66 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



animals are rigidly conserved the time is not far away 

 when many of the most valuable species will be exterminated 

 and furs will be worn only by the very rich." But having 

 recognised the danger, the United States are making a 

 serious effort to meet it. Their advisers see that " mainten- 

 ance of the fur supply involves the protection of the available 

 stock, especially when the pelts are not prime, and the 

 production of the animals under controlled conditions." 



It is a strange thing that while birds galore receive 

 protection through our laws, no attempt has been made to 

 protect even the rarest of our mammals. How different 

 the status of the extinct and dwindling fur-bearers of 

 Scotland, say the Beaver, the Marten, and the Polecat, 

 might have been, had the commercial possibilities of pro- 

 tection been considered, and had they received through the 

 centuries a tithe of the protection which has saved from 

 extermination such a creature of sport as the Red Deer ! 

 Perhaps it is too late to hope for the inauguration of new 

 schemes, perhaps commerce may see no justification in 

 conserving the creatures that are left ; but we would com- 

 mend for consideration at least, the conclusion of the 

 American experts : " A greatly increased production can be 

 made possible only by domesticating the animals, just as 

 live stock are now raised ; and by establishing preserves 

 for them where they may be safe from molestation. Pro- 

 tected areas stocked with the best fur animals that can be 

 found will become centers from which choice breeding stock 

 can be obtained for establishing other preserves and for 

 private use." ^ 



* * * * 



Since our last number went to press, Scotland has lost 

 two eminent naturalists. On i6th April Mr Osgood H. 

 Mackenzie died in his eightieth year at Inverewe, Ross-shire, 

 where by his successful cultivation of southern shrubs and 

 trees he demonstrated how closely our west coast climate 

 still resembles that of the so-called sub-tropical times of 

 former ages. His recent collection of observations, A 



^ Department Circular 135, of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. 



