonia, 475

Rhyssa tridactyla. See Gulls, Kittiwake
Rhytina stelleri, 138
Richardson, Dr, 402
Richmond, Yorkshire, 112

Park, 288

Riley, Prof., 458, 473
Rivers, barriers causing decrease of fisheries,
in, 379-382

pollution causing decrease of animal life

in, 382-386, 488

Roads, dispersal of animals by, 398
Robbers, destruction of forests for, 318
Robert Bruce, King, 66, 82, 199, 207, 310,

3ii *

Robin, association with man, 406
increase due to cultivation, 394
introduction to New Zealand, 241, 242
"Pekin," introduced, 283
protection by popular favour, 234
by superstition, 237

INDEX

543

Rock Dove, domestication of, 95-98

slaughter for food, 141
Rodriguez, 498
Roeding, Mr, 257
Rogers, Prof., 200, 249
Romans in Scotland, 56, 309

animal remains in settlements, 40, 51, 54,
56, 72, 79, 87, 90, 112, 113, 248, 331,
333. 348, 395

destruction of forests by, 317

horses of, 72, 79

introduction of Peacock by, 283
of Pheasant by, 265

protection of Raven by, 225

reclamation of swamps by, 370
Ronaldshay, North, 154, 4*12

South, 427

Rooks, as pest, 177-178, 217, 228, 231,
390

as scavengers, 224, 225, 226, 395

dispersal by railways, 399

increase due to cultivation, 390, 394

influence of towns upon, 405, 406
Rose-seed Chalcid, 456
Rosehall, 314
Ross, animal sanctuary in, 237

Buzzard, Honey, in, 135

Capercaillie in, 273, 274, 355

Celtic Shorthorn, early remains in,'55

Deer, Japanese, in, 288
Red. in, 211, 264
Roe, in, 332

Dog, prehistoric remains in, 86

Goose, Grey Lag, in, 104

Oyster-beds off coast of, 154

pearl-fisheries in, 195

Polecat in, 165, 166

Rat, absence from, 426

Reindeer, prehistoric remains in, 340

Scottish Crested Tit, in, 230

Squirrel in, 295
as pest in, 181

Wild Cat in, 126
Rothiemurchus, Forest of, 133, 290, 297,

314, 321, 358

Rougemont Gardens, Exeter, 288
Rousay, 14, 280, 340
Row, 289
Roxburghshire, ague in, 509

Ant, Small Red House, in, 440

Beaver, prehistoric remains in, 157

Celtic Shorthorn, prehistoric remains in,

55

Deer, Red, prehistoric remains in, 333,

Elk, prehistoric remains in, 347
fur produce of, 1 56
Pigeon, price in. too
Polecat in, 164
Rabbit in, 252
Squirrel in, 292, 352
WildCatin, 125
Wolf in, 121 f.-n.

Ruff. See Reeves

Rum, Isle of, 178

Russia, 469

Rutherglen, 56

Ryper. See Grouse, Willow

St Abbs, Chough at, 178

pigeon-houses at, 97

Rock Dove at, 95, 97 •

St Andrews, 90
St Cyrus, 87

St Helena, influence of Goats on forest-
growth and vegetation in, 501

introduction of plants to, 418
St Kilda, destruction of Gannet and Fulmar
in, 146

destruction of Great Auk in, 144-166

egg-gathering on, 148

ponies of, 74

sheep of, 37, 38

Wren, 190, 229

St Marcel, Indre, sculptures at, 30, 344
St Medan's Cave, 57
St NiniarTs Cave, 57, 87
St Osyth, 424
St Vigians, 509
Salmo irideus. See Trout, Rainbow

lemanvs. See Trout. Lake Geneva

levetiensis. See Trout, Loch Leven

triitta. See Trout, Brown
Salmon in Scotland, 19

destruction in Tweed, 150-152

interference with, by barriers, 380

pollution causing decrease of, 384-386

protection for food, 217-219

spawn destroyed by flood, 328
Salt manufacture, 319
Salveiinus alpinus. See Char
San Francisco, 436
San Jose, 460

Scale Insect. See under Scale Insects
Sanctuaries, animal, 236
Sanday, 250, 251, 280
Sandwick, 72, 250, 251, 341
Saperda carcharias, 471
Sarcoptes scabiei, 42 1
Sawflies, Gooseberry, 392

transportation in timber, 469

Turnip, 392

Saxicola ccnanthe. See Wheatear
Saxony, Elk in, 349
Scale Insects, Apple. See below Mussel

Aspidiotus, 461 f.-n., 475

Black. 475

Camellia or Cottony, 460

Coconut Snow, 475

Coffee, 461 f.-n.

Egyptian Cushion, 461 f.-n.

Fluted or Cottony Cushion, 260

importation into Britain, 448, 461

Ladybirds as counter-pests of, 260

Long, 475

Mulberry, 261, 460, 461

544

INDEX

Scale Insects — Cont.
Mussel, 450, 460, 474
Orange Mussel, 461 f.-n.
Purple, 475
Red-Spotted, 474
San Jose, 261, 475
Screw-pine, 461 f.-n.
Shield, 475

Scandinavia, 458, 484 f.-n.
Scatophaga stercoraria, 396
Scavengers, protection of beasts and birds

as, 223-226, 395

Sciurus carolinensis. See Squirrel, Grey
vulgaris. See Squirrel, Common Red
Scotland, advantages of fauna for study,

2 et seq.

arrival of man in, 2, 6
early climate and vegetation, 10
early inhabitants, 8
early physical condition, 9
original fauna of, 12, 492
surface features on man's arrival, 9, 484
Scots, Fir, 308

Grey fowls, 101, 102
Scotstown Moor, 500
Scott, Dr Thomas, 373
Scottish Dumpie fowl, 102
Sculptured stones, 76, 342
Sea fisheries, protection of. See Fisheries

prehistoric inhabitants and, 19
Sea-gulls. See Gulls
Sea-weed, animals breeding in, 395
Seacliff, 87
Seal, Common, in Scotland, 19

destruction for food, 138, 172, 222

for oil, 171-175, 222
flesh as food of early inhabitants, 8
in lona, 171, 221
Fur, destruction of, 170
protection of, 222-223
slaughter on Pribilof Islands, no
Grey, destruction of, 169, 172, 173, 174,

223

early remains of, 19, 173
protection of, 223

Sedge, Sand-, association and rabbits, 499
Seeds, transportation of pests in, 454
Selborne, 435
Selkirk, 430

Forest, of, 208. See Ettrick Forest
Selkirkshire, Deer, Red, prehistoric remains

in. 333

royal hunts in, 119, 208, 211
Elk, prehistoric remains in, 346, 347
forest, destruction in, 313, 314- See

Ettrick Forest
fur produce of, 156
Rat, Brown, in, 430
Squirrel, Red, in, 292
Urus, prehistoric remains in, 51
Service, R., 162
Settle, 112
Seychelles, the, 460

Shad, in Thames, 384

introduction to California, 2-^8
Shag, 8, 17
Shapinsay, 280
Sharp, Dr D., 468
Shaw, Rev. Lachlan, 352, 356
Shaws, Dumfriesshire, animal remains at,

16, H2, 330, 340
Shebley, W. H., 258
Sheep in Scotland, 35-48, 68

Blackfaced, 29, 43, 44, 45, 48

Cheviot, 29, 43, 44, 45, 48

Deer, banishment from Lowlands due to
sheep flocks, 42, 208, 331, 334, 486

destruction of forest for pasturage, 322,
331, 334, 486, 496

flocks in Tweeddale, 4 1 , 42

four-horned, 41, 42

influence on vegetation, 323, 500

liver-rot in, 373, 422, 514

man's influence on characteristics, ^9,
42-48

numbers added to fauna, 486, 493

parasites introduced with, 422, 423

Peat or Turbary, 35, 40—43

prehistoric and early remains of, 31, 32,

33. 34. 40, 73

quality of rapid fattening, 45
Shetland, 35, 40-43, 47
Soay, 35, 37-40, 46, 48
Ticks of, 423
wild ancestors of, 36, 44
wool, characteristic, 39, 43, 45-48

improvement of, 45-48, 490
Sheldrake, protection for hawking, 203
Shell-fish, in water-systems, 414, 415
use as food in times of scarcity, 216
Shell-fisheries, depletion for food, 153-

154

destruction caused by pollution, 386
protection for food, 220
Shell-mounds, 9, 19, 30, 31, 32, 33, 56, 57,

71, 72, 87, 89, 158
Shells, Land. See under Snails
Shetland Islands, Birds' eggs, collection for

food in, 148
Cattle of, 60
Death's Head Hawk Moth caterpillars in,

409
Deer, Red, prehistoric remains in, 16,

333

Roe, 16, 331, 332
Eagle, White-tailed, in, 130
Falcons and Hawks of, 200, 201
forest, prehistoric, in, 305, 308
Grouse in, 280
Pig, primitive, of, 93
Ponies of, 73, 76-78
Quail in, 368

Ravens on whale carcases in, 226
Rock Dove in, 95, 98
Seal, Grey, destruction in, 173
Sheep of, 35, 40-43, 47

INDEX

545

Shetland Islands — Cont.

Skua, protection in, as enemy of Sea-
Eagle, 228
Weasel (Stoat), introduction by Falconer

to, 299

Whaling industry in, 175, 226
Shin, Loch, 165
Ship-worm, 432

Shipbuilding industry in Scotland, 319
Shipping as means of transport and dispersal

of animals, 397, 425 et seq.
Ships, stowaways on, 425-433
Shore-flea, 395
Shrimp, freshwater, 383

in water-pipes, 414, 415
Sibbald, Sir Robert, 142, 144, 351, 435
Siegfried, 52, 349
Silchester, Roman settlement at, 22*,

265

Silesia, Elk in, 349
"Silver-fish" insect, 404
Sirex gigas, 467-469

noctilto, 467
Siskin, 193, 329

Sitodrepa (Anobit4»i) panicea, 410, 444
Sitotroga cerealella, 442
Skara, Orkney, 52, 57
Skaw lighthouse, 378
Skeen, Loch, 134
Skink, Blue-tailed, 469
Skins. See Fur-bearing animals
Skua, Great, protection in Shetland, 228
Skye, " Bog butter" in, 58
Chough in, 178
Eagle, Golden, in, 128

White-tailed, or Sea, in, 132
Hare, Alpine, in, 282

Common Brown, in, 280
Hebridean ponies of, 75
Slag-furnaces, 320
Slateford, 435

Slater, Freshwater, in waterworks, 414
Slugs, in coal-pits, 416
Smeaton-Hepburn, 337
Sminthurus igniceps, 463
Smith, Dr John Alexander, 58, 347, 490
Major Hamilton, 53
Rev. Samuel, 510
Smoo Cave, 278

"Snail-slug," transportation of, 465
Snails, Banded Garden, 154
I^and, destruction for food, 154
effect of destruction of forest upon, 329
introduced in cabbages to Ceylon, 459
transportation of, 464, 465
Mediterranean species, transportation of,

46?
Pond, disappearance due to reclamation

of swamps, 373
in waterworks, 414. 415
naturalization of, 466
relation to liver-rot, 514
transportation of, 298

Snails - Cont.

Roman, destruction for food, is4
White-keeled, 465
Snake, Smooth or Kinged, as ''escape,"

299

Snipe, as food, 266
formerly shot on site of London, 371
price of, 140, 266, 367
protection for sport, 205
Soay, Gannets on, 146

Sheep. See tinder Sheep
Solenopsis molesta, 440
Solitaire, extermiuation of, 498
Solutre, 109, 138

Sol way Firth, punt-gunning on, 188
district of, ague in, 513

Deer, Red, prehistoric remains in,

334

Grebe, Great Crested, in, 230
Hare, Alpine, in, 282
Rat, arrival in, 429
Spain, 366, 400, 401
Sparrow, House, destruction as pest, 179,

389

habit of selecting a domicile, 403
increase of, 389, 496, 497
influence of towns upon, 405, 407
introduced into the colonies, 255, 498
local migrations for food, 4 1 2
railways as means of dispersal of, 399
White-throated, 299
Sparrow Clubs, 179, 389
Sparrow-hawk, increase during War, 136

protection for sport, 200, 202
Spey, River, Char in, 153
Minnow in, 279
pollution affecting fish of, 384
Water Ouzel, destruction on, 182
Speyside, Beetles, Longicorn, in 471
Capercaillie in, 356
forests, destruction in, 314, 321
iron furnaces in, 321, 354
Squirrel in, 296, 297, 354
Woodpecker, Great Spotted in, 358,

360

Spharidium, increase of, 396
Sphteriuin latttstre, 298
Spiders, Bird-eating, 447
Cave, in coal-pits, 416
exotic, in greenhouses, 404, 463
protection through superstition, 239
selection of houses as domicile, 404
Sponges, freshwater, in waterworks, 414,

415

Spjngilla lacustrif, 414, 415

Sport, destruction of animals for, 184-

188

introduction of animals for, 264-282
protection of animals for, 197, 199-215
transportation of animals for, 278-282

Spring-tails, in coal-pits, 416

introduction into greenhouses, 463

Spynie, Loch, 279, 371, 372

35

546

INDEX

Squirrel, Common Red, in Scotland, 290-

297. 351-354
as swimmer, 295
bridges as means of dispersal, 295,

398

change of food habits in, 411
decline of, 351-354, 359
destruction as pest, 181, 244, 297
dispersal of, 398
effect of destruction of forest upon,

29°. 351-354
introduction and spread of, 290-297,

361,496
Grey, introduction and spread of, 288-

290

Stanley, 287

Stannergate, shell-mound at, 31
Stalling, as pest, 228, 231

change ol food habit in, 409, 410, 411
increase due to cultivation, 393, 394, 396
influence ol towns upon, 406, 407
introduction into colonies, 256, 498
introduction to Australia of Fowl-mite

with, 420

Red-winged, introduction of, 283
slaughter for food, 139
Woodpecker, Great Spotted, relations to,

. 359

Stejneger, L. , 80

Stellers Sea Cow, destruction of, 138
Stennis, Loch, 56, 71, 87
Sticklebacks in waterworks, 414
Stirling, Carse of, 10, 20, 31

Deer, Fallow, in park of, 285

fox-hunter at, 121

Peregrine falcons near, 200

Whales, remains of, near, 9, 20, 70

Wolf-hunting near, 117, 120
Stirlingshire, Deer, Fallow, in, 285
Roe, in 332

Falcon in, 199, 200

forest, destruction for iron-smelting in-
dustry, 322

Hawks in, 200

Kite in, 133

Marten in, i6r

Polecat in, 164

Rabbit in, 252

Squirrel, Red, in, 292, 298

Wild Ca- in, 12 s '

Wolf in, 117, 120
Stoat in Scotland, 17, 329

decrease in numbers, 488

destruction as pest, 127, 181
for skin, 155, 221, 488

in Shetland, 299

increase in numbers, 485, 488

introduction to New Zealand, 245, 255
Stocket, forest of, 116, 311
Stoddart, Thos. T., 150, 277
Stonechat, in vineyards of France, 394

protection by superstition, 238
Storer, Rev. John, 65

Stork, in Edinburgh, 377

protection by popular favour, 239, 401

rarity in Scotland, 266
Stornovvay, 280
Straits Settlements, 463
Stratford-on-Avon, 402
Strathardle, 272
Strath beg Loch, 279
Strathblane, 125
Strathdee, 161

Strathdon, r6i. See also Don, area of
Strathglaish, 211
Strathglass, 269, 356
Strath- Halladale, 16, 347
Strathmore, 90, 273, 293
Strathnairn, 273
Strath Oykell, 296
Strathspey, bee Speyside
Stromness, 252, 442
Structures of animals, modification of, 489.

Also Domestication
Stuart, John Sobieski and Charles F.dward,

323. 325. 334. 348, 35*
Suffolk, 298

Sugar, introduction of mites with, 445
Stila bassana. See Gannet
Suleskerry, 173
Sumburgh, 76
Sunart, 164
Surrey, 288, 323, 446
Sussex, 275, 320
Sutherland, Bear, prehistoric remains in,

17^ ii*

Bittern in, 375
"Bog butter" in, 58
Capercaillie in, 356
Chough in, i 78
Crows, Rooks, Magpies and Jackdaws

in, 177
Deer, Fallow, in, 287

Red, in, 187, 334

prehistoric remains in, 31, 333

Roe, early remains in, 331
destruction of vermin and pests in, 124,

126, 128, 136, 137, 170, 177, 182
Dog, early remains in, 87
Eagle, Golden, in, 128
Elk, prehistoric remains in, 16, 347
forest, destruction by burning in, 325

prehistoric, 308
Fox in, 122, 124
Frogs and Toads, prehistoric remains in,

373

Goose, Grey Lag in, 104
Hawks in, 136
Horses, Wild, in, 80, 81
Kifes in, 136
Lemming, Arctic, prehistoric remains in,

'4

Lynx, prehistoric remains in, 17, in
Marten in, 161, 176
Mosquito in, 5 1 2
Osprey in, 134

INDEX

547

Sutherland — Cont.
Otter in, 170
Ouzel, Water, in, 181
Pike, in, 279
Polecat in, 165, 166, 177
Rabbit in, 252
Rats, absence from, 426
Raven in, 137

Reindeer in, 31, 187, 340, 341
Squirrel in, 181, 295, 297, 351, 398
Trout, transported to lochs of, 279
Urus, early remains in, 52
VVildCat, in, 126, 177
Wolf in, 119, 120
Sutherland, Kyle of, 279
Swallows, habit of selecting a domicile, 401,

402

protection through superstition, 239
telegraph wires as roosting places, 379
Swallows, Cliff, 402

Swamps, reclamation of, 370-377, 488, 510
Swan, Wild, as food, 440, 266
destruction for sport, 188
on Loch Spynie, 372
prehistoric remains of, 18
price of, 140, 376
Sweden, 463
Swift, Dean, 404
Swifts, food of, 403

habit of selection of domicile, 401
Swine, as city scavengers, 224. See Boar,

Wild. Also Pigs
Swinton, 90
Swinwood, 90
Switzerland, 219, 344, 453
Sylvius, Aeneas, 312, 31*5
Syntornaspis diuparitm, 453
Syntomidae, 448

Taenia nana, 42 1

saginata, 421, 422

solium, 421. 422
Talitrus sal tutor, 395
Taradale, animal sanctuary at, 237
Tarbat House, 295
Tarljert, 288
Tarbolton, 71
Tarland Burn, 294
Tamaway Forest. See Darnaway F.
Tasmania, 442, 452
Tay, Loch, 271, 273
Tay, River, Grayling in, 276

pearl fishing in, 195

Perch in, 279

pollution of, 385

Salmon spawn destroyed by floods in, 328

Tench in, 279
Tay valley, Capercaillie in, 272

Celtic Shorthorn, prehistoric remains in,
56

Deer, Fallow, in 287
Red, in, 333
Roe, in, 332

Tay valley — Cont.
Squirrel in, 293

Urus, prehistoric remains in, 51
Tayfield, Fife, 395
Taylor, John, the Water Poet, 80, 120, 211,

267, 356

Tay mouth Castle, 270, 271, 273
Taynuilt, 321,353, 354
Teal, as food, 140

on White Moss at West Linton, 504
protection of, 266

for hawking, 203
Technoniyrmex albipes, 463
Tegenaria derhamii, 404
Teith, valley of, 273
Telegraph wires, as roosting-places of birds,

379. 399

mortality among birds due to, 379
Tench, transportation of, 279
Tenebrio molt tor, 410, 443

obscurus, 443

Tenebrioides mattritanicns, 441, 445 f. -n.
Teredo, introduction by ships, 432'
Termite, 440
Terns, 17
Black, 191

White, destruction for plumage, 189
Testacella matigei, 465
Tetramorium guineense, 463
Tetranychus telarius, 392
Tctrao urogallus. See Capercaillie
Teviot, River, 276, 384
Thainstone, 294
Thames, the, 384, 469

Estuary, 424

Tha nasim us fo rm i car ins ,416
Thayngen, 344

Theridion tepidariornm, 404, 463
Thick-knee, 401
Thornton, Colonel, 115
Thortorwald, 310
Thrips, foreign species introduced into

greenhouses, 463
transportation of, 474
Thrumster, 331
Thrushes, as pests, 231, 411
as prey of Little Owl, 256
change of food habits, 411
destruction for food, 139
increase due to cultivation, 394

due to protection, 230
influence of towns upon, 406, 407
protection by popular favour, 234
Thymallus thymalliis. See Grayling
Ticks, Asiatic, 423

introduced as parasites on livestock, 423
"Sheep-, "423
Sheep, true, 423
Spiny ear-, 421

Timber, animals introduced with, 467-473
Tinea tinea. See Tench
Tinea granella, 443
Tineidae, 410

548

INDEX

Tinwald, 310

Tiree, Celtic Shorthorn, prehistoric remains
in. 57

Chough in, 178

Hare, Common Brown, in, 280

Hebridean ponies in, 75
Tits, Great, as insect-eaters, 393

increase due to cultivation, 394

influence of towns upon, 406

Scottish Crested, 230

Toads, decrease due to reclamation of
swamps, 373

Natterjack and Common, prehistoric re-
mains in Sutherland, 373
Tomocerns minor, 416
Tongue, 325
Top shell, 20
Tope, 19
Tor Wood, if 4, 312

Wild White Cattle of, 66
Torquay, fauna of water-supply of, 414
Torrey, 427

Towns, influence on habits of animals, 40^-
408

influence on song and nesting of birds, 407
Trail, Prof. J. W. H., 500
Transport affecting dispersal of animals,

397-399. See also Chapter vm
Transportations of animals, 278-282
Trap-netting, 139
Traprain, 56, 248, 316
Traquair, 430
Tree-Creeper, 329

Trees, creatures introduced with, 459
Treig, Loch, 399
Treves, Sir Frederick, 290
Triboliiim caslanenm, 441, 445 f.-n.

confitsnm, 441, 445 f.-n.

ferruginetim, 441
Trichinella spiralis, 508
Trichinosis, 508
Trichocephalus dispar, 422
Triglyphothrix striatiiiens, 463
Trochns lineatus, 20

Troglodytes hirUnsis. See Wren, St Kilda
Tropical plants, introductions with, 462
Troqueer, 164
Troup Head, 296

Trout, American Brook, or "Rainbow,"
277. 383

Brown, transportation of, 278

Lake Geneva, introduction of, 277

Loch Leven, transportation of, 241, 278

protection for food, 217, 219

Rainbow (Salnio iridtus), 278

spawning beds destroyed by floods, 328

transportation of, 241, 242, 278
Trypetid, 474
Tnbiilaria crocea, 433
Tulliallan, 270, 273
Tulloch, 13 j
Tummel, River, 271
Tunis, 451

Tunisia, forest destruction in, 323

Turkey, the, 106, 266

Turner, Sir William, 52

Turnip crops, birds as pests on, 412

increase of pests of, 392
Turtiix sylvatica. See Quail, Button-
Turriff, 296

Turtle, destruction of eggs for oil, 171
Tweed, River, decline of fisheries, 151

Grayling in, 276

Salmon run in, 381

spearing of, in, 150

Tweed valley, Elk, prehistoric remains in,
16, 346

Great Crested Grebe in, 230

Mallard in, 411

Rat, Brown, in, 430

Sheep, destruction of woods by, 323
flocks in, 41, 42
four-horned, in, 41

Timberman Beetle in, 472

Urus, prehistoric remains in, 51
Tweedmouth, 472
Twite, 193
Tyree. See Tiree
Tyroglyphiis, 410

Ubaldini, Pet., 149

Uisg, Loch, 278

Uist, North and South, 74, 75, 128, 172,
277, 412

Ulbster, si, 56, 71

Ullapool, 314

Ulverston, 320

Unapool, Loch, 279

Urial, Asiatic, 36, 40, 42, 43

Uruguay, counter-pests in, 262

Urus in Scotland, 49-55, 60, 62, 63, 67,

68, 308

characteristics of, 52
effect of destruction of forest upon, 350
resistance to domestication, 54

Vanessa c-albuin, 369

Vedalia cardinalis, 260

Vegetables, introduction of animals with,

457-466

Vegetation, influence of rabbits etc. on,
253> 499' 500

post-glacial, 10
Vemantry, 132
Venus Shell,' Warty, 154
Vermin, destruction of animals as, 176-183

increase of, 137

during War, 109, 182
Vienna, 438

Vine, Phylloxera of, 461, 474, 487
Vineyards, French, birds of, 394
Virginia, West, bird protection in, 227
Voles, destruction as pest, 179

plague of, 137, 391

Northern, 14

extermination of, 14, 481

INDEX

549

Volga, River, 469

Vultures, increase during \Var in Eastern
Europe, 396

Wagtails, Pied, in Edinburgh, 406

railway embankments as nesting-place of,

399

Wainfleet, 139

Walker, Prof. John, 352, 429
Wallace, Prof. Robert, 43, 80
Walls, island of, 280
Walrus, destruction for oil, 1 7 1

disappearance from Scotland, 171 f.-n.
Waltham Abbey, 265
Wangford, 298

War, the Great, destruction of birds as food
during, 139

distribution of Beetles and Moths in dry
food materials during, 444

effects of, on animal life, 109. 136, 137,

205, 212, 214, 361, 396, 402
Warble, Ox, 423
Warblers, 256

as pest, 394

increase due to cultivation, 230, 394

Savi's, 191

Sedge, increase of, 230

Wood, increase of, 230
Wardlaw Chronicles, 149, 211, 287
Washington, 475
Wasps, change of food habits, 4 1 1

Wood. See Sirex

Waste land, effects of breaking in, 364-370
Water-fleas, in waterworks, 414, 415

influence of drought upon, 373
Water-pipes, fauna of, 413-415, 470, 487
Water-rail, 17

Waterston, Rev. James, 404
Waterways, dispersal of animals by, 397
Waterworks, fauna of, 413—415, 470, 487
Weasel, in Scotland, 17, 329

destruction as pest, 127, 181
for skin, 221

increase of, 485

introduction to New Zealand, 245, 255

to Shetland (Stoats), 299
Weeds, transportation of, 418, 473
Weevils, 475

Apple blossom, 392

Corn or Granary, 441, 445 f.-n.

increase due to cultivation, 392

Pine, 472, 474

Raspberry, 392

Rice, 474

Strawberry, 392

Sweet Potato, 474
Wedderburn, Lieut. -Col., 370
Wedderburn's Accompt Book, 136, 224,

395

Wedel, Baron von, 225, 251
Weisdale Voe, 226, 280
Weldon, Sir Anthony, 312
Wemyss Caves, 57, 87, 97

West Indies, 450, 460, 464, 466, 470

West Kilbride, 34, 87

West Linton, 406, 502

Whale, destruction for oil, 174-175

Finner. See Rorqual below

food of early inhabitants, 8

Greenland, Right or Whalebone, 174, 175

in Firth of Forth, 386

Pilot, or Ca'ing, 175

prehistoric remains of, o, 20, 70

Ravens feasting on, 226

Rorqual, or Finner, 20, 175

slaughter at S. Georgia, no, 175

Sperm, 174, 175

Whalebone. See Greenland above
Wheat, animals introduced with, 438-442

Midge, 440
Wheatear, 1 40, 394
White, Gilbert, 435 '

Rev. Thomas, 316
White Moss, West Linton, 502
Whitewreath, 165
Whitmuir Hill, 51
Whit ret. See Weasel
Whitrig Bog, 347
Whittlesea Meer, 190
Wick, 341
Wigeon, change of food habits, 412

protection for hawking, 203
Wigtownshire, Boar, Wild, prehistoric re-
mains in, 90

Capercaillie in, 273

Celtic Shorthorn in, 57

Chough in, 178

Deer, Red, prehistoric remains in, 333

Dog, early remains in, 87

Elk, prehistoric remains in, 16, 347

forest, prehistoric, in, 308
' Squirrel, Red, in, 293, 297

Urus, prehistoric remains in, 50
Wild, O. H., 179, 402, 403, 412, 432, 501
Wild-fowl, destruction by decoy, 139
by punt-gunning, 188

protection for food, 217
for hawking, 203

reclamation of marsh affecting, 370 etseq.
William of Malmesbury, 236, 371
Williestruther Loch, 347
Wilson; Dr R. M., 296
Wireworms, increase of, 392
Woburn, 288
Wolfelee, 121 f.-n., 292
Wolves in Scotland, 1 7, 20, 308, 329, 365, 497

destruction of, 115-121, 482, 488, 496
for sport, 184

effect of destruction of forests upon, 35 r

forests, destruction of, to extirpate, 120,
3i8

increase during war, 396
in Poland, 109

legislation relating to, 1 16 et seq.

place names as evidence of, 121 f.-n.

prehistoric remains of, 69, 115

550

INDEX

Wood-Wasps, introduction of, 467-469
Woodburn, H. A., 277
Woodcock, 266
price of, 140
protection for sport, 705
Woodpecker, Great Spoiled, influence of
destruction of forest upon, 329, 357-360,
361
Wool of sheep, characteristic, 39, 43, 45-

48

improvement of, 45-48, 490
manufacture in Scotland, 46
Worms. See also Earthworms
exotic, in hothouses, 4^4
in waterworks, 414
Liver-flukes. See Flukes
Maw, 422
Miners', 422
Pork Thread-, 422, 508
Round, 422, 508
of Horse, 42 1

transmission by man, 42 r, 422
Ship, 432

Tape, Beef, 421, 422
Broad, 421
Dwarf, 421
of Dog, 422
Pork, 42 1

Worms— Cont.

Tape, transmission by man, 42 i

Whip, 422
Wrasse, 8, 19, 149
Wren, increase due to cultivation, 394

protection through superstition, 238

St Kilda, IQO, 229
Wright, Dr Strethill, 386
Wyntoun, Andrew, 90

Xenopsylla cheopsis, 420, 507
Xestobium tesselatum, 404
Xyleborus, 463

Yak, Thibetan, 247

Yarhouse, 341

Yell, Island of, 58, 280

Yellowhammer, 389

Yellowstone Park, 236, 387

Yorkshire, 112, 317

Youatt, Wm, 43, 514

Ypres, fauna of water pipes at, 414

Ythan, River, 194, 296

Zanzibar, 460

Zoological Gardens, London, 288, 436
Park, Edinburgh, 254, 289, 339, 428
Zygaenidae, 448

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