1 1 o EXTINCT BRITISH ANIMALS. 



Sed horum genus deletum et ex insuld exterminatum 

 est."* 



Pennant states that the Wolf became extinct in 

 Scotland in 1680, when the last of the race was 

 slain by Sir Ewen Cameron of LochieLt He adds 

 that he had travelled " into almost every corner of 

 that country, but could not learn that there remained 

 even the memory of these animals among the oldest 

 people. "\ 



From more recent investigation, however, it is 

 clear that Sir Robert Sibbald and Pennant were 

 both mistaken, for not only were Wolves slain 

 in Scotland subsequently to 1680, but numerous 

 traditions concerning these animals survived in 

 the country to at least as recent a date as 1848. 



Traditions. — In a Gaelic forest lay " of a remote 

 period, the date and author of which are uncertain," 

 the Wolf is thus referred to as inhabiting the ancient 

 pine woods of Scotland : — 



" Chi mi Sgdrr-eild' air bruaich a' ghlinn' 

 An goir a' chuthag gu-binn an dbs. 

 'Us gbrm mheall-aild' nam mile guibhas 

 Nan lub, nan earba, 's nan Ion." 



" I see the ridge of hinds, the steep of the sloping glen 

 The wood of cuckoos at its foot, 

 The blue height of a thousand pines, 

 Of wolves, and roes, and elks.§ 



* " Scotia Illustrata, sive Prodromus Historian Naturalis,'' folio, 

 1684, pars ii. p. 9. 



t Surtees gives the date of the death of the last Wolf in Scotland as 

 1682. "History and Antiquities of the County of Durham,"vol. ii. p. 1 72. 



% "British Zoology," vol. i. p. 88; and "Tour in Scotland," 

 vol. i. p. 206. 



§ From ' The Aged Bard's Wish,' given in Stuart's " Lays of the: 

 Deer Forest," ii. p. 9. 



