PEEFACE. 



I OFFER no apology for the publication of this 

 volume, as I have never seen any other which 

 attempts to give minute directions in the sports, 

 or information regarding the animals, of my 

 native hills ;* and since they are becoming 

 increasingly the objects of pursuit, especially 

 to English sportsmen, some such book seemed 

 really needed. 



With regard to the subject itself, many will 

 blame as trifling any work which treats merely 

 of amusement ; and I am aware that this censure 

 is not altogether unfounded. It is not, however, 

 to divert men from higher occupations, that I ask 

 them, now and then, to ramble over the wild hill 



* I do not know of any exception to this remark but Mr Scrope's 

 book on Deer- Stalking, which has made it unnecessary for me to touch 

 on that subject. 



