THE GLORIOUS TWELFTH 197 



never obtrusive system of drainage has greatly 

 changed the proportions of the plant population 

 of probably every tnoor and mountain -side in 

 Scotland. A very large proportion of every natural 

 moorland and wet hillside is occupied by various 

 species of rushes, of which there are a score or 

 more in the British flora ; and their vivid green 

 suggests a succulent pasturage, which, however, 

 would serve but poorly for the fattening of sheep 

 or cattle. Drainage has reduced their area and 

 given it over to heather. But the changes of sur- 

 face effected in the course of grouse -preservation 

 are small compared with those brought about by 

 the effort to better adapt the land to deer. While 

 the grouse -preserver wishes to promote the growth 

 of heather, the deer -preserver wishes to eliminate 

 the plant, and in many of the forests, by persistent 

 burning, he has succeeded to such an extent that 

 an old inhabitant would hardly know the country. 

 Where there were vast slopes of brown and purple 

 heath the yellowish -green mountain grasses extend 

 themselves, and the crofter on some of these dis- 

 tricts finds difficulty, in what once was the land of 

 heather, in getting enough of it to thatch his barn. 

 Even the natural breeds of bird and beast are 

 not what they were. With the object of increasing 

 size, many owners have introduced park deer from 

 England, and some have experimented with even 

 more remote strains of the red -deer from abroad. 

 If it be true, as it is probable, that a wandering 

 deer might make its way from Cape Wrath to 

 the Mull of Cantyre, it is unlikely that the alien 

 elements have remained in the districts to which 

 they were brought. It is less generally known, 



