350 THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FOREST 



Reindeer and the Elk were driven from one stronghold to 

 another till both died out in the northern counties. What 

 widespread influence was at work against these forest-loving 

 creatures? The destruction of the forest! It may be 

 suggested that man's deliberate destruction of Deer for food 

 was the prime agent. But the rule of the bow and arrow 

 could not reduce the size of the Red Deer's antlers, for the 

 necessity of finding food meant that the youngest and most 

 easily obtained, not the best animals (as the rifle and present 

 day sport demand) fell to the hunter, a point abundantly 

 proved by the large proportion of the bones of young 

 animals in early settlements and kitchen-middens. It 

 may be suggested that changes of climate had dire effect; 

 but more severe changes of climate were passed through in 

 the early Neolithic days without seriously influencing the 

 distribution of any of the species. It may be suggested that 

 a decrease of proper food played an adverse part in the 

 welfare of the Deer. That is highly probable. But what 

 caused the decrease of food, if not the increase of domesticated 

 animals and of cultivation, and the consequent destruction 

 of the proper feeding-grounds the forests ? I have no 

 doubt that all the factors mentioned told against the race of 

 Deer, but the great influence which acted with constant and 

 ever-increasing intensity was the disappearance of the forest, 

 and for that man was largely responsible. 



SOME OTHER FOREST DWELLERS 



Other inhabitants of Scotland besides the race -of Deer 

 suffered from the same cause. The story of the Elk is 

 paralleled by that of the Great Extinct Ox or Urus (Bos 

 taiirus primigenius) which, common throughout Scotland in 

 the times of the great depositions of marl and peat, was 

 gradually driven northwards till it died out in the northern 

 counties during the period of the brochs 1 . The Urus was 

 a creature of the woodland, sharing with the Reindeer and 

 Elk the forests of Central Europe in the days of Julius 

 Caesar, and surviving in these safe retreats until, it has been 

 stated, the beginning of the sixteenth century. Like the 

 Elk, it survived in Europe with the forests, and with the 

 forests, disappeared in Scotland. 



1 For a more detailed account of its history, see p. 49 et seq. 



