( 383 ) 



On the Mammalia of the Counties of Aberdeen^ Banff, and Kincar- 

 dine. By William MacGillivRAY, A.M., Professor of Natural 

 History, in Marischal College and University, Aberdeen. (Com- 

 municated by the Author.) 



The north-eastern portion of the Middle Division of Scotland 

 forms an extensive natural district, of which the indigenous animals 

 may be presumed to be not less worthy of examination than those 

 of other parts of Britain. It is formed of the three counties of 

 Aberdeen, Banff, and Kincardine, which, though presenting con- 

 siderable diversity of surface, and differing from each other in 

 various respects, unite so naturally, that in traversing them, ons 

 finds no very abrupt transitions either in a geological or a geogra- 

 phical point of view. Bounded on the east by the German Ocean, 

 and on the north by the commencement of the Moray Firth, it 

 stretches inland toward the central parts of the island, where moun- 

 tain ranges of considerable elevation, on which are some of the high- 

 est summits in Britain, constitute a highland tract not surpassed in 

 stern grandeur by any other in Scotland. Among these ranges of 

 granite mountains are found the sources of the North Esk, the Dee, 

 the Don, the Doveran, and some of the tributaries of the Spey. 

 The first of these rivers forms the southern boundary of the dis- 

 trict, while the last terminates it on the northern side. From the 

 upper or more inland portion of the district, commencing with the 

 Cairngorm, Ben-na-muic-dui, Ben-na-buird, and Loch-na-gar moun- 

 tains, the high land declines eastward, sometimes terminating rather 

 abruptly, but generally passing gradually into the comparatively 

 level tracts of the south-eastern and north-eastern lowlands. The 

 whole district, however, is essentially hilly, and composed of granite, 

 gneiss, mica slate, and serpentine, together with greywacke and old 

 red sandstone. Massy, rounded hills, covered with detritus, scarred 

 by the torrents, and partially clad with heath and coarse herbage, 

 valleys in which green pastures and corn-fields alternate with wild 

 woods and plantations; undulated plains, partly in their natural 

 state, and partly converted into fertile fields ; tracts of maritime 

 sand, covered with bent, and thickets of furze, long ranges of sea- 

 cliffs, often of great height, together with numerous streams, and a 

 few lakes, afford fitting habitations for quadrupeds and birds, as well 

 as reptiles, of which the number is few, and fishes, which, although 

 not numerous as to species in the fresh waters, abound in the seas 

 that wash so extended a portion of the boundaries of the district. 

 Compared with the western coast of the middle division of Scotland, 

 that of our eastern side is remarkably continuous, the sinuosities 

 which it presents being but slight. For this reason, in part, th** 



VOL. XXXVII. NO. LXXIV. OCTOBER 1844. 2b 



