MA3IMALS. 



209 



twenty years ago he experienced the ravages of this or a simi- 

 lar destructive animal on the banks of the Spey about Arndilly 

 and Boat o' Bridge. He has little doubt that it is owing to 

 their abundance and consequent destructiveness, and not to the 

 nature of the soil, that in some localities, in plantations throughout 

 the north of Scotland, it has been found impossible to raise the 

 larch.' 



Mr. W. Taylor writes much in the same strain. The species is 

 common in the neighbourhood of Lhanbryde, and in specimens 

 captured in December and January the stomachs were full of 

 fragrant larch. 



Arvicola amphibia, L. Water Vole. 



The Water Vole occurs all through our present area, the black 

 variety predominating, and both varieties have been procured 

 from several localities and forwarded to Mr. Eagle-Clarke for the 

 Edinburgh Museum by Dr. Gordon. The black variety was sent 

 by Hinxman, who obtained it on the Avon, in Banffshire. We 

 constantly see both varieties when fishing on the Deveron, Livet, 

 and streams of the Cam district, as also on the banks of the Spey. 

 Mr. R. Thomson also speaks of both varieties occurring on the 

 Findhorn, but at Foyers Mr. Chisholm considers the black form 

 as rather rare. 



Sub-order DUPLICIDENTATA. 

 Family LEPORID-ffi. 

 Lepus europaeus, Pall. Common Hare. 



Common and widely distributed, as far north as Helmsdale, though 

 fast decreasing under the Ground Game Act. The BrouTi Hare, 

 as it is usually called in the Highlands, follows cultivation far up 

 the glens : thus it is quite a common animal at Guisachan. 



Even close to a town like Inverness the Brown Hare is 

 occasionally seen. Mr. Formby, lately one of the masters at the 

 College, told us that he several times saw Hares in a garden 

 adjoining the playground, and that on another occasion a Hare 







