Evolution Going On 193 



square- jawed, short-limbed, but agile hunters and fishermen, 

 whom we call Neolithic Man, established themselves in Scotland. 

 What was the state of the country then? 



It was a country of swamps, low forests of birch, alder, and 

 willow, fertile meadows, and snow-capped mountains. Its 

 estuaries penetrated further inland than they now do, and 

 the sea stood at the level of the Fifty-Foot Beach. On its 

 plains and in its forests roamed many creatures which are 

 strange to the fauna of to-day the Elk and the Reindeer, 

 Wild Cattle, the Wild Boar and perhaps Wild Horses, a 

 fauna of large animals which paid toll to the European 

 Lynx, the Brown Bear and the Wolf In all likelihood, the 

 marshes resounded to the boom of the Bittern and the plains 

 to the breeding calls of the Crane and the Great Bustard. 



Such is Dr. Ritchie's initial picture. 



Now what happened in this kingdom of Caledonia which 

 Neolithic Man had found? He began to introduce domesticated 

 animals, and that meant a thinning of the ranks of predacious 

 creatures. "Safety first" was the dangerous motto in obedience 

 to which man exterminated the lynx, the brown bear, and the 

 wolf. Other creatures, such as the great auk, were destroyed 

 for food, and others like the marten for their furs. Small pests 

 were destroyed to protect the beginnings of agriculture; larger 

 animals like the boar were hunted out of existence; others, like 

 the pearl-bearing river-mussels, yielded to subtler demands. No 

 doubt there was protection also protection for sport, for utility, 

 for aesthetic reasons, and because of humane sentiments; even 

 wholesome superstitions have safeguarded the robin redbreast 

 and the wren. There were introductions too the rabbit for 

 utility, the pheasant for sport, and the peacock for amenity. And 

 every introduction, every protection, every killing out had its far- 

 reaching influences. 



But if we are to picture the evolution going on, we must think 

 also of man's indirect interference with animal life. He de- 



VOL. I 12 



