This diverges a lot from what Scottish editors were doing at the same time. Most Scottish tune collections of the time list the harp as the primary instrument, not the fiddle as they are generally thought of now. But the range always suits the fiddle, and they avoid technical difficulties for it - except that there are an ungodly number of them that fit exactly into a 2-octave range from B flat below middle C, purely diatonic, in key signatures from one to three flats. My guess is that was a lowest common denominator for range and tonality with the harps of the time. And whatever Bunting may have been up to, marketing the music to drawing room lady harpists was not one of his intentions.