12 THE WOLF IN SCOTLAND 



tion, is obsolete, 1 and ' Mac-tire,' Son of the 

 Earth, is, of course, poetical. 



The wolf has left his record in many place- 

 names North and South. In the Lowlands 

 those names compounded with 'wolf,' e.g. 

 ' Wolf-cleugh ' (several), 'Wolf-lee,' 'Wolf- 

 hill ' and many others, need no explanation. 

 In Gaelic compound names, those ending in 

 their English form in ' maddy ' or ' vaddie ' 

 doubtless mean ' madadh/ and probably in 

 most cases refer to the wolf ; although ' Mad- 

 adh ' is also used for a hound or dog. Such 

 as Craigmaddy, Ardmaddy, Toulvaddie, Sron- 

 mhadaidh, Meall-a'-mhadaidh, respectively the 

 craig, the height, the hole, the nose or point, 

 and the hill, seem certainly to refer to the 

 'wild dog.' Names compounded with 'cu' 

 (gen. pi. 'con') meaning simply 'dog,' may or 

 may not refer to the wild animal ; but there 

 can be no doubt about ' Gleann-chon-fhiadh,' 

 Glen of the wild dogs ; and ' Caolas-nan-Con,' 

 the narrows of the dogs, on the salt-water Loch 

 Leven, may very well refer to wolves. Achna- 

 cone (Achadh-nan-con) the field of dogs, is an 

 example of the doubtful cases unless, indeed, 

 there is some tradition as to the origin of the 

 name. 



1 MacBain. 



