Volume 3 - Electric Scotland

408 SKY.
Avill account for much of this ; and sportsmen and the
game-laws can explain the rest, I suppose. Except in
Lewis, they are extremely rare indeed in the Long Is-
land ; more, however, owing to the unfavourable nature
of the ground, "ban to any other cause. They are far
from abundant in Sky, Mull, and the other larger islands,
though the contrary might be expected ; and in the
smaller ones they are scarcely found. Jura seemed to
me the best stocked of the whole. On the mainland, they
are become extremely scarce upon the northwestern
coast; as they are, in a general sense, along the whole
western shore. The true seat of them now, is the great
central district, comprising the estates of the Dukes of
Atholl and Gordon, Lord Fife, and Invercauld; which
probably includes as many birds as all the rest of Scot-
land united. Of the inner islands, Arran is the most
productive, and probably contains as many as nearly all
the remainder, if we except perhaps Lewis. The distri-
bution of the black-cock is very partial, depending, as it
does, on the cover of woods ; and in the islands, it is
chiefly found in Isia, in Mull, and in Arran. As to the
Ptarmigan, it is not found at all, as far as I know, in the
Islands; being limited chiefly to the highest of the cen-
tral mountains of the mainland. It is remarkable, though
out of our road at present, that Shetland does not contain
a single bird ; though the grouse is tolerably abundant
in two of the islands of Orkney.
Sky, as I just said, still possesses a few red deer;
and there are a considerable number in the mountainous
part of Lewis ; excepting which, and Jura, there are none
left in the Islands. A very few are still found in the north-
west part of Sutherland, and in Knoydart ; and they
are protected for sport on the Duke of Gordon's estate
in Glen Fiddich. But the great array must be sought in
the district above mentioned, where an immense tract