Mr Harvie-Broion on the Squirrel in Great Britain. 163 



from Beaufort,* and also indicates its advance southward 

 along the south side of Loch Ness. One was taken on board 

 the sloop " Maithe Dhu," of Peel, in the spring of 1850, at 

 Dochgarroch Lock. They can easily pass across the canal 

 locks. 



Following up the valley of Strathgiass {i.e., in a south- 

 westerly direction). Sir Dudley Marjoribanks supplies the 

 following information : " The squirrel was unknown here 

 [at Guisachan] previous to 1857, when a few were ob- 

 served. They were supposed to have come from the east {i.e., 

 Beauly), it being generally reported that Lady Lovat had, a 

 few years previously, turned out three or four pairs at 

 Beaufort. . . . Squirrels became very numerous and 

 troublesome at Guisachan in 1862, and were destroyed in 

 considerable numbers. In that year from twelve to twenty 

 could be shot in an afternoon, within a mile of the house. 

 They have now either left this district, or have died out. 

 Though one or two can be seen at any time in their more 

 favourite haunts, they are no longer destructive." 



South-west from Beaufort along the north side of Loch 

 Ness, I have abundance of evidence of their progress. Mr 

 P. Burgess, factor for Glen Morriston, writes : " It is sup- 

 posed — indeed almost certain — that squirrels came from Glen 

 Urquhart into Glen Morriston {i.e., from the north-east). I 

 am informed that it is about thirty-five years since squirrels 

 were first seen in Glen Morriston " [say 1844, a very early 

 date. — J. A. H. B,]. " For the first five years or so, 

 few of them were to be seen, until about fifteen years ago 

 (1864), when they became very numerous. Steps were then 

 taken to destroy them, and now there are not many to be 

 met with." 



Mr Alexander Frazer, who has been forty years game- 

 keeper at Fort Augustus to Lord Lovat, whose lands extend 

 southward from Glen Morriston, and round the southern end 

 of the loch, writes further in reply to a letter from Mr W. 

 A. Stables, who has given me much assistance in working 

 this district, that he " was not aware of any squirrels being 



* Taken in conjunction with their having; reached the eastern confines of 

 the county in 1851, before passing into Nairn as already related. 



