In the Lake District the late Rev. H. A. Macpherson tells us that Badgers have
been practically extirpated since 1835, though since that date they have occasionally
been met with on the fells; o'f Windermere owing to the breeding of Escaped
animals; Recently, however, Badgers have been reintroduced into th|§f district.
They are to be found in every county in Scotland except Caithness. Though
nowhere numerous, andpeldom molested, they are not uniformly distributed, but
exist only in certain areas. There is little doubt that in the north and north-west
they are decreasing, but are probably quite as. numerous as ever in the South.
They exhibit a marked preference: for stony hillside's where the p i is sandy 0
are generally to be found in large woods where such ;conditiofl|. occur.
Badgers are still found locally in Galloway, Wigtown, Ayr, and Peebles,'but
they are much commoner in the counties adjoining the East Coast, such as
Berwick, where they are numerous, and East Lothian, where they are not
uncommon still and until recently were found on every estate (W. Evans).;! In
Dumbarton they frequent Loch Lomond side and the Glenfalloch range, as well
as Kilbride and Ardrossan. In wooded Perthshire they are still found about
Loch Tay, and occasionally all down the Tay valley near to Perth itself, where
in 1880 I saw a fine old male that had just been killed close to the town. Up
the Earn valley they are now rare, though once common, and are extinct in the
Carse of Cowrie. In a lifetime spent in this county I have seen few Badgers that
were killed here, though every now and then an odd specimen was captured up in
the hills, about Callander and Pitlochry. In Argyll they are sparsely found in
Portlalloch, Benmore, Ardlamont, and a few other places; they also exist in Arran.
In Inverness and Argyll they still: exist in several districts, the last one captured
of which I have any note being taken up in the deer forest of Glenfeshie in the
spring of 1903. In Western Argyll they used to be very common, but are now
considered rare in Lochaber, Locheil, Sunart, and Moidart. Scarce in Aberdeen,
and existing for certain only on one property on Dee side (as I am informed by
Mr. Geo. Sim), they are still found in the woods of Darnaway and Cawdor,
Nairnshire. In Ross they are rare, as well as in Sutherland, where they have
long existed at Dunrobin and in the Reay forest. There is no record of
Badgers occurring in Caithness, although their bones have been found there,
n Western Ross they are rare, but have been recently taken in Fannich deer
orest, whilst about Loch Maree, once a great stronghold, they are almost if not
quite extinct.
The Badger is not a native of any of the outer islands of Scotland, nor is