18 THE ZOOLOGIS'. 
The last Wild Cat seen in the district around Loch Awe was near 
Kilchurn Castle, where one was trapped by Donald M‘Kercher, 
gamekeeper to the Earl of Breadalbane, in Letter Wood, about 
1864; it is said to have measured three feet eleven inches from 
the nose to the tip of the tail! I heard of one trapped also at 
Inverary Castle, about 1828, by Mr. George Brand, when keeper 
there, who tracked it for several miles in snow. In Ardnamurchan 
it is difficult to say if it is really extinct, as wanderers from Sunart 
and adjoining districts may still occasionally turn up. Be that as 
it may, three Wild Cats were seen in 1871, crossing from Sunart 
into Ardnamurchan. ‘Two of these were trapped afterwards by 
Mr. Simon Ross, gamekeeper, in April, 1872, near Glenborrodale, 
and the third was killed further west by John Cameron, the other 
keeper, in June of the same year. None have been seen or heard 
of since. ‘The proprietor informs me they have never been 
numerous since he first knew the place, in 1856, and probably not 
more than eight or nine have been killed on it altogether since 
that time. In Lochiel it has long been the practice to keep down 
the vermin, a clause being inserted in all Lochiel’s leases binding 
his tenants to pay the fox-hunter for killing vermin, amongst which 
Wild Cats are named; and many leases of Highland estates bear 
similar testimony to their presence, or the necessity of preventing 
them becoming too numerous. In Sunart, in 1879, Mr. Murray, 
gamekeeper, killed a very fine Wild Cat close to Strontian House, 
on February 14th. Mr. Murray tells me it took away a hen from 
his house. Snow being on the ground at the time, he tracked it 
easily to a laurel-bush within four hundred yards of Strontian 
House. He got the hen, and, setting his traps, secured the animal 
by ten o’clock the same night. In 1878 Mr. Murray captured 
another, also in February, in Carnbaan Wood, which had com- 
mitted great havoc amongst the poultry and ducks of the crofters. 
‘He got another in 1874, in October, in Arieundle Wood; and 
a very fine one was caught by a shepherd at Ranachan, in 
Camusain Wood, on the north side of Loch Sunart, which was 
sent alive to Glasgow. 
Forfar and Kincardine.—As regards Forfar, somewhat vague 
information exists that one was killed in the north-east of the 
county some nine or ten years ago, and was sent to the Montrose 
Museum. In Glendye, which drains into the Feugh and thence 
to the Dee at Banchory, two were killed by a gamekeeper named 
