1 14 DELIBERATE DESTRUCTION OF ANIMAL LIFE 



suggest. The canine tooth found with other refuse in the 

 Broch of Keiss in Caithness probably belongs to a period 

 succeeding the Roman conquest, for brochs appear to have 

 been unknown to the historians of Rome. Yet,, assuming 

 that it is the relic of a native animal, it indicates the presence 

 of the Bear only in a vague period ranging down to the ninth 

 or tenth century of our era. Tradition is even less definite 

 as to date. Leslie in 1578, speaks of the "Tor-wood" or 

 Caledonian forest as a place 



quhair in lyke maner war sa mony wylde bares [' ursos '] that, as the aide 

 wryters make mentione, than being full ['repertissimam '] is now nocht ane 

 (even as our nychbour Inglande has nocht ane wolfe, with quhilkes afore 

 thay war mekle molested and invadet). 



And Camden, in his Britannia (1607), says of Perthshire : 



This Athole is a country fruitful enough, having woody vallies, where 

 once the Caledonian forest (dreadful for its dark intricate windings and for 

 its dens of Bears, and its huge thick-maned bulls) extended itself far and 

 near in these parts. 



Almost to our own day, Gaelic tradition has carried the 

 memory of the great Magh-Ghamhainn the " paw-calf "- 

 a " rough dark, grisly monster, the terror of the winter's 

 tale"; and highland legends, such as "The Brown Bear of 

 the Green Glen" recorded by Mr J. F. Campbell, and occa- 

 sional place names, such as Ruigh-na-beiste, the Monster's 

 Brae, and Toll-nam-biast, the Hole of the Monsters, may 

 possibly perpetuate the tradition of the last survivors of 

 Scottish Bears. 



When did the Bear disappear from amongst the animals 

 of Scotland ? Attempts have been made to show that the 

 Clan Forbes owes its name to the slaughter of a Bear by 

 the chieftain, Ochonchar, the founder of the clan, whose sur- 

 name, bestowed upon him for his prowess, became Forbear 

 or Forbeiste. Pennant states that a Gordon, on account of 

 his valour in killing a fierce Bear in 1057, was ordered by 

 the King to carry three Bears' heads on his banner. It has 

 even been stated that "in an ancient Gaelic poem ascribed 

 to Ossian, the hero McDiarmid is said to have been killed 

 by a Bear on Beinn Ghielleinn in Perthshire." But in each 

 of these cases a wild Boar and not a Bear was the animal 

 concerned, and the confusion has apparently arisen through 

 the resemblance to "Bear" of the old Scots spelling and 



