156 



MAMMALS. 



mammal and its occurrence anywhere within our area. Other nega- 

 tive evidence is also given by authors. Fleming, about 1827, set 

 the limit of its distribution to the northward at the Moray Firth, 

 but he does not descend to particulars. Thos. Macpherson Grant, ^ 

 writing to Dr. Gordon, under date of 12th November 1844, 

 says : — ' The first Hedgehog I have been able to hear of at Ballin- 

 dalloch was taken in a vermin trap in the summer of 1829. Since 

 that period they have become quite common, and, during the bright 

 moonlight nights of autumn, they are constantly to be found near 

 the house. I have handled many different ones of various sizes 

 during the same season. . . . The food of those I have captured 

 seemed to consist chiefly of the minute brown beetles abundant in 

 cow-dung, but, while confined in a box for the night, they have 

 eaten small portions of apples or pears placed beside them.' In 

 another note, attached to his collection catalogue, Mr. Macpherson 

 Grant says : — 'They used to be pretty common at Rothiemurchus.' 



In 1832, or about that time, the Rev. Wm. Forsyth ^ remembers 

 that the Hedgehog was supposed to be extinct (sic), and that thirty 

 years afterwards, say 1862, it had become quite common, and, 

 adds Rev. Mr. Forsyth, in lit. to Harvie-Brown, 'I suppose is so 

 still, though not so numerous of late years.' 



In 1838, when MacGillivray wrote his British Quadrupeds for 

 Jardine's 'Naturalists' Library,' he spoke of it as only occurring 

 'in the southern and part of the middle divisions of Scotland,' and 

 distinctly avers, ' but is not found in the northern districts of the 

 latter country, nor in the western or northern islands.' 



The late Dr. Gordon, in 1844, spoke of it as very rare,^ and 

 added : — 'A few years ago, when clearing away the foundations of 



^ Thos. Macpherson Grant, Esq. of Craigo, and an Edinburgh Advocate, presented 

 all his collection of birds, mostly collected around Ballindalloch, which place he 

 rented, to the Elgin Museum, along with an elaborate and careful catalogue and 

 notes, which we often quote. Mr. Macpherson Grant was a gentleman of consider- 

 able scientific attainment, who contributed articles to the Edin. New Philosophical 

 Journal of the time (1830), e.g. 'The Brocken on Ben MacDhui,' October 10, 1830, 

 etc., quoted from Speyside Guide, Forres, 1852, q.v. p. 84. 



2 Rev. Dr. Wm. Forsyth, long resident clergyman of Abernethy parish, and a 

 gentleman who has devoted a large share of his leisure and attention to the anti- 

 quities, history, and natural history of his native parish. Dr. Forsyth was an early 

 correspondent of the late Dr. George Gordon when that gentleman was preparing his 

 Fauna of Moray. 



3 Fauna of Moray, Zool. 1844, p. 421. 



