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and the trapping of a sparrow-hawk on her nest, or of 

 a peregrine on a cairn, is, of course, illegal, so that these 

 tyrants among bird life, especially the latter, have practi- 

 cally free scope to butcher our beautiful grouse, which 

 constitute one of the greatest attractions of our Scottish 

 Highlands. 



It was surprising how this Bill was supported in 

 both Houses of Parliament by members who possess a 

 large amount of territory in the Highlands of Scotland. 

 The many hundreds of thousands of acres which con- 

 stitute the rugged background of our Scottish scenery, 

 and which are in many cases owned by members of our 

 Legislature, might at all events have been regarded as a 

 sufficient sanctuary for the protection of rare birds and 

 beasts. Such, however, was not the case, and the poor 

 lairds who own a few thousand acres of heather must 

 submit to their grouse, which in many instances con- 

 stitute their bread and butter, being torn to pieces by 

 birds of prey. We have here an amount of selfishness 

 on the part of several of our large Scottish proprietors 

 for which I, for one, feel humbled and ashamed. Surely 

 they might have protected birds of prey in their own 

 forests, and left it to the discretion of their poorer neigh- 

 bours to do as they pleased. Intoxicated with their 

 own importance, however, a few pseudo-humanitarian 

 M.P.'s brought in a Bill which has passed into law 

 abolishing the pole-trap. Whether they will instruct 

 their keepers to act in accordance with law, and refrain 

 from setting traps in " an elevated position," had better 



