Little Neophyte: I hate to complicate your simple view of Scotland's racial composition among other matters, but since you address that issue in the present tense, it is fair to point out that today there are substantial numbers of people in Scotland whose ancestors hail from many parts of Europe, the Indian subcontinent, China, Africa and the Caribbean - many speaking in the vernacular with pretty broad accents, which makes them, in most folk's eyes, infinitely more Scottish than Americans called McDonald. Even 700 or 800 years ago the country was much more racially diverse than you might think. Take the Borders, where I was raised. Professor Vietch's history details vividly the effect of Danish settlement in the Tweed valley, and does not ignore the influx of Flemish weavers into Berwickshire. Incidentally, Lallans was spoken in this area, and was regarded as a language parallel to, equal to and distinct from English, up until the Union of the Crowns, when everything - old ballads, independence (if you can call feudalism such a glorious name) and the price of a pint, all began to go to hell in a handbasket. And L.N., please don't take offense, but when refering to Robert Burns in familiar terms, it is more comfortable on the ears if you say Rabbie, rather than Bobby.