210 



MAMMALS. 



nearly ran between another master's legs as he was coming under 

 the archway of the entrance. 



The O.S.A. gives Grange parish (vol. ix. p. 581), Abernethy 

 and Kincardine [Spey] (vol. xiii. p. 136), and Mortlach (vol. xvii. 

 p. 418) as localities. There seems to be no remembered limit to 

 the records of its occurrence in the Deveron valley. Mr. W. A. 

 Brown, lately keeper at Eothiemay, says : — ' Known in the district 

 for at least seventy years.' 



There was a coursing club started at Elgin about 1852; it 

 existed for some twenty years, and Captain Dunbar-Brander was 

 a member. At that time a Hare or two could be found in every 

 field, and it is a capital coursing country. Now there are not 

 Hares enough left to afford sport. 



Mr. Thomson of Ferness speaks of it in the usual terms now 

 (1893) so much in practice, thus: — 'It is not now so abundant 

 over the parish (of Ardclach) as it formerly was. This is no doubt 

 owing to the operation of the Ground Game Act.' 



Lepus variabilis, Pa?/as. Mountain Hare. 



Since the Fauna of Sutherland and Cromarty was published in 1887, 

 White Hares have much decreased in the Sutherland portion of 

 our area. On some farms they have been exterminated through 

 the working of the Ground Game Act, and in other parts they 

 have been destroyed in the interests of the deer-stalker. 



Writing us under date of October 19th, 1888, from Invergarry, 

 Captain Ellice says : — ' Hares are almost extinct, and I expect 

 that in a year or two the eagles will finish off the remaining few. 

 The extinction of the hares (here) has nothing to do with the 

 Hares and Babbits Bill. About ten years ago they swarmed here, 

 and my uncle commenced a crusade against them. AVe killed 

 about 1200 a year for two years; and then, I suppose, there was 

 not a sufficient stock left to allow them to get up again.' 



\Anien at Guisachan and Invergarry in the spring of 1892 we 

 did not see half-a-dozen hares during our walks on the hill, but we 

 were informed by the keepers that they were once common, if not 

 abundant, in those parts. 



White Hares vary as to their numbers in a most won- 

 derful manner in different years. Certainly, the presence of 

 vermin alone cannot account for this, as vermin are persistently 



