io WILD FLOWERS OF SCOTLAND 



forms. Like ourselves, they have a semi-island 

 character, and have grown into what they are by 

 long ages spent within the Channel. They have 

 been shaped and coloured here. 



If the quest is not exciting, it is not therefore 

 less interesting. Some of the ruder elements of 

 sport are absent. We do not shoot them, nor do 

 we hunt them with dogs. 



Nevertheless, it is not all dainty basket-work in 

 shaded woodland glade, or on sunny bank, seeing 

 that Scotland is not made up of such mild features 

 as these. To the venturesome there is abundant 

 opportunity of showing what is in him. 



If the ledge of coast-cliff, where the peregrine 

 builds, is bad to get at, either from the grassy top, 

 or from the bottom where the water gurgles, the 

 crack in which the rare seaside flower roots itself 

 is still more puzzling. It needs a cool head as well 

 as a rope and a belt. 



If only a bold man dare take the golden eagle's 

 eggs from the face of a Grampian precipice, it 

 needs a bolder one still to rob that little colony of 

 alpines, faintly glowing, through the field -glass, 

 five hundred feet above or below. 



