302 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 
structive, and at times give even more trouble 
than rabbits. For large coniferous forests in 
the Scottish highlands and on Irish moors 
wild boar and deer of sorts, ‘black game’ and 
‘red game’ might well be maintained in eco- 
nomically-managed forests. There, too, the 
comparatively rare and shy capercailzie as well 
as the black grouse could be re-introduced on 
a large scale, while wood-pigeons and stock- 
doves would increase naturally, and furnish 
sport of a sort not to be despised by any 
true sportsman. 
Sporting considerations have assuredly hitherto 
been one of the chief causes of the apathy of 
landowners towards forestry in this country. 
They have certainly been the cause of fre- 
quent complaints that woods are unprofit- 
able, and that the growing of timber will not 
pay as an investment. There seems to me, 
however, to be much confusion about this 
matter. Landowners who hold this view seem 
to have formed their opinions without duly 
considering or discriminating between causes and 
effects. They do not seem quite to realise that 
the difference, often very considerable, between 
