ANIMAL LIFE OF NORTH-EAST SCOTLAND 23 
on Donside having been killed at Alford in 1862, and on Deeside in Glen 
Tanar about 1875; the polecat or foumart (Mustela putorius), 30 of 
which were killed in 1863-64 by one keeper on a single Donside estate, 
has been absent from Aberdeenshire since about 1890 ; the pine-marten 
(Martes martes), having made last appearances in the low-lying part of 
the district, at Ellon in 1874 and in Fyvie in 1894 (probably as a wanderer 
from a distance), is extinct in the area, except perhaps in the woods of 
upper Strathdee. 
It may be said that the disappearance of these creatures was due solely 
to the deliberate attacks made upon them by man and had no connection 
with the reduction of woodland ; but the woods were their natural feeding 
ground and breeding ground, and about the same period woodland 
creatures against which man showed no special enmity were also dwindling 
in numbers or disappearing. Of the red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris), 
the capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) and the great spotted woodpecker 
(Dryobates major), early records within this district are scanty, but there is 
evidence here or in the neighbouring parts of Scotland that they became 
extinct respectively about the beginning of the nineteenth century, 
about 1770, and about 1840-50. 
These are some of the extreme changes ; we may take it that many 
lesser fluctuations and migrations followed upon each alteration in the 
amount and distribution of woodland. 
THE PRESENT-DAY FAUNA LARGELY MOULDED BY AGRICULTURE.— 
Agriculture abetted changing climate in reducing the forests, for forest 
was turned into sheep pasture, and so agriculture shares in the responsibility 
for the changes just mentioned. But, besides, agriculture played an active 
part in the deliberate destruction of the beasts and birds which threatened 
the safety of the farmers’ stock. Some of the beasts of prey we have 
already referred to ; few are left, but destruction still goes on. In 1930, 
on upper Donside and Deeside, 89 foxes and 113 fox cubs were killed. 
The larger birds of prey have suffered severely: between 1776 and 
1786 seventy eagles were killed in five Deeside parishes ; now, in spite 
of protective laws, only a few pairs of golden eagles (Aguila chrysaétus) 
nest in the Grampians. In 1859, according to Dr. Adams of Banchory, 
the white-tailed eagle (Haliaétus albicilla) was certainly not so rare as 
the golden eagle ; now it is extinct in Scotland, though its memory lingers 
in this district in several ‘ Erne Heughs ’ and ‘ Erne Craigs,’ which indicate 
its former nesting sites upon the coast cliffs. In MacGillivray’s time, 
about the middle of last century, the kite or glead (Milvus milvus) was 
still ‘not very uncommon in the upper tracts [of Deeside],’ though it 
made up part of the 2,520 ‘ small hawks and kites ’ killed in five Deeside 
parishes in 1776-86; but it also is extinct, for none has been seen 
since 18go. 
Destruction is by no means confined to birds of prey: during 1930 
the ‘ agricultural pests ’ reported killed to the Aberdeen County Council 
included 64,925 rooks and 3,563 eggs and 601 nests destroyed, 7,442 
wood-pigeons as well as nests and eggs destroyed, 1,992 house-sparrows 
and 704 eggs, 1,108 starlings, 897 gulls and 145 eggs, 1,494 brown hares 
and 175 squirrels. 
