On Moorlands and Roughs. 39 



usually purchasable at a certain price with the 

 custodians of the moors, and then all is plain sailing. 

 There is much to be said both for and against such 

 restrictions. On the one hand the Grouse represent 

 vast sums of money to the owners of the moors, an 

 income in not a few cases to many an otherwise 

 impoverished landlord; considerable expense is in- 

 curred in maintaining a staff of keepers and watchers, 

 and there is no small outlay in many other directions. 

 On the other hand, there are those that argue that 

 the public have a legitimate right to wander at will 

 over these noble expanses of heather, that they 

 should be free to all, and that no vested rights should 

 be allowed in such an utterly wild bird as the Red 

 Grouse. Unfortunately there can be little doubt 

 that if the bird were not strictly preserved, and its 

 shooting an expensive luxury, there would soon be 

 no Red Grouse left. Of the two evils we would 

 prefer the former after all, for every naturalist worthy 

 of the name would deeply deplore the extermination 

 of such an interesting species, found as it is in no 

 other part of the world except on the British moor- 

 lands. Let us keep the species strong and vigorous 

 and abundant, by whatever means, rather than see 

 it meet the same wretched fate as the Great Auk 

 and scores of other interesting avine forms that have 

 vanished from this world for ever as a direct result 

 of man's crass stupidity and wanton slaughter! 



