MAMMALS. 83 



In vol. ii. p. 141 of the Journal of the Royal Physical Society 

 of Edinburgh, the remains of Red Deer, along with tusks of 

 Wild Boar, and bones of Sheep, Cattle, and Horses, are recorded 

 as having been found at Skaill. 



Many Ked Deer's horns, both shed and attached to the skull, 

 are in the collection of Mr. Cursiter at Kirkwall, all of which 

 have been found in some one or other of the islands. The same 

 gentleman also has some bones which he is inclined to believe 

 are the legs of deer : these, if belonging to that animal, are of 

 much greater value in determining the former existence of the 

 species in Orkney than are horns, which may well have been 

 imported from Caithness and Sutherland for useful pur- 

 poses. 



From their never being mentioned in the old Sagas as 

 inhabitants of the islands, it would appear that the Red Deer 

 was extinct before the Norse times, the hunting of both the 

 Rein- and Red-Deer by the Jarls in Caithness being especially 

 mentioned. 



In Rod and Gun for Nov. 14th, 1889, it is mentioned that 

 " some time ago Mr. John Spence, Barony, Birsay, found, at a 

 depth of about five feet, in peat-moss, a deer's foot; and now 

 Mr. J. B. W. Stevenson, Overstanger, in the same parish, has 

 brought to light a deer's horn, jaw, and feet. They were found 

 imbedded in the middle of the dried bed of Loch Isbister, at 

 the depth of about a foot from the surface." 



Order RODENTIA. 



Sub-order SIMPLICIDENTATA. 



Section MYOMORPHA. 



Family MURID.32. 



Mus sylvaticus, L. Longtailed Field Mouse. 



Mr. Moodie-Heddle corroborates the statement by Baikie and 

 Heddle that this species is common in Orkney ; we have not 

 ourselves met with it. 



