21 
of Edinburgh, Session 1882-83. 
only 45,000. By far the larger portion of the Western area is oc- 
cupied by an almost purely Celtic population ; while the inhabitants 
of the Eastern area, with the exception of the county of Perth, are 
chiefly Scandinavian or Teutonic. 
In three of the eleven counties constituting the northern division 
of Scotland, — viz., Nairn, Aberdeen, and Kincardine, — and in all the 
counties south of Banffshire, with the exception of four, — amounting 
in all to twenty, — the decrease in the rate of illegitimacy ranged 
from 0’5 per cent, in the case of Roxburgh, to 1*9 per cent, in the 
case of Clackmannan. On the other hand, in eight of the eleven 
northern counties, and also in Argyll, Linlithgow, Dumfries, and 
Kirkcudbright — in all twelve counties — there had been an increase 
in the rate, ranging from OT per cent, in Ross and Cromarty, 
and Dumfries, to no less than 2 '2 per cent, in Caithness. In 
both decades Banffshire retained the discreditable distinction of 
being at the top of the list, showing the slight increase of 0*4 per 
cent. (16*6 instead of 16 ’2) — in other words, one illegitimate child in 
every six births, or nearly double the percentage for the whole of 
Scotland. One county (Wigtown) was stationary at 16T per cent. 
The two blackest spots have always been three adjoining counties in 
the north (Elgin, Banff, and Aberdeen), and three adjoining southern 
counties (Wigtown, Kirkcudbright, and Dumfries), the collective per- 
centage of the two groups being almost identical. 
In the case of rather more than one-fourth of the whole illegiti- 
mate births the paternity was acknowledged at registration ; in a good 
many instances the paternity was subsequently found by decree of 
court and recorded in terms of the statute ; while about 3 per cent, 
of the children were legitimated by the subsequent marriage of their 
parents.* 
* During the four years ending 1861, of the 7517 births registered in Banff- 
shire, 1189 were illegitimate. In the case of 389 of these children— or nearly 
a third of the whole — the paternity was acknowledged at registration • 
in 64 instances the paternity was subsequently found by decree of court 
and recorded in terms of the statute ; and in 28 cases the children 
were legitimated per subsequens matrijnoriium, such alteration of statu 
being also duly registered. In a few instances the judicial findings relate 
to children whose paternity was acknowledged at registration, from which 
it would appear that, notwithstanding the reputed father’s adhibition of 
his signature to the register, the mother is occasionally induced to raise an 
action against him. Of course the paternity of some more of the “fatherless” 
