8 INTRODUCTOKY. 



very remote zoological date, of these islands and the north- 

 west coast of Europe. The latter — examples of which 



are found in the wild cat, polecat, weasel,^ 

 fauna roebuck, mole, dormouse, harvest mouse, two 



shrews, voles, and snakes — would appear to 

 indicate the earlier isolation of the western island. Or, as 

 A. R. Wallace puts it : " This may be accounted for by 

 the smaller and less varied surface of the latter island ; 

 and it may also be partly due to the great extent of low- 

 land, so that a very small depression would reduce it to 

 the condition of a cluster of small islands caj)able of 

 supporting a very limited amount of animal life."^ 



Of the above Irish absentees, the mole, which occurs in 

 abundance as far west in these islands as Holyhead, is in 

 one respect the most interesting, since there are, in spite 

 of its never having occurred in the island, several old 

 Celtic names for it. There are also Celtic names for the 

 roebuck [Earhog), but that animal, though not indigenous, 

 has been introduced on private estates. Mr Harting, of 

 whom I once asked an explanation of this, suggested that 

 my so-called Celtic names for the mole may possibly have 

 been introduced by immigrants from Scotland, who would 

 have known the creature in their own country. This 

 explanation, which is probably the correct one, brings me 

 to the consideration of the present confusion in the local 

 names of beasts and birds. 



Together with the subordination of county distribution 

 above ailluded to, I have found it necessary to pay but 



little attention to such provincial vernacular, 

 names ^^ regards the birds, at any rate, whole 



volumes have been devoted to the subject. 

 Moreover, in these days of cheap and easy railway travel, 

 great inducements are offered to young keepers to better 

 their condition elsewhere, and these men carry into the 

 new home the names they have used from childhood, so 



1 The weasel has been freely claimed as an Irish quadruped (see p. 55). 



2 Geographical Distribution of Animals, i. 197. 



