12 WILD FLOWERS OF SCOTLAND 



matter of boast than the bag of game. One has at 

 least the satisfaction of feeling that he has been 

 among genuine wildlings, that have been left in 

 those out-of-the-way places to fight their own 

 battle with natural enemies. 



I have followed both plant and animal, with no 

 view of taking either egg or flower out of its 

 picturesque or wild setting, and I owe more of 

 my delight in wild nature and my knowledge of 

 Scotland to the former than to the latter. 



The quest for flowers has led me by the seaside, 

 within the spray of the breakers ; inland over 

 spring meadows passionate with blossoming, 

 through brakes glowing with broom, along lanes 

 scented with the May ; upland, beyond the purple 

 and pink heather zones, to where the mountain 

 breezes play most freely. 



My wish is to take those who care to follow, 

 by the same pleasant ways, to the same goal. 

 I shall begin low down, and among familiar 

 things, only so far Scots, that in some cases 

 they have had to harden themselves to our 

 soil and climate. 



