NATURAL BISTORT SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 233 



Scotland,* it is stated that the Squirrel first appeared at Lathers, 

 parish of Turriff, about 1865-66, and about 1867 at Fyvie and 

 Delgaty, in the parishes of Turriff and Fyvie. Two Squirrels, I 

 am informed by Mr. Duncan, have been shot since then upon the 

 Aberdour portion of the Brucklay estates, in a deep wooded glen 

 called the Den of Glasslaw. but they have not yet been seen at 

 Brucklay Castle* where there are extensive woods. Aberdour is 

 close to the sea, and adjoins the estate of Troup, where a few are 

 also reported to have appeared. 



Family: Muridae. 



24. Black Rat. Mus rattus, Lin. — Up to April, 1839, the com- 

 mon species at Brucklay was the Black Rat. About this time Mr. \V\ 

 W. Cameron, vermin-killer, Inverurie, says that he first observed 

 the Brown Rat to be at all common. After this, along the coast- 

 line of the Buchan district, he only occasionally killed a Black 

 Rat, and that, generally, an old male. Now there is not one to be 

 seen near the coast, but he believes that in old houses in the 

 interior it may be still found. Mr. Duncan tells me that when he 

 first came to Brucklay in the year 1837, the Black Rat was very 

 common, and that another lad and he used to go into the byre, and 

 with a stick kill them by the half-dozen. Now he never sees any. 



25. Brown Rat. Mas decumcmus, Pallas. — Too common every- 

 where. Rev. G. Gordon dates the first arrival of the Brown Rat 

 in Morayshire at 1814,+ and it would appear to have arrived in 

 Buchan at about the same time, for in 1832, when Mr. W. W. 

 Cameron first visited Brucklay, there were a few Brown Rats, and 

 they would take some time to spread inland from the sea-port 

 towns. 



26. House-Mouse. Mus musculus, Lin. — In spite of the war 

 waged against it by cats and traps, the House Mouse is common 

 wherever there are houses. Mr. Edward says that musical indi- 

 viduals are not uncommon in this species, and that he has kept them 

 himself and derived much amusement from them. 



27. Wood-Mouse, Long-tailed Field-Mouse. Mus sylvaticus, 

 Lin. — Common in fields and gardens, but occasionally visits stacks 

 and even houses. 



28. Harvest-Mouse. Mus minutus, Pallas. — Mr. Edwards says 



* Proc. Royal Phys. Soc. Edin., vol. v., 1880, p. 162. 

 T Zoologist, 1844, p. 424. 



