To Mountain Tarn 



of the first order ; not as Perthshire, for instance, 

 nor parts of Aberdeen down Braemar way. In 

 common with all the west country, it suffers from 

 the blight of damp. The west winds trail their 

 dripping fringes over the hill slopes, thus sifting 

 themselves of their moisture, till they become the 

 dry mountain breezes of the central Grampians. 

 There are moors with grouse large if few. And 

 a golden eagle will pick up a grouse. 



Still an eye with the light of reason in it might 

 see that this is not serious. And it is quite con- 

 ceivable that the intelligent owner of a moor 

 might look on with tolerance. The depredations 

 of a pair do not greatly lessen the August bag. 

 Some have found the blue hare a greater enemy 

 of sport than they, and acknowledged the 

 services in its removal. To spare the golden 

 eagle over the purple heather, and against the 

 speedwell blue of the sky, is to borrow from 

 nature a spark of beauty at very little expense. 

 To some that may not mean much ; but it is so. 

 When it flops down on a grouse, it may be doing 

 a benefit. It is a messenger of nature. And, in 

 a certain lofty way, perhaps outside ordinary 

 reckoning, but which I shall try to make good, 

 a servant of the lessee. 



Who is not charmed with the rich dark plumage 

 of the red grouse, or would have it altered? Is 

 it not part of the glamour and the spell ? 1 1 is 

 autumny of the heather when it blooms. It 



c 17 



