10 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
the separation of the Orkney Islands from the mainland ;* but its 
distribution over the mainland of Scotland at a time not very 
remote, must have been general, as we find records of it from 
the Border counties northward to Cape Wrath and Caithness. 
Pennant was probably in error when he assigned it a place amongst 
the mammals of Arran. From all the evidence at command it 
appears to have retreated northward from the southern counties, 
and to the wilder and more mountainous portions of the High- 
lands from the lower lying and more cultivated districts, finally 
finding refuge only in the deer-forests and larger extents of 
moorland where it has been least subjected to persecution. 
Mr. Alston, in his latest remarks (op. cit.), says, ‘I believe 
that none now exist south of the northern districts of Argyll and 
Perthshire ;’’ and from localities south of the limit indicated, 
I certainly find most difficulty in collecting any data, except such 
as has already been recorded by other writers. 
Beginning in the south of the country and proceeding north- 
wards, I propose first to treat of the localities or districts in which 
it has become extinct, recording, as far as materials permit, the 
approximate dates and circumstances of the last specimens killed, 
and any traditions connected with its former abundance, avoiding, 
however, as far as possible, tedious repetition of already existing 
records, except in so far as is necessary for the continuity of this 
paper. As I reach farther northward, to the districts where it is 
still far from approaching actual extinction, I will select from my 
notes and correspondence such particulars of its distribution, 
incidents of captures, &c., as may prove most interesting to the 
general reader, but will avoid going into details, which, however 
important and interesting after a species becomes extinct, it is 
* See Alston, ‘Fauna of Scotland’ (Mammalia), in the series published 
by the Natural History Society of Glasgow, 1880. I have statements 
from correspondents of the occurrence of the Wild Cat in the Isle of Skye, 
but the evidence is too conflicting to justify any faith whatever in the 
presence of the true Wild Cat there. It has, I believe, never been known 
there, and large specimens of the tabby run wild have been recorded as true 
Wild Cats. One weighing between thirty and forty pounds, according to a 
correspondent, for a long period adorned the hall of Kirkibost House, but 
is not now forthcoming. The “small species of Wild Cat” of the ‘Old 
Statistical Account’ (1793, vol. viii. p. 51), inhabiting the islands of Gigha 
and Cara, and living on rabbits, is, of course, the crofters’ tame cat run 
wild. 
