ANIMALS INTRODUCED FOR SAKE OF UTILITY 249 



History of British Mammals, from which the above quo- 

 tations are taken. Here I shall confine myself to a few 

 extracts from the old laws and descriptions of Scotland 

 indicating the progress made by the Rabbit in its conquest 

 .north of the Tweed. Whether it was here introduced direct 

 from the Continent or made its way through England is 

 difficult to decide, but the earliest records indicate that in 

 the thirteenth century it was as common in North as in 

 South Britain, and suggest, therefore, that its introduction 

 must have been almost contemporaneous in both countries, 

 and may have been independent in each. In this connection 

 it must be remembered, as Prof. Hume Brown has pointed 

 out, that even in the reign of David I, from 1124 to 1153, 

 the Norman element, which had already played an import- 

 ant part in Scottish affairs, became predominant at the court 

 and in the councils of the Scottish monarch. It is not 

 at all unlikely that this friendship may have led to the 

 beginning of a secondary Norman conquest of Scotland by 

 the introduction of the Norman-bred and Norman-titled 

 " cony." 



Be that as it may, the earliest unmistakeable references 

 in historical records to the occurrence of Rabbits in England 

 seems to be that noted by Prof. Rogers, recording the pay- 

 ment of 2\d. at Waleton in 1272 for the taking of Conies 

 and Partridges with Hawk, Dog and Ferret ; and the report 

 to Edward I in 1 274 regarding the produce of Lundy Island, 

 where the " taking of rabbits is estimated at 2000, $ IDS." 

 and the estimate is at " 55. 6d. each hundred skins, because 

 the flesh is not sold." 



But before this time the value of rabbit-warrens had 

 become well known in Scotland, and to others than the 

 proprietors, for even in the reign of Alexander II (1214- 

 1249), it was found necessary to protect the royal warrens 

 by statute, the penalty for trespass being death and confis- 

 cation of property. I n the succeeding reign, of Alexander III 

 (1249-1286), the keeper of the warren at Crail in Fifeshire 

 was paid a salary of i6s. Sal. from the royal purse for his 

 services during the year 1264. The King's Chamberlain's 

 accounts of 1329 show that he paid a sum of 8s. to four 

 men for crossing to the Isle of May, at the mouth of 

 the Firth of Forth, to catch Rabbits; and David II, who 



