170 



MAMMALS. 



example from the Cawdor Hills may from time to time be found 

 in the higher grounds, it is doubtful if there is at present (1892) a 

 single den within the bounds of the parish. Some fifty years ago 

 (say 1842), however, the Fox was very common, finding a safe 

 retreat in the ravine opposite Daltra on the Findhorn, as well 

 as among the impregnable cover at the Black Park on the side of 

 Cairnbar.' Mr. E. Thomson then describes Eeynard's midnight 

 and moonlight visits to the Gullery on the Loch of Belivat, 

 ' where he feasted sumptuously for several weeks in the year, on 

 the eggs and young of the Black-Headed Gulls (Larus ridibundus) 

 and other water-fowl.' 



'The gamekeepers of Glenferness,' continues Mr. R. Thomson, 

 • state that the individuals met with in the district are slightly 

 darker and a shade smaller than specimens occurring in the lower 

 and better cultivated flats. This circumstance may account for 

 the old belief, now almost forgotten, that the former variety was 

 known as the " Sheep-fox," while the latter was usually called the 

 "Fowl-fox."' 



Section ARCTOIDEA. 

 Family MUSTELIDJE. 



Mustela martes, Linn. Pine Marten. 



The Marten is now a very rare animal in the north of our area, 

 though perhaps not so rare as the Wild Cat. For this we think 

 we are indebted to the large deer-forest of Reay (W. Ross), which 

 marches with our present area in the extreme north-west, and 

 where the Marten seems still to maintain a precarious footing. 

 Every now and then a pair breed on Ben More, and they and 

 their offspring descend to the lower straths, when most of them 

 meet with the usual fate of such animals by the steel-trap. A 

 male was shot in Glencassley, in the Duchally wood, in November 

 1886, and as others were trapped just over the march on the 

 adjoining property the same winter, it looks as if one of these 

 sporadic visitations had occurred. The last we know of as having 

 been taken in the Moray portion of the county of Sutherland was 

 sent from Lairg, as mentioned by Mr. Snowie in the Inverness 

 Courier of November 22nd, 1889. 



