"Reindeer in Scotland " SIR,—One must congratulate Sir Frederick Whyte on
the formation of his Reindeer Council, which may well usher in a new economic form of great value in combating depopulation in the Highlands and Islands, but I fear one must dispute his misleading asSertion that reindeer were common objects 'Of the hills and moors of Scotland at the time of the battle of Bannockburn. We have a record of a some- what dubious nature of a reindeer being hunted in 1159, but centuries before this date the reindeer had almost disappeared from Scotland, at most surviving in minute numpers. That this extinction was caused by man's *acity rather than nature's unkindness we hope may be proved by the success,of this public-spirited experiment.
It should perhaps also be pointed out that reindeer meat does not taste like venison, but when properly cooked like prime beef, and also that no male reindeer is ever "turned into cheese."—Yours faithfully, IAN R. WHITAKER, Department of Prehistoric Archaeology, The University, Edinburgh.
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