NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 119 



II. — The Mammalia of North-west Perthshire. 

 By Mr. William Horn. 



Having already given as complete a list as I could of the Birds 

 of the North-west of Perthshire, I have now, as a supplement to 

 it, written a list of the Mammals. 



Being, for the most part, a wild and mountainous country, all 

 the rarer mammals were at one time well known. The Wild Cat, 

 Polecat and Marten, now all but extinct, were formerly common all 

 through the district, more especially in the parishes of Blair- Athole, 

 Dunkeld, Fortingal, Kenmore and Killin. The Black Rat has 

 been almost entirely superseded by his pugnacious rival the Brown 

 Rat, which now swarms near all inhabited places. The Rabbit 

 was a rare animal a hundred years ago, but now exists in countless 

 numbers, many proprietors deriving large additions to their incomes 

 from this source. The Squirrel, too, which had been extinct for 

 some time, was re-introduced at Dunkeld by the Duke of 

 Athole in 1776, and has become very numerous since large 

 plantations of fir became common in the country. To such an 

 extent have they increased, that, on one small estate in Strath-Tay, 

 where a reward was offered for their skins, as many as three 

 hundred couple have been killed in one winter. 



Besides those above mentioned, many species of wild animals 

 were successfully introduced and acclimatised at Taymouth by the 

 late Marquis of Breadalbane. The American Bison, many varieties 

 of Deer from America and other countries, as well as a considerable 

 number of other animals, might all have been seen here in one day. 

 It is to be regretted that after the Marquis's death the different 

 herds were dispersed. 



No one has a better knowledge of the fauna of Loch-Tay-side 

 than Mr. Duncan Dewar, gamekeeper at Remony, who has a most 

 interesting collection made entirely by himself, and he has given 

 me every assistance in this as well as in my former paper. I am 

 also much indebted to Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown, who allowed 

 me to see his collected notes on the Wild Cat, Polecat, etc., in 

 Scotland. 



The nomenclature and arrangement I have adopted are those 

 followed by Mr. Edward R. Alston in his paper on the Mammalia of 

 Scotland, already published by this Society. 



