21 
Extinct British Deer 
Twickenham in 1894, and is in fine preservation, with few points missing, whilst the 
measurements which I have recently taken show—length 47^ inches, beam 4! inches,, 
points 15. 
Tracing the history of the reindeer from the Pleistocene age to its association with 
prehistoric man, Dr. Smith notices that the first direct evidence we have of their 
coexistence was the finding of the horn fragments of this deer, together with the remains 
of domesticated animals, an iron spear-head and dagger, and ten human skeletons, in a 
« broch ” at Kintradwell, near Brora, Sutherland. The 66 brochs ” referred to by Dr. Smith 
are not uncommon in the Orkneys, Sutherland, and Caithness, particularly in the Orkney 
islands. To all appearance they are but grass-covered mounds ; some, like the Maeshowe 
in Orkney, being quite little forts. They were doubtless the 
burial-places of the Chiefs of prehistoric man, and nearly 
all contain pieces of deer horn, human remains, shells, rude 
pottery, and stone implements. One which was excavated 
near Loch Stennes, Pomona, contained all these remains as 
well as fragments of horn of both red deer and reindeer 
(I examined them at Stromness in 1886), and we may 
fairly conclude that most of these “brochs” would on 
examination give similar results. 
These evidences all tend to confirm the truth of the 
tradition that in the twelfth century the Jarls of Orkney 
were in the habit of crossing the Pentland Firth for the 
purpose of hunting the reindeer, as related by Torfaeus in 
his History of Orkney. He says, “ Consueverant comites 
in Catanesiam, indeque ad montana ad venatum caprearum 
rangiferorumque quotannis profiscisci.” Anglice —“ They 
were in the habit of crossing over to Caithness every 
year, and there hunting in the wilds the Roe and 
the reindeer.” This statement of Torfaeus seems to be the onlv direct evidence we 
•/ 
have of the existence of the reindeer within historic times, although his remark is backed 
up by Jonaeus, a learned Icelander, who says that the Jarls of Orkney hunted in Caithness 
in 1159. But for a full discussion of this subject my readers cannot do better than refer to 
Mr. J. E. Harting’s excellent work on Extinct British Animals. They will find there a most 
interesting and elaborate account of the reindeer from the earliest times, and all the argu¬ 
ments for and against the correctness of Torfaeus’s statement. 
That the climate of Great Britain is probably unaltered since the landing of Caesar, 
and that this country was formerly the habitat of the reindeer, would seem to indicate that 
the reintroduction of these animals as denizens of wilds would be successful. Such attempts, 
however, as have been made in this direction by the Earl of Fife in Mar Forest and 
Mr. Robert Traill in Orkney have not been encouraging in their results, in spite of the 
abundance of reindeer moss (Cladonia rangiferina) which grows freely in Northern Scotland 
and the Orkneys. 
