30 THE BEAVER AND SCOTTISH TRADITION 



beaver was apparently not yet uncommon in 

 Wales about A.D. 940; that the value of the 

 skin was then very considerable. Mr. Harting 

 also gives much interesting information as to 

 place-names in Wales apparently derived from 

 the Welsh words signifying the beaver; and 

 a list of the remains of this animal which have 

 been from time to time discovered in Great 

 Britain. 



Before entering on the question of the beaver 

 in Scotland it may be of interest to advert to 

 the matter of its present status in Europe. 

 Writing in 1857, Blasius states that although 

 then still to be found on the Elbe, they were 

 already approaching extinction. Other localities 

 mentioned by him are the Havel, the Oder 

 and the Weichsel, East Prussia and Silesia ; 

 but he states that they were more common in 

 Lithuania, Poland, Scandinavia and Northern 

 Russia. To come to the present time, the 

 subject of the beaver in Europe has been well 

 summarised in an article in The Field of 2Oth 

 February, 1909, under the heading of 'The 

 present status of the European beaver* and 

 signed * J. E. H.' For full details readers must 

 be referred to this article ; here it may be 

 sufficient to note from it that, according to the 

 testimony of M. Mingaud, conservator of the 



