MAMMALS. 



introduction at Minto in 1827, and reached west and north through 

 Stirlingshire, it was first noticed in Clackmannan on June 20, 

 1837. and had become numerous by 1841. Then the earliest date I 

 have for the Fife side of the Firth of Forth, in the county of Fife, is 

 1825, when they appeared on the estates of Lord liosslyn near Dysart ; 

 and, by another witness, not before 1834. The following lines I 

 quote fully, as they indicate an excellent " stepping-stone " in our 

 chronology. 



Captain (now Colonel) H. W. Feilden, writing to me under date 

 of 15th December 1878, gave me the full account of the species in 

 the East Xeuk of Fife. 



He says : " Thirty years ago there were no Squirrels in the East 

 Neuk of Fife, i.e. say in 1848. They had not extended as far as 

 Kinglassie AVood, a large fir- and spruce-covered area which lay 

 between St. Andrews and Crail. Neither were there any Squirrels 

 in Aii'drie Wood, not far from Crail. The absence of these animals 

 in the East Xeuk thirty years ago was impressed upon my mind by 

 my father bringing a couple of dead ones from beyond Cupar. 

 These were stuffed and cased in the hall of Cambo House, Sir Thomas 

 Erskine's residence, where we then lived."' Colonel Feilden then 

 goes on to say : " Five and-twenty years ago (say 1854) they were very 

 numerous in the Howe of Fife, i.e. the fertile strath drained by the 

 Eden, to the eastward of Cupar. They were abundant amongst the 

 timber of Rankeillour Park and the large woods which clothed the 

 Mount Hill, an eminence in the parish of Monimail, on which the 

 Hopetown monument stands. They were common in a large wood 

 near Springfield, at Lower Eankeillour (Creighton Macgill's), in the 

 woods around Ladybank Junction, and at Melville (Lady Elizabeth 

 Cart Wright's). I never remember seeing them at Wemyss Hall (my 

 uncle's, now my cousin's). I cannot help thinking that Squirrels 

 were found at Birkhall (Wedderburn's) near Taymouth : but 

 remember it is now twenty-five years since I lived in Fife.'"'" 



To this Dr. Mackintosh of St. Andrews adds, under date of 1879 : 

 "Twenty years ago (say 1859) they were abundant all over the 

 county of Fife." But at the time I wrote, even then the extreme 

 East Xeuk of Fife did not appear to have participated in the dispersal. 

 They had, however, certainly arrived at Xewburgh on Tay (1879). 



Xow they reached by the Frew Bridge across the river Forth to the 

 west of Stirling into the county of Perth (p. 141) : and the whole of 



