CROWBERRY 237 



tasting it we find it almost tasteless, but such flavour as it 

 has, while somewhat bitter and austere, is yet not altogether 

 unpleasant. Most animals, cows, horses, and the like, leave 

 these berries untouched, but to the grouse and other 

 birds they are very welcome and are much sought after. 



CROWBERRY (Empetrum Nigrum) 



The Crowberry, another pretty little moorland plant, 

 must not go unmentioned. It is commonly to be found 

 on the mountains, on the great stretches of moorland of 

 Scotland, where it is the badge of the McLeans, in Ireland, 

 and in the north and west and centre of England, though 

 not known down south. It is abundant in that noble 

 stretch of wild country known as Cannock Chase. Here in 

 Autumn we may find the great moorland glowing with 

 crimson heath, while the bilberry, the cowberry, and the 

 cranberry are all to be found abundantly, and, as freely as 

 any, the dark glossy fruits of the crowberry. The Chace 

 is a far-stretching plateau some six to seven hundred feet 

 above the sea, a glorious wind-swept piece of wild nature. 

 The surface soil is chiefly gravel and stone, that has been 

 described with some graphic force as the riddlings of creation, 

 ofi^ering, therefore, little or no temptation, one would have 

 thought, for enclosure. Large tracts have, however, of late 

 years been ploughed up, a proceeding little to the benefit of 

 any one, and, so far as it goes, destructive of a wild beauty 

 that might well have been suff^ered to remain, and which 

 we, StafFordshi re-born, can only deeply regret any loss of 



The crowberry is a trailing and widely-spreading plant, 

 its long slender branches covering much ground to the 



