THE WILD CAT OF SCOTLAND 71 



about 1832-33, and published in 1845, and it is interesting 

 to note the changes which had taken place in the years 

 intervening after Sir R. Sinclair's account. It is found, for 

 example, that in Dumfriesshire in 1791 (Old Statistical 

 Account, vol. i. p. 61), in the parish of Kirkmichael, the 

 \vild quadrupeds reported are foxes, otters, badgers, hares, 

 polecats, wild cats, ermines, and weasels ; and at Ballantrae 

 in Ayrshire are hares, foxes, rabbits, polecats, and wild cats. 

 In the New Statistical Account the report for Ayrshire 

 says : " From the names Wild Cat Road, Cats Craig, etc., 

 the native cat would seem at some time to have been a 

 common inhabitant of the neighbourhood ; but the race is 

 probably now exterminated," while in Dumfriesshire there is 

 no mention of a single Wild Cat having been seen. Again, 

 in Roxburghshire, the Rev. J. Arkle reports, in 1/95, 

 that the wild quadrupeds are foxes, wild cats, polecats, 

 wheazles, and white wheazles. In the New Statistical 

 Account no mention is made of the Wild Cat. At times, 

 however, the reverse is the case ; and, while the Wild Cat is 

 absent from the old statistics in certain parts of the Highlands, 

 the new accounts testify to its existence. In most of the 

 reports, both old and new, it is mentioned as destructive to 

 game but not to lambs ; but the Rev. Charles Hardy reports, 

 in 1792, that in the parishes of Crathie and Braemar, in 

 Aberdeenshire, the depredations of wild animals, including 

 the Wild Cat, on game, sheep, and poultry were so great 

 that the value of sheep and lambs in these and other neigh- 

 bouring parishes annually killed by vermin equalled half the 

 rent paid by the proprietors. Mr. Farquharson formed a 

 scheme for the more complete destruction of these destroyers. 

 During the time this scheme was in operation, a period 

 of about ten years, there were killed in those parishes 634 

 foxes, 44 wild cats, 157 polecats, 70 eagles, 2920 hawks 

 and kites, 1347 ravens and crows, besides those which died 

 from poison or wounds. 



Selby also (" Quadrupeds and Birds of the County of 

 Sutherland"), writing in 1835, says that the Wild or Moun- 

 tain Cats in Assynt commit great ravages among the young- 

 lambs. 



Harvie-Brown, who has written more about the Wild 



