SEPTEMBER 231 



passed into the power of the Saisneach. Among them 

 there are those who still can tell of that day of sorrow, 

 half a century ago, when the great chief, hopelessly in- 

 solvent, yielded up his vast possessions and passed 

 forth an exile, or at least an emigrant, with three 

 families of his clan, to cross the great water and seek 

 subsistence in the new world. The chief died, and his 

 line has failed; but many of his people prosper and 

 multiply exceedingly beyond the sea. 



After that the land was parcelled out in great sheep 

 farms; the native woods, already sorely displenished 

 by their needy owners, shrank still further up the 

 steep ground, and the heather on many a hill paled 

 away before the spreading grass. But soon the time 

 came when sheep ceased to pay, and now great tracts 

 are given up to deer, to the mighty indignation of those 

 who would prefer a starving, compulsorily indolent 

 population of crofters to the well-housed, well-clad, 

 well-paid stalkers, gillies, and yacht hands who now 

 occupy the holdings. 



These successive changes, added to the development 

 of grouse-shooting, which became popular during the 

 second quarter of the present century, have told with 

 marked effect on the wild life of the Highlands. Some 

 species have been displaced, brought to the verge of ex- 

 termination, while others have multiplied enormously. 

 At the end of the century we are able to strike the 

 balance of loss and gain from the point of view of 

 sportsman and naturalist, and it is not so disap- 

 pointing as some believe. 



