SHOOTING THE GROUSE 



of ground ? Pointing eloquently to the ruins of 

 many cottages of a bygone age, high up the glen near 

 the burn-side, he discoursed of the evils of the starv- 

 ing, hopeless life these little squatters led, and truly 

 observed that no men of to-day with any self-respect 

 would live huddled together in the filth and smoke, 

 and half-nourished on the snatches of meagre food 

 which were their normal conditions. 



Fewer people, he said, there might be in the glen, 

 but there would after the first abortive trial be fewer 

 still were the rich graziers and the sporting tenants, 

 who between them employ so many hands and feed 

 so many mouths, to be chased away, and their places 

 taken by a lot of tag-rag and bob-tail with whom 

 discontent passes for independence, and insolvency 

 for liberty. ' Long live the grouse ! ' he cried ; ' they 

 do not interfere with sheep, and nothing else, save 

 eagles and foxes, hawks and stoats, could live up here.' 



I have dwelt at some length in another volume of 

 this series ' on the important question of the relations 

 between the owner or sporting tenant with the humbler 

 folk who become his neighbours or dependants ; on 

 the supreme importance, both to his sport and to the 

 well-being of the district, of goodwill and liberality on 

 his part and co-operation on theirs ; and I was rash 

 1 Partridge, p. 239. 



