MAMMALS. 



163 



In 1880 three large Wild Cats were trapped by Mr. A. Frazer, 

 gamekeeper, in the deer-forest at Portclair, Fort Augustus, and 

 more could then have been killed ; and farther to the north, 

 amongst the wilds of Fannich, they were still reckoned abundant. 

 Several had been killed during the previous ten years — 1870 to 

 1880 — by foresters, but little or no trapping had been done for 

 some four or five years. Mr. John Maclennan, forester in Fannich 

 (since deceased), a good observer, wrote to us in 1880 : — ' One was 

 seen last winter not five miles from Loch Luichart. The track was 

 seen, in the winter of 1879, of a three-legged Wild Cat in the 

 snow, about three miles from here — Fannich Forest Lodge, Loch 

 Luichart — and probably was the same that had left a leg in a 

 trap some years ago.' Seven years ago Maclennan shot a fox 

 and a Wild Cat from the same cairn, the former of which had a 

 litter of cubs. 



Mr. James Sargeant, gamekeeper at Beauly, informed Harvie- 

 Brown (in lit. 7/v/80) that he had killed thirty-six Wild Cats 

 since 1874, and designated the species as 'the commonest of our 

 wild animals at that time.' 



In 1880 large numbers of true Wild-Cat skins were hanging 

 up in the premises of Mr. M'Pherson, saddler, Kingussie, which, 

 along with the skins of unusually large * fahhies,' had been 

 collected for sale from a large area of the Highlands. Amongst 

 these there were very few from any localities south of Loch 

 Ness. 



The late Lord Tweedmouth — then Sir Dudley Coutts ^larjori- 

 banks — wrote us that ' true Wild Cats are trapped every year at 

 Guisachan, Beauly — from five to eight every year since 1855. 

 In the season 1879-80 five have been taken already, and the 

 trapping season does not end till the 1st of May. At present 

 they are considered to be on the increase, owing to the larger 

 number of deer-forests' (in lit. 30/i/80). By 1892, however, he 

 informed us the Wild Cat had already become much scarcer, and 

 only two were taken during the past winter. Even there the sure 

 process of destruction is very significantly traceable, the vast deer- 

 forests occupied by American millionaires failing to aff"ord the /era 

 natune sufficient refuge. 



At Invergarry Wild Cats are occasionally trapped, but this 

 is more by accident than intent, as Mrs. Ellice, the proprietrix, 



