196 WILD FLOWERS OF SCOTLAND 



On looking in upon the gamekeeper, I find him 

 wonderfully good - tempered after his fruitless 

 errand. He shakes his head over the idea of 

 climbing in the mist as foolhardy, and relates 

 some harrowing incidents which had recently 

 occurred on these same hills. 



And then he proceeds to describe, in a certain 

 dramatic fashion of his own, the different characters 

 that come there in search of flowers, and the need 

 there is to discriminate. Some of these sketches 

 were worth reproducing, but that there are those 

 who might persist in finding in these pages a 

 looking-glass. From similar reports, and from my 

 own observations, I feel that too much caution can 

 scarcely be exercised if we are to retain the proud 

 distinction of being the land of flowers of a certain 

 very rare and excellent sort. 



The risks to our wild plants are not exactly 

 the same, or likely to be so speedily destructive, 

 as those which threaten our wild animals. Any 

 losses up to the present time must be sought for 

 among Lowland forms, through cultivation, drainage, 

 easy access, and other obvious causes. 



Probably no upland species has been reduced to 

 the dire straits of some of the birds of prey which 

 dare to find a meal on the moor or in the covert. 



