3IAMMALS. 



177 



From 1855 to 1865 the Polecat may be said to have been 

 numerous at Guisachan, but is now (1893) seldom, if ever, met 

 with. In 1878 two were taken, and three the year before. None 

 were seen in 1880, but about 1883 one was taken in a rabbit-trap, 

 and some have been seen there since. Since 1872 very few have 

 been seen at Struy ; the last we heard of was trapped in 1886, and 

 Mr. A, Eoss, the keeper who sent us this note, adds : * I may say 

 they are almost extinct.' 



In the districts south of the Great Glen, the Polecat, so far as 

 shown by our returns, appears to be extinct, or nearly so. It is 

 recorded in the O.S.A. as occasionally found in Grange parish of 

 Deveron and Kirkmichael of Spey. There used to be a few at 

 Dalvey, near Forres (Elgin), but when our informant left, at 

 Christmas 1876, they had been all killed off. In Damaway Forest 

 there are now probably none. The brother of the proprietor of 

 Edintore (Banff), Air. Hay, killed one about 1867-68, but none 

 have been heard of at that place since. The locality is kno\vn to 

 us, and was in a bank of whins near Keith. He caught it alive 

 by the neck, like a ferret, carried it home and then killed it. 

 Thomas Edward's encounter with a Polecat in the mined Castle 

 of Boyne will be remembered by those who have read the Life 

 of a Scotch Naturalist J by Smiles. Writing in 1891, Mr. "William 

 Eobertson, whose name we have several times already mentioned, 

 said it was over thirty years since he had seen a Polecat in the 

 Dulnan valley. 



On Rothiemay property, on the river Deveron, there weic 

 killed seven Polecats between 1864 and 1869, and none have been 

 seen since to date of 1891, as we are informed by Mr. W. P. 

 Brown, gamekeeper there, in a return sent us of vermin destroyed. 

 Mr. J. G. Phillips speaks of it as ' much more common in Glenlivet 

 in 1885 than the Wild Cat or Marten.' 



At Fochabers the last Polecat was obtained about 1887, as 

 we are informed by Mr. James Wedderspoon, factor. Estates 

 Office, Fochabers. 



*In November 1891 the boys attending the Ferness Public 

 School, while at play on the bank of the Findhorn, succeeded in 

 killing a fine specimen of the Polecat, and brought the carcass to 

 show us what "a big Weasel" they had caught. In this parish 

 Ardclach), as elsewhere, the Polecat has now become extremely 



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