THE AMERICAN -GREY SQUIRREL IN THE BRITISH ISLES. 20I 
been got well under there. For most of the above Scottish 
information I am much indebted to Mr. John Paterson. 
Mip AND West LotnHiAn.—A solitary grey squirrel which 
made its appearance at Dalmeny was probably from a number 
that escaped about the year 1913 from an enclosure in the Park 
of the Scottish Zoological Society at Corstorphine, near Edin- 
burgh. They did not remain long in the park and seem to have 
disappeared.3? 
FIFESHIRE.—At the Dunfermline Public Park, Pittencrieff 
Glen, grey squirrels were kept in cages for some years, but set 
free about 1919. They appear to have increased in numbers 
and spread, as odd individuals have been reported at Pitfirn and 
Rosyth, some miles away from Dunfermline.3? 
JRELAND. 
The only settlement in this part of the British Isles 1s in 
County Loncrorp. At Castle Forbes, the Earl of Granard, 
some twelve years ago, received about a dozen grey squirrels 
from Woburn, and since then they have increased so greatly 
‘as to have become a pest. About four years ago over three 
hundred were killed in the year, but the difficulty of having fire- 
arms in Ireland at present, revives the squirrels’ chances. It 
has spread from Castle Forbes to places over ten miles away, 
_ passing in its journey some miles of bog without a single tree. 
Mr. Oldfield Thomas, F.R.S., has kindly placed this information, 
communicated to him by the Earl of Granard in 1922, at my 
disposal. 
SUMMARY. 
The preceding account shows that the grey squirrel occurs, 
in more or less numbers, in twenty-seven counties in the British 
Isles. These may be classified into three categories :— 
1. Fifteen counties where there are one or more places 
in which the grey squirrel has established colonies and continues 
to maintain its footing or increase in number, viz. :— 
London. Hertfordshire. Cheshire. 
Middlesex. Buckinghamshire. Yorkshire. 
Surrey. Bedfordshire. Dumbartonshire. 
Kent. Northamptonshire. | Ayrshire. 
Sussex. Huntingdonshire. County Longford. 
31 fide Mr. T. H. Gillespie, 18 January, 1923. 
32 Dr. James Ritchie, Scottish Naturalist, 1923, p. 93. 
