158 EXTINCT BRITISH ANIMALS. 
course impossible to say, but it is noticeable that no 
foreign furs (such as sable, ermine, and lynx) are 
mentioned in his Will; the only furs disposed of 
besides Wolf being those of indigenous animals—the 
fox and the coney. 
HIstTorRicAL EVIDENCE.—ScOoTLAND. 
In a preceding page it was incidentally remarked 
that the Wolf survived in Scotland to a much later 
date than was the case in England. The reason is 
pretty obvious. Long after the animal had been extir- 
pated in England the condition of the country in 
North Britain remained eminently suited to its nature. 
Vast tracts of forest and moor, rugged and well-nigh 
impenetrable in parts, entire districts of unreclaimed 
and uncultivated land, the absence of roads, and the 
consequent difficulty of communication between scat- 
tered and thinly populated hamlets, long contributed 
to shelter the Wolf not only from final extinction but 
from the incessant persecution which had driven it 
from the south. 
The aspect of the country in Scotland at the 
date to which we refer may be imagined from a 
remark of John Taylor, the Water Poet, whoin 1618 
travelled on foot from London to Edinburgh. When 
visiting Braemar, he says, ‘“‘ I was the space of twelve 
days before I saw either house, cornfield, or habita- 
tion of any creature, but deer, wild horses, Wolves, 
and such like creatures, which made me doubt that I 
should never have seen a house again.” 
It must not be supposed, however, that the Wolf 
