THE REINDEER. 45 
the pastures of the Reindeer, which could not retreat 
further on account of the sea, and was fast verging on 
extinction. From Linnzeus’s time down to the 
present day, even in Sweden and Norway, it has been 
retreating further and further north.” 
That it formerly existed in Orkney may be sur- 
mised from the discovery of an antler in the island of 
Rousay, where it was found embedded in peat some 
distance below the surface. This horn, about three 
feet in length, as we learn from Dr. J. A. Smith, was 
ANTLER OF REINDEER, ORKNEY. 
brought from Orkney by Dr. Arthur Mitchell and 
was presented by him to the Museum of the Society 
of Antiquaries of Scotland, by whose permission it is 
here figured. 
It is true that Dr. Smith has some little hesitation 
in regarding it as the horn of an animal indigenous 
to the Orkneys, in consequence of a rumour to the 
effect that a former proprietor of Rousay had im- 
ported two or three Reindeer into that island. 
He probably refers to Mr. Traill. Against this, how- 
