280 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS 



Even birds and mammals have not escaped this artificial 

 means of dispersal. Brand (1701) mentions that in his day 

 "Moorfowls" or Grouse, were absent from the Shetland Isles, 

 but that a few had been brought over from Orkney. These, 

 however, soon died out, as also did a few imported to Weis- 

 dale Voe in 1858, though the descendants of the latter sur- 

 vived for 14 or 15 years. In 1882 an endeavour to acclimatize 

 Grouse on the heather-clad slopes of the island of Yell met 

 with greater success, for owing perhaps to the more suitable 

 nature of the ground, these established a slender colony which 

 existed at any rate till comparatively recent years. 



In Orkney on the other hand, where the Red Grouse 

 was plentiful, Partridges were unknown; "There are here 

 no Partridges," wrote Brand in 1701, "but plenty of Muir- 

 fowls." Nor have any of the many attempts which have 

 since been made to plant Partridges on the Mainland, on Hoy 

 and Walls, on Sanday, on Shapinsay (1883) and Rousay 

 (1883), met with success, although for several years, Rousay 

 boasted the presence of four or five individuals. 



Of mammals, Roe Deer, which are natives of few of 

 the Scottish islands, have been established on Bute, I slay, Mull 

 and Jura; but the Hares best illustrate the results of deliberate 

 transportation. There is no satisfactory evidence that the 

 Common Brown Hare (Lepus europaeus] is indigenous to 

 the islands of Scotland, yet now it is almost impossible to 

 name an island of any significance from which it is absent. 

 In the Firth of Clyde, the "bawtie" has been set free and 

 thrives upon Arran, Bute and Cumbrae; in the Inner Hebri- 

 des it was introduced on Islay (before 1816) and on Jura, 

 on Coll (about 1787) and on Tiree, on Mull (1814-15), and 

 on Skye, as well as on other lesser isles; amongst the Outer 

 Hebrides, Professor Macgillivray tells us in 1830, that it 



has been naturalised in the neighbourhood of Stornoway and in Barvas, in 

 the district of Lewis and iy one of the Barray islands; but it does not appear 

 that it ever occurred indigenously in any part of the range. 



The Blue, Alpine, or Variable Hare (Lepus timidus} has 

 shared in wanderings like its cousin, for since the disappear- 

 ance of the last traces of the Ice Age, its natural range in the 

 British Isles has become limited to the Highlands of Scot- 

 land (see Map II). It too has been planted on the islands, 

 so that wherever it occurs to-day in the Outer or Inner 



