EFFECTS UPON ANIMAL LIFE 



347 



hold in the southern forests 1 . In Wigtownshire an antler 

 has been found near the mouth of the River Cree ; in 

 Roxburghshire, Williestruther Loch yielded an almost com- 

 plete skull and antlers ; in Berwickshire, remains have been 

 found at Mertoun Loch, at Whitrig Bog near Mertoun, and 

 at Duns ; in Selkirkshire, a portion of skull with antlers was 

 discovered at Oakwood on the Ettrick ; and in Sutherland, 

 Strath- Halladale yielded a shed antler which Dr J. A. Smith 

 regarded as wonderfully fresh in appearance. 



Long after the main period of peat formation was past, 

 the Elk still roamed at large over the greater part of 

 Scotland, and there are sufficient records to show that it 



Fig. 60. Antlers and portion of skull of Elk found at Airleywight, Perth'shire. 

 T V nat. size. 



was familiar to the inhabitants for many thousands of years. 

 Neolithic man and his successors knew it well. I have 

 already alluded to the suggestive discovery of horns in a 

 bed of shell marl at the bottom of the Loch of Duddingston, 

 which also yielded many bronze spear heads and swords, 

 though there is no definite proof that the finds were con- 

 temporaneous. There is similar uncertainty about the 

 relationship of "a medal of Trajan, a fibula, a patera, and a 



1 Such a statement of extension of range must be regarded as pro- 

 visional, for it is possible that in the marl period also, the Elk had a wide 

 northern range, though its remains have not been preserved or have not 

 been discovered. But this is not very probable since it seems likely that 

 while the earliest marl deposits were forming in southern Scotland, the 

 Highlands were still buried in snow. 



