98 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



Kinkell and Constantine's Caves, near St Andrews, 1 show 

 that at the beginning of the Christian era the Red Deer and 

 the Roe, the Boar, the Wild Cat and the Badger, still roamed 

 to the furthest limits of the East Neuk, which they have long 

 since deserted, and that the Grey Seal sported on the sea- 

 shores of the East Coast. 



Nor are we surprised to find that the mammals whose 

 remains have recently been disinterred in the cave at 

 Dunagoil, in Bute, were still predominantly representatives 

 of our present fauna, for that cave seems to have been 

 occupied by man only during the early years of our era and 

 for some three or four centuries previously. Nevertheless, 

 the passing years have seen great changes in the fauna of 

 Bute ; changes which emphasize how susceptible to the 

 interference of man are the animal inhabitants of an island, 

 where, on the decay of the original stock, there can be no 

 inflow of new individuals from other areas. 



Of the seven mammals whose bones the writer identified 

 from Dunagoil, 2 not one exists at the present day on the 

 island. To be sure the seven include two domestic animals, 

 the Short-horned Celtic Ox and the Turbary Sheep, which 

 have disappeared as pure breeds ; but with the exception of 

 the extinct Wild Boar, the other animals are common, or at 

 any rate, not very unusual on the mainland. They include 

 the Red Deer and Roe Deer, the Wild Cat and the Fox. 



The aspect of the cave relics, however, changes markedly 

 as we penetrate into the dim distance of prehistoric times. 

 Domestic animals become in comparison less common, and 

 the proportion of rare animals, and perhaps even of animals 

 since exterminated, rises with every step into the past. No 

 Scottish cave excavation could illustrate these points better 

 than that carried out by Dr B. N. Peach and Dr John Home 

 in the valley of Allt nan Uamh (Burn of the Caves), near 

 Inchnadamph, in western Sutherlandshire. For several 

 reasons the report, which has recently been published, 3 is of 



1 Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot, vol. 49, 1916, p. 13. 

 1 Trans. Buteshire Nat. Hist. Soc, 1916, p. II. 

 J Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. 37, 191 7, p. 329. 



