198 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



strong gale particularly a Nor'-Easter such as that which 

 carried destruction on so vast a scale to the woods and trees 

 of our eastern counties on the i/th November of last year 

 sometimes makes a material alteration in the appearance 

 and size of the sandhills, blowing tons of sand, along with 

 the bent grass root and stem which formerly bound it 

 together, to form a new and sterile area on what was before 

 good heather ground. Herein lies a danger to which in- 

 land moors are not, of course, liable ; and in order to mini- 

 mise the effect of such a calamity we are compelled to 

 leave a broad fringe of strong unburnt heather along our 

 northern boundary, so that, on the one hand, the plant 

 itself may not so readily be smothered, and, on the other, 

 the sand may, by the thicker vegetation, be more speedily 

 arrested in its march of destruction. 



The Tentsmuir is shared among three estates : Scots- 

 craig, the property of Mrs. Maitland Dougall, on the north ; 

 Kinshaldie, an extensive property belonging to Mr. 

 Alexander Speedie, in the middle; and Earlshall, the ancient 

 seat of the Bruces and Hendersons, now the property of R. 

 W. R. Mackenzie, Esq., on the south. Heather grows freely 

 on Earlshall, and also in some " districts " as they may 

 almost be called of Kinshaldie ; but on a large part of the 

 latter estate there is little or none, the rough pasture being 

 perhaps too frequently burnt, and the extensive bogs too wet. 

 The northern, or " Shanwell " moor, extending to about 

 IOOO acres, part of the estate of Scotscraig, of which the 

 writer is shooting tenant, is the original home of the Grouse 

 and the scene of their introduction. Nearly the whole of this 

 area is heather-clad, some " hollows " bearing the true heather 

 or ling, others the less useful bell-heather; while in most places 

 may be found a kind of dwarf or creeping willow (Salix repcns], 

 to which, the gamekeeper informs me, the Grouse are very 

 partial. Two good streams of running water cross this part 

 of the moor from west to east one forming the march 

 with Kinshaldie, while a broad ditch also drains a fairly 

 large bog lying parallel to the shore along the eastern 

 rampart ; and though these streams are all liable to be com- 

 pletely dried up in hot summers, water may, fortunately, be 

 found at any season, and at almost any spot on the moor, 



