GENERAL AND OVER DOGS 147 



shire, and Galloway all comprise stretches 

 of good moorland within their borders, 

 while the border counties of Dumfriesshire, 

 Roxburgh, and Selkirk contain some of 

 the best moors in Scotland, over 10,000 

 grouse in a season having been killed 

 on the Duke of Buccleuch's moors at 

 Langholm. 



As a general rule grouse flourish most 

 on the highest ground in the south, and 

 prefer a lower altitude farther north. 



Grouse-shooting began to come into 

 fashion soon after the introduction of 

 the railway. Before then little import- 

 ance was attached to the sport, as the 

 fact that in the year 1837 only eight 

 grouse moors in Scotland were to let, 

 and those at merely nominal rentals, 

 shows most conclusively, if compared 

 with the thousands of moors which now 

 annually figure in the agent's lists. 



A hundred years ago Scotland was 

 still a little-known country to the average 

 Englishman, and the wild scenery of 

 mountain and moorland, so far from 



