158 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



sent it to Joass. It was ' trapped ' in a cistern which I put in 

 recently for irrigation purposes : the cistern has at present only 

 about one inch of water in it, so the Shrew, having fallen in, 

 could not get out. It was sitting upon the top of a stone busily 

 engaged in devouring the remains of a companion in mis- 

 fortune. 



Felis eatus, L. — Wild Cat. — A Wild Cat was caught in a rabbit- 

 snare at Kirkton near Golspie by Mr. S. Sherlaw, in April 

 1888, and another was got at Berriedale in March 1890. 



Mustela putorius, L. — Polecat. — In January 1888, Mr. Hogg, 

 Edinburgh, received a Polecat from Betty -hill. Three Pole- 

 cats were trapped at Syre in Strath naver by a rabbit-catcher, 

 in October 1888, and sent to Mr. MacLeay in Inverness. 



Martes abietum, Fleming. — Marten. — In January 1888, Mr. Hogg, 

 Edinburgh, had a male Marten sent him from Loch Laoghal. 

 In the "Inverness Courier" of 22nd November 1889, a fine 

 specimen of the Marten is reported to have been sent in from 

 Lairg, to be stuffed by Mr. Snowie. 



Meles taxus, Schreb. — Badger. — Two Badgers were killed on Ben 

 Bhraggie in the winter of 1879, and brought to Mr. G. R. 

 Lawson. We understand they are preserved as far as possible. 



Delphinapterus leueas, Pall. — White Whale. — Mr. G. R. 

 Lawson informs us that the skeleton of the White Whale, 

 whose stuffed skin is now preserved in the Dunrobin Museum, 

 and which was caught at the Little Eerry in 1879, was 

 presented by the Duke of Sutherland to the Museum of the 

 Royal College of Surgeons. 



Cervus elaphus, L. — Red Deer. — Mr. W. Ross, forester to the 

 Duke of Westminster, but now (1887) pensioned off, a man of 

 nearly eighty, told us that Red Deer frequented the neighbour- 

 hood of Cape Wrath as late as about 1830, and that it was the 

 building of houses in or near their favourite passes that first 

 frightened them away. When a lad of about thirteen or 

 fourteen he killed a stag of fifteen points during the year 

 the Cape Wrath lighthouse was being built, and not far from 

 where it now stands. A stag was seen in the suburbs of Wick, 

 according to "Rod and Gun" of 14th November 1889, a very 

 unlikely locality for such an animal. 



Lepus variabilis, Pall. — Mountain Hare. — A cream-coloured 

 variety of this species was shot by Mr. Donald Ross, the keeper 

 at Torish on Ben Duan, in November 1890. Varieties of the 

 White Hare are, in our opinion, very rare. 



