Shawl Goat into Britain. 337 



calcareous soil, and will probably be found as ill adapted to 

 them as those of Blair or Dunkeld. 



If this flock should have thriven and propagated in this 

 place, it will be a sufficient earnest of the possibility of 

 naturalizing them in other parts of Scotland ; but, respecting 

 this, as I already remarked, I have had no means of procuring 

 any information. 



The last attempt made in Scotland to introduce and propa- 

 gate these animals was by Mr. Macpherson Grant, the present 

 member for Sutherland. 



A pair was procured from the East India Company, in the 

 autumn of 1816, and they were allowed to feed about the 

 house of Invereshie during that winter in the ordinary pasture ; 

 having, at the same time, access to the hay-stack, as the 

 first flock already mentioned had at Blair. In the summer of 

 1817, they continued in health, and were sent up to the high 

 ridge of mountains which here separates the counties of 

 Inverness and Aberdeen. To this mode of treatment is pro- 

 bably to be attributed the superior health of this pair, and 

 their having escaped, in a considerable degree, that disease 

 of the feet which proved so troublesome to those kept in the 

 soft pastures at Dunkeld. 



In October, they were again brought down to the house, 

 and, in February 1818, the female produced twins, which, 

 unfortunately, proved to be both males. The young throve 

 remarkably well, and the female was fed on corn and turnips, 

 without any apparent inconvenience, during the remainder of 

 that winter. They were not sent up to the high hills in this 

 summer, but allowed to feed about the low grounds at 

 Invereshie, where they continued to thrive ; having then 

 passed two winters, and one complete summer, with every 

 prospect of being in time thoroughly inured to the climate. 

 But, in the middle of the May of 1818, the female began to 

 droop, and, before the end of that month, she died ; without 

 any cause having been assigned for her death by those who, 

 in Mr. Grant's absence, had the charge of her. It is not 

 unlikely, however, that this event may have arisen from too 



Vol. IX. Y 



