VI NOTES ON THE FAUNA OF CLYDESDALE. 



years ago near Glasgow by the late Dr. Secular, 1 and in Ayrshire by 

 Mr. W. Thomson ; 2 it is not uncommon in suitable places, and has 

 been observed in the Island of Arran. 3 Scotch specimens of the 

 Water Shrew usually belong to the dark race formerly separated as 

 S. remifer, but intermediate examples are also common. 



All the land Carnivores now existing in Britain are found within 

 our limits, though some of them have been greatly reduced in num- 

 bers and restricted in range. The Wild Cat is now nowhere to be 

 met with in the Lowlands, and indeed is becoming very rare in the 

 Highlands; it lingered long in the mountain recesses of the wild 

 country around Loch Lomond, from whence there are specimens in 

 the University Museum ; but Mr. James Lumsden informs me that 

 it is now quite extinct in that district. 4 The Fox, on the contrary, 

 remains abundant in most districts ; even where he is not preserved 

 for purposes of sport his fleetness and cunning enable him to hold 

 his own, and the increase in number of rabbits provides him with 

 abundance of food. The Badger and the Yellow-throated Marten 

 (Martes abietum) are still found near Loch Lomond of the former 

 Mr. Colquhoun observes that "every rocky cairn capping the Glen- 

 falloch range of the Grampians has its family of Badgers." Both are 

 now almost exterminated in the Lowlands, but a badger was taken 

 near Wishaw in Lanarkshire in May. 1870, and a marten, as I am 

 informed by Mr. J. Lumsden, was killed near Maybole in Ayrshire 

 in the spring of the present year. Pale-throated examples of this 

 marten have often been confused with the white-throated M. foina, 

 and have hence led to the belief expressed by the late Mr. Macgil- 

 livray, 6 and others that the two species are identical ; they are really 

 quite distinct, but I have never been able to meet with any authentic 

 evidence of the existence of M. foina in Britain, although it is usually 

 stated to be the commonest species. Of our three native Weasels the 

 Stoat is the most abundant; in severe winters, and especially in 

 exposed situations, it often assumes the "ermine," or white fur, in 

 greater purity than is usually the case in England. The Polecat is 

 nearly extinct in most Lowland districts, but the Common Weasel is 

 plentiful, and the Otter is not uncommon in many of the lochs and 

 rivers. Of the marine Carnivores, only the Common Seal is known 

 to enter the Firth of Clyde, and that but rarely, although the Gray 

 species is common in the Hebrides, where the Greenland and Einged 

 species (Phoca grcenlandica and Ph. hispidd) are said also to occur. 6 



i Mag. Nat. Hist. vi. (1833), p. 512. 2 Op. cit. 2d Ser. iii. (1839), p. 585. 



3 For notes on the Mammals of this island, see Bryce's Arran (Glasgow and London: 

 W. Collins, Sons, & Co., 1872), pp. 313-315. 



* Concerning the animals of this district, Mr. E. Gray's notes, published in Keddie's 

 Guide-book to Loch Lomond (Glasgow: Maclure and Macdonald, 1864), and Mr. J. Col- 

 quhoun's Lecture on the Ferce Naturce of the British Islands (Edinburgh: W. Blackwood 

 and Son, 1873) may be referred to. 



5 Naturalist's Library, xvii., "British Quadrupeds," p. 168; Nat. Hist, of Deesidc and 

 Braemar, p. 386. 



6 Cf. Bell's British Quadrupeds, 2d ed. pp. 249, 252. 



