The Vertebrates of Solway. 21 



these last three yeai's a few Roe Deer have been discovered." An 

 introduction on the Drumlanrig estates about 1860 helped to stock 

 Nithsdale, and within a few years thereafter the Roe was quite 

 common. By 1870 it had spread widely over Galloway, and is 

 now everywhere numerous in suitable haunts. 



Wild AVhite Cattle {Bos taurus, L.). 



The Drumlanrig herd were disposed of about 1780. A small 

 herd were kept in Cally deer park. I have not been able to glean 

 any precise information of the number of cattle that formed this 

 herd. It appears that they were originally procured from the old 

 historic herd belonging to the Duke of Hamilton, kept in Cadzow 

 parks. They were all sold in 1846, after the death of Alexander 

 Murray of Broughton. 



The Squirrel {Sciurus vulgaris, Linn.). 



So generally distributed, and so common is this lively and 

 pretty creature, that it is of special interest to find that the 

 Squirrel is a very recent immigrant into Solway. When they 

 became extinct here in olden days we have no precise knowledge. 

 They reappeared in Dumfriesshire (Upper Eskdale) in 1837, or 

 perhaps a year or two earlier, but it would be fully ten years later 

 before they became quite common and began to spread westwards. 

 They crossed the Nith about 1860, and soon became generally 

 dispersed, reaching the Cree about 1873. That river appears to 

 have been an obstacle not easily negotiated, as some seven or 

 eight years elapsed before the Squii'rels got across. Early in the 

 '80's, however, they became general in Wigtown, and at the 

 present day abound in many localities in that county. 



The Black Rat {Mus raitus, L.). 



Has in all probability now become quite extinct as a local 

 species. I have not seen or heard of it for a dozen years past. 

 From time to time " Black" Rats are reported, but these invari- 

 ably prove to be the fine black variety of the Water Vole, or, 

 more seldom, the melanic variation of the species that comes next 

 on my list. 



The Brown Rat {Mus decufnanus, Pall.). 



Vastly more common everywhere than it has ever been 

 before. I have a strong impression, induced by a long series of 



