THE LAND MAMMALS OF THE MORAY FIRTH AREA 141 



varies a great deal in colour, having often a bright rufous 

 back with whitish, sometimes dun, under parts. Very often 

 they are dark coloured above, and may at first sight be 

 taken for Field Voles. Writing to Mr. Wm. Evans about 

 Edinburgh specimens of this species, Mr. Oldfield Thomas 

 said : " I was quite doubtful as to whether they were agrestes 

 or glareolus, as they are so much less rufous than the latter 

 usually is." The same remark might be made about many 

 Elginshire examples. 



The COMMON HARE (Lepus europceus} is now very 

 scarce. In many districts there are only one or two where 

 twenty could be seen thirty years ago. The MOUNTAIN 

 HARE (Lepus timidus] is still found on all our higher hills, 

 but sometimes it comes down to 5oo-feet level in winter, 

 and to within a few miles of the sea. The RABBIT (Lepus 

 cuniculus) is plentiful in most districts. Black and spotted 

 ones are often seen among the wild ones. 



UNGULATA. 



The only real wild species now is the ROE (Capreolus 

 caprcea), and it is getting very scarce in many places where 

 it was common about the middle of the century. The RED 

 DEER 1 (Cervus elaphus) and FALLOW DEER (Cervus dama) 

 are kept in several parks and " forests." We have good 

 evidence that in former times two species of Bos, also the 

 Wild Boar, the Wolf, and Beaver, all existed in " Moray." 



I am sorry to trespass on the space of the " Annals," 

 but I fear a good many young naturalists are being misled 

 about the value of " species " in mammals. They must 

 understand that many of our British species are anatomic- 

 ally perfectly distinct. For instance, the leg-bones of a 

 Weasel are all we need to distinguish it from a Stoat. The 

 Weasel has the humerus longer than the femur, while in all 

 the other species of Mustelidae that I have examined the 

 humerus is shorter than the femur. There is as much 

 difference between the skeleton of a Pigmy Shrew and a 

 Common Shrew as there is between the skeleton of a 



1 We regard the Red Deer to be in most cases a wild species in the 

 "Moray" area. EDS. 



