MAMMALS. 



205 



seen a few individuals in their earlier days. As it never burrowed, 

 like the Brown Rat, the discontinuance of all the old-fashioned 

 straw-thatched houses of the above period has entirely done away 

 with its favourite haunts. We doubt if there exists in the present 

 day a solitary specimen of the ancient breed in Nairnshire, or any 

 of the neighbouring counties.' 



Mr. Anderson, farmer, Drachlaw, near Turriff, on the river 

 Deveron, told us he could well remember, about forty years ago — 

 say 1853 — when the Black House-Rat swarmed in his house, and 

 they used to banish them by singeing one, rubbing it with pitch, 

 and turning it loose in the upper parts of the house. He assured 

 us they were infinitely more destructive than the Brown or 

 Norwegian Rat. On one occasion at Drachlaw, Mr. Anderson and 

 his servants killed thirty-seven of the true old Black Rat, as he has 

 just informed us — viva voce. 



Mus decumanus, Brown Rat. 



Abundant everywhere. We have no record of the black form of 

 this species in our area ; nor are we aware that this occurs any- 

 where on the mainland of Scotland. 



Writing in 1846, at page 70 of his Wild Sports of the Highlands, 

 St. John remarks that these creatures abound in all the small 

 towns of this country, especially when herring-curing is carried on, 

 that they had been seen migrating in large companies from these 

 towns to the country, and that they had then nearly extirpated 

 the much less vile race of British rats. 



Now, in 1775, Lachlan Shaw wrote that he had never seen 

 any rats in Strathspey or Badenoch, ' although,' he adds, • I have 

 lived long in these countries ' {History of Mvraij, p. 1 60). 



The O.S.A. is silent. 



Dr. Gordon, in his Fauna of Moray, 1889 edition, p. 14, tells us 

 this invader was first seen upon the coast thirty years previous to 

 1844, and since then it has moved inland, fast closing in upon the 

 north foot of the Grampian range.' 



The New Statistical Account has a foot-note at p. 12, parish of 

 Duthil, vol. xiii., as follows : — * Since the above was written, rats 

 have become very numerous.' And it is also spoken of as having 

 been introduced into the parish of Tain 'within the last few 

 years ' {vide p. 285). 



