CAVE-HUNTING IN SCOTLAND 101 



that so many birds of the coast were carried thither by the 

 carnivores which preyed upon them. 



Between the formation of this and of the next fossil- 

 bearing layer many years intervened, during which a glacier 

 again appeared in the valley, unlading its morainic debris 

 within the cave, and finally dwindling as the weather 

 moderated. At a time when the cave was once more left 

 high and dry, man reached Scotland, and had penetrated in 

 his wanderings even to western Sutherland ; for the succeed- 

 ing layer of cave earth revealed, in several of its parts, hearth- 

 stones burned by fire, as well as burnt and split bones, and 

 sawn antlers of Deer. 



What animals shared with man the wilds of northern 

 Scotland in the days of the Polished Stone Age? The cave 

 tells a short but exceedingly interesting story. No bones 

 of birds were discovered ; Frogs and Toads were plentiful, 

 for the long bones of their limbs lay closely packed in every 

 surface hollow of the deposit. Bones of the Otter, Badger, 

 and Fox were found, but these may have represented visitors 

 of later date, which, burrowing beneath the surface, had laid 

 their bones to rest in the tombs of their predecessors. 

 Regarding the other animals there can be no doubt. Red- 

 deer antlers of massive size were scattered in the deposit, 

 and with them were found the remains of Reindeer, antlers 

 of young individuals, which by their sawn ends gave striking 

 proof of their co-existence here with man. Most interesting 

 of all were a couple of limb bones of the Northern Lynx, 

 a creature not before known to have existed in Scotland, 

 although its remains have been found in rock-fissures and 

 caves in England and Wales. 



The authors think it possible that two other creatures 

 which have long since disappeared from Scotland, the Arctic 

 Lemming and the Rat Vole, may also have been represented 

 in this deposit, contemporaneous with man, but definite 

 evidence, they say, is wanting. 



Be that as it may, these careful excavations in Sutherland 

 have given us fresh glimpses into the condition of Scotland 

 in the early days of man's settlement and in the last days 

 before he came ; and by their value, as by their interest, 



