THE RED GROUSE. 53 



almost exterminated by the herds, who — now daily on the ground 

 — discover their nests and carry off the eggs. 



Sept. 13. — We had a ride of seven miles from the shooting 

 lodge, before reaching our ground at Glen Marson. On attain- 

 ing the summit of the first hill, the view of apparently fine grouse 

 mountains on every side was superior to anything I had seen. 

 Instead of presenting the hoary whitish aspect of the high Aber- 

 arder ground, they were deeply browned with heath, and their 

 steep sides were in some places adorned with woods of the graceful 

 birch. Luxuriant junipers clothed the bases of the hills, and the 

 lower parts of the steep banks of the streams. Their absence 

 from the higher and more exposed grounds was striking ; appear- 

 ing as if they had resigned those to the heath, and then crept out 

 of the range of wind into the most sheltered places. Yet we 

 often find the juniper in the clefts of the most lofty mountain 

 summits in these islands. A profusion of the finest berries 

 appeared upon these plants, on which no doubt some ring-ouzels 

 which rose from amid them had been feeding, perhaps taking 

 their farewell repast before moving far southward to winter in a 

 genial climate. Beneath the shade of the junipers, that deli- 

 cately beautiful fern, so like a native of the tropics, the Polypodium 

 chjopteris (Linn.) appeared quite brown and withered, though its 

 tender green fronds are still exhibited, as freshly as at midsummer, 

 about the exposed and precipitous banks of the waterfall of the 

 Nairn before the shooting lodge. Around this fall, the Voly podium 

 phegopteris (Linn.) is also of great size and beauty. The different 

 appearances of the individual junipers was very striking, some of 

 them strongly resembling their prototype in North America, com- 

 monly known as the red cedar {Juniperus virginiana, Linn.) 



The day was lovely, and the views, though not very extensive, 

 were to a sportsman most captivating. Red deer had been on 

 the ground not many hours before, and the true wild cat (Felis 

 cattus) frequents the rocky and in many places inaccessible banks 

 of a mountain torrent which crossed our path. The grouse were 

 very wild. Our party separated, and soon afterwards a friend 

 who was on the higher ground sprang some packs at which he 



