THE RED GROUSE. 115 



denizen of the wild heathery mountain and moor, 

 it recedes invariably before the face of civiliza- 

 tion, and may be said, at the present day, to 

 be extinct in the South of England, very scarce 

 in the central portion Staffordshire and Derby- 

 shire being probably its southern limit and 

 although still found in tolerable numbers on the 

 moors of Yorkshire, yet it is of less frequent 

 occurrence there than it was a few years ago, 

 when Lord Strathmore's keeper shot forty-three 

 brace before two o'clock in the afternoon, on the 

 12th of August. The great stronghold of the 

 species is of course the Highlands of Scotland, 

 where its preservation is carried to such an 

 extent, and the rights of shooting let at such 

 high rents, that in spite of the annual slaughter 

 during the first three weeks of the season far 

 surpassing in this respect even the battue of the 

 southron there appears to be no immediate 

 prospect of its extermination or even material 

 reduction, although, speaking as a naturalist 

 rather than a sportsman, it cannot but be a 

 matter of regret that the excessive protection of 

 the grouse involves the indiscriminate slaughter of 

 so many interesting birds and quadrupeds now 

 becoming exceedingly rare amongst us.* 



* Subjoined is a list of * vermin ' (!) destroyed on the cele- 

 brated Highland property of Glengary, between Whitsunday 



