I. 



THE WOLF IN SCOTLAND. 



WHEN Caesar and his legions first invaded 

 Britain, and for ages previous to that event, by 

 far the greater portion of these Islands was 

 covered with dense forest, widely extending 

 marshes, wild and inaccessible labyrinths of 

 wood and mountain. In these dark fastnesses 

 roamed the shaggy Bison, the long-horned 

 Urus, the Bear, the mighty Elk, the wild Boar 

 and the Wolf ; the Reindeer wandered over our 

 Northern mountains, and the Beaver built its 

 dams and houses in our streams. All these are 

 gone ; but by far the latest to linger was the wolf. 



As men multiplied and cultivation increased, 

 the forests gradually disappeared, and the wolf 

 was driven ever back to the wilder and remoter 

 districts ; hence he lingered longest in Ireland, 

 and in the vast forests and uninhabited country 

 of the Scottish Highlands. 



Any account of the animals formerly in- 

 habiting this country and long extinct, must, 



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