III. 5 

 DESTRUCTION FOR SPORT- 



"The Scottes " wrote Holinshed, "sette all their delighte in hunting 

 and fowling, using about the same to go armed in jackes and light iesternes 

 with bowe and arrows, no otherwise than if it had been in open warre, for 

 in this exercise they placed all the hope of the defence of their possessions, 

 lands and liberties." 



FROM very early times the law, as well as the national taste, 

 encouraged the chase in Scotland, and we should therefore 

 expect to find here clear evidences of the effect of sport upon 

 animal life. 



Destruction for sport is, however, less inimical to animal 

 life on the whole than one might suppose, for over-destruc- 

 tion must mean in the long run the death of the sport itself. 

 Consequently the risk of over-destruction is modified by the 

 introduction of various modes of protecting the animals 

 hunted, a subject which I have discussed in another chapter. 

 Yet, in spite of protection, sport has resulted in the decrease 

 in numbers and even in the total or local extermination of 

 some members of the fauna. 



THE WILD BOAR 



The occurrence and the decline of the Wild Boar have 

 already been mentioned (p. 89), and I would only recall 

 that in spite of the fact that its chase was strictly preserved 

 to the royal court and the great landed nobles, it was ex- 

 terminated in Scotland probably in the early years of the 

 seventeenth century. 



THE BROCK OR BADGER 



The Brock (Meles meles} has long been ranked with the 

 Wolf as an object worthy of the chase. 



" Throuch thir woddis " Dalrymple translated Leslie, " the gretter parte 

 of the nobilitie hes thair maist recreatione in hunting with the sluthe-hundes, 

 for that, this recreatione hes our countrey men ather in the feildes to hunte 

 the hair and the fox, or in the sandes and water brayes the Brok, or in the 

 mountanis the Wolfe, or the Wilkatt." 



Yet the Badger seems to have maintained its ground 

 with great persistence in spite of hunting and harrying, for 



