Mr Harvie-Bvoion on the Squirrel in Great Britain. 159 



and accepting the resuscitation : and nA)t the restoration at 

 Bunkeld). In support of this view of the advance we find 

 that thousands of acres of young wood have been planted 

 between Perth and Forres — for our present purpose between 

 Kingussie and Forres is more correct — and a specimen of the 

 squirrel was killed at Dulnan Bridge in 1855, on 13th 

 October, which probably came down the Spey. The Eev. 

 Wm. Gordon saw a squirrel shot in the neighbourhood of 

 Grantownon the Spey, in 1855 or 1856 {in lit), and as early 

 as 1844 the Eev. George Gordon writes that it was " occasion- 

 ally seen in the woods of Strathspey " (i.e., between lower and 

 upper Craigellachie). This last date is the important one, as 

 it was upon this date also that the restoration took place at 

 Beaufort. 



The Eev. George Gordon, however, produces a very clear 

 and consecutive record of dates going to prove an advance 

 through the northern parts of Nairn, Elgin, and Banff, from 

 Beaufort, which it is hard to put aside, so perfectly chrono- 

 logical do they appear to be ; * and this record would be still 

 more difficult to set aside, were it not for the above important 

 date of 1844, which makes it appear extremely unlikely and 

 improbable that squirrels " occasionally seen in the woods of 

 Strathspey " could have come from Beaufort, where they were 

 only introduced in the same year. Notwithstanding the con- 

 secutive nature of the data stretching eastward from Inver- 

 ness, and the absence of more complete chronological data 

 along the valley of the Spey, I am almost inclined to accept 

 the dispersal from Eothiemurchus as populating the whole of 

 the country east of Inverness, and along the south shore of 

 the Moray Firth. There is much in our evidence to favour 

 such a dispersal. If we compare the areas populated from 

 other centres, and the time taken in each case in doing so, we 

 find that the four oldest restorations — natural and artificial 

 — viz., Dunkeld, Dalkeith, Minto, and Eothiemurchus, with 

 equal — or nearly equal — advantages of fresh young wood, and 

 available avenues of advance, should populate about equal 

 areas, while the younger or more recent restorations of Beau- 

 fort Castle (1844), and Minard, Argyleshire (1847), ought in 

 * "Zoologist" (1844), p. 423. 



