PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION. IX 



many of them rare Polar visitors ; the salmon 

 streams of the Awe and Urchay are within easy 

 distance, and the mighty Ferox roams our ^shores for 

 miles. 



Having some sympathy with the classic chronicler 

 of Selborne, who, lamenting the scarcity of quadru- 

 peds in our island, remarks that " every new species 

 is a great acquisition," I have determined to keep 

 my hands clear of the extermination of any. The 

 marten, the wild-cat, the kite, and the eagle, are not 

 banished from the shaggy woods and rough braes of 

 Sonachan and Barbea they are scarcely grudged 

 a share of the spoil ; and though this whimsical 

 forbearance may subject me to the charge of having 

 sunk the sportsman in the " amateur naturalist/' it 

 is an accusation to which I can very cheerfully plead 

 " Guilty." 



April 1851. 



