I9I5- ScTTARFP. — O// Ihc Irish Names of Mammals. 47 



Although we know from the large quantity of bear 

 remains found in Ireland that bears must have been very 

 abundant in this country in the past, they had evidently 

 been exterminated before the 9th century A.D., as St. 

 Donatus clearly states that bears did not exist in Ireland 

 about the year 800. 



Boar (Wild). 



cope (2), ■pMcUc'i cotUe (6), pu\'66ullA6 (0), pu\'6nuic (0) 

 iniic (7), q\iAt(l), (older word). 



Wild swine abounded in the forests of Ireland when 

 Giraldus Cambrensis visited this country in the 12th 

 century. At what period they became extinct is not 

 known, although it has been asserted that they were 

 common until the 17th century. 



Deer. 



pAt) (2), pAti f (5), or, t^eg (1), (the last two are older 



words). 



W^e possess trustworthy evidence of the former presence 

 in Ireland of three distinct kinds of deer, viz., the Giant 

 Deer or so-called Irish Elk, the Reindeer, and the Red 

 Deer. It is quite certain that the first two species became 

 extinct in Ireland long ago, while the third still lingers in 

 a protected state in the south-west. The Giant Deer has 

 vanished altogether, the Reindeer has retreated northward. 

 It may be argued therefore that the first is the oldest and 

 the Reindeer the second oldest of the Irish deer. Neverthe- 

 less all the three species may possibly have still lived 

 together in Ireland in early Christian times. 



Several Irish names of Mammals have not yet been 

 identified. Among them may be words signifying Giant 

 Deer and Reindeer, and we may thus arrive at some more 

 definite conclusion as to the period during which these 

 animals died out in Ireland. O'Reilly translates boi^ce 

 by the word Elk" or Buffalo." The Elk is a North 

 European deer which once lived in Scotland, though there 

 is no clear evidence that it ever spread to Ireland. The 

 same author gives us for r^S " Moose Deer," which never 



