20 



MAMMALS. 



The fewest iu number was obtained in 1894, viz. 791 ; then came the next 

 fewest in 1895, viz. 784. In all the other seasons the numbers exceeded 800. 



In the Atholl returns both are also entered under one joint column. These reach 

 the great total of 7198 in the ten years or seasons between 1894-5 and 1903-4. An 

 analysis shows that the greatest numbers were paid for as follows : 806 in 1899- 

 1900 ; 792 in 1901-2 ; 770 in 1897-8 ; and 720 in 1903-4. 



The fewest in numbers were got as follows : 624 in 1894-5 ; 655 in 1895-6 ; 

 689 in 1902-3 ; 690 in 1896-7 ; and 694 in 1900-1. The whole gives an average of, 

 say, 720 per annum. 



There is one thing taught by such figures, viz. that they must surely convince some 

 sentimentalists how impoverished many larders might become of game and poultry 

 if aU trapping were abolished or even temporarily suspended ! It is possible that 

 in time, if such were done, things might right themselves, and the surplusages of 

 the increasing hordes of vermin might die off either from a surfeit or, much more 

 likely, from a final scarcity of supplies ; but that is an experiment very few of those 

 who know would be likely to try ; and if any one did set such a fashion and expect to 

 have other and all things on a country estate amenable, he would very soon find that 

 that fashion he set would require change, as most fashions do. 



In lists like the above, allowance must be given for the expertness or otherwise of 

 the men employed to keep down vermin, but this can scarcely be of so much value in 

 this case as with some other kinds of ferce naturce. But indeed there are few high- 

 land or lowland keepers and trappers who are not experts at such a necessary duty — 

 I mean the rare exceptions prove the rule. 



Where the two species are " lumped " together in the vermin lists, I give them 

 under the more general subject as above. But where they are kept separate, as they 

 are in some cases, I give examples under each species. 



Mustela vulgaris, ErxL Common Weasel. 



The old Statistical Account has only very fragmentary references to the 

 Weasel by name, as follows : Moulin (vol. v. p. 53), Weem (vol. xii. 

 p. 134), Killin (vol. xvii. p. 372), Dowally (vol. xx. p. 472). 



Commoner in the low grounds than the Stoat, but less abundant 

 tban the larger species in the more elevated and stonier portions of 

 the area. Formerly, when it was no doubt equally abundant as now, 

 it was rather held in favour by the farmers in the valleys as useful in 

 keeping down rats and mice, though taking an egg occasionally. 



On the comparatively small estate of Ballinlick returns of 501 

 Weasels are given, and from almost all places there is evidence of 

 greater or less abundance ; but the general evidence tends to the 

 belief that the larger species is the more generally abundant of the 

 two. In fact, the Weasel is more characteristic of a more southerly 

 and more lowland distribution, and the Stoat of a more northerly 

 and more alpine one. 



