BRITISH MAMMALS 



THE REINDEER. 



Rangifer tarandus, Linnaeus. 



The number of horns of the Reindeer found in marl and peat deposits 

 prove the abundance of this species in the British Islands in pre-historic 

 times, and for long afterwards it lingered in Caithness and the Orkneys. 



From a passage in the Orkneyinga Saga^ it appears to have been 

 regularly hunted in the mountains of Caithness by the jarls of Orkney, who 

 in summer crossed to the mainland for this purpose (Harting). 



There is a good figure of the animal incised in an ancient monumental 

 stone near Grantown. 



THE WILD BOAR. 

 Sus scrofa, Linnaeus. 



The Wild Boar was a common beast of the forest inhabiting Britain in 

 early times, and is frequently mentioned in the laws and in books on 

 hunting of those days. 



It is said to have been still plentiful in the reign of Henry VIII., 

 though when it actually became extinct in England is uncertain. 



Like the Wolf, the Wild Boar has left traces of his presence in the 

 names of many places in the British Islands, showing how common he must 

 have been at one time. 



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