22 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
house, across a narrow part of the loch, where it is very deep, to 
the Carril Rock, where Wild Cats breed, and are occasionally 
trapped. Fearing lest, if she allowed it to land, she should have 
to turn back for a mile or more, and go round by the bridge, she 
resolved to attack it in the water, and partially stunned it with a 
stone. By the time it crawled ashore she had found a suitable 
stick, and killed it at the water’s edge. The cat was afterwards 
seen by several who were well able to tell a Wild Cat from a tame 
one.” Iwill here repeat the oft-quoted “ List of Vermin destroyed 
and premiums paid for the same on the Duchess-Countess of 
Sutherland’s Estates in the County of Sutherland, from March, 
1831, to March, 1834.”* From this list it appears that during 
that time 901 Wild Cats,} Martens, and Fumarts were destroyed; 
2s. 6d. was given for each head, representing for these animals 
alone £112 12s. 6d. According to a list of vermin killed on 
Dunrobin Grounds, house cats and Wild Cats are distinguished, 
and six is the number of the latter killed, or reported, between 
1873 and 1880. I am indebted to Mr. Inglis for this list of 
vermin, which presents much of interest to those who study the 
past and present distribution of our indigenous animals. From 
similar returns kindly placed at my disposal by Mr. M‘Iver, from 
the Assynt and part of Durness districts, I find that one keeper in 
Assynt killed no less than twenty-six Wild Cats between 1869 and 
1880, but of these only three during the last six years. Another 
keeper killed ten between 1870 and 1873, but none again until the 
winter of 1879-80, when he killed four, one of which is described 
as a “monster.” ‘This last was sent to Mr. M‘Leay, Inverness, and 
eventually it was sold toa gentleman in Edinburgh.{t In Durness 
they appear to be scarcer, judging from the returns. Between 
1870 and 1880 records of two only, and these in 1878 and 1879, 
* “On the Quadrupeds and Birds inhabiting the County of Sutherland, 
observed there during an Excursion in the Summer of 1834,” by P. J. Selby, 
F.R.S.E., F.L.S., &e. (Edin. New Phil. Journ., Jan.—April, 1886, p. 158). 
+ In such lists, however, it is not always easy to separate veritable Wild 
Cats from tame, and the statistics must be taken “ cwm grano salis.” 
} The keeper referred to reports, “‘ About four or five years ago I used to 
get a great many more, but the vermin are getting very scarce now.” I may 
add here that a large number of lists of vermin received by me from Suther- 
land and various other parts of Scotland show the general decadence of the 
species in a very distinct and undeniable light. 
