NOVEMBER 195 



criminately and unintelligently as vermin. Only the 

 peregrine is capable of doing much damage to game, 

 and does it in such chivalrous fashion as to redeem the 

 act from the category of larceny. For the peregrine 

 scorns to strike at any creature that is not on the wing, 

 disdaining, as a rule, to stoop to crouching grouse or 

 cowering leveret. One of the memories which I think 

 will most surely come to me in my last hour will be 

 the spectacle of this gallant bird soaring high over a 

 windy loch, circling idly but watchfully till a skein of 

 wild ducks flew swiftly across the water ; then, like a 

 levin-bolt, the falcon fell, striking a mallard full on the 

 back and sending it stunned into the water with a great 

 splash. A true sportsman, as distinguished from a 

 mere gunner or marksman, should surely feel too close 

 in sympathy with this bold raider to grudge her a share 

 in what is going. ' Her ' again, you observe, for in all 

 falcons, goodness knows why, the female is far larger 

 and stronger than the male. Still, it must be owned 

 that the presence of peregrines means a heavy tax on 

 game. So long as I was able to keep shooting in my 

 own hands, I was content to pay that tax, and allowed 

 a pair of peregrines to rear an annual brood alongside 

 of ravens and kestrels on the crags of Cairndoun ; but 

 when taxation of another kind rose to a scale beyond 

 all precedent in our country's history, and I was com- 

 pelled to let the shooting, I could not impose upon 

 the tenant an obligation to protect what he would 

 regard as his natural enemies. Wherefore the pere- 

 grines no longer nest on Benbuie, though in winter I 

 often see one or a pair soaring round it as if wistfully 



