2 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS 



ancient domain, excluding partridge and pheasant : and 

 where the ring-ouzel dispossesses the blackbird. A region 

 largely of peat as distinguished from soil, of flowe, moss, 

 and crag : of tumbling burns and lonely moorland, glorious 

 in all its primeval beauty. My whole area is, in short, 

 one great sheep-walk, ranging up to altitudes of 2700 feet, 

 whereon grouse and sheep outnumber man in the propor- 

 tion of many thousands to one. On the higher fell-ranges 

 of the Border it takes two to four acres to support each 

 sheep — there are barrens where even this proportion is 

 largely exceeded ; hence the minimum may be roughly 

 set down as nearly a thousand acres for each human 

 being. The hill-country is thus all but uninhabited, 

 abandoned to shepherds and flock - masters, whose 

 sequestered homes lie scattered far apart amid the re- 

 cesses of the fells. A hardy race are these to whom 

 ovis bidens is the prceterea nihil of life, since the more 

 severe the weather, the greater the necessity to keep the 

 hill. Kindly and hospitable they are forbye, as any 

 belated traveller in the wilds can testify ; but it cannot 

 be added that they take a lively interest in the bird-life 

 that surrounds them. 



In this second edition, I have slightly extended my 

 purview so as to include the subjacent country, namely, 

 the foothills which slope downwards from the higher 

 range, and which zone might perhaps be termed the sub- 

 alpine region. This is the fringe of the moorland ; yet it 

 lies beyond the range of the plough (since my soul abhors 

 cultivation), and its faunal character may be exemplified 

 by the substitution of the blackcock, peewit, and whin- 

 chat : for the red grouse, golden plover, and wheatear of 

 the higher land. Here, while still enjoying the company 

 of those species which are typical of the moorland proper, 



