76 EXTINCT BRITISH ANIMALS. 



ever, it may be urged that the fact of the horn 

 having been found "deep down below the surface" 

 seems opposed to the theory of recent origin. 



Several attempts have been made from time to 

 time to reintroduce the Reindeer in Great Britain, 

 but without much success. Sir Henry Liddell, who 

 made a tour through Sweden and Lapland, brought 

 five Reindeer to his estate in Northumberland, 

 where they bred, and for some time seemed likely 

 to thrive ; but they did not live long.* Fleming 

 refers to an experiment of the kind made by the 

 Duke of Athole ("Hist. British Animals," V 27), 

 and Scrope says the Earl of Fife introduced some 

 into the great forest of Marr in Aberdeen shire 

 (" Days of Deerstalking," p. 406). But they all 

 died, notwithstanding their being turned out on 

 the summits of the hills, which are covered with 

 dry moss, and on which it was supposed they would 

 be able to subsist. Some years previously to this, 

 a similar experiment had been tried in Orkney, 

 where Mr. Robert Traill, in 1816, turned out three 

 Reindeer, a male and two females, which he had im- 

 ported from Archangel. But they soon died, towards 

 the end of winter from want, it was believed, 

 of their proper food, in addition to the supposed 

 unsuitability of the climate. It is stated by Messrs. 

 Baikie and Heddle t that "not being found to 

 answer the purposes intended, they were allowed to 

 die out." 



* Consett's "Tour through Sweden," p. 152. 

 f " Hist, Nat. Orcadensis," p. 19. 



