MA^IMALS. 



203 



' black,' the probability seems in favour of this species being 

 intended. 



The following interesting communication is from the pen of 

 T. Macpherson-Grant, Ballindalloch, to the Kev. Geo. Gordon of 

 Birnie : — 



* I am reluctant to differ from the opinions expressed in The 

 Fauna regarding the cause of the decrease of the Black Rat 

 throughout the island ; but my observations tend to support the 

 common belief that they are either driven oft' or destroyed by the 

 larger brown species. 



'It was about twenty years ago, or somewhat less, that Rats were 

 first seen at Ballindalloch ; they were then all of the black species, 

 and I find, on reference to some remarks of mine, published in the 

 Field Naturalist for 1834, that, down to that year at least, none of 

 the brown had made their appearance. The latter have, however, 

 since arrived, and in proportion to their rapid increase, so have 

 their predecessors diminished, till now at length very few remain. 

 It was at this farm that the brown rats first appeared, and it was 

 thought that soon afterwards the black ones became more 

 numerous in the mansion-house and stables, but it was not long 

 before their rivals followed and supplanted them almost every- 

 where. I may also observe that the buildings were all slated 

 from the first, and that they still remain in the same condition as 

 formerly. I possess a stufi'ed specimen of the older species, which 

 is of a curious iron-grey colour, there being even some white hairs 

 intermingled in the fur ' (November 1844). 



Captain Dunbar-Brander, to whom we are so often indebted 

 for most useful and interesting notes, wrote to us in 1891 as 

 follows : — ' The Black Rat was in every house ; it lived all over 

 the house, up in the garrets like a mouse. It was far more de- 

 structive in a house than the Grey Rat, which seldom leaves the 

 ground floor. This (Pitgaveny) is an old house, and there is a 

 hole cut in every door by them. They got into the unused beds 

 and cut the blankets, and made nests like chaff" in a stack.' 

 Captain Dunbar-Brander then continues : — ' When Roualeyn 

 (Gordon-Cumming) was a boy, Altyre was overrun with the 

 Black Rat, now extinct. His father paid him so much for every 

 one he killed; he produced the tails to his father. The little 

 mammal was gradually getting scarcer. To keep up the breed 



