Wild Life Of Scotland Book

INTRODUCTION N times less secure than our own, refuges were 1 placed down, at intervals, over the untamed country, according to the special needs and dangers of the place. A conlmon site was the river bank, or the entrance to the mountain pass, where the traveller might rest till the brown water subsided, or the daylight returned. Scotland abounds in flooded streams, and stern passes. At tlie southern end of a road, leading over the central Grampian ridge to and from Braemar, stands the spital, or hospital of Glenshee. Everything seems to point to the genesis of the present hamlet in an ancient shelter. The scene is typical. And if, in imagination, we refill the shades, cast by the then dense woodland, with wild beasts, the reason for the choice will become still more apparent. It must be difficult for those who now halt by the way at the inn, to realise a past state of things. m As a last resourLe, much of thewood was destroyed and the tenants thereof dealt wit11 on more equal terms. So began a war of extermination, only justifiable as a measure of self - preservation, which was not without its sscrifices. The mischief, as far as the trees are concerned, we are slowly repairing often with no other view than to soften and vary the hardness and monotony of the landscapes. What about the animals - Toward the close of last century, a temporary movement began which soon spent itself, and seems to have excited so little attention, that, probably, its very existence is not generally ltnown. Its object was to restore some of the exiles thus, unceremoniously, driven forth. The boldest advocate of things as they were, acknowledged that these islands were too contracted for the larger, and more dangerous of the wild animals to be turned loose and drew the line at the bear, and the wolf. But, it seemed to some that it might increase the picturesqueness even of such hills as ours, if the reindeer were once more to walk along the ridges, in relief against the evening sky and that it might. add fresh interest to our streams if the beaver, known to our forefathers as the water-dog, were to restore his ancient lodges and show how to build a dam, that would resist the most impetuous rush of our winter spates. A very few voices were raised in favour of the wild boar whose presence would revive, it was thought, the fear and wonder of the woods. To those who have the courage to do and to dare, and no one else has a right to handle gun or spear, the game is none the worse of having a tusk, and the will to use it. The great-uncle of the present Duke of Fife turned some wild boars into the forest of Mar but the experiment failed, for lack of oaks to shed their acorns, and meres to grow their waterlilies. Obviously, the conditions of life must be restored before the living creatures. If still larger areas were forested, which ere long will probably be the case, the difficulty will cease to exist. Meantime, some of the scanty patches, wllich so shabbily represent our ancient woodlands, might shelter a few...Read More