mountains, and is numerous over the whole of southern, eastern, north-eastern,
and central Scotland. It is especially plentiful in Midlothian, Stirling, Dumbarton,
Perth, Forfar, Aberdeen, Banff, Nairn, and Elgin.
In the Highlands of north Perthshire, Argyll, and Inverness the Hedgehog
is very rare, possibly owing to the difficulty a Lowland animal would experience in
crossing mountains, but it is found here and there in the cultivated land in eastern
Inverness and Ross. In western Ross-shire it appeared about 1890, probably having
been imported in baled hay1 ; there are several notes in the ‘Annals of Scottish
Natural History’ of its occurrence in and about 1902 in western Argyll, and I have
recently been informed by Mr. Alfred Gathorne-Hardy that it is abundant at Portal-
loch. The animal was introduced into the eastern portions of Sutherland and
Caithness, but according to Harvie-Brown and Buckley2 is absent in a wild state in
the west. Mr. W. Mackenzie8 does not agree with this opinion, and thinks that the
Hedgehog ba^ occurred in a wild condition in Sutherland for a considerable time;
he‘found one so far back as 1872 near Tressady Lodge, and has seen others more
recently.
When Pennant wrote, at the end of the eighteenth century, he declared that
the Hedgehog was ‘ not found beyond the T a y ; perhaps not beyond the Forth,
but his knowledge was certainly limited. Harvie-Brown, and Buckley, while stating
that it is still unknown in MidrLochaber, say that it does not occur in
Mull; but Maclaine, of Lochbuie, contributed to the ‘ Annals of Scottish Natural
History’ (1895, p. 193) an interesting list of prices paid for vermin on the estates of
Torosay and Lochbuie, Mull, in 1825, which includes the sum of threepence per
Hedgehog. It is hardly likely that so low a reward would be offered if the creature
had been rare.
It appears, however, that the range of the Hedgehog is extending in Scotland,
or has extended within recent years, for such observers as MacGillivray
and Thomas Edward noted its increase. Writing of its status in Aberdeenshire*
MacGillivray says: ‘ Although twenty years ago of very rare occurrence, or confined
to particular tracts, the Hedgehog is now generally dispersed over the district,
being found in all the lower parts, from the coast to the higher valleys in the
interior-—in many places in great abundance. It is especially plentiful along the
Dee, as at Ballater, Banchory, and about Aberdeen, as well as in the parishes on
the Don. In some parts of Formartine it is also abundant, and of late years has
1 Hinxman and Clarke, Ann. Scot. Nat. H ist. 1903, p. 70.
8 Ann. Scot. N.H . 1897, p. 191.
* Faun. Moray Basin, i. 155.
* Edin. New P h il. Jour. 1844.