Mr Harvic- Brown on the Squirrel in Great Britain. 119 



Further, we find that Berwickshire owes nothing to Dal- 

 keith for its squirrels,* and nothing was known of them in 

 Eoxburghshire, until their restoration — in 1827 — at Minto. 



In a south-westerly direction, I believe the waves of 

 advance may have been more considerable than in a south 

 and south-easterly direction, but I am inclined to believe that 

 the source of the population of the Lanark districts is only 

 traceable, in jyart^ to the Dalkeith influence. We cannot 

 admit that the latter reached so far south into Lanark as the 

 parishes of Crawfordjohn,*!- nor even so far as Lamington,J 

 and I even consider it doubtful if Walston parish § owes its 

 stock to Dalkeith, hecause we have already seen that squirrels 

 had failed to establish themselves at much nearer localities — 

 such as Peebles and Galashiels. The Vale of Lower Clydes- 

 dale — i.e., from about Lanark and northwards and north-west- 

 wards, — I believe to have been populated from Dalkeith ; || 

 but any locality south of Lanark and Walston I consider to 

 hold squirrels of Minto origin, and we have already seen that 

 they were comparatively long in reaching Newlands parish — 

 a much nearer locality to Dalkeith, and upon the same general 

 line from that centre. IT 



About this point, at all events, — Walston in Lanark, — we 

 may fairly expect to find that the two stream - waves of 

 Dalkeith and Minto met, the vanguard of the Minto over- 

 taking the rearguard of the Dalkeith, and together, assisting 

 in populating the country north of the Firths of Forth and 

 Clyde. 



Westward and north-westward from Dalkeith, we find the 

 record that they abounded in the parish of Abercorn, in 

 Linlithgow,** and Mr J. Colquhoun, in 1831, found them 



* See under Minto Centre, further on. 

 t "New Stat. Acct," Lanark, p. 500. 



* Op. cit, p. 811. 

 § Op. cit, p. 851. 



II See further on, p. 125. 



H See under Minto Centre, further on, p. 125. 



** "New Stat. Acct.," Linlithgow, p. 20. In one district of Linlithgow, 

 however, they have become all but extinct. Ten years ago they were very 

 numerous and constantly bred ; now they are not to be seen. Captain N. H. 

 Leckie is unable to say if they decreased gradually or suddenly, having been 

 much abroad of late years. The keeper who has been there for two years has 



