14 WILD FLOWERS OF SCOTLAND 



In St. Andrews that Mecca of golf until the 

 other day, a margin of natural bents was left 

 between the new course and the sea. Visitors will 

 recall the bright picture on the sunny afternoons 

 of their stay, filled in by attractive groups, of 

 which they may have formed one. 



Even this strip has been taken away. And a 

 whisper is passing round that the lack of walking- 

 room may be supplied by wounding the sides of 

 perhaps the most picturesque sand-dunes in the 

 country. This would be worse even than driving 

 away the links flowers, and denying an afternoon 

 siesta in the hot sun to all who are not prepared 

 for a rude awakening. 



From the seaside and the plain, where so 

 much is common, I shall enter the fastnesses in 

 search of what is peculiarly Scots, and wade 

 through the belt of shrubs to the alpine region 

 beyond. 



From the mountain-top, as a coign of vantage, 

 I shall gaze away north, over the milder Shetlands, 

 to where mountain forms with us grow at sea- 

 level, and are known no longer as alpines, but as 

 arctics. 



