252 IN FOREST AND ON HILL 



terposing shot-proof screens between itself and the 

 breech-loader. 



The grouse is par excellence the game-bird of Scot- 

 land, but nothing in the last sixty years has changed 

 its character so entirely as grouse-shooting. Sixty 

 years ago, it is safe to say, no gentleman dreamed of 

 renting a moor. Until then, and for half a genera- 

 tion afterwards, the grouse had to take its chance 

 among the fer<e nature that preyed upon it. The 

 Western Highlands, with their watery climate, have 

 never shown such a profusion of game as the more 

 level moors of the Midlands and north-eastern Shires. 

 Yet it sounds strange nowadays to hear of ten or 

 twelve brace being regarded as a good day's sport for 

 three crack guns on the hills of Luss, Arrochar, 

 and Glenfalloch. But since the tracts of barren waste 

 became marketable the grouse has been artifically 

 fostered. The eagles in many districts have disappeared 

 from their ancient hunting grounds ; hawks of all kinds 

 have been indiscriminately trapped and killed down ; 

 ravens and hooded crows have made practical acquain- 

 tance with the virtues of strychnine, though that is 

 a fatality which few will be disposed to regret ; while 

 ground vermin of every sort have been gathered in 

 for the open-air museum, displayed ostentatiously on 

 the gable-end of the mountain kennel. In short, the 

 balance of Nature has not only been disturbed but 

 upset, and there can be no question that Nature 

 avenges herself. Experts may differ as to the origin 

 of the grouse disease, but we believe the most reliable 



