Publications of the Clan Lindsay Society - Electric Scotland

Zbc 1l?opal Jfalcoiicrs of Scotland.
BY THE EDITOR.
n|^-URTNG the centuries wlien fulconry was tlie
^Pj)
favourite outdoor jmstinie of tlie landed
====^ gentry throughout Europe, the practice of
the sport in Scotland was greatly favoured by the
natural Htate of the country.
Woods wore then few and of
small extent. L(jvv-lyiiig ground
was covered with lochs, pools,
or marshes, which have since
been drained away. Only
meagre patches were under
cultivation, and as these were
unenclosed the landscape was
open from sea to sea, stretching
for the most part in wide ex-
panses of heathery moor and
coarse pasture, where troops of
unbroken horses roamed at large,
and wolves were numerous
enough to be a pest if not a
danger. That wild fowl should
be plentiful under such con-
ditions is only what might be
expected, and when the old writers speak in super-
lative terms of the numbers of these that haunted the
country, one is not disposed to discount their state-