Call number: LD2668 .T4 1986 A42 / Master of Science

Two modes of singing were evident in narrative performances recorded by Scots travellers: singing set melodies to memorized or re-created texts, and improvising on a variable melody to a memorized or a variable text. In travellers' society both modes are acceptable but the majority of travellers today prefer set melodies. The improvisatory mode was traditional and used by the older travellers born before World War I, five of whom became my informants or Ewan NacColl's, re. Travellers' Songs from England and Scotland (1977). The tradition of narrative improvisation appears to be obsolete with the death of Mrs Martha Johnstone (Perthshire), 1980. But her 108 sung performances, 66 songs and 34 narratives recorded between 1955 and 1978, by four fieldworkers, provide valuable material for the study of strophic variability -- its function in the singer's interpretation of an essential story (Lord, 1960 and Buchan, 1972) in performance. Strophic variability is related to the Danish ballad singers' usage of variable intonations, and the author's musical analysis of the diachronic variants of Martha Johnstone's improvisatory ballads follows Thorkild Knudsen's theory of ballad melody or "melodic idea" (1967, 1976). The majority of travellers' performances, however, do not exhibit such extreme structural variations. Their ballads feature regularity manifested in a "standard strophe." In performance the regularly recurring standard strophe is fluid, composed of musical equivalents or structural options at the level of pitch, figure, motive, phrase or strophe, which the singer may or may not choose to realize. Explanations for the presence or absence of variation or variants (musical equivalents) are discussed, particularly memory failure and uncertainty on the part of the singer. A high frequency of irregular strophes is evident in travellers' narrative songs. It can be shown that irregular strophes are often "fixed" in singers' versions. According to the author's thesis on variation as a process of volition and cognition, such irregular strophes are viewed as intentional and purposeful e.g., for expressing the climax or denouement of a narrative, or for heightening a particular dramatic or narrative episode within the singer's story. Testimonies from singers, their explanations and definitions bear out the truth of the analysis. Fifty-three examples of narrative performances by seven of the author's informants and six of MacColl's are featured in the work; thirty-nine are complete song transcriptions; fourteen are included on an accompanying cassette. Three especial singers, are from different "homeground areas" of the travellers in Scotland, are the subjects of the study - Martha Johnstone (Perthshire), Duncan Williamson (Argyllshire) and Johnnie Whyte (Angus). The work is the result of ten years' fieldwork among the Scots travellers and four years' continuous travelling with one extended family.

Thesis (doctoral)--Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 2003. / Thesis documentation sheet inserted. Appendix includes reproductions of four papers and manuscripts, three co-authored with others. Includes bibliographical references. Abstract also available online.

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This study examines Scottish migration to Quebec and more particularly to Montreal.  It studies the public community the Montrealers of Scottish origin or heritage have developed, focusing on members of Scottish associations and interest-based groups and examining how their identities have been shaped in the city, from the eighteenth century to the present day.  Using historical and anthropological concepts, methods and sources, it places Scots within the history and anthropology of the city and of the province, and examines the distinctive case of Quebec within the wider Canadian Scottish diaspora. The thesis first examines Scottish migration to Quebec and to Montreal between the eighteenth and the late twentieth century by studying the push and pull factors involved, and by exploring Scottish migration at both ends of the migration process.  A key finding is that, in the Canadian context, Quebec and Montreal have attracted an atypical type of Scottish migrant; semi-skilled, and skilled workers of urban, industrial Lowland origin. The thesis then examines key Scottish associations of the city.  Firstly, it focuses on the Saint Andrew’s Society, founded by Montreal’s Scottish elite, which aimed to establish rules to guide the rest of the Scottish population in the city, to create a strong community and, ultimately, to disseminate its values and ideas within the host society.  Secondly, the thesis examines the Sons of Scotland Benevolent Association, arguing that, by the turn of the twentieth century, Scottish workers had gained their autonomy from the elite and had developed their own socio-cultural institutions and modes of charitable support and assistance. The last part of the thesis examines the identities of members of the contemporary Scottish public community of Montreal.  It discusses the main factors that contribute to the social and cultural shaping of these people’s identities.

The study examined the damage caused to naturally regenerated Scots Hue by red deer and certain other mammals and birds, and its effect on the development of natural woodland. Investigations were concentrated in three areas, which carried high, moderate and low stockings of red deer, in the upper Dee valley in Aberdeenshire. Most marked trees, above 2-3 inches in height, suffered some degree of browsing during the study period. Simulated browsing experiments, supported by data from study plots, showed that survival and growth of trees decreased with increased browsing severity. Severe browsing had less serious effects on large trees than on small ones. In response to browsing, new shoots were produced from large overwintering buds in larch and birch but, in pine, shoots were normally produced from dormant buds, which required a growing season in which to develop before vigorous growth was possible. Where browsing pressure was high, the deciduous species generally survived longer than pine because they were not subjected to severe winter damage and they probably suffered less interruption to their photosynthetic activity as a result of their more rapid response to browsing. Tree browsing records and observations in study plots confirmed that numerous mammals and birds browsed pine. Most species, however, had relatively little effect on woodland development. Densities of rabbits and mice were very low, and pine material was probably only a minor constituent in the diet of mountain hares and red grouse. Browsing by jred and roe deer could not be distinguished consistently, but the satisfactory development of natural regeneration in exclosures, where red deer were largely excluded but roe were common, suggests that roe densities of up to approximately 1*24 acres are too low to exert a serious effect on woodland development. Sheep commonly browsed pine in winter, but most animals were nonnally taken off the hill from November to May. Browsing on young regeneration by capercaillie was apparently restricted to pine of .4-30 inches high, which were few where capercaillie were numerous. Disbudding by black grouse was widespread but, in these areas, their browsing never affected tree survival and rarely prevented the addition of some increment during the year of damage. Browsing by red deer had the most serious effects on the survival and development of pine. Browsing had relatively little effect on tree development where red deer densities were approximately 1*150 acres in winter (Cambus O'May); but it caused mortalities in trees below 30 inches high and reduced growth in trees below 60 inches, in areas where winter densities approximated to 1:60 acres (Bush Lawsie). Densities of It10 acres (Meall Alvie) totally prevented the development of woodland. A comparison of tree browsing incidence with indices of red deer abundance in study plots, and a detailed examination of the conditions under which these trees were browsed, showed that whilst intensity of pine browsing is related to deer density, the two are not directly proportional to each other. The relationship is modified by environmental factors of climate and the habitat, notably the choice and availability of tree material and of the alternative vegetation which comprises the deer*a diet. Observations on feeding, rumen content analyses and comparisons of browsing intensity on trees of different origin and appearance showed that red deer browsed certain species of vegetation, and trees of certain sizes and condition, selectively. Habitats which contained large quantities of preferred vegetation and low quantities of acceptable tree material, therefore, suffered less pine browsing proportional to their use by deer than habitats in which these conditions were reversed. Deer abundance was invariably a significant factor in the amount of tree browsing which a habitat sustained, however, because increased browsing intensity removed more preferred vegetation and acceptable tree material and forced the deer to browse more heavily on less acceptable trees. Tree mortality from trampling had little effect on woodland development because damage was confined to very small trees in areas where regeneration was profuse. Relatively few trees were affected by antler damage, but these injuries could be locally significant where tree densities are low. On grouse moors, regular heather burning was principally responsible for the absence of natural woodland. Tree mortality from insects and fungi was negligible. Deaths from climatic agencies, notably drought and frost lift, were fairly few and were largely confined to very small trees. Snowbreak might have locally serious effects on the development of larger trees in winters of exceptional snowfall.

All populations present the historian with certain questions. Their origins, the date of their arrival, their reason for coming and finally, how they came - all demand explanation. The population of Ulster today, derived mainly from Scotland, far from proving an exception, personifies the problem. So greatly does the population of Ulster differ from the rest of Ireland that barbed wire and road blocks periodically, even now, demark the boundaries between the two. Over three centuries after the Scots arrived, they still maintain their differences from those who Inhabited Ireland before them.

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Thesis (doctoral)--Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 2003. / Thesis documentation sheet inserted. Appendix reprints five papers and manuscripts co-authored with others. Includes bibliographical references. Also partially issued electronically via World Wide Web in PDF format; online version lacks appendix.

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