20 WILD NATURE IN STRATHEARN. 



broom, waiting the necessary cover for their 

 nests. A Hare hirples across the road, stops 

 to listen, then creeps through the fence, and 

 makes off with all speed to the field of 

 young clover. Only two human beings, of the 

 genus tramp, are to be seen. They are oppo- 

 site in sex, and to all appearance have been 

 drinking. They are quarrelling. I can hear 

 them a good way off. The sound does not 

 harmonise with those around. The woods, 

 banks, and braes are full of song and story. 

 All there is love. These human intruders are a 

 species of summer migrants passers. I step 

 off the road and through the gate to avoid 

 them, and disturb a Rabbit at his evening meal. 

 He soon scurries off, his short white tail pre- 

 senting a fine mark for the sportsman. 



Returning to the road, I can picture it in the 

 good old days, before the railway came, the day 

 before Falkirk Tryst or Tarranty Fair, as full of 

 bleating sheep or lowing cattle. Now all is quiet. 

 The only sheep that traverse the old road are 



