space. SHAIRR., Black Guillemots, and Rock-Pigeons, with n few pairs of Rock-Pipits, were, with the exception
Of those already named, the nlo occupants of Hill] desolate quarters.
So many writers have stated tlieir convictions that the slock of winged game on our moors ha* been
diminished and the health of the survivors impaired by the killing down of birds and beasts of prey, that
a few lines with reference to the subject may not be out of place. My own experiences with regard to
the habits of those that are by some condemned as the worst offenders (placed erroneously, in many
instances, on the vermin list) arc also given. Gulden Eagles, I am of opinion, cause little damage to
Grouse, where hares, rabbits, and lambs (dead ur alive) may be readily obtained; now and then I have
observed one make a swoop at a wounded bird, but never witnessed those that were uninjured selected
for attack. The Sea-Eagle, having now been banished from the majority of its inland breeding-haunts,
passes the greater part of its time in the neighbourhood of the coast, and feeding principally on lambs,
stranded lish, and other offal may be held perfectly blameless with regard to the Grouse, not the signs
of a feather or oven a bleached skeleton having ever been detected near their nests; the immature birds
that a few years back used to winter on the open moors about (ilenlyon, Itauiioch, and several of the
more northern straths wen', when roused from the hill-side, invariably fuund to be feeding on dead and
putrid sheep or ether carrion. It is not to be denied thai Peregrines destroy large numbers of Grouse,
frequently striking down birds for the mere love of slaughter. Though it is certainly advisable that their
numbers should lie restricted, 1 should be sorry to see this bold and dashing robber banished from our
hills. Kites, though formerly abundant, are now seldom to lie met with, unless in a few of the deerforest,
where iir-woods cover the hill-sides. Beneath a simile treo to which a pair resorted I counted
over a score of carcasses of Grouse, many almost fresh and the remainder weather-beaten skeletons; the
greater number, however, I fully believe, had either suffered from disease or fallen from the stroke of the
relentless Peregrine. 1 am well aware that Kites will stray to long distances from their brerdiui'-ipiarters,
but have seldom observed them hunting over the open treeless moors that form the favourite feedinggrounds
of the Grouse. Against cither the Hcn-Harrier or Merlin, both of which breed out on the
open moors, 1 can bring no charges based on personal observations; the fact that a Greyhen, on one
occasion, selected n spot for rearing her young within six or eight feet of the nest in which the eggs
of a Harrier wen- on the point of hatching, must be regarded as evidence in favour of the latter species.
The thievish propensities of the Sparrow-Hawk have been dilated on by endless writers; my own ohservntions,
however, taken during several years' wanderings in the Highlands, seanidy assist in combining
the bad character usually ascribed to this handsome bird. He is doubtless a dashing robber, but I have
yet to leam that game in the north suffers to any great extent from his attacks. A few Ring-Ouzels
with now and then a Bark and a constant supply of Pipits funned the greater portion of the food
discovered on the nests examined. A male and female I secured as specimens, and whose brood is
figured in 'Hough Notes," were each shot within a few minutes of one another, with a Meadow-Pipit
in their tiilons, while attempting to reach their young Wore it was fairly light. The pairs whose operations
I watched were for the most part residents in plantations situated on wide-stretching moorlands,
where both Grouse and Snipe were plentiful; still no signs of their misdeed* could be ascertained.
Exceedingly unsuspicious iff danger and easily allured by a bait. Buzzards ore rapidly di-appi-ai-jng
throughout the northern counties of the Highlands. I remarked in almost every instance, when' their
breeding-quarters were inspected, that the adjacent ledges, as well as the grassy mounds and slopes in tho
vicinity, were strewn with castings or the remains of their food, the leak of blue hares or rabbits
plainly indicating the nature of their prey. No feathers or bones of birds having been detected, I am
unable to bring forward any evidence to prove that the presence of these iutcresting birds is undesirable
on the moors. Though the Kestrel lias been declared in several instances to carry off the downy young
BED GROUSE
of Pheasants and Pari ridges from the vicinity of the coops, I repeatedly remarked that, while breeding on
the moors in the north, the food brought to their oll'spring eon-istcd for the most part of rats and mice,
with now and then n few small birds, Pipits being the chief sufferers. Not a single member uf the Crew
family can resist the temptation to make o meal off an exposed egg, the Grey Crow being without duubt
the niost mischievous of this troublesome crew, Havens usually bunt at higher elevations on the hills
than the rest of the family, and Ptarmigan suffer considerably, their nests being frequently sought out
and plundered by these sturdy rascals, .luckdaws are well known us inveterate thieves; [ noticed the
empty shells of hundreds of GronM eggs scattered over the ledges of rock on which n oolony were
breeding in the fiice of a cliff in the west of Perthshire. In dry weather, when food is scarce. Rooks aro
especially addicted to hunting over the luwer portions of the hill-sides, and may frequently be sis'ii with
an egg in their luiiks. Bulb the Greater and lesser Black-backed Gulls breed on the moors in
several counties, and levy a heavy tax on their less powerful neighhours, any eggs or young falling in
their way being gulped down with the utmost avidity, 1 oneo detected a Cummun Gull in the act or
devouring a downy nestling of the Golden Plover; it is, however, doubtless on small fish, captured in
the shallows of the rivers, that this species chiefly subsists. Judging by the castings observed scattered
over the moss-grown mounds on the lint moon of Caithness from which parties of Arctic Skuas
had been seen to rise, it is possible that they possess a taste for eggs. It is, however, but fair to state
that I never met with an opportunity of watching them in the act of committing a robbery of this
description; and there is of course a chance thnt Hooded Crows iuighl have been the real culprits,
none of the specimens of 8. [ninm'tHnis I shot on the moors, near tlieir breed in g-qmirlcrs, containing any
other food than smolts. An inspection of the supply of prey collected in the lanler of a mountain-fox
will at once reveal the fact that game of nil descriptions must suffer to a large extent from the rapacity
of these marauders. On returning to my shoot bur-quarters in Glenlyou in May ISOfi, I learned from
the head keeper that the foxhunter' bud recently been over the greater part of the ground with his
dogs, hut had utterly failed in detecting signs of the object of his search, Being well aware that the
vixen not unfreqnently tomeys her cubs long distances on signs of danger, removing them to some deu
among the rocks, which is unknown or inaccessible to her pursuers, nud again transporting them from
place to place, I was anxious to ascertain if it was possible that the whole of the old badger- and fin-cairns
on our beats bad been deserted. In order to make a thorough exploration of the earths near the summit of
a low range of hills to the south of the Lyon, an early start was decided upon, mid after driving some
miles on our way the conveyance was left before the rays of the sun bad struck down into the glen. An
ascent of but a few hundred yards bad lieou made, when feathers scattered atioul among the heather
lit t raided at leal ion I mi examining tin' spe! it wi- :r app.in-ni lli.il a lien I iron-.' had Ihvii
seized on her nest. The track over which the bird had been dragged was by no means difficult to follow,
and after taking the line for a couple of hundred yards i was convinced thai it led to the upper cairn, and
accordingly made straight for the bill-top. From the widely spread traces of feathers and down scattered
among the roots of the heather, the bud had probably been carried off alive, the down and feathers having
been dispersed by an occasional Hap. On reaching the opening to the den it was at once evident from
the frantic excitement exhibited by our small pack of roiurii-eoated terriers that sumo, at least, of their
foes were at home. Having blocked another entrance from the opposite side of the ridge, we proceeded
to dig down towards the habitable portion of the caiin ; a-ccitaiuing, however, that the cubs were alone,
we desisted, and set to work to construct shelters in which the kiiqicr and a gillie might remain to
await the arrival of Hie vixen at dusk, at which hour she would in all probability return witli fresh-
• Li • r to ir Hod il..ir M I . w n r>1 t a w in • few :• n iltlirtof tm KigfalunU ^UI mudcy > luiliuntft, * ho main iwriulicJ
TMita la I hi' glint in Li. di.trirt, sltmnli'iL by • .mall puck of ii.inJ.'«rii>l liiuiiuk „1»] Union.