There are Gaelic traditions telling of the presence of Dobhran- losleathan the Broad-tailed Otter in many parts of the Highlands, and it is said to have been plentiful at one time in the district of Lochaber in Inverness-shire.

In the twelfth century, Giraldus Cambrensis, who found Beavers in Wales, recorded that he had been informed that they still existed in one river in Scotland, and in the early half of the same century " Beveris " are included in a list of animals whose skins were subject to export duty in the reign of David I (1084-1153).

I have already quoted passages in which Boece mentions it as occurring in Loch Ness (p.

155), and though it is possible, as has been suggested, that Boece was recording only some vague tradition that had reached his ears, yet many of his statements, it seems to me, have met with unnecessary scepticism, and I see no reason why the Beaver may not have lingered on in the wilds of Inverness-shire even to the sixteenth century, since many others of our decadent creatures found there a safe retreat.

If so, it could not long have survived the date of Boeces record ; and in the light of its history here as in other countries, it is safe to attribute, its extermination to the destructiveness of man.