THE SPORTSMAN IN RETIREMENT. 827 



of time. What we need is an additional supply 

 of food novj and at once, with as little delay as 

 possible. 



The late Marquis of Breadalbane and myself, 

 as President and Vice-President, set on foot an 

 Acclimatization Society, and the first meeting to 

 promote the question was held at the office of 

 tlie Field newspaper. There could not have 

 been a nobler or a better President, fond as ho 

 was of natural history, and lord of an enormous 

 territory, containing lakes and rivers, as well as 

 tracts of rich cultivation, forests, woods, and 

 moors. He introduced and acclimatized on his 

 wide domains the capercailzie, or '^cock of the 

 Avoods," and the bison from America, and reared 

 there the cross between the capercailzie and the 

 ^ blackgame, the bison and the Ayrshire cow. 



As far as my limited power went, I acclima- 

 tized, and in England bred and reared the prairie 

 2:rouse, crossed the American dusky duck with 

 the English wild duck ; and, had the Acclimatiza- 

 tion Society acted in the honest sjoirit of its 

 formation, sundry noble lords and large proprietors 

 had promised me their landed influence on which 

 to introduce experiments. 



