MORE ABOUT GAME-BIRDS. 99 



the lasting ill-will of their neighbours, and one or 

 two such tools appeared on the scene at the time 

 of the grouse-conservation experiment. 



" Mind as you don't meddle with them black- 

 cocks, — master says he won't have it." 



" Who the devil are you ? Now, look here, clear 

 out. Off you go, or " 



Passages of this sort were frequent; then after 

 a time the commoners by common consent arrived 

 without exception at this verdict : " That the birds 

 were a damned nuisance, and the sooner they was 

 gone the better. They must go." 



And suddenly they all went. 



There will be but little to say concerning this 

 handsome game-bird, the red-grouse, or, as he has 

 been called by some, the brown ptarmigan, as all 

 that can be said about him has already been written 

 by those who were well qualified for such a task, 

 veteran grouse-shooters among their number. 



In the Highlands of Scotland he was at one time 

 called the "the blessed bird." He has very cer- 

 tainly been the means of distributing over poor 

 districts a great deal of money, spent by those rich 



