26 THE GROUSE 



must be in quite first - rate order and 

 capacity. 



If there have been differences of view 

 of the utility and ethical bearings of the 

 extensively ramified love and practice of 

 sport by the shooting of wild animals, so 

 also are opinions at variance regarding 

 the material or monetary value of these 

 shootings. On various occasions Parlia- 

 mentary Returns of the number, extent, 

 and other particulars of deer forests 

 have been supplied, generally at the 

 instance of persons whose views were 

 inimical to these institutions ; but no 

 corresponding information of an official 

 character has ever been ascertained with 

 respect to those shootings of which grouse 

 form the most conspicuous and most valu- 

 able element. No doubt a methodical 

 examination of all the County Valuation 

 Rolls, prepared for purposes of assessment 

 to rates, would be a useful contribution to 

 a solution of this question ; but as in these 

 voluminous records the different kinds of 

 property and tenancy are not reduced to 



