CH. IX. BIRDS. 133 



CHAPTER IX. 



List continued — Game Birds ; Destruction of by Shepherds — 

 Plovers — Sandpipers and Snipes, etc. — Water-fowl ; Swans, 

 Geese, varieties of Ducks, Grebes, Terns, Gulls, etc. — 

 Decrease of many kinds of birds — Egg Dealers. 



The next class of birds inhabiting Sutherlandshire 

 that I will enumerate are those more immediately 

 coming under the denomination of game. 



84. First among which is the Blackcock, cer- 

 tainly the finest game bird of Britain. In the 

 numerous and extensive plantations of the Duke of 

 Sutherland this bird abounds, and extends through- 

 out the county wherever it has the least protection 

 from vermin and shepherds, and wherever there are 

 any patches of wood. I saw several near the shore 

 of Loch Laighal. It is, however, a bird easily 

 destroyed. The shepherds and their boys generally 

 carry guns, under the excuse of shooting foxes 

 (which they never do), and in consequence black 

 game and everything that is eatable fall a prey to 

 these men at all seasons of the year, whilst gray 

 crows and other destructive birds pass by unharmed. 



85. Grouse, of course, abound only where vermin 



