126 A VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF THE MORAY BASIN 



1654, (signed) George Monk. To the Right Honourable the Earl 

 of Earth (Airth)." ' [The Forester's Guide, by Robert Menteith, 

 p. xlvii.] 



On Speyside and elsewhere, ruthless destruction went on by 

 the York Building Company's operations, until the failure of that 

 undertaking put a stop to it.^ Besides these causes, fire, accidental 

 or premeditated, undoubtedly had its share, as there is abundance 

 of evidence to show. ^ 



At Guisachan and Strath Affric we have the direct testi- 

 mony of one Eory Macdonald, an old smuggler, who was alive 

 in 1880, but is since deceased, that when smuggling was so 

 largely carried on prior to 1840 or 1850, the smugglers made 

 free use of all the decayed and bored trees, at which the pro- 

 prietors winked, provided they left the sound trees alone. ^ In 

 the first volume of the first series of the Prize Essays and Trans- 

 actions of the Highland Society, 1799, p. 185, it is mentioned that, 

 at that date, remains of the old forests were * not unfrequent in 

 the upper parts of Argyllshire, and also in the North Highlands, 

 as at Braemar and the head of the river Dee.' But on Deeside 

 80,000 trees are stated to have been swept down, in tlie neigh- 

 bourhood of the Linns of Dee {The Braemar Highlands, p. 15, by 



^ By far the best account in detail of the proceedings of the York Company, 

 we believe, will be found in The York Building Company : a Chapter in Scotch 

 History, by David Murray, M.A., F.S.A. Scot. (Glasgow: James Maclehose 

 and Sons, 1883); and a most excellent general account has lately appeared in the 

 Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, by Mr. David Nairn, entitled, Notes 

 on Highland Woods, Ancient and Modern, vol. xvii. 1890-91, pp. 170-221, which, 

 however, is not exhaustive in details. Trees of much larger girth are instanced 

 in this article, which latter is well worthy of perusal by any one specially 

 interested in the subject. 



^ Mr. P. C. Mackenzie, Solicitor, Forres, possesses all the papers, accounts, 

 etc., of the 'York Building Company,' which relate to Aviemore. Mr. Mackenzie 

 kindly offered to look these up for our inspection, but to date of our going to 

 press, we have not procured a sight of them. 



^ This proves one cause — by fire alone, — just at a time when the disappearance 

 of the Great Spotted Woodpecker is said to have taken place (see under that 

 species). The said Rory Macdonald gave evidence also that these birds were 

 common previous to 1851. Many great fires, which are specified in Mr. David 

 Nairn's article before referred to, must have hastened the disappearance of this 

 species. 



