u 



MAMMALS. 



from Wolves" — was erected, as were many others in existence for 

 similar purpose. 



Camden still speaks of AVolves generally in Scotland, but in 

 Gibson's edition he has the marginal note, "No Wolves now in 

 Scotland (1777)." Sibbald dated the extinction at the time he 

 wrote in 1684 (Scotia lUustrata, part ii. p. 9). Surtees gives the 

 date of 1682, and Pennant says 1680 (Tour in Scotland, vol. i. p. 206). 

 BufFon had it that "Wolves still existed" when he wrote in 1756. 

 M'Queen, who killed the supposed "Last Wolf" on the Findhorn, 

 died in 1797. 



The old Statistical Account (vol. ii. p. 465, 1792) gives the infor- 

 mation that "the woods in Blair Atholl and Struan afforded shelter 

 for Wolves" (p. 473), and "coffins were made of five flagstones to 

 preserve dead bodies from Wolves in Atholl." In the Agricultural 

 Survey of Perthshire it is stated that " Government increased the 

 reward for killing a Wolf in proportion as the species became more 

 rare." And, as we are informed by Dr. Buchanan White (Scot. 

 Nat., vol. iii. p. 284), "the pits in which the hunters lay in watch 

 for them were still traceable," i.e. on the occasion of a visit paid to 

 the Glen of Atholl by members of the Perthshire Society of Natural 

 Science. 



The Stuarts in their Lays of the Deer Forest (p. 109) tell us that 

 perhaps " the greatest number of traditions are preserved in one 

 circle around Strathearn," i.e. as regards their previous abundance. 



Along the northern border of Tay, Scrope, in his able account of 

 Days of Deer- Stalking in the Forest of Atholl, mentions its lingering 

 about Ben Alder {op. cit., p. 109). 



As regards the testimony adduced by Harting, found in the sale- 

 catalogue of the London Museum of April 1818, lot 832, as follows : 

 "Wolf — a noble animal in a glass case. The last killed by Sir 

 Ewen Cameron," it may be evidence or not. By the insertion of the 

 word "was" between the words "last" and "killed," a totally 

 different reading would be exhibited, and the whole significance of 

 the statement would be altered. 



Millais and Harting also quote the account of more "Last 

 Wolves " as given — but outside this area. 



The old Statistical Account also relates the tale of other "Last 

 AVolves in Scotland," viz. : In the middle of the last century "two 

 Wolves — the last seen in Scotland — were chased from the wood of 

 Trowan {i.e. near Glen Turret, Perthshire), and followed by their 

 pursuers into the Highlands, where they were killed." 



