268 FIELD AND FERN. 



wilds of A thole, of the other. Landing-nets repre- 

 sent the interests of the Tay and its tributaries, and so 

 do fishing-reels, which go round a "desk," instead of a 

 handle, and therefore never get hampered. There is 

 also a drawing of Lord Henry Bentinck, who is pro- 

 bably crawling at that moment on his hands and 

 knees up Glen Fishie, to get within death distance of 

 a hart. The huntsman's horn is silent, and likely to 

 be, as the Perthshire Hunt is a bygone ; and in the 

 " vermin" column of the game-book we read of the 

 fox and otter in the distinguished company of not 

 only blue hares and rabbits, but of "ravens, hawks, 

 and magpies, jaypies, and huddy crows/ 



Prices are going up fast as the shooting leases fall 

 in. Strathconnan Forest, with the grouse shootings 

 on the estate, has risen from 1,400 to 2,000 in ten 

 years, and two other deer forests, pure and simple, 

 nearly as much. A grouse moor, which was let 

 at 300 two seasons since, has all but doubled itself 

 in price ; and another, which twenty years ago could 

 hardly tempt a tenant at a tenner, now brings in its 

 200. In fact, the letting of moors has become 

 such an important item in a landlord's calculation, 

 that on the recent sale of a Highland estate, after 

 duly taking into consideration the contingencies of 

 non-letting in a bad grouse year, the value of a 

 shooting was capitalized at twenty years' purchase. 

 For some seasons past, the best Perthshire price for 

 dogs has been 28 a brace, and the fashion still runs 

 upon pointers in preference to setters, as they are 



