INTRODUCTION 



* 



T ESS has been said in a pleasant way about 

 ^^ the wild flowers than about the wild 

 animals of Scotland. 



Yet our four-footed creatures are few, and their 

 tale easily told. Our wild birds, too, have been 

 sadly thinned out, with the exception of sea forms ; 

 and these belong to other coasts as well. Birds 

 have wings, and can cross water. 



Whereas the many wild flowers are well-nigh 

 untouched. Nor do they fly about from place to 

 place, but remain pretty much where they have been 

 all along. They are ours, in a sense in which 

 other living things are not. 



Moreover, they are out of fellowship with the 

 wild flowers of other lands. There is no common 

 border across which they mingle with kindred 



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