Mr Harvie-Broion on the Squirrel in Great Britain. 49 



and it follows, as a conclusion from which there is no escape, 

 that the squirrel must have been a denizen of the native 

 woods in the country of the MacGregors, which then com- 

 prehended the districts of Menteith, Breadalbane, Strathtay, 

 and Eannoch, all in Perthshire. Euaro is in Breadalbane ; 

 and in Eannoch was, and, I suppose, still is, the famous 

 " Coille dubh Eaineach," one of the remnants of the old Cale- 

 donian forest, which had often, doubtless, proved a safe 

 hiding-place in times of danger.* 



These forests formed an almost continuous stretch of old 

 wood, with those mentioned under Argyleshire. 



Aherdeenshire. 



There is no mention of the species whatever in the " New 

 Statistical Account" of Aberdeenshire (1843); and even the 

 " Old Statistical Account " is perfectly silent on the subject. 

 If present at that date at all, it must have been surely next 

 to unknown — one would have thought — or some mention of 

 it would have been made by some one of the Old Statistical 

 writers. On the other hand, it is quite possible, though, I 

 think, hardly probable, that it might have lingered on with- 

 out any notice of it being taken by the writers of either of 

 these accounts. In the same year that the " New Statistical 

 Account " was published, Macgillivray wrote in the "■ Natural- 

 ists' Library," after indicating its general distribution in 

 Scotland at the time, as follows : " In many districts is of 

 rare occurrence. ... In the northern districts it appears 



* Other references to its mention are as follows : 

 " Dh'fhas mo chridhe clio eibhinn 

 Sgiin leuman mar o.nfheorag.'" 

 So joyful grew my heart, 

 That like the squirrel I could leap. 

 (Second general collection of old Gaelic " Poems and Songs," published at 

 Perth in 1786.) 



" Struagh nach robh un mar an fhaolinn, 

 'Xa cho caol ris n.wfhcorag.'" 

 Would I were like the sea-gull, 

 Or the squirrel so slender, 

 (Old and unpublished song—" Mairi Nigh'n Doumhuil," Mary, the daugh- 

 ter of Donald — taken down by Mr MacPherson from recitation of a native of 

 Radenoch. ) 



VOL. vr. D 



