Ixx 



DEFINITION OF THE AREA. 



Kincardineshire and Forfarshire, principal amongst which are the 

 two Esks — North and South ; and in Fifeshire by the river Eden. 



The whole area, as I will again point out, may be described as 

 roughly of a pear-shape, with the narrow portion, or root of the stalk, 

 at Girdleness, and the greater part of the remainder bounded, as 

 already indicated, by the Great Fault formed by the continuous 

 range of the Grampian Mountains. 



Now, the line of the Great Geological Fault can most correctly 

 be termed the divide between the faunal areas of Dee on the 

 north and a small part of Moray, and that of Tay on the south. 

 Tay includes the red alluvial tract of Strathmore, which was at one 

 time the site of the Great Caledonian Lake which stretched continu- 

 ously right across Scotland, and which has in later sequence of 

 geological change been filled in and silted up above the sea-level by 

 the denudation from the hills and upheaval of the coast. 



The whole Tay Basin therefore, and the wide Strathmore, include 

 in a natural topography and fauna the entire seacoast, with its 

 bays and cliff-heights, between the point at Girdleness and the true 

 watershed of the south bank of the lower Tay — i.e. to the low ridge 

 which separates it on the south from Forth — and all the inland por- 

 tions which drain into Tay and between these coast headlands. And 

 this includes that small portion which forms the narrow end of the 

 pear, and which lies between Girdleness and Stonehaven, and which 

 is considered by me to form a portion of a natural faunal area. 



Although I have not personally inspected the whole of the 

 extensive sky-line, nor all of the coast, I have seen the most of 

 the latter, and I believe my general knowledge of the geography 

 of Scotland enables me to place these statements with sufficient 

 accuracy for the practical purposes of a faunal volume. 



As I have pointed out, the long and wide depression of the land 

 which occupies the site of the ancient Caledonian Lake stretches at 

 much lower levels across the country immediately to the south of 

 the divide — a rich alluvial tract with wealth of agricultural value, if 

 any agricultural value now exists. The altitude of the watershed 

 between the lower flow of the rivers which run through this great 

 plain to the North Sea and those which find their way to the Tay 

 is only a very few feet, and may be taken at a point upon the main 

 line of railway near Forfar. As the site of the ancient Caledonian 



