IN LITERATURE 15 



as you will ; there will always be enough of these 

 scourges left, and their mischievous hunger for eggs 

 places them beyond the pale of toleration. Weasels 

 and polecats, and id genus omne, are only too well 

 able to take care of themselves, and should be trapped 

 without scruple or mercy. Hill-foxes are altogether 

 out of place, seeing that they fly so far in the face of 

 their nature as to burrow like rabbits in impracticable 

 cairns, and that there is no possibility of putting them 

 to their legitimate purpose. But every one who has a 

 soul above sheer slaughter must regret the disappear- 

 ance of those magnificent birds of prey that lend so 

 characteristic a charm to mountain scenery as they float 

 like specks in the air against a cloudless sky, or stoop 

 down over the heather in lessening circles. The eagle 

 and peregrine falcon may take toll of the game, but, so 

 far as we are concerned, they should be welcome to 

 what they can capture. After all, the hares are their 

 great resource, and the blue hares are positive nuisances ; 

 nor can there be any objection to their disputing with 

 the shepherds the "braxy" to which they occasionally 

 condescend. Unhappily the protesting against their 

 being put to the ban, can literally be nothing but the 

 voice of one crying in the wilderness, so long as 

 ornithologists offer fancy prices for specimens and 

 an eagle's egg will fetch a sovereign. Were we driven 

 to make a choice, we could more easily spare the 

 ravens ; and yet there is something romantically ap- 

 propriate in the hoarse croak and the uncanny antics 

 of a lonely pair of these demon-like birds in the 



