To Mountain Tarn 



not, their money is good. The turf is an asset of 

 the town. Such is the modern gospel. 



So much by the way. It is no immediate 

 concern of mine. My theme is not the ousting 

 of the olden golfers who disturbed as little as 

 they could sad as that may be. The contrast 

 is great. The fowl in possession are not interest- 

 ing. And those who have a little horizon behind, 

 a few years of retrospect, sigh for still older 

 tenants, who shared what was once all their own. 



Many birds that winter by the sea, when 

 spring comes round, seek the country for choice. 

 The curlew's whistle is heard alike from the 

 fisherman's and the peasant's cottage. It is a 

 matter of suitable nesting site, wherever found. 

 May not coast breeders go along with them and 

 share in the boundless possibilities ? The inlands 

 of Fife have many moorlands. Many whin- 

 covered knolls of igneous rock, many stretches 

 of barren sandstone, many heathery peat wastes. 



Once upon a time this would have been all 

 very well. In the olden days, golf was a coast 

 game ; and they who cared to play turned their 

 faces to the sea. In the evening the ring of 

 quoits was heard on the inland village green. 

 But the craze spread. It was not enough to 

 have a fortnight in the summer, or an afternoon 

 at the end of a long railway journey. Men must 

 have it nearer home ; ay, and women too. 



Would-be golfers looked out for some eligible 

 147 



