THE RARER ANIMALS OF SCOTLAND. 169 
shut in at each side, but open to the front; put the bait at the back 
and the trap at the opening; the trap must be roofed in. Of late 
years, however, in the east of the county it is stated to have 
reappeared. In an upholsterer’s window at Frazerburgh is 
exhibited a large Polecat shot at Kinnaird Head, near the town, 
during the winter of 1879-80. It is stated to be extinct now in 
Braemar, and has not been seen for at least fifteen years (say 1865) 
in the Old Mar Lodge grounds. 
Banff, Moray, and Nairn.—In these counties the Polecat, so 
far as shown by my returns, appears to be extinct, or nearly so. 
There used to be a few at Dalry, near Forres (Elgin), but when 
my informant left, at Christmas, 1876, they had been all killed off. 
In Darnaway Forest there are now probably none. The brother 
of the proprietor of Edintore (Banff), Mr. Hay, killed one twelve 
or thirteen years ago (say 1867-8), but none have been heard of at 
that place since. The locality is known to me, and was in a bank 
of whins near Keith. He caught it alive by the neck, like a 
ferret, carried it home and then killed it. Thomas Edward’s 
encounter with a Polecat in the ruined Castle of Boyne will be 
remembered by those who have read the ‘Life of a Scotch 
Naturalist,’ by Smiles. 
Invernesshire.—The abundance of the Polecat in certain parts 
of Scotland is testified to by certain records, of no very ancient 
date, left to us. Thus, in the ‘Highland Note-Book’ of Carruthers, 
it is noted that no fewer than one hundred and nine Polecats 
were killed during a war of extermination waged against vermin 
on the Glengarry shootings during the three years between 
Whitsuntide, 1837 and 1840. While the Polecat is now rare in 
the south of the county, and approaching extinction in many 
parts of it, it is still common in many of the wilder parts, 
especially in certain districts north of the Caledonian Canal ; 
and it is still to be found in Badenoch, and towards the south- 
western extremity of the Canal is still not rare, and is reported 
as commoner than the Marten. North of the Canal it has 
become rare in the east. From 1855 to 1865 the Polecat 
may be said to have been numerous at Guisachan. It is now 
seldom met with, but in 1878 two were taken, and three the year 
before; none, however, were seen in 1880. Very few have been 
found since 1874 on Struy, Beauley. The present head keeper 
has only killed five. South of the Canal, in Ben Alder Forest, 
Z 
