To Mountain Tarn 



end, if some are still dominant forms, it is not 

 through any forbearance, but that they have a 

 genius for looking after themselves. 



Among birds the slaughter has been great, the 

 victims the noblest, the motive a few more grouse. 

 The following are of those denied the right of 

 existence, save in the woods and wilds over which 

 Colquhoun had control. The golden eagle built 

 in Glenlass, so did several peregrines on the 

 wilder cliffs. 



In the same pine- wood the merlin was con- 

 stantly flushed. One can scarcely credit the 

 ignorance which would slay a falcon so tiny, 

 charming, and high-spirited, which robs no nests, 

 kills on the wing, and lives mainly on titlarks. 

 Nor the absence of fineness in him, who had no 

 care for the lady's hawk when outdoor life had 

 elements of charm and picturesqueness which 

 has fallen on evil days. Sport, like everything 

 else, is bare when it has no history, no regard for 

 living relics, no sense of backward perspective, 

 no trace of old-world gallantry. For the sake of 

 her sister who loved the merlin, woman should 

 take it under her charge. It is hers to shorten 

 the reign of ignorance and prevent the doing of 

 dark deeds. It would not be too much to ask for 

 the life of one bird ; and the merlin might repay 

 her the debt. A merlin on a lady's wrist, even 

 in these prosaic days, might still be worth the 

 painter's brush. In the absence of gentle patron- 

 si 



