PREFACE. VII 



compare favourably with that of any other Scottish area 

 ill interest, however far short our endeavours may come 

 of doing it justice, and though it be far from ready for 

 the copestones. 



The chronology has been maintained since 1844 by 

 the late Dr. George Gordon, who had lived with the 

 century, and around whom clustered much of the 

 earlier and later work which has been done. All have 

 consulted him, and he has taken in hand many a young 

 naturalist, and interested many a native in Moray ; 

 and they have ever found in him an enthusiastic, 

 kindly, never-tiring, and steady friend and adviser, and 

 Science an unwearying and conscientious recorder and 

 defender. 



Indeed, we humbly feel that Dr. Gordon was the 

 man who ought to have undertaken these present 

 volumes, and it is only with an honest sense of our own 

 superficial acquaintance with the area, and at his express 

 request that we should do so, that we have accepted 

 the trust at his hands. 



The roll of names of those who have contributed to 

 the structure of the Natural History of Moray is a long 

 and an honourable one, and we propose very shortly to 

 sketch the past work accomplished, or rather to indicate 



