DETAILED SURVEY OF THE FORT AUGUSTUS BLOCK. 2t 



keep out roe deer ; unless, therefore, some roe-proof fence can 

 be found without increase of cost, it will be necessary to keep 

 them down. In this case, again, though an occasional shot at a 

 roe with a rifle may add to the pleasure of the shooting tenant, 

 this cannot be considered as paid for in the rent ; and owing to 

 the great difficulty of extermination, and the distance which roe 

 deer will travel to young plantations, it is probable that there 

 will always be a certain number of these deer in the forest area, 

 as there are in most of the forests in France and Germany. 



5. Black game. — We feel a certain amount of reluctance in 

 including black game among forest vermin. Unfortunately, it is 

 the tendency of black game to increase rapidly where there are 

 young plantations, and the damage done by them, usually at 

 first confined to the Scots pine, is extended to other trees as the 

 black game increase. Scots pine are stunted by constant 

 destruction of the buds, larch are literally grazed down, and 

 the only alternative to a loss of five to six years' growth is the 

 very costly expedient of using much larger plants. 



The present scheme will admit of neither alternative. When 

 the damage done by black game becomes appreciable, they must 

 be kept down. There are few shootings where the number of 

 black game in the year's bag exceeds 5 per cent, of the total of 

 winged game, and it is probable that a reduction of 5 per cent, 

 in the letting value will cover the loss in most cases. ^ 



6. Woodcock, etc. — So much for the interference by afiforestation 

 with shootings as they now are. But there is another side to the 

 question. A probable result of afiforestation will be an increase 

 in the number of woodcock frequenting Glen Mor, and this 

 may improve the winter shooting. Also, as planting goes on, the 

 capercailzie, a newcomer already known in the district, will 

 extend its range and increase ; and provided that the damage 

 done by it does not prove serious, it may come to be a re- 

 cognised addition to the sport in the woods. - 



General remarks. — On the whole, it may be said that 

 the changes due to afiforestation will afifect the letting value 

 of the smaller mixed shootings, where the various items 

 are of relatively great importance, in a much greater degree 



^ Cases have been brought to llie notice of the writers in which a larger 

 reduction than 5 per cent, would l)e justifialile. 



- It is recognised that serious dania!:;e may sometimes be done to okler woods 

 by capercailzie. 



