Mr Harvie-Broivn on the Squirrel in Great Britain. 155 



be either up or down the valley of the Dee, or both. There 

 seems, at any rate, to be scarcely a doubt that the entry took 

 place in the south of the county. 



The advance of the species up the valleys is supported by 

 evidence of their arrival and dispersal in Strathdon. Mr 

 George Sim, with his usual care in such investigations, has 

 obtained for me much information from Strathdon, most of 

 which I give here. Mr Sim writes : " Let us begin at Kin- 

 tore, on the estate of Shainstone, which is beside Kintore. 

 Squirrels were first seen there on May 16th, 1862, heading 

 up the Don. They were first seen on the estate of Monar, 

 July 1868. In the Vale of Alford, in the summer of 1859, 

 one was killed by a dog on the farm of Hylogs, parish of 

 Tough. Shortly after this, another was taken alive on the 

 same farm by the farmer — Mr Eeid — and given by him to 

 Mr W. Beveridge, who kept it a loug time as a pet. The 

 latter gentleman was at that time living in the parish 

 above mentioned, and was making a collection of objects of 

 natural history. Now, link this with the information you 

 received from Mr Eobb, gamekeeper, Kildrummy, 'that 

 squirrels arrived there about twenty years ago.' They were 

 seen at Glenkindie — Inverkindie, Strathdon — about seven- 

 teen years ago, as I am informed by the proprietor." It will 

 thus be seen that the species has steadily travelled up the 

 Don valley. 



It is believed that the squirrel came from Dee to Don, 

 coming across what is known as " the Eed Hill." They were 

 known by Mr Beveridge — curator of the museum in the Free 

 Church College, Aberdeen — to have been in Dee some years 

 before that date. Yet 1859 appears to me to be a somewhat 

 early arrival for Donside. The possibility exists that the 

 influence of the Eothiemurchus resuscitation {vide p. 157) 

 may have extended as far south as the head waters of Don 

 by this date, but absence of sufficient data makes it impossible 

 to determine this with any certainty at present. 



Argyleshire — Minard Centre. 



I have to record the introduction of the squirrel at Minard. 

 My obliging correspondent — the Eev. M. MacPherson, of 



