10 INTRODUCTORY 



because of injury to the crops. Then came the game 

 laws — another interference with the balance of nature — 

 accelerating the destruction of the predatory animals, and 

 facilitating the increase of the rodents. The inordinate 

 increase of the Eabbit led in its turn to a universal system of 

 trapping to keep it in check, and from that day the fate of 

 most of the remaining terrestrial Carnivora was sealed. 

 Boece and Sibbald have put us in possession of much valu- 

 al:)le information regarding the fauna of Scotland in the 

 sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but as a rule their 

 statements are too general to be of direct interest in the 

 present inquiry. But from the " Old Statistical Account " of 

 the parishes we get some excellent glimpses into the state of 

 our fauna a century ago. Even then the predatory animals 

 had been in great measure banished to the outlying parishes, 

 where, however, they were still not uncommon, as the 

 following extracts clearly testify : — 



Campsie (Stirlingshire). — After mentioning the Badger 

 and the Fox and their varieties, the writer of the article con- 

 tinues : " There are likewise (on the Campsie Fells) weasels, 

 otters, polecats, hedgehogs, wild cats ; and, of late, several 

 martins have been seen among the rocks. ... It may be 

 observed, that beasts of prey are every day becoming scarcer. 

 Till within these two years, we had a regular bred huntsman 

 who hunted this district ; his salary was paid by the tenants, 

 at so much per plough, which huntsman and dogs were kept 

 and fed by each tenant in his turn " (vol. xv., p. 323). 



Callander (Perth). — " Eed deer come here for food and 

 shelter in severe winters. Eoes breed in our woods. Hares, 

 rabbits, foxes, wild cats, badgers, otters, moles, polecats, 

 weasels, and black martins, are also to be found here" 

 (vol. xi., p. 598). 



DouNE (South-West Perth). — "The wild animals here 



