BLACK-GAME 287 



grotesque antics for each other's delectation, but 

 never, as I think, fighting. 



Although black-game are diminishing in many 

 places, there are plenty still on large estates, where 

 the ground is suitable for them, such as Drumlanrig, 

 in Nithsdale, and Cumloden, in the valley of Cree ; 

 and the seasons of 1895 and 1896 were both very 

 favourable for them. They love the debateable 

 ground between moorland and arable, and only 

 want fair treatment to take care of themselves in 

 such places. It is not likely that anybody will ever 

 see again what I once saw within five-and-thirty 

 miles of Charing Cross, namely, five grey-hens 

 sitting together on a birch tree in the Hurt Wood, 

 between Guildford and Dorking. 



In the north, the letting of shootings has done 

 more than anything else to make black-game scarce. 

 Many unwilling landowners have been forced to do 

 so by the depression in agriculture, and, though 

 there are many shooting tenants who treat the 

 ground in a sportsman-like way, there are others of 

 course who, whether from ignorance or anxiety to 

 get as much as they can for their money, are unduly 

 severe on black-game. The worst offenders in this 

 respect are those who rent a shooting for a single 



