248 BIRD LIFE IN ENGLAND. 



CHAPTER XL 



GROUSE MOORS AND DEER FORESTS. 



BY J. W. BRODIE-!NNES. 



SPOET in Scotland, according to its modern acceptation, 

 presents many features peculiar to itself, and hardly to be 

 found elsewhere ; along with special fascinations, it has 

 special difficulties and obstacles, which the English or 

 American millionaire, who draws health and enjoyment from 

 the heather hills, very imperfectly comprehends. In Eng- 

 land, as in most other countries, sport has been a gradual 

 development, whose direction has been determined partly 

 by the nature of the quarry, and the facilities for breeding 

 increased or lessened by the progress of agriculture in 

 different districts, and partly by the invention and improve- 

 ment of arms of precision, partly also by the gradual growth 

 of the game laws ; but, in the main, English sport to-day 

 is the natural product and outcome of English sport cen- 

 turies ago. In Scotland it is far otherwise. Within living 

 memory the idea of the Highlands as a playground for the 

 wealthy was unknown, and St. John's ** Wild Sports of the 

 Highlands " seems almost as archaic as Dame Juliana 

 Berners. Within the memory of old men, such an event as 

 a stranger coming to slay the grouse on the great barren 

 hill-sides was very infrequent ; no man bought or sold the 

 game ; the lairds and their friends shot for themselves and 

 for presents. In the majority of cases the boundaries of 

 properties were hardly known or heeded. If Seafield shot 

 one hill, and Cluny shot another, no one knew or cared 



