WILD SPORTS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HIGHLANDS 
 
 ST JOHN
 
 presented to the 
 
 LIBRARY 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO 
 
 by 
 FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY 
 
 Mrs. Henry T. Woodward 
 
 donor
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OP 
 CALIFORNIA 
 
 SAN DIE&O

 
 The Wild Sports & Natural History 
 
 OF 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS
 
 CHARLES ST. JOHN
 
 SHORT SKETCHES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Wild Sports & Natural History 
 
 OF 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS 
 
 BY CHARLES A ST. JOHN 
 
 A NEW EDITION, WITH THE AUTHOR'S NOTES, AND 
 A MEMOIR BY THE REV. M. G. WATKINS 
 
 LONDON 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 
 
 1893
 
 PREFACE 
 
 THE appearance of another, the ninth, edition of St. John's 
 Highland Sports renders a few words of introduction necessary 
 for readers separated by nearly half a century from the time 
 when the book was first published. It delighted a past gener- 
 ation, and has probably done more than any book since 
 written to foster a love of out-door sport among the wilder 
 birds and animals of the British Isles. But the author pos- 
 sesses a stronger claim to the gratitude of naturalists and 
 sportsmen. He upholds the highest traditions of true sport : 
 on the one hand setting the example of refraining from all 
 that savours of taking an ungenerous advantage over these 
 wild creatures ; on the other, trying to inculcate humanity 
 towards them, believing that a fondness for observing their 
 habits confers a higher pleasure than the mere shooting of a 
 great quantity of game. 
 
 Mr. St. John was specially qualified to write on the birds 
 and beasts of Scotland. A happy concurrence of circum- 
 stances connected with his residence in the district of Moray 
 gave him unrivalled opportunities of observing its quadrupeds, 
 while he has paid even greater attention to the birds of the 
 country. He says (Preface to Natural History and Sport in 
 Moray, p. ix.) : " I have taken the nests of all the birds which 
 breed in Scotland, without, I believe, an exception. I have
 
 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 
 
 also watched the habits of feeding, etc., of all, from the golden 
 eagle to the golden -crested wren, from the wild swan to the 
 teal, and have had opportunities of so doing which perhaps no 
 other person has had." 
 
 Independently of the charm of St. John's writing, what at 
 present renders his Wild Sports especially valuable is that 
 Scotland and the Scotch fauna have considerably changed 
 during the last half-century. The variety and abundance of 
 wild life here described can never again be seen. Fortunately 
 a true picture of that departed past is preserved in St. John's 
 vivid narratives. Population has increased ; and railways, 
 driven far into what in his days were wastes of trackless bog 
 and heather, now admit countless sportsmen and tourists to 
 the most retired districts. An increasing taste for shooting and 
 fishing, and the charm of a freer life during the beautiful 
 northern summer than can be found in great cities, have 
 planted castles and shooting lodges all over Scotland. Sport 
 of any kind can now only be obtained at a considerable cost. 
 For economical reasons, all lovers of Scotland must rejoice at 
 this tendency of the age ; but it has pressed with great seventy 
 upon all wild life. Indeed, where they have not been specially 
 protected, several kinds of birds and beasts, such as the osprey, 
 the kite, and the marten, have either died out or are rapidly 
 approaching extinction. Were it not for legal restrictions and 
 private watchfulness others would be seriously endangered, or 
 linger on remaining scantily represented. 
 
 Thus many animals and birds which were sufficiently 
 common in St. John's time are now rare and seldom seen. It 
 has been thought advisable, therefore, in this edition to add a 
 few notes in order to illustrate the instincts or traits of these 
 creatures, their prevalence or scarcity. Some more general 
 remarks have also been appended here and there to clear up
 
 PREFACE vii 
 
 any obscurity or bring out associations which might otherwise 
 have been forgotten. There has been no tampering with the 
 original text. 
 
 The additional notes of the author, marked C. St. J., are 
 printed word for word from an interleaved copy of Jenyns's 
 Manual of British Vertebrate Animals. They are interesting 
 as showing the exactitude and brevity of St. John's notes. At 
 times they also throw further light upon the text. For per- 
 mission to use them the editor is indebted to the kindness of 
 
 the writer's son, Admiral H. C. St. John. 
 
 M. G. W. 
 
 KENTCHURCH RECTORY, July 1892.
 
 LIFE OF C. ST. JOHN 
 
 MANY men well known in the literary world possess no history, 
 because their life has been spent with their books. Mr. St. 
 John's days were passed on the moorland or by the river, 
 devoted to sports and natural history, consequently there is 
 little to tell of his life except the distinctive facts which mark 
 off one human being from another. His love of animated 
 nature, his perseverance and keenness in capturing the rarer 
 birds and beasts, are only matched by the acuteness with which 
 he caught their habits and instincts and transferred them into 
 these pages. In them and in his other two books may be read 
 his real life-work. 
 
 Charles William George St. John was son of General the 
 Honourable F. St. John, himself the son of Frederick, second 
 Viscount Bolingbroke. He was born at Chailey, Sussex, 3rd 
 December 1 809, and sent in due time to Midhurst School, 
 under Dr. Bayley. Here it is upon record that under the 
 careful tuition of an old pensioner, who acted as drill-sergeant 
 to the school, the characteristic bent of his mind showed itself, 
 and he became a proficient in spinning for pike and setting 
 night-lines for eels in the river Arun. During his stay of 
 about four years his box was usually filled with some kind of 
 pets ; dormice, guinea-pigs, or stag-beetles. He was appointed 
 to a clerkship in the Treasury in 1828, but only remained for 
 some two years at his desk, the confinement and regular hours 
 being little suited to his tastes. At this time of his life St. 
 John was fond of society, and was enabled to enjoy it to his 
 heart's content through the kindness of his aunt, Lady Sefton. 
 He had a slight impediment in his speech, but it almost dis- 
 appeared when he was among friends, and then his conversation
 
 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 
 
 was easy and flowing. When in London he was wont to drive 
 or ride out of town to shoot blackcock and return the same day. 
 The distance was eighty miles, and he used four horses in 
 getting over the ground, each horse doing twenty miles. 
 
 A new phase of life opened upon him after leaving the 
 Treasury, owing to the kindness of his cousin, Lord Bolingbroke, 
 who lent him Rosehall, a shooting-box on the Oykell in Suther- 
 land. The retirement, the shooting, the wild stretches of 
 moorland around him, exactly suited his genius. Many of his 
 observations on animal life, and much of his experience as a 
 deer -stalker, were here acquired. On an expedition from 
 Rosehall he met Miss Ann Gibson, the daughter of a rich 
 banker in Newcastle, and married her in November 1834. 
 She possessed some fortune, in which he had been somewhat 
 deficient, and much sympathy with his tastes and habits. 
 Henceforth he devoted himself to the life of a sportsman and 
 naturalist, living in succession at several houses in the High- 
 lands in Ross-shire, Inverness, Nairn, and Moray. The need 
 of schools for his growing family brought him nearer to towns. 
 But he found the " laigh " of Moray best suited to his tastes 
 " a fertile and well-cultivated country, with dry soil and bright 
 and bracing climate, with wide views of sea and mountain, 
 within easy distance of mountain sports, in the midst of the 
 game and wild animals of a low country, and with the coast 
 indented by bays of the sea and studded with frequent fresh- 
 water lakes, the haunt of all the common wild-fowl, and of 
 many of the rarer sorts." Amid such scenes St. John lived for 
 ten years, the best part of his working life, before his fatal 
 illness. 
 
 It was in Moray that St. John became acquainted with Mr. 
 C. Innes, Sheriff of Moray, in the autumn of I 844, while the 
 latter was shooting partridges. He had shot one and lost it 
 among some potatoes ; but St. John offered to let his own 
 rather ungainly-looking dog find it if the Sheriff would permit 
 him. This the dog speedily did, and an acquaintance thus 
 commenced of much pleasure to both, and the source of a new 
 and unexpected interest in St. John's life. He was then 
 living at Invererne, below Forres ; and Mr. Innes, captivated by 
 his stories of sport and adventure, induced him to write out a 
 few reminiscences for an article he was himself preparing for
 
 LIFE OF C. ST. JOHN 
 
 the Quarterly Review. The editor (Lockhart) was delighted 
 with them, especially with the story of " the Muckle Hart of 
 Benmore." St. John now began to see how he could utilise 
 the varied information he had gathered, and one winter dili- 
 gently put together the charming pages of The Wild Sports of 
 the Highlands. The Sheriff had the satisfaction of arranging 
 for the sale and publication of this in 1845 '> ar >d then for the 
 first time naturalists and sportsmen obtained accurate informa- 
 tion of the wild life of Northern Scotland ; while the simple 
 charm of St. John's narratives, and the boundless enthusiasm 
 for sport which these chapters evoked, speedily made his name 
 famous, and have given the utmost pleasure ever since to all 
 lovers of rural life. Thenceforth St. John kept more regular 
 journals, and acquired a scientific interest in his sport. The 
 sand-hills of Culbin, the Black Forest stretching away beyond 
 Brodie and Dalvey, the sand-spits on the coast where the seals 
 might be seen basking in the sun, the Findhorn with its ever- 
 varying prospects and the "sea-pyes" haunting its gravel 
 banks, these and other contiguous fields of research furnished 
 him with inexhaustible objects to observe and comment upon. 
 
 In 1848 and 1849 St John was obliged for the sake of his 
 family to reside much in Edinburgh ; but he loved to make 
 excursions on the one side to Newcastle, where dwelt Mr. 
 Hancock, whose tastes were similar to his own, and on the 
 other to Sutherland. This county had always possessed many 
 attractions for him in its fishing and deer-stalking, and led to 
 his publishing two volumes upon its sport. 
 
 Of all the houses St. John had inhabited, perhaps the 
 College, Elgin, is the most identified with his pursuits and 
 literary work. Here he came in the autumn of 1 849. It was 
 in the neighbourhood of many friends, Sir A. G. Gumming of 
 Altyre, Major Gordon Gumming, and others, while there were 
 good schools close at hand for his boys. The house itself, 
 with its old trees and rambling garden and the ivy covering 
 the walls, was exactly suited to the studies in natural history 
 of himself and his family. Here he could shoot and fish in 
 much happiness ; and here, owing to his habits of vigour, active 
 exercise, and temperance, he spent several happy years. It is 
 worth while extracting a pleasant picture of his home-life at 
 Elgin from the pages of Mr. Innes :
 
 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 
 
 The boys were the constant companions of his sport when school 
 permitted, and sometimes the schoolmaster was forgotten when the car 
 came to the door to take papa and Rennie (Donald) to the loch. 
 Then, on the return, there were the contents of the game-bag to 
 examine, rare specimens to note, and sometimes to preserve and stuff 
 after Mr. Hancock's directions, who was a great friend and ally of old 
 and young. In the evening the drawing-room was a pretty sight. Some 
 rare bird, or, if no rarity offered, a good handsome old blackcock, was 
 displayed en pose for the artists, and father and children made studies 
 in water-colours of a head, a claw, or a tail of the fine bird. Without 
 pretending to much skill in art, St. John drew easily and coloured 
 dexterously what was placed before him, and he made all his children 
 able to do the same. P. xxviii. 
 
 But the end of this happy, industrious life was approach- 
 ing. The pen which had delighted so many lovers of nature 
 by its graphic accounts of sport and natural history was soon 
 to drop useless from the hand. St. John had been a sufferer 
 for a long time from severe headaches. After a violent attack 
 in the beginning of December 1853 he seemed better, and was 
 on his way to shoot at Pluscardine, when on 6th December he 
 was struck down by paralysis of the whole left side. Quite 
 powerless, yet perfectly conscious, he was carefully tended and 
 taken home by Major Campbell. For many weeks he was 
 tenderly nursed by him and by his own devoted family. He 
 never recovered the use of his limbs, but was enabled to go 
 south for change of scene and air. Brighton, however, and 
 Southampton did not appear to do him much good. He still 
 cherished the hope of ending his days in the Highlands ; but 
 death released him on I2th July 1856 at Woolston, and he 
 was buried hard by in Southampton Cemetery. At his feet 
 inside the coffin was placed the skull of a favourite retriever, 
 the successor of " Grip." During the two years of his illness 
 his patience and resignation were wonderful after the active 
 life that he had almost always led out of doors among his 
 favourite sports and in the observation of nature. It might 
 have been expected that he would have pined for freedom and 
 exercise, but no sign of such a feeling ever showed itself. He 
 left three sons and one daughter, who are still living. 
 
 Charles St. John is famous as a sportsman, a naturalist, 
 and a writer. As a sportsman, his fire and eagerness were 
 extreme ; and he was especially fond of seeing his dogs work as
 
 LIFE OF C. ST. JOHN 
 
 he shot, never taking life merely for the wantonness of killing. 
 But fishing and shooting were always subordinate to his ardour 
 for observing the habits of the wild creatures which he pos- 
 sessed so many opportunities of noting. He insisted on seeing 
 with his own eyes, and never cared to take facts on hearsay. 
 Enthusiastic, cautious, and diligent, he was the model of a 
 zoologist ; country pursuits and love of the country almost 
 amounting with him to a passion. St. John's style is plain 
 and straightforward, frequently rising to a poetical appreciation 
 of scenery, and redolent of heather scents and the freshness of 
 the mountain breeze. Imagination is strictly subordinated to 
 sober details of what he actually saw, and heard, and did. 
 There is no attempt to rise to gorgeous or even fine writing, 
 and this is the reason why his books still prove so fascinating. 
 Without either eccentricities of thought or of language, they tell 
 their own tale, and appeal strongly to all who sympathise with 
 nature and sport. Therefore they never become antiquated, or 
 disgust readers with the affectations and sporting jargon of a 
 bygone day. When Walton and White of Selborne are for- 
 gotten, then, and then only, will the world tire of St. John. 
 Few authors in his own peculiar range of sport and natural 
 history combined can vie with him ; few indeed have surpassed 
 him. It is believed that many lovers of nature who have 
 grown up since the early editions of the Highland Sports were 
 published will be as delighted to make St. John's acquaintance 
 as were their fathers, to whom his experiences of the sport to 
 be obtained in Scotland came like a revelation. 
 
 St. John's insight into animal life was as keen as that of 
 Jefferies, but wider, more particular and exact. Nature was as 
 dear to him as to Thoreau ; but St. John's love of sport drew him 
 nearer to the birds and beasts of his native land. Perhaps the late 
 Mr. J. Colquhoun most resembled him in united enthusiasm for 
 sport and nature and skill in writing on these subjects; butSt.John 
 far excels him in the accuracy of his knowledge and the extent 
 of his observations on animals, their habits and traits. An 
 untimely death removed one who would probably have largely 
 increased sportsmen's sympathy and acquaintance with their 
 quarry, and might have considerably widened the domain of 
 the sciences which preside over the birds and animals of his 
 adopted country. Besides the Highland Sports, St. John has
 
 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 
 
 left two excellent books, one on The Natural History of Moray, 
 the other on Deer-stalking in Sutlierland. 
 
 This memoir has been put together from the Life of St. 
 John written by the late Mr. C. Innes and prefixed to the 
 former of these two books, and from notes supplied by the 
 eldest son of the author, Admiral H. C. St. John. To his 
 kindness also this edition is indebted for the portrait of the 
 author, the first which has hitherto been made public.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION ......... i 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Highland Lakes Steam-boats Small Lochs Wild Cats Ravens Dragging 
 the Lake The Char Fishing at Night Pike Trolling large Trout on 
 Loch Ness Flies, Otters, etc. Fishing with the Otter Spawning Trout . 8 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Roe: Mischief done by Fawns Tame Roe Boy killed by Roe Hunting 
 Roe: Artifices of Shooting Roe Unlucky shot Change of colour 
 Swimming Cunning Roe . . . . . . 19 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Grouse's Nest Partridge Nest Grouse-shooting Marten Cat Witch : Death 
 of Stags Snaring Grouse Black Game: Battles of Hybrid Bird 
 Ptarmigan-shooting Mist on the Mountain Stag Unsuccessful Stalking 
 Death of Eagle . . . . . . . .27 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 The Wild Cat : Strength of ; Rencontre with Trapping tame Cats : Destruc- 
 
 tiveness of Poisoning vermin Trapping vermin . . . -43 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 Poaching in the Highlands Donald Poachers and Keepers Bivouac in Snow 
 Connivance of Shepherds Deer killed Catching a Keeper Poaching in 
 the Forests Shooting Deer by Moonlight Ancient Poachers . . 50
 
 WJLD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 PACE 
 
 Salmon-fishing Salmon ascending Fords Fishers Cruives Right of Fishing 
 Anecdote Salmon-leaps History of the Salmon Spearing Salmon 
 River Poaching Angling Fly-making Eels Lampreys . . 62 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Short-eared Owl: Habits of Long-eared Owl Tame Owl White Owl 
 Utility of Owls Mice Rats : Destructiveness of Water Rats : Food of 
 Killing Rats Ratcatchers . . . . . . .72 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Crossbills: Habits of ; Nest Snowy Owl Great-eared Owl Hoopoe Shrike 
 Tawny and Snow Bunting Lizards Singular Pets Toads: Utility of ; 
 Combats of Adders Dog and Snakes Large Snake Blind-Worm . 80 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 On the Peculiarities and Instinct of different Animals Eggs of Birds Nests 
 
 The Fox Red-Deer Hind . . .... 87 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 The Eagle: Habits; Greediness; Anecdotes of; Killing Eagles; Trapping; 
 Food of The Peregrine Falcon : Manner of Hunting Tame Falcon : 
 Anecdotes of Guinea-Hen and Ducks The Osprey The Kite : Trapping 
 The Buzzard : Nests and Habits of . . . . -93 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 The Hen - Harrier : Destructiveness to Game; Female of; Trapping The 
 Sparrowhawk : Courage of; Ferocity; Nest The Kestrel: Utility of 
 The Merlin : Boldness The Hobby Increase of Small Birds . . 103 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 The Otter: Habits Catching of Shooting Attachment to each other 
 
 Anecdotes Fish killed by . . . . . . . 110
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Weasels Ferrets: Fierceness of- Anecdotes Food of Weasels Manner of 
 Hunting for Prey The Stoat: Change of Colour; Odour of; Food of; 
 Their catching Fish Polecat The Marten Cat: Habits; Trapping; 
 Eating' Fruit ; Activity of; Different Species . . . .116 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Anecdotes and Instinct of Dogs Anecdotes of Retriever Shepherds' Dogs- 
 Sagacity Dogs and Monkey Bulldog Anecdotes of Shooting a Stag 
 Treatment of Dogs . . ... . . . . 1 24 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 Increase of Wood-Pigeons and other Birds Service to the Farmer of these 
 Birds Tame Wood-Pigeons : Food of The Turtle -Dove Blue Rock- 
 Pigeons : Caves where they breed Shooting at the Rocks near Cromarty . 135 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 Wild Ducks : Edible kinds of Breeding-places of Mallards Change of Plumage 
 Shooting Feeding -places Half-bred Wild Ducks Anas glacialis 
 Anas clangula : Habits of Teeth of Goosander Cormorants Anecdotes . 144 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 Birds that come in Spring The Pewit: Pugnacity; Nests of; Cunning 
 Ring-Dotterel Redshank Oyster - Catcher : Food; Swimming of; Nest 
 Curlew Redstart Swallows, etc. . . . . . 154 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 Sheldrake : Nest ; Food Teal : Breeding-places ; Anecdotes Landrail : Ar- 
 rival of Cuckoo Nightjar : Habits of Quail Grebe : Arrival ; Account 
 of Nest and Young Bald Coot Water-Hen Water-Rail. . . 162 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 Wild Geese: Arrival of; Different kinds of; Anecdotes of Shooting Wild 
 Geese Feeding - places Wariness Habits Breeding - places Black- 
 headed Gull Birds that breed on the River-banks . . . 172 
 
 b
 
 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Sandhills of Morayshire : Description of ; Origin of Foxes: Destructiveness 
 
 and Cunning of ; Anecdote of Roe-hunting in the Sandhills Anecdotes . 183 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 Death of my first Stag ... . 192 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 The Findhorn River Excursion to Source Deer-stalking Shepherds Hind 
 and Calf Heavy Rain Floods Walk to Lodge Fine Morning High- 
 land Sheep Banks of River Cottages ..... 200 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 Findhorn River Bridge of Dulsie Beauty of Scenery Falls of River Old 
 Salmon-fisher Anglers Heronry Distant View Sudden Rise of River 
 Mouth of River . . . . . . . .211 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 Migration of Birds in October Wild Swans: Pursuit of; Manner of getting a 
 
 Shot ; Two Killed Habits of Wild Swan . . . . .218 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 The Water-Ouzel : Nest ; Singular Habits ; Food ; Song of Kingfisher : Rare 
 
 Visits of ; Manner of Fishing Terns : Quickness in Fishing ; Nests of . 225 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 The Muckle Hart of Benmore ....... 232 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 Different kinds of Gulls : Large Collections of Breeding-places Islands on a 
 Loch Eggs of Gulls Young Birds Food and Voracity of Large Gulls : 
 Salmon-fry killed by Boatswain-Gull Manner of procuring Food . 244
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Woodcock's Nest: Early Breeding of; Habits of, in Spring ; First Arrival of; 
 Anecdotes of; Manner of carrying their Young Habits of Snipe Number 
 of Jacksnipes Solitary Snipe . . . . . -251 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 Seals Destruction to Fish and Nets Shooting Seals in River and Sea Habits 
 of Seals Anecdotes Seal and Dog Seal and Keeper Catching Seals 
 Anecdotes ......... 256 
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 Fox-hunting in the Highlands ... . 265 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 The Badger : Antiquity of ; Cleanliness ; Abode of ; Food ; Family of Trapping 
 Badgers Anecdotes Escape of Badger Anecdotes Strength of Cruelty 
 to ...... .270 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 Autumn Day on the Mountain Stags and Hinds A Bivouac Death of the Stag 278 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 Peculiarities and Instinct of different Animals Feeding Habits The Beaks of 
 Birds Wings of Owl Instinct in finding Food Ravens Knowledge of 
 Change of Weather Fish . . . . . . .289 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV 
 Coursing Deer ..... . . 295 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV 
 Tameness of Birds when Sitting . . 311 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI 
 Variety of Game ......... 315
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 BY HARRISON WEIR, CHARLES WHYMPER, A. C. CORBOULD, 
 
 A. H. COLLINS, A. T. ELWES, AND A. H. HALLAM MURRAY 
 
 ENGRAVED ON WOOD BY J. W. WHYMPER 
 
 PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR ...... Frontispiece 
 
 ROUGH WEATHER ..... . Title-Page 
 
 PAGE 
 
 DONALD INSTRUCTING HIS YOUNG MASTER . . . . i 
 
 FISHING BY MOONLIGHT ....... 8 
 
 PLOVERS ......... 18 
 
 ROEBUCK ....... .19 
 
 ROE SWIMMING LOCH ....... 26 
 
 SHOOTING A WITCH ........ 27 
 
 MOUNTAIN SCENERY ........ 39 
 
 PTARMIGAN ......... 42 
 
 WILD CAT ......... 43 
 
 THE RIGHT SORT OF GAMEKEEPER ...... 49 
 
 AFFRAY WITH POACHERS ....... 50 
 
 BIVOUAC ON THE HILLS UNDER THE HEATHER . . . .61 
 
 SPEARING SALMON OR BURNING THE WATER . . . .62 
 
 RAPIDS ON THE FlNDHORN ....... 71 
 
 THE LONG-EARED OWL ....... 72 
 
 RATS CARRYING OFF EGG ....... 79 
 
 THE SNOWY O\VL ........ 80 
 
 YELLOW-HAMMER'S NEST ....... 87 
 
 WHITETHROAT'S NEST ....... 92 
 
 THE EAGLE AND MOUNTAIN HARE . . . . . -93
 
 xxii WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 MY PUGNACIOUS PEREGRINE . . 102 
 
 THE SPARROWHAWK . . 103 
 
 KESTRELS .... .109 
 
 THE OTTER IN HIS HAUNTS. . ... no 
 
 THE OTTER'S ATTACK . . ... 115 
 
 THE WEASEL'S VICTIM . . . . . . .116 
 
 DEER AND HOUNDS ........ 123 
 
 A HUNTING BULLDOG ....... 124 
 
 MY PETS ......... 134 
 
 WOOD-PIGEONS . . . . . . . -135 
 
 ACROSS C ROM ARTY BAY . . . . . . .143 
 
 WILD DUCK ......... 144 
 
 THE SYMPATHETIC MATE ... ... 153 
 
 OYSTER-CATCHERS AT HOME ...... 154 
 
 LOGIE HOUSE ......... 161 
 
 WATER-HEN ......... 162 
 
 LOCH INDORBH . . . . . . . -171 
 
 SHOOTING WILD GEESE ....... 172 
 
 SITE OF HERONRY ON THE FINDHORN ..... 182 
 
 SANDHILLS OF MORAY ....... 183 
 
 A CAUTIOUS PEEP ........ 191 
 
 DEATH OF MY FIRST STAG ....... 192 
 
 FINDHORN BAY ........ 199 
 
 THE FINDHORN RIVER ....... 200 
 
 THE VALLEY OF THE FINDHORN ...... 203 
 
 CROSSING THE BURN ........ 205 
 
 VALLEY OF THE FINDHORN ....... 210 
 
 DULSIE BRIDGE . . . . . . . .211 
 
 THE HILLS OF SUTHERLAND FROM THE MOORS ABOVE THE FINDHORN . 215 
 RKLUGAS HOUSE ........ 217 
 
 THE SENTINEL ........ 218 
 
 SWANS IN THE BAY ........ 224 
 
 THE WATER-OUZEL . . . ... 225 
 
 TERNS ON SALMON STAKES ....... 229 
 
 THE MORAY FIRTH FROM DAVA . ... 231
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRA TIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 "I DASHED MY PLAID OVER HIS HEAD" ..... 232 
 
 BRINGING HOME THE "MUCKLE HART" . . 243 
 
 "THE WHOLE COMMUNITY ATTACKED HIM" .... 244 
 
 GULLS COMING INLAND ....... 247 
 
 THE FlNDHORN FROM ALTYRE WOODS, LOOKING NORTH . . . 250 
 WOODCOCKS TILTING ..... -251 
 
 DONALD AND THE SEAL ... . 256 
 
 LOOKING UP THE FINDHORN VALLEY FROM DULSIE BRIDGE .- . 264 
 
 FOX-HUNTING IN THE HIGHLANDS ...... 265 
 
 HIGHLAND MOWING . . ..... 269 
 
 BADGER AND WASPS' NEST ....... 270 
 
 GROUP OF HIGHLAND DOGS. From Sir E. Landseer, R.A. . . 277 
 
 "THE NEXT MOMENT HE WAS PASSING FULL BROADSIDE TO ME" . 278 
 
 "ON THE HEIGHT OF THE HILL HE HALTED" .... 283 
 
 BRIDGE AFTER FLOOD .... . 288 
 
 THE RAVEN ... ... .289 
 
 HIGHLAND BAROMETERS ....... 294 
 
 THE STAG AT BAY . ...... 295 
 
 MALCOLM HOLDING THE DOGS . . . . . .310 
 
 YOUNG DUCKS CATCHING MOTHS . . . . 311 
 
 CURLEW AND GOLDEN PLOVER . . . . . 315 
 
 DEAD STAG ......... 319
 
 THE 
 
 WILD SPORTS & NATURAL HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE HIGHLANDS 
 
 DONALD INSTRUCTING HIS YOUNG MASTER 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 I HAVE lived for several years in the northern counties of Scot- 
 land, and during the last four or five in the province of Moray, 
 a part of the country peculiarly adapted for collecting facts in 
 Natural History, and for becoming intimate with the habits of 
 many of our British wild birds and quadrupeds. Having been 
 in the habit of keeping an irregular kind of journal, and of 
 making notes of any incidents which have fallen under my 
 
 B
 
 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 
 
 observation connected with the zoology of the country, I have 
 now endeavoured, by dint of cutting and pruning those rough 
 sketches, to put them into a shape calculated to amuse, and 
 perhaps, in some slight degree, to instruct some of my fellow- 
 lovers of Nature. From my earliest childhood I have been 
 more addicted to the investigation of the habits and manners 
 of every kind of living animal than to any more useful avoca- 
 tion, and have in consequence made myself tolerably well 
 acquainted with the domestic economy of most of our British 
 ferce naturce, from the field-mouse and wheatear, which I stalked 
 and trapped in the plains and downs of Wiltshire during my 
 boyhood, to the red deer and eagle, whose territory I have 
 invaded in later years on the mountains of Scotland. My 
 present abode in Morayshire is surrounded by as great a 
 variety of beautiful scenery as can be found in any district in 
 Britain ; and no part of the country can produce a greater 
 variety of objects of interest either to the naturalist or to the 
 lover of the picturesque. The rapid and glorious Findhorn, 1 
 the very perfection of a Highland river, here passes through 
 one of the most fertile plains in Scotland, or indeed in the 
 world ; and though a few miles higher up it rages through the 
 wildest and most rugged rocks, and through the romantic and 
 shaded glens of the forests of Darnaway and Altyre, the stream, 
 as if exhausted, empties itself peaceably and quietly into the 
 Bay of Findhorn, a salt-water loch of some four or five miles 
 in length, entirely shut out by different points of land from the 
 storms which are so frequent in the Moray Firth, of which it 
 forms a kind of creek. At low-water this bay becomes an 
 extent of wet sand, with the river Findhorn and one or two 
 smaller streams winding through it, till they meet in the deeper 
 part of the basin near the town of Findhorn, where there is 
 always a considerable depth of water, and a harbour for shipping. 
 From its sheltered situation and the quantity of food left 
 on the sands at low-water, the Bay of Findhorn is always a 
 great resort of wild-fowl of all kinds, from the swan to the 
 teal, and also of innumerable waders of every species ; while 
 occasionally a seal ventures into the mouth of the river in 
 
 1 Every one interested in the Findhorn should read Sir T. D. Lauder's admirable 
 book. The tforay Floods in 1829. The character of the river, and the calamities which 
 in that year followed the sudden floods to which it is liable, are particularly pointed out 
 in it.
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 pursuit of salmon. The bay is separated from the main water 
 of the Firth by that most extraordinary and peculiar range of 
 country called the Sandhills of Moray, 1 a long, low range of 
 hills formed of the purest sand, with scarcely any herbage, 
 excepting here and there patches of bent or broom, which are 
 inhabited by hares, rabbits, and foxes. At the extreme point 
 of this range is a farm of forty or fifty acres of arable land, 
 where the tenant endeavours to grow a scanty crop of grain 
 and turnips, in spite of the rabbits and the drifting sands. 
 From the inland side of the bay stretch the fertile plains of 
 Moray, extending from the Findhorn to near Elgin in a con- 
 tinuous flat of the richest soil, and comprising districts of the 
 very best partridge -shooting that can be found in Scotland, 
 while the streams and swamps that intersect it afford a con- 
 stant supply of wild -fowl. As we advance inland we are 
 sheltered by the wide -extending woods of Altyre, abounding 
 with roe and game, and beyond these woods again is a very 
 extensive range of a most excellent grouse -shooting country, 
 reaching for many miles over a succession of moderately sized 
 hills which reach as far as the Spey. 
 
 On the west of the Findhorn is a country beautifully dotted 
 with woods, principally of oak and birch, and intersected by a 
 dark, winding burn, full of fine trout, and the constant haunt of 
 the otter. Between this part of the country and the sea-coast 
 is a continuation of the Sandhills, interspersed with lakes, 
 swamps, and tracts of fir-wood and heather. On the whole I 
 do not know so varied or interesting a district in Great Britain, 
 or one so well adapted to the amusement and instruction of a 
 naturalist or sportsman. In the space of a morning's walk you 
 may be either in the most fertile or in the most barren spot of 
 the country. In my own garden every kind of wall-fruit ripens 
 to perfection, and yet at the distance of only two hours' walk 
 you may either be in the midst of heather and grouse, or in 
 the sandy deserts beyond the bay, where one wonders how 
 even the rabbits can find their living. 
 
 1 One district alone, Culbin, which belonged to the Kinnairds, and consisted of more 
 than 3600 acres of the finest land, was entirely destroyed in the autumn of 1694 or spring 
 of 1695. A gre^t drifting of the sands then took place, which nearly overwhelmed the 
 whole estate in a very sudden manner (see Chapter xx. ) Some say that Culbin consisted 
 of 9000 acres. These hillocks, like the French " dunes," are blown into different sized 
 masses and alter in height from time to time.
 
 U'lLD SPORTS Ol' THE HIGHLANDS 
 
 The varieties of the soil and its productions, both animate 
 and inanimate, will, however, be best shown in the extracts from 
 my note-books, with which these pages are filled. My memo- 
 randums, having for the most part been written down at the 
 moment, and describing anecdotes and incidents that fell under 
 my actual observation, will at all events contain correct descrip- 
 tions of the nature and habits of the animals and birds of the 
 country ; though, not being originally intended for publication, 
 they are not arranged in any regular order. Here and there I 
 have quoted some anecdote of animals, which I have heard 
 from others : these I can only offer as I received them, but I 
 can safely assert that I have quoted the words of those persons 
 only upon whose veracity and powers of observation I could 
 depend. My subject, as connected both to natural history and 
 sporting, has led me back to my former wanderings in the 
 more northern and wilder parts of the country, where I had 
 great opportunities of becoming acquainted with the habits of 
 the wilder and rarer birds and beasts, who are natives of those 
 districts ; and the pursuit of whom always had greater charms 
 for me than the more commonplace occupations of grouse or 
 partridge shooting. 
 
 I hope that my readers will be indulgent enough to make 
 allowances for the unfinished style of these sketches, and the 
 copious use of the first person singular, which I have found it 
 impossible to avoid whilst describing the adventures which I 
 have met with in this wild country, either when toiling up the 
 rocky heights of our most lofty mountains, or cruising in a 
 boat along the shores, where rocks and caves give a chance of 
 finding sea-fowl and otters ; at one time wandering over the 
 desert sand-hills of Moray, where, on windy days, the light 
 particles of drifting sand, driven like snow along the surface of 
 the ground, are perpetually changing the outline and appear- 
 ance of the district ; at another, among the swamps, in pursuit 
 of wild ducks, or attacking fish in the rivers, or the grouse on 
 the heather. 
 
 For a naturalist, whether he be a scientific dissector and 
 preserver of birds, or simply a lover and observer of the habits 
 and customs of the different fera natures, large and small, this 
 district is a very desirable location, as there are very few birds 
 or quadrupeds to be found in any part of Great Britain, who do
 
 INTRODUCTION 5 
 
 not visit us during the course of the year, or, at any rate, are 
 to be met with within a few hours' drive. The bays and rivers 
 attract all the migratory water-fowl, while the hills, woods, and 
 corn-lands afford shelter and food to all the native wild birds 
 and beasts. The vicinity too of the coast to the wild western 
 countries of Europe is the cause of our being often visited by 
 birds which are not strictly natives, nor regular visitors, but 
 are driven by continued east winds from the fastnesses of the 
 Swedish and Norwegian forests and mountains. 
 
 To the collector of stuffed birds this county affords a 
 greater variety of specimens than any other district in the 
 kingdom, whilst the excellence of the climate and the variety 
 of scenery make it inferior to none as a residence for the un- 
 occupied person or the sportsman. 
 
 Having thus described that spot of the globe which at 
 present is my resting-place, I may as well add a few lines to 
 enable my reader to become acquainted with myself, and that 
 part of my belongings which will come into question in my 
 descriptions of sporting, etc. To begin with myself, I am one 
 of the unproductive class of the genus Homo, who, having 
 passed a few years amidst the active turmoil of cities, and in 
 places where people do most delight to congregate, have at 
 last settled down to live a busy kind of idle life. Communing 
 much with the wild birds and beasts of our country, a hardy 
 constitution and much leisure have enabled me to visit them 
 in their own haunts, and to follow my sporting propensities 
 without fear of the penalties which are apt to follow a careless 
 exposure of oneself to cold and heat, at all hours of night and 
 day. Though by habit and repute a being strongly endowed 
 with the organ of destructiveness, I take equal delight in col- 
 lecting round me all living animals, and watching their habits 
 and instincts ; my abode is, in short, a miniature menagerie. 
 My dogs learn to respect the persons of domesticated wild 
 animals of all kinds, and my pointers live in amity with tame 
 partridges and pheasants ; my retrievers lounge about amidst 
 my wild-fowl, and my terriers and beagles strike up friendship 
 with the animals of different kinds whose capture they have 
 assisted in, and with whose relatives they are ready to wage 
 war to the death. A common and well-kept truce exists with 
 one and all. My boys, who are of the most bird-nesting age
 
 U'JLD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 
 
 (eight and nine years old), instead of disturbing the numberless 
 birds who breed in the garden and shrubberies, in full con- 
 fidence of protection and immunity from all danger of gun or 
 snare, strike up an acquaintance with every family of chaf- 
 finches or blackbirds who breed in the place, visiting every 
 nest, and watching over the eggs and young with a most 
 parental care. 
 
 My principal aide-de-camp in my sporting excursions is an 
 old man, who, although passing for somewhat of a simpleton, 
 has more acuteness and method in his vagaries than most of 
 his neighbours. For many years he seems to have lived on 
 his gun, but with an utter contempt of, and animosity against, 
 all those who employ the more ignoble means of snaring 
 and trapping game ; and this makes him fulfil his duty as 
 keeper better than many persons trained regularly to that 
 employment. 
 
 He is rather a peculiar person in his way, and has a natural 
 tendency to the pursuit of the rarer and wilder animals, such as 
 otters, seals, wild-fowl, etc. which accords well with my own 
 tastes in the sporting line many a day, and many a night too, 
 at all seasons, has he passed lying in wait for some seal or 
 otter, regardless of wet or cold. 
 
 His neighbours, though all allowing that he was a most 
 inveterate poacher, always gave him credit for a great deal of 
 simple honesty in other things. So one day, having caught 
 him in a ditch waiting for wild ducks, on my shooting-grounds, 
 instead of prosecuting, I took him into my serVice, where he 
 has now remained for some years ; and though he sometimes 
 shows an inclination to return to his former way of life, he lives 
 tolerably steady, taking great delight at all idle times, in teach- 
 ing my children to shoot, fish, or trap vermin a kind of learn- 
 ing which the boys, young as they are, have become great 
 proficients in, preferring Simon Donald to their Latin master ; 
 and though they attend regularly and diligently to the latter, 
 they make equally good use of the lessons of the former, and 
 can dress a fly and catch a dish of trout for dinner, gallop on 
 their Shetland ponies across the wildest country, or hit a mark 
 with a rifle as well as most boys of double their age. And, 
 after all, this kind of education does boys more good than 
 harm (as long as they do not neglect their books at the same
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 time, which I do not allow mine to do), as they acquire hardi- 
 hood of constitution, free use of their limbs, and confidence in 
 their own powers. But I have said enough of me and mine, 
 and must refer those who may have any curiosity on the subject 
 to the following sketches, as illustrating my doings and observa- 
 tions in my temporary home. 
 
 It may be proper to mention that Chapters XXVI. and 
 XXX. have already appeared in print ; some learned critic 
 having deemed it expedient to publish them in the 15 3rd 
 Number of the Quarterly Review.
 
 KISH1XG 13V MOONLIGHT 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Highland Lakes Steam-boats Small Lochs Wild Cats Ravens Dragging the 
 Lake The Crea Fishing at Night Pike Trolling large Trout on Loch Ness 
 Flies, Otters, etc. Fishing with the Otter Spawning Trout. 
 
 THE beauties of Loch Lomond, Loch Awe, and several other 
 of the Highland lakes, are almost as well known to the English 
 as Regent Street or Hyde Park. Lovely and magnificent as 
 all these visited lakes are, and worthy of the praise of the poet 
 and the pencil of the painter, there are unnumbered other 
 Highland lochs whose less hackneyed beauties have far greater 
 charms for me. Visit Loch Lomond, or many others, and you 
 find yourself surrounded by spruce cockneys, in tight-waisted 
 shooting-jackets, plaid waistcoats, and (so called) Glengarry 
 bonnets, all of whom fancy themselves facsimiles of Roderick 
 Dhu, or James Fitz -James ; and quote Sir Walter to young 
 ladies in tartan scarfs, redolent, nevertheless, of the land of 
 Cockayne. Steam-boats and coaches are admirable things, but 
 they spoil one's train of ideas, and terminate one's reverie when 
 enjoying the grandeur and sublimity of one of these spots of 
 beauty. Though a steam-boat, at a certain number of miles'
 
 CHAP, i STEAM-BOATS 
 
 distance, with its stream of smoke winding over the rocky shore 
 of a large lake, and adding a new feature to the scene, may 
 occasionally come in with good effect ; when it approaches 
 and comes spluttering and groaning near you, with its smoke 
 drifting right into your face, and driving you from some 
 favourite point or bay, you are apt to turn your back on lake, 
 boat, and scenery, with a feeling of annoyance and disgust. I 
 well remember being one bright summer's day on the shore of 
 Loch Ness, and enjoying the surpassing loveliness of the scene. 
 The perfectly calm loch was like a mirror, reflecting the steep 
 red crags of the opposite shore ; and the weeping-birch trees, 
 feathering down to the very edge of the water, and hanging 
 over its surface, as if to gaze at their own fair forms in its 
 glassy depths, were as distinctly seen in the lake as on the 
 shore ; while here and there a trout rising at a fly dimpled the 
 smooth water, and in my idle mood I watched the circles as 
 they gradually widened and disappeared. The white gulls 
 floated noiselessly by, as if afraid to disturb the stillness of the 
 scene, instead of saluting their common enemy with loud cries. 
 I had been for some time stretched on the ground enjoying the 
 quiet beauty of the picture, till I had at last fallen into a half- 
 sleeping, half-waking kind of dreaminess, when I was suddenly 
 aroused by a Glasgow steamer passing within a hundred yards 
 of me, full of holiday people, with riddles and parasols con- 
 spicuous on the deck, while a stream of black sooty smoke 
 showered its favours over me, and filled my mouth as I opened 
 it to vent my ill-temper in an anathema against steam-boats, 
 country-dance tunes, and cockneys. 
 
 There have come in my way, during my rambles through 
 the Highlands, many a fair and beauteous loch, placed like a 
 bright jewel in the midst of the rugged mountains, far out of 
 reach of steam and coach, accessible only to the walking 
 traveller, or at most to a Highland pony, where the only living 
 creature to be seen is the silent otter playing its fantastic 
 gambols in the quiet of the evening, or the stag as he comes to 
 drink at the water's edge or to crop the succulent grass which 
 grows in the shallows. There are so many small lochs which 
 are known but to few individuals, but which are equally beautiful 
 with those whose renown and larger size have made them the 
 resort of numberless visitors, that it is difficult to single out any
 
 io WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 one as pre-eminent. In Inverness-shire there are many lovely 
 lakes, and many an hour and day have I passed in fishing on 
 some of these. There was one beautiful lake to which I used 
 sometimes to take net and boat, as well as rod. It was a piece 
 of water about four miles long, and one or two broad ; at one 
 end were two sandy bays, forming regular semicircles, with their 
 beaches covered to a width of a few feet with small pebbles. 
 Between these two bays was a bold promontory running into 
 the lake, and covered with fine old pine trees. Along one 
 side was a stretch of perhaps three miles of grey pre- 
 cipitous rocks nearly covered with birch and hazel, which 
 hung over the water, casting a dark shade on it. The other 
 end of the lake was contracted between the rocks till it was 
 lost to the view, while on the remaining side was flat moorland. 
 The whole country round and within view of the lake was 
 picturesque and bold. In the rocks near the water were a 
 colony of wild cats, whose cries during the night deterred the 
 shepherd from passing that way ; while on the highest part of 
 the grey precipice was a raven's nest, the owners of which 
 always kept up a concert with their voices of ill-omen whenever 
 they saw a human being near their dominions there they would 
 sit on a withered branch of a tree or a pointed rock, croaking, and 
 playing their quaint antics for hours together. Their nest was 
 so protected by a shelf of rock which projected below it, that I 
 never could get a rifle-ball into it, often as I have tried, though I 
 must have frequently half-filled it with the splinters of the rock. 
 
 In dragging this lake we were obliged to restrict ourselves 
 to the two sandy bays, as the rest of the bottom was covered 
 with old tree-roots and broken sticks, which tore our nets, and 
 prevented our using them. 
 
 In the quiet summer evenings it was interesting to see my 
 crew of five Highlanders, as, singing a Gaelic song, they rowed 
 the boat in a large semicircle round one of the bays, letting out 
 the net as they went, one end of the rope being held by a man 
 on the shore at the point from which they started. When they 
 got to the other side of the bay, they landed, with the exception 
 of one man, who remained in the boat to right the net if it got 
 fixed in roots or stones. The rest hauled in the net gradually, 
 bringing the two ends together. As it came in, a fine trout or 
 pike now and then would be seen making a dart round the
 
 i DRAGGING A LOCH \\ 
 
 enclosed space within the net, or dashing at the net itself, drag- 
 ging for a moment half the corks under water. The head man 
 of the crew, a little peppery Highlander, invariably got into a 
 state of the most savage excitement, which increased as the net 
 approached the shore ; and if any stoppage occurred from its 
 being caught by a root or stick, he actually danced with excite- 
 ment, hallooing and swearing in Gaelic at the net, the men, and 
 the fish. When all went on smoothly and well, he acted the 
 part of fugleman with no little dignity, perched in the bow of 
 the boat, and keeping the men in proper place and time as they 
 dragged in the net We generally caught a great number of 
 trout and pike, some of very large size. By the time we had 
 killed all the fish, and arranged them in rows to admire their 
 beauty and size, the little captain (as the other men called him) 
 subsided into a good-humoured calm ; and having offered a 
 pinch of snuff to the gamekeeper, whom he generally fixed upon 
 in particular to shout at, in consequence of a kind of rivalry 
 between them, and also in consequence of his measuring some 
 head and shoulders higher than himself, he made a brief apology 
 for what he had said, winding it up by saying, " And after all, 
 that's no so bad, your Honour," as he pointed to some giant 
 trout ; he then would light a pipe, and having taken a few 
 whiffs, deliberately shove it alight into his waistcoat pocket, 
 and extracting a netting-needle and string, set to work, mend- 
 ing any hole that had been made in the net. This done, and 
 a dram of whisky having been passed round, the net was 
 arranged on the stern of the boat, and they rowed round the 
 wooded promontory to the other creek, keeping time to their 
 oars with some wild Gaelic song, with a chorus in which they 
 all joined, and the sound of which, as it came over the water 
 of the lake, and died gradually away as they rounded the 
 headland, had a most peculiarly romantic effect. 
 
 Sometimes we did not commence our fishing till sunset, 
 choosing nights when the full moon gave us sufficient light for 
 the purpose. Our object in selecting this time was to catch 
 the larger pike, who during the day remained in the deep water, 
 coming in at night to the shore, and to the mouths of the 
 burns which run into the lake, where they found small trout and 
 other food brought down by the streams. During the night- 
 time, also, towards the beginning of autumn, we used to catch
 
 12 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 quantities of char, which fish then, and then only, approached 
 near enough to the shore to be caught in the nets. In the 
 clear frosty air of a September night the peculiar moaning cry 
 of the wild cats as they answered to each other along the 
 opposite shore, and the hootings of the owls in the pine-wood, 
 sounded like the voices of unearthly beings, and I do not think 
 that any one of my crew would have passed an hour alone by 
 that loch side for all the fish in it. Indeed, the hill-side which 
 sloped down to the lake had the name of being haunted, and 
 the waters of the lake itself had their ghostly inhabitant in the 
 shape of what the Highlanders called the water-bull. There 
 was also a story of some strange mermaid-like monster being 
 sometimes seen, having the appearance of a monstrous fish with 
 long hair. It was a scene worthy of a painter, as the men with 
 eager gestures scrambled up, the fish glancing like silver in the 
 moonbeams ; and then, as they rowed round, sometimes lost in 
 the shade of the pine-trees, \vhich completely darkened the 
 surface of the water immediately below the rocks on which 
 they grew, or came again into full view as they left the shadow 
 of the woods, the water sparkling and glancing from their oars. 
 Frequently they stopped their wild chant, as the strange cries 
 of the different nocturnal animals echoed loudly from the rocks, 
 and we could hear the men say a few words of Gaelic to each 
 other in a low voice, and then recommence their song. 
 
 \Ye always caught the largest fish at night-time, both trout 
 and pike, the latter frequently above twenty pounds' weight, 
 with the teeth and jaws of a young shark. Sometimes the net 
 brought in a great number of char, which appear to go in large 
 shoals ; but these latter only in the autumn. 
 
 In these lochs I killed great numbers of pike and the larger 
 trout by means of floating lines, which we put in at the wind- 
 ward side of the lake, to be carried down by the wind. On 
 favourable days, in March or October, when there was a brisk 
 wind, the lines went but half-way across the loch before every 
 hook had a fish on it, and then commenced a rare chase. When 
 we neared a float with a large pike hooked to it, as the water 
 was very clear, the fish took the alarm and swam off at a great 
 pace, often giving us some trouble before we could catch him. 
 I have seen an empty corked-up bottle, with line attached, used 
 as a float for this kind of fishing, instead of the corks. Pike are
 
 i TROLLING FOR TROUT 13 
 
 very capricious in taking the bait, and some days not one would 
 move, although the wind and weather all seemed favourable ; 
 while on other days every float had a fish to it. Again, the fish 
 would be quiet for some time, and then suddenly a simultaneous 
 impulse seemed to seize them, and they would seize the baits 
 as quickly as we could wish, for the space of an hour or so. 
 
 The trout seldom take a dead bait during the daytime, but 
 we often caught them on hooks left in the water all night. In 
 all the Highland lakes on which I have fished in this way, large 
 eels would sometimes take the hook, and often break my lines. 
 It is frequently said that putting pike into a lake would destroy 
 the trout-fishing ; but I have invariably found that in all lakes 
 of a considerable size, where the pike were plenty, the trout 
 have improved very much in size and quality, and not dimin- 
 ished even in numbers to any great extent. In fact, the thing 
 to be complained of in most Highland lakes is, that the trout 
 are too numerous, and consequently of a small size and inferior 
 quality. The only way to kill the larger trout is by trolling. 
 In Loch Awe and several other lakes I have seen this kind of 
 fishing succeed well. If the sportsman is skilful, he is sure of 
 taking finer trout in this way than he would ever do when fly- 
 fishing. In trolling there are two or three rules which should 
 be carefully observed : Choose the roughest wind that your 
 boat can live in ; fish with a good-sized bait, not much less 
 than a herring, and do not commence your trolling until after 
 two o'clock in the afternoon, by which time the large fish seem 
 to have digested their last night's supper and to be again on 
 the move. You may pass over the heads of hundreds of large 
 trout when they are lying at rest and not hungry, and you will 
 not catch one ; but as soon as they begin to feed, a fish, 
 although he may have half-a-dozen small trout in his stomach, 
 will still run at your bait. The weight of sinkers on your line, 
 and the depth at which you fish, must of course depend on the 
 depth of water in the lake. A patient fisherman should find 
 out how deep every reach and bay of the lake is before he 
 begins to troll. The labour of a day spent in taking soundings 
 is well repaid. The strength and activity of the large loch 
 trout is immense, and he will run out your whole reel-line if 
 allowed to do so. Sometimes he will go down perpendicularly 
 to the bottom, where he remains sulky or attempts to rub off
 
 i 4 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 the hooks : get him out of this situation, and away he goes, 
 almost towing your boat after him. Then is the time for your 
 boatman to make play to keep up with the fish and save your 
 line ; for a twenty-pound Salmo ferox l is no ignoble foe to 
 contend with when you have him at the end of a common 
 fishing-line : he appears to have the strength of a whale as he 
 rushes away. 
 
 I was crossing Loch Ness alone one evening with my rod 
 at the stern of the boat, with my trolling-tackle on it trailing 
 behind. Suddenly it was seized by a large trout, and before I 
 could do anything but take hold of my rod he had run out 
 eighty yards of line, and bent my stiff trolling-rod like a willow, 
 carrying half the rod under water. The loch was too deep for 
 me, and he snapped the line in an instant, the rod and the 
 twenty yards of line which remained jerking back into the air, 
 and sending the water in a shower of spray around. Comparing 
 the strength of this fish with that of others which I have killed 
 when trolling, he must have been a perfect water -monster. 
 Indeed I have little doubt that the immense depths of Loch 
 Ness contain trout as large, if not larger, than are to be found 
 in any other loch in Scotland. 
 
 For fly-fishing in lakes, it is difficult to give any rule as to 
 the colour and size of your fly. The best thing you can do is 
 to find out some person whose experience you can depend on, 
 and who has been in the habit of fishing in the particular water 
 where you want to try your own skill, for most lakes have a 
 favourite fly. I have always, when at a loss, had recourse to 
 a red, white, or black palmer. There are very few trout who 
 can withstand these flies when well made. The size of the 
 palmer should depend on the roughness or smoothness of the 
 water. On a dark windy day I have frequently found a white 
 palmer succeed when nothing else would tempt the fish to rise ; 
 
 1 Mr. Colquhoun contributed a very interesting chapter on this fish to the Field paper 
 (i3th November 1880), from which a few sentences are extracted. The largest feroxes 
 taken in Scotland, not even excepting Loch Awe, have been taken out of Loch Kannoch, 
 but of late years the constant trailing of spoons and other gaudy baits over them has 
 made the very large fish of all our trolling lochs so shy that few will run at any trolling 
 bait. The largest Mr. Colquhoun has ever known to be taken in Loch Awe by rod was 
 twenty-one pounds. At Loch Rannoch, in twenty-eight years, three of twenty-three, 
 twenty-two, and twenty pounds' weight have been taken. Feroxes are sometimes hooked 
 with a trout-fly when from three to six pounds, but he has never known a large one so 
 taken, though he once saw a ferox of seventeen pounds taken at the head of Loch Awe 
 with a large spring salmon-fly. Many so-called large feroxes are often found to be kelt 
 salmon.
 
 TROUT FLIES 15 
 
 while on a bright calm day a small black palmer should be 
 tried. There are endless favourite loch-flies, and it is seldom 
 that a person cannot be found to give you the requisite infor- 
 mation as to which to use : however, I never feel much at a 
 loss as long as I have some palmers in my fly-book. 
 
 In putting night-lines into a large lake, the best places are 
 those where any burn or ditch runs into it, or along some 
 shallo'w sandy or gravelly bay, for in these places the fish feed 
 during the night-time. Worms, frogs, and small trout are the 
 best bait for night-lines. In trolling, the small silvery fish 
 supposed to be the young of the salmon, or the small kind of 
 herring called garvies, are the best bait. Preserved in spirits 
 of wine, they keep for a long time, and become so tough, that 
 they do not tear or break off" your hook. If you take a fancy 
 to fish with a fly during the night in a lake, a large black fly is 
 the best, but urijess it is drawn very slowly through the water, 
 the fish, though they rise, will miss it. 
 
 A small fly which I have found to be always a favourite 
 with trout, is one made as follows : Body yellow floss silk, 
 with landrail wing, and a turn or two of red heckle near the 
 head. In most waters this fly succeeds. In some of the small 
 black-looking lakes, far up in the solitudes of the mountains, 
 where no person is ever seen, unless a shepherd may chance 
 now and then to stray in their direction, or the deer-stalker 
 stops to examine the soft ground near the water edge for the 
 tracks of deer in these lonely pools the trout seem often as 
 unconscious of danger as birds are said to be on a newly dis- 
 covered island ; and they will rise greedily at the rudest imita- 
 tion of a fly fastened to a common piece of twine, five or six 
 trout rising at once, and striving who should be caught first. 
 The fish in some of these lakes which are situated at a great 
 height, are excessively numerous, but generally black and small. 
 I have seen little black pools of this kind actually crowded 
 with small trout. 
 
 The otter takes to the waters far up in the hills during the 
 summer time, where she may rear her young in the midst of 
 abundance and in solitary security. Making her lair on some 
 small island or point of land covered with coarse grass or 
 rushes, she lives in plenty and peace, till her young having 
 grown strong, and the frosts of winter having commenced, the
 
 16 \\'1LD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 family remove, like their betters, to the seaside, passing over 
 hill and valley in a straight line, to some remembered rocks 
 and caves, where the dam has wintered before. 
 
 Round the small hill-lake, too, are seen the tracks of the 
 fox and wild cat. Their nightly maraudings seem to lead 
 them always in the direction of water. During the heats of 
 August, when at a loss for grouse, I have always found it a 
 good plan to hunt round any lake that may be at hand as 
 the old birds lead their young daily to the water's edge to 
 drink, and to pick up the small angular stones, numbers of 
 which are invariably found in the stomach of the grouse, being 
 probably necessary to grind down their dry and hard food. 
 The hen-harrier and falcon, too, seem to hunt in these places, 
 knowing that if grouse fail them, they are sure to find either 
 a duck or snipe, or perhaps a large flock of plovers huddled 
 together on the pebbles which edge the water. In fact, the 
 mountain lake seems to be always a kind of rendezvous for all 
 wild animals ; and I doubt if any grouse-shooter or deer-stalker 
 ever passes near their clear waters without going out of his 
 way to look along the margin, or to refresh himself by gazing 
 over the cool surface. 
 
 When you are shooting, too, there is the inducement of 
 hoping to find a brood of ducks or teal, which few hill-lakes 
 are without. I have sometimes found great numbers of these 
 birds, collected in some quiet pool on the hills, in August or 
 September, before they have descended to feed on the corn in 
 the low country. 
 
 Many a Highland lake has a legend attached to it, and 
 however improbable the tale may seem to the incredulous 
 Sassenach, the Highlander believes firmly in the truth of it. 
 
 Some person, endowed doubtless with a prominent organ 
 of destructiveness, has within the last few years invented an 
 implement for fishing the lakes, called the otter ; and though it 
 is rather a poaching sort of affair, still I consider it quite a fair 
 way of catching trout in some of the mountain lochs, where a 
 rod could be used to no good effect, and where it would be 
 impossible to launch a boat. Its principle of motion is exactly 
 similar to that of a boy's kite. Acted upon by the resistance 
 of the water, the otter, which consists of a small thin board, 
 about fourteen inches by eight, and leaded on one edge so as
 
 i THE "OTTER" IMPLEMENT 17 
 
 to swim nearly upright, carries out a long line, which is attached 
 to it by four short strings, and is wound on a large reel. To 
 this line are fastened a dozen flies on short lines, which, being 
 carried along by the board, rake the surface of the water ; and 
 in windy weather I have caught numbers of trout in this way, 
 where the rod would have been of no use whatever. 
 
 Many a grilse, and salmon too, have I killed in Loch Ness 
 with the otter. There are, however, some great drawbacks to 
 the merits of this implement. The fish are very apt to escape 
 after being struck by the hooks, and, being thus wounded and 
 frightened, become shy, and unwilling to rise again. Also, if a 
 large fish is hooked very near the board, there is a great risk 
 that he will break your fly off, and go away with it sticking in 
 his mouth. For these reasons, the otter, though of great use in 
 certain localities, should never be used in waters where the rod 
 can be brought into play. Though exciting enough in an 
 unknown and remote lake, where you seldom fish, the actual 
 sport which it affords falls far short of rod fishing. 
 
 I have tried it for pike, but did not find it answer, as the 
 fish were constantly struck without being hooked in conse- 
 quence of their requiring some time to gorge their prey. The 
 angling in some of the best trout lochs is completely spoilt by 
 the introduction of these instruments of destruction. Every 
 shepherd's boy or idle fellow can make one, and carry it about 
 with him ; and in lakes where this kind of fishing is prohibited, 
 he has nothing to do, if he sees a keeper or watcher in the 
 distance, but to wrap up the whole thing in his plaid, and walk 
 away with it. There are but few Highland lochs in which a 
 net can be drawn with good effect, owing to the unevenness of 
 the bottom, and the risk of getting your tackle entangled and 
 broken by roots and remains of trees, which always abound in 
 these waters the remnants of forests of an age gone by. 
 Their great depth too is another obstacle to net fishing, except- 
 ing here and there, where a sandy bay or tolerably smooth 
 bottom can be found. To these places the trout always resort 
 in the evenings, in order to feed on the insects and smaller fish 
 that frequent the small stones. 
 
 In lochs containing pike, a hang-net, as it is called, placed 
 across deep angles of the water or along the edge of weeds, is 
 sure to catch them ; this fish always struggling and endeavouring 
 ?/ c
 
 i8 
 
 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 
 
 to press forward as soon as he feels the net, whereas the trout 
 in these clear waters always escape the danger by turning 
 back as soon as they touch the meshes. 
 
 The Highland shepherds kill numbers of the spawning trout 
 in the autumn, in every little stream and rill, however small, 
 which feeds the lake. At this time of the year the trout are 
 seized with an irresistible inclination for ascending any running 
 stream that they can find ; and I have seen large trout of several 
 pounds' weight taken out of holes in very small runs of water, 
 to get into which they must have made their way for consider- 
 able distances up a channel where the water could not nearly 
 cover them. Still, as long as a trout can keep his head against 
 the stream, so long will he endeavour to work his way up. 
 Numbers of fish, and always the largest, fall a prey not only to 
 men, but to every prowling fox or wild cat who passes their 
 way during the autumn, and all vermin instinctively hunt along 
 the edge of water during the night-time. A trout in shallow 
 water is easily caught by any of these animals. Even the 
 buzzard and the raven succeed in capturing them when they 
 are left in small rills, as is frequently the case, having been 
 tempted to ascend them by some shower, which swells the 
 water for a short time and then leaves it as low as ever.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Roe : Mischief done by Fawns Tame Roe Boy killed by Roe Hunting Roe : 
 Artifices of Shooting Roe Unlucky shot Change of colour Swimming 
 Cunning Roe. 
 
 As the spring advances, and the larch and other deciduous trees 
 again put out their foliage, I see the tracks of roe l and the 
 animals themselves in new and unaccustomed places. They now 
 betake themselves very much to the smaller and younger plan- 
 tations, where they can find plenty of one of their most favourite 
 articles of food the shoots of the young trees. Much as I 
 like to see these animals (and certainly the roebuck is the most 
 perfectly formed of all deer), I must confess that they commit 
 
 1 Roe have the first year one antler, second year two antlers, third year three antlers. 
 This is always the case unless some accident happens to them. Sometimes they have 
 four antlers, but seldom. The growth of the horns of all deer is irregular, depending 
 much on the feeding which they get. C. St. J.
 
 20 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 great havoc in plantations of hard wood. As fast as the young 
 oak trees put out new shoots the roe nibble them off, keeping 
 the trees from growing above three or four feet in height by 
 constantly biting off the leading shoot. Besides this, they peel 
 the young larch with both their teeth and horns, stripping them 
 of their bark in the neatest manner imaginable. One can 
 scarcely wonder at the anathemas uttered against them by 
 proprietors of young plantations. Always graceful, a roebuck 
 is peculiarly so when stripping some young tree of its leaves, 
 nibbling them off one by one in the most delicate and dainty 
 manner. I have watched a roe strip the leaves off a long 
 bramble shoot, beginning at one end and nibbling off every 
 leaf. My rifle was aimed at his heart and my finger was on 
 the trigger, but I made some excuse or other to myself for not 
 killing him, and left him undisturbed his beauty saved him. 
 The leaves and flowers of the wild rose-bush are another favourite 
 food of the roe. Just before they produce their calves the 
 does wander about a great deal, and seem to avoid the society 
 of the buck, though they remain together during the whole 
 autumn and winter. The young roe is soon able to escape from 
 most of its enemies. For a day or two it is quite helpless, and 
 frequently falls a prey to the fox, who at that time of the year 
 is more ravenous than at any other, as it then has to find food 
 to satisfy the carnivorous appetites of its own cubs. A young 
 roe, when caught unhurt, is not difficult to rear, though their 
 great tenderness and delicacy of limb makes it not easy to 
 handle them without injuring them. They soon become per- 
 fectly tame and attach themselves to their master. When in 
 captivity they will eat almost anything that is offered to them, 
 and from this cause are frequently destroyed, picking up and 
 swallowing some indigestible substance about the house. A 
 tame buck, however, becomes a dangerous pet ; for after attain- 
 ing to his full strength he is very apt to make use of it in 
 attacking people whose appearance he does not like. They 
 particularly single out women and children as their victims, 
 and inflict severe and dangerous wounds with their sharp- 
 pointed horns, and notwithstanding their small size, their 
 strength and activity make them a very unpleasant adversary. 
 One day, at a kind of public garden near Brighton, I saw a 
 beautiful but very small roebuck in an enclosure fastened with
 
 n SHOOTING ROE-DEER 21 
 
 a chain, which seemed strong enough and heavy enough to hold 
 and weigh down an elephant. Pitying the poor animal, an 
 exile from his native land, I asked what reason they could have 
 for ill-using him by putting such a weight of iron about his 
 neck. The keeper of the place, however, told me that small as 
 the roebuck was, the chain was quite necessary, as he had 
 attacked and killed a boy of twelve years old a few days 
 before, stabbing the poor fellow in fifty places with his sharp- 
 pointed horns. Of course I had no more to urge in his behalf. 
 In its native wilds no animal is more timid, and eager to avoid 
 all risk of danger. The roe has peculiarly acute organs of 
 sight, smelling, and hearing, and makes good use of all three in 
 avoiding its enemies. 
 
 In shooting roe, it depends so much on the cover, and other 
 local causes, whether dogs or beaters should be used, that no 
 rule can be laid down as to which is best. Nothing is more 
 exciting than running roe with beagles, where the ground is 
 suitable, and the covers so situated that the dogs and their 
 game are frequently in sight. The hounds for roe-shooting 
 should be small and slow. Dwarf harriers are the best, or good- 
 sized rabbit-beagles, where the ground is not too rough. The 
 roe when hunted by small dogs of this kind does not make 
 away, but runs generally in a circle, and is seldom above a 
 couple of hundred yards ahead of the beagles, stopping every 
 now and then to listen, and allowing them to come very near, 
 before he goes off again, in this way giving the sportsman a 
 good chance of knowing where the deer is during most of the 
 run. Many people use fox-hounds for roe-shooting, but gener- 
 ally these dogs run too fast, and press the roebuck so much 
 that he will not stand it. but leaves the cover, and goes straight- 
 
 o o 
 
 way out of reach of the sportsman, who is left to cool himself 
 without any hope of a shot. Besides this, you entirely banish 
 roe from the cover if you hunt them frequently with fast hounds, 
 as no animal more delights in quiet and solitude, or will less 
 put up with too much driving. In most woods beaters are 
 better for shooting roe with than dogs, though the combined 
 cunning and timidity of the animal frequently make it double 
 back through the midst of the rank of beaters ; particularly if 
 it has any suspicion of a concealed enemy in consequence of 
 having scented or heard the shooters at their posts, for it prefers
 
 22 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 facing the shouts and noise of the beaters to passing within 
 reach of a hidden danger, the extent and nature of which it has 
 not ascertained. By taking advantage of the animal's timidity 
 and shyness in this respect, I have frequently got shots at roe 
 in large woods by placing people in situations where the animal 
 could smell them but not see them, thus driving it back to 
 my place of concealment. Though they generally prefer the 
 warmest and driest part of the woods to lie in, I have some- 
 times when looking for ducks started roe in the marshy grounds, 
 where they lie close in the tufts of long heather and rushes. 
 Being much tormented with ticks and wood-flies, they frequently 
 in the hot weather betake themselves not only to these marshy 
 places, but even to the fields of high corn, where they sit in a 
 form like a hare. Being good swimmers, they cross rivers 
 without hesitation in their way to and from their favourite 
 feeding-places ; indeed, I have often known roe pass across the 
 river daily, living on one side, and going to feed every evening 
 on the other. Even when wounded, I have seen a roebuck beat 
 three powerful and active dogs in the water, keeping ahead 
 of them, and requiring another shot before he was secured. 
 Though very much attached to each other, and living mostly 
 in pairs, 1 I have known a doe take up her abode for several 
 years in a solitary strip of wood. Every season she crossed a 
 large extent of hill to find a mate, and returned after two or 
 three weeks' absence. When her young ones, which she pro- 
 duced every year, were come to their full size, they always went 
 away, leaving their mother in solitary possession of her wood. 
 
 The roe almost always keep to woodland, but I have known 
 a stray roebuck take to lying out on the hill at some distance 
 from the covers. I had frequently started this buck out of 
 glens and hollows several miles from the woods. One day, as 
 I was stalking some hinds in a broken part of the hill, and had 
 got within two hundred yards of one of them, a fine fat barren 
 hind, the roebuck started out of a hollow between me and the 
 red deer, and galloping straight towards them, gave the alarm, 
 and they all made off. The buck, however, got confused by 
 the noise and galloping of the larger animals, and, turning back, 
 passed me within fifty yards. So to punish him for spoiling 
 
 1 They do not unite in herds, but live in separate families. Scrope, Deer Stalking, 
 p. 183.
 
 ii HABITS OF ROE-DEER 23 
 
 my sport I took a deliberate aim as he went quickly but 
 steadily on, and killed him dead. I happened to be alone that 
 day, so I shouldered my buck and walked home with him, a 
 three hours' distance of rough ground, and I was tired enough 
 of his weight before I reached the house. In shooting roe, shot 
 is at all times far preferable to ball. The latter, though well 
 aimed, frequently passes clean through the animal, apparently 
 without injuring him, and the poor creature goes away to die 
 in some hidden corner ; whereas a charge of shot gives him 
 such a shock that he drops much more readily to it than to a 
 rifle-ball, unless indeed the ball happens to strike the heart or 
 spine. Having killed roe constantly with both rifle and gun, 
 small shot and large, I am inclined to think that the most 
 effective charge is an Eley's cartridge with No. 2 shot in it. 
 I have, when woodcock-shooting, frequently killed roe with 
 No. 6 shot, as when they are going across and are shot well 
 forward, they are as easy to kill as a hare, though they will carry 
 off a great deal of shot if hit too far behind. No one should 
 ever shoot roe without some well-trained dog, to follow them 
 when wounded ; as no animal is more often lost when mortally 
 wounded. 
 
 Where numerous, roe are very mischievous to both corn 
 and turnips, eating and destroying great quantities, and as they 
 feed generally in the dark, lying still all day, their devastations 
 are difficult to guard against. Their acute sense of smelling 
 enables them to detect the approach of any danger, when they 
 bound off to their coverts, ready to return as soon as it is past. 
 In April they go great distances to feed on the clover-fields, 
 where the young plants are then just springing up. In autumn, 
 the ripening oats are their favourite food, and in winter, the 
 turnips, wherever these crops are at hand, or within reach from 
 the woods. A curious and melancholy accident happened in a 
 parish situated in one of the eastern counties of Scotland a few 
 years ago. Perhaps the most extraordinary part of the story 
 is that it is perfectly true. Some idle fellows of the village 
 near the place where the catastrophe happened having heard 
 that the roe and deer from the neighbouring woods were in the 
 habit of feeding in some fields of high corn, two of them 
 repaired to the place in the dusk of the evening with a loaded 
 gun, to wait for the arrival of the deer at their nightly feeding-
 
 24 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 ground. They had waited some time, and the evening shades 
 were making all objects more and more indistinct every moment, 
 when they heard a rustling in the standing corn, at a short 
 distance from them, and looking in the direction they saw 
 some large animal moving. Having no doubt that it was a 
 deer that they saw, the man who had the gun took his aim, his 
 finger was on the trigger, and his eye along the barrel ; he 
 waited, however, to get a clearer view of the animal, which had 
 ceased moving. At this instant, his companion, who was close 
 to him, saw, to his astonishment, the flash of a gun from the 
 spot where the supposed deer was, and almost before he heard 
 the report his companion fell back dead upon him, and with 
 the same ball he himself received a mortal wound. The horror 
 and astonishment of the author of this unlucky deed can scarcely 
 be imagined when, on running up, he found, instead of a deer, one 
 man lying dead and another senseless and mortally wounded. 
 Luckily, as it happened, the \vounded man lived long enough 
 to declare before witnesses that his death was occasioned solely 
 by accident, and that his companion, at the moment of his 
 being killed, was aiming at the man who killed them. The 
 latter did not long survive the affair. Struck with grief and 
 sorrow at the mistake he had committed, his mind and health 
 gave way, and he died soon afterwards. 
 
 The difference in the colour and kind of hair that a roe's 
 skin is covered with, at different seasons of the year, is astonish- 
 ingly great. From May to October they are covered with 
 bright red-brown hair, and but little of it. In winter their coat 
 is a fine dark mouse-colour, very long and close, but the hair is 
 brittle, and breaks easily in the hand like dried grass. When 
 run with greyhounds, the roebuck at first leaves the dogs far 
 behind, but if pressed and unable to make his usual cover, he 
 appears to become confused and exhausted, his bounds become 
 shorter, and he seems to give up the race. In wood, when 
 driven, they invariably keep as much as they can to the closest 
 portions of the cover, and in going from one part to another 
 follow the line where the trees stand nearest to each other, 
 avoiding the more open parts as long as possible. For some 
 unknown reason, as they do it without any apparent cause, such 
 as being hard hunted, or driven by want of food, the roe some- 
 times take it into their heads to swim across wide pieces ot
 
 ii CUNNING OF ROE-DEER 25 
 
 water, and even arms of the sea. I have known roe caught 
 by boatmen in the Cromarty Firth, swimming strongly across 
 the entrance of the bay, and making good way against the 
 current of the tide, which runs there with great rapidity. 
 Higher up the same firth, too, roe have been caught when in 
 the act of crossing. When driven by hounds, I have seen one 
 swim Loch Ness. They are possessed of great cunning in 
 doubling and turning to elude these persevering enemies. I 
 used to shoot roe to fox-hounds, and one day was much amused 
 by watching an old roebuck, who had been run for some time 
 by three of my dogs. I was lying concealed on a height above 
 him, and saw the poor animal go upon a small mound covered 
 with young fir-trees. He stood there till the hounds were close 
 on him, though not in view ; then taking a great leap at 
 right angles to the course in which he had before been running, 
 he lay flat down with his head on the ground, completely throw- 
 ing out the hounds, who had to cast about in order to find his 
 track again ; when one bitch appeared to be coming straight 
 upon the buck, he rose quietly up, and crept in a stooping 
 position round the mound, getting behind the dogs. In this 
 way, on a very small space of ground, he managed for a quarter 
 of an hour to keep out of view of, though close to, three capital 
 hounds, well accustomed to roe - hunting. Sometimes he 
 squatted flat on the ground, and at others leaped off at an 
 angle, till having rested himself, and the hounds having made a 
 wide cast, fancying that he had left the place, the buck took 
 an opportunity to slip off unobserved, and crossing an opening 
 in the wood, came straight up the hill to me, when I shot 
 him. 
 
 The greatest drawback to preserving roe to any great 
 extent is, that they are so shy and nocturnal in their habits 
 that they seldom show themselves in the daytime. I some- 
 times see a roe passing like a shadow through the trees, or 
 standing gazing at me from a distance in some sequestered 
 glade ; but, generally speaking, they are no ornament about a 
 place, their presence being only known by the mischief they do 
 to the young plantations and to the crops. A keeper in 
 Kincardineshire this year told me, that he had often early in 
 the morning counted above twenty roe in a single turnip-field. 
 As for the sport afforded by shooting them, I never killed one
 
 26 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAI>. n 
 
 without regretting it, and wishing that I could bring the poor 
 animal to life again. I do not think that roe are sufficiently 
 appreciated as venison, yet they are excellent eating when 
 killed in proper season, between October and February, and of 
 a proper age. In summer the meat is not worth cooking, being 
 dry, and sometimes rank. 
 
 ROE SWIMMING I-OCH
 
 SHOOTING A WITCH 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Grouse's Nest Partridge Nest Grouse-shooting Marten Cat Witch, Death of 
 Stags Snaring Grouse Black Game : Battles of Hybrid Bird Ptarmigan- 
 shooting Mist on the Mountain Stag Unsuccessful Stalking Death of 
 Eagle. 
 
 I FOUND the nest of a grouse with eight eggs, or rather egg- 
 shells, within two hundred yards of a small farm-house on a 
 part of my shooting-ground, where there is a mere strip of 
 heather surrounded by cultivated fields, and on a spot par- 
 ticularly infested by colley-dogs, as well as by herd-boys, et id 
 genus oinne. But the poor bird, although so surrounded by 
 enemies, had managed to hatch and lead away her brood in 
 safety. I saw them frequently afterwards, and they all came 
 to maturity. How many survived the shooting-season I do not 
 know, but the covey numbered eight birds far on in October.
 
 28 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 If the parent bird had selected her nesting-place for beauty of 
 prospect, she could not have pitched upon a lovelier spot. The 
 nest was on a little mound where I always stop, when walking 
 in that direction, to admire the extensive and varied view the 
 Bay of Findhorn and the sand-hills, the Moray Firth, with the 
 entrance to the Cromarty Bay, and the bold rocky headlands 
 backed by the mountains of Ross-shire. Sutherland, Caithness, 
 Inverness, and Ross-shire are all seen from this spot ; whilst 
 the rich plains of Moray, dotted with timber, and intersected 
 by the winding stream of the Findhorn, with the woods of 
 Altyre, Darnaway, and Brodie, form a nearer picture. 
 
 It is a curious fact, but one which I have often observed, 
 that dogs frequently pass close to the nest of grouse, partridge, 
 or other game, without scenting the hen bird as she sits on her 
 eggs. I knew this year of a partridge's 1 nest which was placed 
 close to a narrow footpath near my house ; and although not 
 only my people, but all my dogs, were constantly passing 
 within a foot and a half of the bird, they never found her out, 
 and she hatched her brood in safety. 
 
 Grouse generally make their nest in a high tuft of heather. 
 The eggs are peculiarly beautiful and game-like, of a rich brown 
 colour, spotted closely with black. Although in some peculiarly 
 early seasons, the young birds are full grown by the I2th ol 
 August, in general five birds out of six which are killed on that 
 day are only half come to their strength and beauty. The 
 2oth of the month would be a much better day on which to 
 commence their legal persecution. In October there is not a 
 more beautiful bird in our island ; and in January a cock 
 grouse is one of the most superb fellows in the world, as he 
 struts about fearlessly with his mate, his bright red comb 
 erected above his eyes, and his rich dark-brown plumage 
 shining in the sun. Unluckily, they are more easily killed at 
 this time of the year than at any other ; and I have been 
 assured that a ready market is found for them not only in 
 
 1 When she has small young ones, the partridge becomes very bold sometimes, and I 
 have seen one attack and strike a dog which was passing with me close to the wood. 
 The partridge conceals her nest and eggs, and even the entrance to it through the long 
 grass with the greatest care. It is, however, often placed close to a road or path, on which 
 occasion dogs, etc., seem to pass close to the old bird while sitting, without finding her 
 scent. At the same time I have known an old partridge caught on her eggs by my 
 retriever and brought to me. I released the bird, and the next day she was again on her 
 eggs, which were all hatched in due time. C. St. J.
 
 GROUSE DISEASE 29 
 
 January, but to the end of February, though in fine seasons 
 they begin to nest very early in March. Hardy must the 
 grouse be, and prolific beyond calculation, to supply the 
 numbers that are yearly killed, legally and illegally. 1 Vermin, 
 however, are their worst enemies ; and where the ground is 
 kept clear of all their winged and four-footed destroyers, no 
 shooting seems to reduce their numbers. 
 
 I cannot say that my taste leads me to rejoice in the 
 slaughter of a large bag of grouse in one day. I have no 
 ambition to see my name in the county newspapers as having 
 bagged my seventy brace of grouse, in a certain number of 
 hours, on such and such a hill. I have much more satisfaction 
 in killing a moderate quantity of birds, in a wild and varied 
 range of hill, with my single brace of dogs, and wandering in 
 any direction that fancy leads me, than in having my day's 
 beat laid out for me, with relays of dogs and keepers, and all 
 the means of killing the grouse on easy walking ground, where 
 they are so numerous that one has only to load and fire. In 
 the latter case, I generally find myself straying off in pursuit of 
 some teal or snipe, to the neglect of the grouse, and the disgust 
 of the keeper, who may think his dignity compromised by 
 attending a sportsman who returns with less than fifty brace. 
 Nothing is so easy to shoot as a grouse, when they are tolerably 
 tame ; and with a little choice of his shots, a very moderate 
 
 1 Since the days of Mr. St. John the scourge known as the grouse disease has become 
 only too familiar in Scotland. Its first recorded appearance was in 1838. It was again 
 prevalent in 1856, and in 1868 a disastrous outbreak visited the greater part of the 
 Scottish moors. Subsequently, in 1872-73, in 1880, and in 1889, it has been experienced 
 with more or less severity. Various causes, more or less conjectural, have been assigned 
 for this mortality. Although this is not the place to enter into a disquisition on the 
 subject, we may enumerate some causes as follows : overstocking of moors, the artificial 
 destruction of vermin, frosted heather, the large consumption of corn in some places by 
 the birds, the existence of a parasitic worm in the intestines, etc. 
 
 To each of these theories a very probable, if not absolutely conclusive, refutation has 
 been supplied. The widely-extended prevalence of the disease, when it does break out, 
 is not compatible with the existence of any cause which is more or less local. We must 
 be content to assume that the hitherto undiscovered cause is akin to those which produce 
 widespread epidemics among mankind, though in all probability some of the foregoing 
 conditions may tend to increase the virulence of the disease at certain times and in certain 
 districts. 
 
 For an exhaustive treatment of the subject we would refer the reader to Dr. T. 
 Spencer Cobbold's The Grouse Disease, and T. Speedy's Sport in the Highlands and 
 Lmvlands. 
 
 Dr. E. Klein (Etiology and Pathology of Grouse Disease: Macmillan, 1892) is the 
 last inquirer into the malady. He deems it "an acute, infectious pneumonia," and has 
 detected and cultivated the microbe characteristic of the disease. He can suggest no 
 remedy, however, except the old-fashioned receipt to destroy all suspicious -looking 
 birds.
 
 30 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 marksman ought to kill nearly every bird that he shoots at 
 early in the season, when the birds sit close, fly slowly, and are 
 easily found. At the end of the season, when the coveys are 
 scattered far and wide, and the grouse rise and fly wildly, it 
 requires quick shooting and good walking to make up a 
 handsome bag ; but how much better worth killing are the 
 birds at this time of year than in August. If my reader will 
 wade through some leaves of an old note-book, I will describe 
 the kind of shooting that, in my opinion, renders the sporting 
 in the Highlands far preferable to any other that Great Britain 
 can afford. 1 
 
 October 2Ot/i. Determined to shoot across to Malcolm's 
 shealing, at the head of the river, twelve miles distant ; to sleep 
 there ; and kill some ptarmigan the next day. 
 
 For the first mile of our walk we passed through the old 
 fir woods, where the sun seldom penetrates. In the different 
 grassy glades we saw several roe, but none within shot. A 
 fir-cone falling to the ground made me look up, and I saw a 
 marten cat running like a squirrel from branch to branch. The 
 moment the little animal saw that my eye was on him he 
 stopped short, and curling himself up in the fork of a branch, 
 peered down on me. Pretty as he was, I fired at him. He 
 sprang from his hiding-place, and fell half-way down, but 
 catching at a branch, clung to it for a minute, holding on with 
 his fore-paws. I was just going to fire at him again, when he 
 lost his hold, and came down on my dogs' heads, who soon 
 despatched him, wounded as he was. One of the dogs had 
 learned by some means to be an excellent vermin-killer, though 
 steady and staunch at game. As we were just leaving the 
 wood a woodcock rose, which I killed. Our way took us up 
 the rushy course of a burn. Both dogs came to a dead point 
 near the stream, and then drew for at least a quarter of a mile, 
 and just as my patience began to be exhausted, a brace of 
 magnificent old blackcocks rose, but out of shot. One of them 
 came back right over our heads at a good height, making for 
 the wood. As he flew quick down the wind, I aimed nearly a 
 
 1 The modern practice and science of grouse-driving was still undiscovered in the 
 days of Mr. St. John. Readers who wish to become acquainted with the literature of 
 this subject are referred to the Badminton Library, and to Mr. Speedy's Sport in the 
 Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland.
 
 in SHOOTING A WITCH 31 
 
 yard ahead of him as he came towards me, and down he fell, 
 fifty yards behind me, with a force that seemed enough to 
 break every bone in his body. Another and another blackcock 
 fell to my gun before we had left the burn, and also a hare, 
 who got up in the broken ground near the water. Our next 
 cast took us up a slope of hill, where we found a wild covey of 
 grouse. Right and left at them the moment they rose, and 
 killed a brace ; the rest went over the hill. Another covey 
 on the same ground gave me three shots. From the top of 
 the hill we saw a dreary expanse of flat ground, with Loch 
 A-na-caillach in the centre of it, a bleak cold-looking piece of 
 water, with several small grey pools near it. Donald told me 
 a long story of the origin of its name, pointing out a large 
 cairn of stones at one end of it. The story was, that some few 
 years ago " Not so long either, Sir (said Donald) ; for Rory 
 Beg, the auld smuggler, that died last year, has often told me 
 that he minded the whole thing weel " there lived down below 
 the woods an old woman, by habit and repute a witch, and one 
 possessed of more than mortal power, which she used in a most 
 malicious manner, spreading sickness and death among man 
 and beast The minister of the place, who came, however, but 
 once a month to do duty in a building called a chapel, was the 
 only person who, by dint of prayer and Bible, could annoy or 
 resist her. He at last made her so uncomfortable by attacking 
 her with holy water and other spiritual weapons, that she 
 suddenly left the place, and no one knew where she went to. It 
 soon became evident, however, that her abode was not far off, 
 as cattle and people were still taken ill in the same unaccount- 
 able manner as before. At last, an idle fellow, who was out 
 poaching deer near Loch A-na-caillach late one evening, saw 
 her start through the air from the cairn of stones towards the 
 inhabited part of the country. This put people on the look- 
 out, and she was constantly seen passing to and fro on her 
 unholy errands during the fine moonlight nights. Many a time 
 was she shot at as she flew past, but without success. At last 
 a pot-valiant and unbelieving old fellow, who had long been a 
 sergeant in some Highland regiment, determined to free his 
 neighbours from the witch ; and having loaded his gun with a 
 double charge of gunpowder, put in, instead of shot, a crooked 
 sixpence and some silver buttons, which he had made booty of
 
 3 2 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 somewhere or other in war time. He then, in the most fool- 
 hardy manner, laid himself down on the hill, just where we were 
 then standing when Donald told me the story, and, by the light 
 of the moon, watched the witch leave her habitation in the cairn 
 of stones. As soon as she was gone, he went to the very 
 place which she had just left, and there lay down in ambush to 
 await her return. " 'Deed did he, Sir ; for auld Duncan was a 
 mad-like deevil of a fellow, and was feared of nothing." Long 
 he waited, and many a pull he took at his bottle of smuggled 
 whisky, in order to keep out the cold of a September night. 
 At last, when the first grey of the morning began to appear, 
 " Duncan hears a sough, and a wild uncanny kind of skirl over 
 his head, and he sees the witch hersel, just coming like a 
 muckle bird right towards him, 'deed, Sir, but he wished 
 himsel at hame ; and his finger was so stiff with cold and fear 
 that he could na scarce pull the trigger. At last, and long, he 
 did put out (Anglice, shoot off) just as she was hovering over 
 his head, and going to light down on the cairn." Well, to cut 
 the story short, the next morning Duncan was found lying on 
 the cairn in a deep slumber, half sleep and half swoon, with his 
 gun burst, his collar-bone nearly broken, and a fine large heron 
 shot through and through lying beside him, which heron, as 
 every one felt assured, was the caillach herself. " She has na 
 done much harm since yon (concluded Donald) ; but her 
 ghaist is still to the fore, and the loch side is no canny after 
 the gloaming. But, Lord guide us, Sir, what's that ? " and a 
 large long-legged hind rose from some hollow close to the 
 loch, and having stood for a minute with her long ears standing 
 erect, and her gaze turned intently on us, she trotted slowly 
 off, soon disappearing amongst the broken ground. But where 
 are the dogs all this time ? There they are, both standing, and 
 evidently at different packs of grouse. I killed three of these 
 birds, taking a right and left shot at one dog's point, and then 
 going to the other. 
 
 Off went Old Shot now, according to his usual habit, 
 straight to a rushy pool. I had him from a friend in Ireland, 
 and being used to snipe-shooting, he preferred it to everything 
 else. The cunning old fellow chose not to hear my call, but 
 made for his favourite spot. He immediately stood, and now 
 for the first time seemed to think of his master, as he looked
 
 ON THE HILL 33 
 
 back over his shoulder at me, as much as to say, " Make haste 
 down to me, here is some game." And sure enough up got a 
 snipe, which I killed. The report of my gun putting up a pair 
 of mallards, one of which I winged a long way off, " Hie away, 
 Shot," and Shot, who was licensed to take such liberties, 
 splashed in with great glee, and after being lost to sight for 
 some minutes amongst the high rushes, came back with the 
 mallard in his mouth. " A bad lesson for Carlo that, Master 
 Shot," but he knows better than to follow your example. We 
 now went up the opposite slope leaving Loch A-na-caillach 
 behind us, and killing some grouse, and a mountain hare, 1 with 
 no white about her as yet. We next came to a long stony 
 ridge, with small patches of high heather. A pair of ravens 
 rising from the rocks, soared croaking over us for some time. 
 A pair or two of old grouse were all we killed here. But the 
 view from the summit was splendidly wild as we looked over a 
 long range of grey rocks, beyond which lay a wide and exten- 
 sive lake, with several small islands in it. The opposite shore 
 of the lake was fringed with birch-trees, and in the distance 
 were a line of lofty mountains whose sharp peaks were covered 
 with snow. Human habitation or evidence of the presence of 
 man was there not, and no sound broke the silence of the soli- 
 tude excepting the croak of the ravens and the occasional 
 whistle of a plover. " Yon is a fine corrie for deer," said 
 Donald, making me start, as he broke my reverie, and pointing 
 out a fine amphitheatre of rocks just below us. Not being on 
 the look-out for deer, however, I did not pay much attention to 
 what he said, but allowed the dogs to range on where they 
 liked. Left to themselves, and not finding much game, they 
 hunted wide, and we had been walking in silence for some time, 
 when on coming round a small rise between us and the dogs, 
 I saw two fine stags standing, who, intent on watching the 
 dogs, did not see us. After standing motionless for a minute, 
 the deer walked deliberately towards us, not observing us until 
 
 1 Lepus albus, commonly known as the white or blue hare, has increased in numbers 
 considerably in many parts of Scotland, mainly owing to the destruction of vermin. 
 
 This hare has increased of late years to a wonderful extent in some of the higher parts 
 of Scotland, becoming quite a nuisance both to the sheep-farmer and the grouse-shooter, 
 tainting the whole ground. Occasionally it descends from the high grounds, and I have 
 known it killed not only in the woods, but even as far from its home as the seashore near 
 Covesea, Spynie, etc. Change of dress in autumn caused by an actual change of colour in 
 the hair itself, without the shedding of the fur. C. St. J. 
 
 D
 
 34 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 they were within forty yards ; they then suddenly halted, stared 
 at us, snorted, and then went off at a trot, but soon breaking 
 into a gallop, fled rapidly away, but were in sight for a long 
 distance. Shot stood watching the deer for some time, but at 
 last seeing that we took no steps against them, looked at me, 
 and then went on hunting. We killed several more grouse and 
 a brace of teal. Towards the afternoon we struck off to the 
 shepherd's house. In the fringe of a birch that sheltered it, 
 we killed a blackcock and hen, and at last got to the end of 
 our walk with fifteen brace of grouse, five black game, one 
 mallard, a snipe, a woodcock, two teal, and two hares ; and 
 right glad was I to ease my shoulder of that portion of the 
 game which I carried to help Donald, who would at any time 
 have preferred assisting me to stalk a red deer than to kill and 
 carry grouse. Although my day's sport did not amount to 
 any great number, the variety of game, and the beautiful and 
 wild scenery I had passed through, made me enjoy it more 
 than if I had been shooting in the best and easiest muir in 
 Scotland, and killing fifty or sixty brace of birds. 
 
 In preserving and increasing a stock of grouse, the first 
 thing is to kill the vermin of every kind, and none more care- 
 fully than the grey crows, 1 as these keen-sighted birds destroy 
 an immense number of eggs. The grouse should also be well 
 watched in the neighbourhood of any small farms or corn-fields 
 that may be on the ground, as incredible numbers are caught 
 in horsehair snares on the sheaves of corn. 
 
 A system of netting grouse has been practised by some 
 of the poachers lately, and when the birds are not wild 
 
 1 Gray says (Birds of Scotland, p. 178) that the hooded invariably breeds with the 
 carrion crow in almost every district of Western Scotland where the two are found. It 
 is a permanent resident in the Inner and Outer Hebrides and St. Kilda, and particularly 
 mischievous to lambs and poultry on the west side of the Long Island. If it gets a 
 chance it will even rob eagles' nests. 
 
 The Gaelic name of the bird is "flannag," which means to skin or flay. A Moray- 
 shire proverb said 
 
 The guile, the Gordon, and the hooded craw, 
 Were the three worst things Moray ever saw. 
 
 The guile is a common corn-weed ; the Gordon, the plundering Lord Lewis Gordon. 
 " It is now, however, but seldom that Moray ever sees a hooded crow, at least at a time 
 when its presence is really injurious, strychnine and gunpowder having cleared the 
 country of it as a pest." Cf. note on p. 48. 
 
 A large case containing specimens of variations between the hooded and carrion crow 
 may be seen at the Natural History Museum, Kensington, and is well worthy of inspec- 
 tion by all who are interested in these birds.
 
 BLACK GAME 35 
 
 they catch great numbers in this manner ; and as in nine 
 cases out of ten the shepherds are in the habit of assisting 
 and harbouring the poachers, as well as allowing their dogs 
 to destroy as many eggs and young birds as they like, 
 these men require as much watching as possible. I have 
 generally found it entirely useless to believe a word that 
 they tell me respecting the encroachments of poachers, even 
 if they do not poach themselves. With a clever sheep-dog 
 and a stick I would engage to kill three parts of every 
 covey of young grouse which I found in July and the first 
 part of August ; and, in fact, the shepherds generally do kill 
 great numbers in this noiseless and destructive manner. As 
 the black game for the most part breed in plantations, where 
 sheep and shepherds have no business to be found, they are 
 less likely to be killed in this way. But the young ones, till 
 nearly full grown, lie so close, that it is quite easy to catch 
 half the brood. 
 
 When able to run, the old hen leads them to the vicinity of 
 some wet and mossy place in or near the woodlands, where the 
 seeds of the coarse grass and of other plants, and the insects 
 that abound near the water, afford the young birds plenty of 
 food. The hen takes great care of her young, fluttering near 
 any intruder as if lame, and having led him to some distance 
 from the brood takes flight, and making a circuit returns to 
 them. The cock bird sometimes keeps with the brood, but 
 takes good care of himself, and running off leaves them to their 
 fate. Wild and wary as the blackcock usually is, he sometimes 
 waits till you almost tread on him, and then flutters away, 
 giving as easy a shot to the sportsman as a turkey would do. 
 At other times, being fond of basking in the sun, he lies all 
 day enjoying its rays in some open place where it is difficult to 
 approach him without being seen. 
 
 In snowy weather the black game perch very much on the 
 fir-trees, as if to avoid chilling their feet on the colder ground ; 
 in wet weather they do the same. 
 
 During the spring, and also in the autumn, about the time 
 the first hoar-frosts are felt, I have often watched the black- 
 cocks in the early morning, when they collect on some rock or 
 height, and strut and crow with their curious note not unlike 
 that of a wood-pigeon. On these occasions they often have
 
 3 6 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 most desperate battles. I have seen five or six blackcocks all 
 fighting at once, and so intent and eager were they, that I 
 approached within a few yards before they rose. Usually 
 there seems to be a master-bird in these assemblages, who 
 takes up his position on the most elevated spot, crowing and 
 strutting round and round with spread-out tail like a turkey- 
 cock, and his wings trailing on the ground. The hens remain 
 quietly near him, whilst the smaller or younger male birds keep at 
 a respectful distance, neither daring to crow, except in a sub- 
 dued kind of voice, nor to approach the hens. If they attempt 
 the latter, the master-bird dashes at the intruder, and often a 
 short melee ensues, several others joining in it, but they soon 
 return to their former respectful distance. I have also seen an 
 old blackcock crowing on a birch-tree with a dozen hens below 
 it, and the younger cocks looking on in fear and admiration. 
 It is at these times that numbers fall to the share of the 
 poacher, who knows that the birds resort to the same spot 
 every morning. 
 
 Strong as the blackcock is, he is often killed by the pere- 
 grine falcon and the hen-harrier. When pursued by these 
 birds, I have known the blackcock so frightened as to allow 
 himself to be taken by the hand. I once caught one myself 
 who had been driven by a falcon into the garden, where he 
 took refuge under a gooseberry bush and remained quiet till I 
 picked him up. I kept him for a day or two, and then, as he 
 did not get reconciled to his prison, I turned him loose to try 
 his fortune again in the woods. Like some other wary birds, 
 the blackcock, when flushed at a distance, if you happen to be 
 in his line of flight, will pass over your head without turning 
 off, as long as you remain motionless. In some places, appa- 
 rently well adapted for these birds, they will never increase, 
 although left undisturbed and protected, some cause or other 
 preventing their breeding. Where they take well to a place, 
 they increase very rapidly, and, from their habit of taking 
 long flights, soon find out the corn-fields, and are very de- 
 structive, more so, probably, than any other kind of winged 
 game. 
 
 A bold bird by nature, the blackcock, when in confinement 
 is easily tamed, and soon becomes familiar and attached to his 
 master. In the woods instances are known of the blackcock
 
 in PTARMIGAN 37 
 
 breeding with the pheasant. 1 I saw a hybrid of this kind at 
 a bird-stufTer's in Newcastle : it had been killed near Alnwick 
 Castle. The bird was of a beautiful bronzed -brown colour, 
 and partaking in a remarkable degree of the characteristics of 
 both pheasant and black game. I have heard also of a bird 
 being killed which was supposed to be bred between grouse 
 and black game, but I was by no means satisfied that it was 
 anything but a peculiarly dark-coloured grouse. 
 
 The difference of colour in grouse is very great, and on 
 different ranges of hills is quite conspicuous. On some 
 ranges the birds have a good deal of white on their breasts, 
 on others they are nearly black : they also vary very much 
 in size. 
 
 Our other species of grouse, the ptarmigan, 2 as every 
 sportsman knows, is found only on the highest ranges of 
 the Highlands. Living above all vegetation, this bird finds 
 its scanty food amongst the loose stones and rocks that 
 cover the summits of Ben Nevis and some other mountains. 
 It is difficult to ascertain indeed what food the ptarmigan 
 can find in sufficient quantities on the barren heights where 
 they are found. Being visited by the sportsman but rarely, 
 these birds are seldom at all shy or wild, but, if the day 
 is fine, will come out from among the scattered stones, uttering 
 their peculiar croaking cry, and running in flocks near the 
 intruder on their lonely domain, offer, even to the worst shot, 
 an easy chance of filling his bag. 
 
 When the weather is windy and rainy, the ptarmigan are 
 frequently shy and wild ; and when disturbed, instead of 
 
 1 For a celebrated instance see White's Selborne (ed. Bell, i. p. 430), and the notes 
 on this hybrid, which are accompanied by a figure from Elmer's painting of it, in Sir W. 
 Jardine's edition of White, p. 274. 
 
 With regard to black game breeding with grouse, see Colquhoun, The Moor and the 
 Loch, vol. i. p. 169, 4th ed. An accurate likenes of such a hybrid forms the frontispiece 
 to that volume. 
 
 ' ' ' The ptarmigan seems never to descend from the summits of the mountains, and 
 is never found in heather, keeping always to the loose stony tracts which are found above 
 all vegetable growth, with the exception of the plants and mosses that can exist 3000 feet 
 above the level of the sea in this country " (Natural History and Sport in Moray, p. 188). 
 " Ptarmigan, in both sexes, have a triple moult : after the breeding season is over into a 
 grey suit ; then again, as autumn passes on, into their snowy winter clothing ; in spring 
 they put on again another distinctive dress the wings and tail, however, do not partake 
 of these changes" (Art. "Birds," Encyc. Britan. vol. iii. 1875). The contrast of white 
 feathers in a ptarmigan's wing with the delicately pencilled grey feathers, as the bird is 
 passing into the winter change, is exquisite. Perhaps no other bird exhibits such snow- 
 white plumage.
 
 3 S WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 running about like tame chickens, they fly rapidly off to 
 some distance, either round some shoulder of the mountain, 
 or by crossing some precipitous and rocky ravine get quite 
 out of reach. The shooting these birds should only be 
 attempted on fine, calm days. The labour of reaching 
 the ground they inhabit is great, and it often requires a 
 firm foot and steady head to keep the sportsman out of 
 danger after he has got to the rocky and stony summit of 
 the mountain. 
 
 In deer-stalking I have sometimes come amongst large 
 flocks of ptarmigan, which have run croaking close to me, 
 apparently conscious that my pursuit of nobler game would 
 prevent my firing at them. Once, on one of the highest 
 mountains of Scotland, a cold, wet mist suddenly came on. 
 We heard the ptarmigan near us in all directions, but could 
 see nothing at a greater distance than five or six yards. 
 We were obliged to sit down and wait for the mist to clear 
 away, as we found ourselves gradually getting entangled 
 amongst loose rocks, which frequently, on the slightest touch, 
 rolled away from under our feet, and we heard them dashing 
 and bounding down the steep sides of the mountain, sometimes 
 appearing, from the noise they made, to be dislodging and 
 driving before them large quantities of debris ; others seemed 
 to bound in long leaps down the precipices, till we lost the 
 sound far below us in the depths of the corries. Not knowing 
 our way in the least, we agreed to come to a halt for a short 
 time, in hopes of some alteration in the weather. Presently a 
 change came over the appearance of the mist, which settled in 
 large fleecy masses below us, leaving us as it were on an island 
 in the midst of a snow-white sea, the blue sky and bright sun 
 above us without a cloud. As a light air sprang up, the mist 
 detached itself in loose masses, and by degrees drifted off the 
 mountain side, affording us again a full view of all around us. 
 
 The magnificence of the scenery, looking down from some 
 of these mountain heights into the depths of the rugged 
 and steep ravines below, is often more splendid and awfully 
 beautiful than pen or pencil can describe ; and the effect 
 is often greatly increased by the contrast between some 
 peaceful and sparkling stream and green valley seen afar 
 off, and the rugged and barren foreground of rock and ravine,
 
 in CLOUD EFFECTS 39 
 
 where no living thing can find a resting-place save the eagle 
 or raven. 
 
 I remember a particular incident of that day's ptarmigan- 
 shooting ; which, though it stopped our sport for some hours, 
 I would not on any account have missed seeing. Most of the 
 mist had cleared away, excepting a few cloud-like drifts, which 
 were passing along the steep sides of the mountain. These, 
 as one by one they gradually came into the influence of the 
 
 MOUNTAIN SCENERY 
 
 currents of air, were whirled and tossed about, and then dis- 
 appeared ; lost to sight in the clear noonday atmosphere, as if 
 evaporated by wind and sun. 
 
 One of these light clouds, which we were watching, was 
 suddenly caught in an eddy of wind, and, after being twisted 
 into strange fantastic shapes, was lifted up from the face of the 
 mountain like a curtain, leaving in its place a magnificent stag, 
 of a size of body and stretch of antler rarely seen ; he was not 
 above three hundred yards from us, and standing in. full relief 
 between us and the sky. After gazing around him, and looking
 
 40 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 like the spirit of the mountain, he walked slowly on towards a 
 ridge which connected two shoulders of the mountain together. 
 Frequently he stopped, and scratched with his hoof at some 
 lichen -covered spot, feeding slowly (quite unconscious of 
 danger) on the moss which he separated from the stones. I 
 drew my shot, and put bullets into both barrels, and we fol- 
 lowed him cautiously, creeping through the winding hollows of 
 the rocks, sometimes advancing towards the stag, and at other 
 times obliged suddenly to throw ourselves flat on the face of 
 the stony mountain, to avoid his piercing gaze, as he turned 
 frequently round to see that no enemy was following in his 
 track. 
 
 He came at one time to a ridge from which he had a clear 
 view of a long stretch of the valley beneath. Here he halted 
 to look down either in search of his comrades or to see that all 
 was safe in that direction. I could see the tops of his horns 
 as they remained perfectly motionless for several minutes on 
 the horizon. We immediately made on for the place, crawling 
 like worms over the stones, regardless of bruises and cuts. 
 We were within about eighty yards of the points of his horns ; 
 the rest of the animal was invisible, being concealed by a mass 
 of stone behind which he was standing. I looked over my 
 shoulder at Donald, who answered my look with a most 
 significant kind of silent chuckle ; and, pointing at his knife, 
 as if to say that we should soon require its services, he signed 
 to me to move a little to the right hand, to get the animal free 
 of the rock, which prevented my shooting at him. I rolled 
 myself quietly a little to one side, and then silently cocking 
 both barrels, rose carefully and slowly to one knee. I had 
 already got his head and neck within my view, and in another 
 instant would have had his shoulder. My finger was already 
 on the trigger, and I was rising gradually an inch or two 
 higher. The next moment he would have been mine, when, 
 without apparent cause, he suddenly moved, disappearing from 
 our sight in an instant behind the rocks. I should have risen 
 upright, and probably should have got a shot ; but Donald's 
 hand was laid on my head without ceremony, holding me 
 down. He whispered, " The muckle brute has na felt us ; we 
 shall see him again in a moment." We waited for a few 
 minutes, almost afraid to breathe, when Donald, with a move-
 
 in SHOOTING AN EAGLE 41 
 
 ment of impatience, muttered, " 'Deed, Sir, but I'm no under- 
 standing it," and whispered to me to go on to look over the 
 ridge, which I did, expecting to see the stag feeding, or lying 
 close below it. When I did look over, however, I saw the 
 noble animal at a considerable distance, picking his way down 
 the slope to join some half-dozen hinds who were feeding below 
 him, and who occasionally raised their heads to take a good 
 look at their approaching lord and master. " The Deil tak the 
 brute," was all that Donald said, as he took a long and far- 
 sounding pinch of snuff, his invariable consolation and resource 
 in times of difficulty or disappointment. When the stag had 
 joined the hinds, and some ceremonies of recognition had been 
 gone through, they all went quietly and steadily away, till we 
 lost sight of them over the shoulder of the next hill. " They'll 
 no stop till they get to Alt-na-cahr," said Donald, naming a 
 winding rushy burn at some distance off; "Alt-na-cahr" mean- 
 ing the " Burn of many turns," as far as my knowledge of 
 Gaelic goes. And there we were constrained to leave them 
 and continue our ptarmigan-shooting, which we did with but 
 little success and less spirit. 
 
 Soon afterwards a magnificent eagle suddenly rose almost 
 at our feet, as we came to the edge of a precipice, on a 
 shelf of which, near the summit, he had been resting. Bang 
 went one barrel at him, at a distance of twenty yards. The 
 small shot struck him severely, and, dropping his legs, he 
 rose into the air, darting upwards nearly perpendicularly, 
 a perfect cloud of feathers coming out of him. He then 
 came wheeling in a stupefied manner back over our heads. 
 We both of us fired together at him, and down he fell with 
 one wing broken, and hit all over with our small shot. He 
 struggled hard to keep up with the other wing, but could 
 not do so, and came heavily to the ground within a yard of 
 the edge of the precipice. He fell over on his back at first, 
 and then rising up on his feet, looked round with an air of 
 reproachful defiance. The blood was dropping slowly out of 
 his beak, when Donald foolishly ran to secure him, instead of 
 leaving him to die where he was ; in consequence of his doing 
 so, the eagle fluttered back a few steps, still, however, keeping 
 his face to the foe. But, coming to the edge of the precipice, 
 he fell backwards over it, and we saw him tumbling and
 
 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 
 
 struggling downwards, as he strove to cling to the projections of 
 the rock but in vain, as he came to no stop till he reached 
 the bottom, where we beheld him, after regaining his feet for a 
 short time, sink gradually to the ground. It was impossible 
 for us to reach the place where he lay dead without going so 
 far round that the daylight would have failed us. I must own, 
 notwithstanding the reputed destructiveness of the eagle, that 
 I looked with great regret at the dead body of the noble bird, 
 and wished that I had not killed him, the more especially as I 
 was obliged to leave him to rot uselessly in that inaccessible 
 place. 
 
 PTARMIGAN
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 The Wild Cat : Strength of ; Rencontre with Trapping tame Cats : Destructiveness 
 of Poisoning vermin Trapping vermin 
 
 THE true wild cat l is gradually becoming extirpated, owing to 
 the increasing preservation of game ; and though difficult to 
 hold in a trap, in consequence of its great strength and agility, 
 
 1 The Duke of Sutherland, as head of the Clan Chattan, naturally protects the wild 
 cat to a certain extent. Mr. F. Buckland states that a striking difference exists between 
 it and tame cats in the length of intestines. They were only five feet in two specimens 
 of the wild cat, whereas they would be probably three times the length in the domesti- 
 cated cat (Log-Book of a Fisherman, p. 252). The wild cat is certainly not the parent 
 stock of our household cats. Its period of gestation is sixty-eight days, twelve days 
 longer than that of the domestic animal, yet they have been known to breed together 
 (St. G. Mivart, The Cat, Murray, 1881, p. 6 note).
 
 44 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 it is by no means difficult to deceive, taking any bait readily, 
 and not seeming to be as cautious in avoiding danger as many 
 other kinds of vermin. Inhabiting the most lonely and in- 
 accessible ranges of rock and mountain, the wild cat is seldom 
 seen during the daytime ; at night (like its domestic relative) 
 it prowls far and wide, walking with the same deliberate step, 
 making the same regular and even track, and hunting its game 
 in the same tiger-like manner ; and yet the difference between 
 the two animals is perfectly clear, and visible to the commonest 
 observer. 
 
 The wild cat has a shorter and more bushy tail, stands 
 higher on her legs in proportion to her size, and has a 
 rounder and coarser look about the head. The strength and 
 ferocity of the wild cat when hemmed in or hard pressed are 
 perfectly astonishing. The body when skinned presents quite 
 a mass of sinew and cartilage. 
 
 I have occasionally, though rarely, fallen in with these 
 animals in the forests and mountains of this country ; once, 
 when grouse -shooting, I came suddenly, in a rough and 
 rocky part of the ground, upon a family of two old ones 
 and three half-grown young ones. In the hanging birch- 
 woods that border some of the Highland streams and lochs, 
 the wild cat is still not uncommon, and I have heard their 
 wild and unearthly cry echo far in the quiet night as they 
 answer and call to each other. I do not know a more harsh 
 and unpleasant cry than that of the wild cat, or one more 
 likely to be the origin of superstitious fears in the mind of an 
 ignorant Highlander. 
 
 These animals have great skill in finding their prey, 
 and the damage they do to the game must be very great, 
 owing to the quantity of food which they require. When 
 caught in a trap, they fly without hesitation at any person who 
 approaches them, not waiting to be assailed. I have heard 
 many stories of their attacking and severely wounding a man, 
 when their escape has been cut off. Indeed, a wild cat once 
 flew at me in the most determined manner. I was fishing at a 
 river in Sutherland, and in passing from one pool to another 
 had to climb over some rock and broken kind of ground. In 
 doing so, I sank through some rotten heather and moss up to 
 my knees, almost upon a wild cat, who was concealed under
 
 iv WILD CATS 45 
 
 it. I was quite as much startled as the animal herself could 
 be, when I saw the wild-looking beast so unexpectedly rush 
 out from between my feet, with every hair on her body standing 
 on end, making her look twice as large as she really was. I 
 had three small Skye terriers with me, who immediately gave 
 chase, and pursued her till she took refuge in a corner of the 
 rocks, where, perched in a kind of recess out of reach of her 
 enemies, she stood with her hair bristled out, and spitting and 
 growling like a common cat. Having no weapon with me, I 
 laid down my rod, cut a good-sized stick, and proceeded to 
 dislodge her. As soon as I was within six or seven feet of the 
 place, she sprang straight at my face over the dogs' heads. 
 Had I not struck her in mid-air as she leaped at me, I should 
 probably have got some severe wound. As it was, she fell with 
 her back half broken amongst the dogs, who, with my assist- 
 ance, despatched her. I never saw an animal fight so desper- 
 ately, or one which was so difficult to kill. If a tame cat has 
 nine lives, a wild cat must have a dozen. 
 
 Sometimes one of these animals takes up its residence 
 at no great distance from a house, and entering the hen- 
 houses and outbuildings, carries off fowls or even lambs 
 in the most audacious manner. Like other vermin, the wild 
 cat haunts the shores of the lakes and rivers, and it is there- 
 fore easy to know where to lay a trap for them. Having 
 caught and killed one of the colony, the rest of them are 
 sure to be taken if the body of their slain relative is left in 
 some place not far from their usual hunting-ground, and sur- 
 rounded with traps, as every wild cat who passes within a con- 
 siderable distance of the place will to a certainty come to it. 
 The same plan may be adopted successfully in trapping foxes, 
 who also are sure to visit the dead body of any other fox which 
 they scent during their nightly walk. 
 
 There is no animal more destructive than a common 
 house-cat, when she takes to hunting in the woods. In this 
 case they should always be destroyed, as when once they 
 have learned to prefer hares and rabbits to rats and mice,_ 
 they are sure to hunt the larger animals only. I believe, 
 however, that by cropping their ears close to the head, cats 
 may be kept from hunting, as they cannot bear the dew or 
 rain to enter these sensitive organs.
 
 46 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 Tame cats who have once taken to the woods soon get 
 shy and wild, and then produce their young in rabbit-holes, 
 decayed trees, and other quiet places ; thus laying the founda- 
 tion of a half-wild race. It is worthy of notice, that whatever 
 colour the parents of these semi-wild cats may have been, 
 those bred out of them are almost invariably of the beautiful 
 brindled grey colour, as the wild cats. 
 
 A shepherd, whose cat had come to an untimely end- 
 by trap or gun, I forget which in lamenting her death to 
 me, said it was a great pity so valuable an animal should be 
 killed, as she brought him every day in the year either a 
 grouse, a young hare, or some other head of game. Another 
 man told me that his cat brought to the house during the 
 whole winter a woodcock or a snipe almost every night, showing 
 a propensity for hunting in the swamps and wet places near 
 which the cottage was situated, and where these birds were in 
 the habit of feeding during the night. A favourite cat of my 
 own once took to bringing home rabbits and hares, but never 
 winged game. Though constantly caught in traps,. she could 
 never be cured of her hunting propensities. When caught in 
 an iron trap, instead of springing about and struggling, and by 
 this means breaking or injuring her legs, she used to sit quietly 
 down and wait to be let out. There is a cat at the farm now, 
 who is caught at least twice a week, but from adopting the 
 same plan of waiting quietly and patiently to be liberated, she 
 seldom gets her foot much hurt. 
 
 The animal that requires the greatest care in trapping is 
 the fox. If the trap is too smooth, he slips his foot out ; if too 
 sharp, he cuts off his foot, and escapes, leaving it behind him. 
 I consider the best manner of having fox-traps made is to get 
 them without teeth, but with about three spikes of an inch in 
 length on each side of the trap ; these entering the animal's leg 
 without cutting it, hold him firmly and securely. 
 
 The surest way, however, of destroying foxes (I am 
 speaking of course of foxes of the Highlands, where no 
 hounds are kept) is by poison. But then the rabbit or bait 
 in which the poison is laid should not be touched by the 
 hand, so suspicious is this animal of the slightest taint of 
 man. The most artistic way is to catch a rabbit or crow in 
 a trap, and having killed it with a stick, a small slit should
 
 iv POISONING VERMIN 47 
 
 be cut in the head, without however touching the animal 
 with the hand ; into this hole three or four grains of the 
 poison called strychnia should be dropped. So powerful is 
 this poison, that a fox having eaten the above quantity seldom 
 goes thirty yards before he dies. Strychnia is the concentrated 
 part of nux vomica. Though frequently much adulterated, it 
 can generally be obtained of sufficient strength from any 
 respectable druggist. The strychnia is, I believe, mixed with 
 a little alkali, to prevent its power being destroyed by exposure 
 to the air. In poisoning crows with it, a very small quantity 
 is sufficient, and it should be put into a slit in the skin or the 
 eye of a dead animal. Before a carrion crow has taken three 
 or four pecks at the poisoned carrion he falls backwards per- 
 fectly dead. Weasels, stoats, and all vermin are destroyed by 
 it with equal ease. The drug having no smell, these animals 
 are not shy of eating a dead rabbit or bird on which it has 
 been placed. Foxes and large vermin always commence at 
 the head of their prey, while for smaller vermin and birds a 
 hole should be cut in the skin to receive the poison, as they 
 generally begin their operations whenever they see an opening 
 where the flesh is exposed to view. 
 
 It is needless to give a warning against using this 
 powerful drug rashly, as no man in his senses would place 
 it anywhere but in the most secure situations. It is worth 
 remembering that foxes, carrion crows, and many other de- 
 structive animals will eat a dead rat, whereas no dog will 
 do so. By poisoning the dead bodies of this animal, there- 
 fore, no risk is run of destroying your dogs. An equally 
 good way of applying strychnia is in the body of a wild 
 duck or a wood-pigeon. Many a fox, whose worldly experi- 
 ence nearly ensures him safety from trap or gin, will fall 
 a victim to this poison ; for so small a quantity is necessary, 
 and so scentless is it, that a sufficient dose is swallowed before 
 the animal discovers its presence in anything which he is eating. 
 From the extreme rapidity with which it acts, destroying life 
 almost instantaneously, it is perhaps as merciful a way of 
 putting an end to noxious and troublesome animals as can be 
 devised, and no method can be more certain. I have always 
 been of opinion that nine keepers out of ten who carry guns are 
 of but little use in destroying vermin. The grand desideratum
 
 48 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 in preserving game is, that the animals should be left in perfect 
 quiet. A man walking about with a gun in his hand, shooting 
 at magpies and crows, does nearly as much mischief to the 
 preserves as if he shot at the game itself. 
 
 A quiet intelligent trapper does more good in killing vermin 
 than a dozen men with guns. The former sees a pair of crows, 1 
 or a stoat ; if he is well skilled in his profession, the creatures 
 are dead by the next day, having been caught without noise 
 and without disturbing a single head of those animals which 
 are required to be kept in peace and quiet. 
 
 The shooting keeper in making his way through woods 
 and coverts to get shots at vermin, often fails in killing it, 
 but is sure to disturb and molest the game, driving it here 
 and there, and exposing it to the view and attacks of hawks 
 and poachers. I have always a far better opinion of the 
 usefulness of a keeper when I see him with a number of traps 
 on his shoulder, than when he carries his gun always with 
 him. It is no bad amusement occasionally to accompany an 
 intelligent and experienced trapper on his rounds, and see 
 his plans to deceive and entice the fox and the otter, the 
 hawk or the raven. 
 
 In catching all these animals, the spot to be selected for 
 trapping should not be near their abodes or nests, but in that 
 part of the outskirts of the covers where they wander during 
 the night-time in pursuit of prey. Almost every kind of vermin 
 hunts in the open country and fields, wherever they may lie 
 concealed during the day : for knowing that rabbits, hares, and 
 the other animals which form their principal food, resort to the 
 pastures, the corn-fields, or the waterside to feed during the 
 night ; to these same places do their hungry enemies follow 
 them. Hawks and crows, too, who feed in the daytime, are 
 
 1 C. comix, the hooded crow, feeds on almost everything and even kills young lambs, 
 first picking out their eyes. Eats grain. I have killed this bird of every variety and 
 shade of grey and black, sometimes quite black, at other times marked as described fin 
 histories of birds], and in every intermediate variety. There appears to be no internal 
 difference between the hooded crow and the common carrion crow of the south ; the 
 hooded crow being a northern bird. C. St. J. 
 
 C. frugilegus (rook) eats eggs. C. St. J. 
 
 The hooded crow is the most numerous of all the vermin in the north of Scotland 
 with which a keeper has to contend. Ravens too maintain themselves in fair numbers in 
 the northern mountainous districts owing to their nests being so difficult of access. But 
 the black-backed gulls are believed by Mr. J. Smith of Assynt to destroy as many eggs 
 of game as do the hooded crows.
 
 IV 
 
 HOW VERMIN HUNT 
 
 49 
 
 perfectly aware that they have a better chance of seeing and 
 catching their prey in the open country than in the woods and 
 covers. Besides which, a hungry fox or hawk, hunting for 
 game, is less on his guard than when prowling quietly and 
 cautiously through the woods. 
 
 THE RIGHT SORT OF GAMEKEEPER
 
 AFFRAY WITH POACHERS 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 Poaching in the Highlands Donald Poachers and Keepers Bivouac in Snow 
 Connivance of Shepherds Deer killed Catching a Keeper Poaching in the 
 Forests Shooting Deer by Moonlight Ancient Poachers. 
 
 I HAD a visit last week from a Highland poacher of some 
 notoriety in his way. He is the possessor of a brace of the 
 finest deer-hounds in Scotland, and he came down from his 
 mountain home to show them to me, as I wanted some for a 
 friend. The man himself is an old acquaintance of mine, as I 
 had fallen in with him more than once in the course of my 
 rambles. A finer specimen of the genus Homo than Ronald 
 I never saw. As he passes through the streets of a country- 
 town, the men give him plenty of walking room ; while not a 
 girl in the street but stops to look after him, and says to her 
 companions " Eh, but yon's a bonnie lad." And indeed Ronald 
 is a " bonnie lad " about twenty-six years of age his height 
 more than six feet, and with limbs somewhat between those of 
 a Hercules and an Apollo he steps along the street with the
 
 CHAP, v POACHING IN THE HIGHLANDS 51 
 
 good-natured, self-satisfied swagger of a man who knows all the 
 women are admiring him. He is dressed in a plain grey kilt 
 and jacket, with an otter-skin purse and a low skull-cap with a 
 long peak, from below which his quick eye seems to take in at 
 a glance everything which is passing around him. A man 
 whose life is spent much in hunting and pursuit of wild animals, 
 acquires unconsciously a peculiar restless and quick expression 
 of eye, appearing to be always in search of something. When 
 Ronald doffs his cap, and shows his handsome hair and short 
 curling beard, which covers all the lower part of his face, and 
 which he seems to be something of a dandy about, I do not 
 know a finer-looking fellow amongst all my acquaintance and 
 his occupation, which affords him constant exercise without 
 hard labour, gives him a degree of strength and activity seldom 
 equalled. As he walked into my room, followed by his two 
 magnificent dogs, he would have made a subject worthy of 
 Landseer in his best moments and it would have been a 
 picture which many a fair damsel of high, as well as low degree, 
 would have looked upon with pleasure. Excepting when 
 excited, he is the most quiet, good-natured fellow in the world ; 
 but I have heard some stories of his exploits, in defence of his 
 liberty, when assailed by keepers, which proved his immense 
 strength, though he has always used it most good-naturedly. 
 One feat of his is worth repeating. He was surprised by five 
 men in a shealing, where he had retired to rest after some days' 
 shooting in a remote part of the Highlands. Ronald had a 
 young lad with him, who could only look on, in consequence of 
 having injured one of his hands. 
 
 Ronald was awoke from his sleep in the wooden recess of 
 the shealing (which is called a bed), by the five men coming in, 
 and saying that they had tracked him there, that he was caught 
 at last, and must come along with them. " 'Deed, lads," said 
 Ronald, without rising, " but I have had a long travel to-day, 
 and if I am to go, you must just carry me." " Sit quiet, 
 Sandy," he added to his young companion. " They'll no fash 
 us, I'm thinking." The men, rather surprised at such cool 
 language from only one man with nobody to assist him but a 
 boy, repeated their order for him to get up and go with them ; 
 but receiving no satisfactory answer, two of them went to his 
 bed to pull him out. " So I just pit them under me " (said
 
 5 2 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 Ronald in describing it), " and kept them down with one knee. 
 A third chiel then came up, with a bit painted wand, and told 
 me that he was a constable, but I could na help laughing at 
 the man, he looked so frightened like ; and I said to him, 
 ' John Cameron, my man, you'd be better employed making 
 shoes at home than coming here to disturb a quiet lad like 
 me, who only wants to rest himself: and then I said to the 
 rest of them, still keeping the twa chiels under my knee, 
 'Ye are all wrong, lads; I'm no doing anything against the 
 law ; I am just resting myself here, and rest myself I will : 
 and you have no right to come here to disturb me ; so 
 you'd best just mak off at once.' They had not caught me 
 shooting, sir," he added, " and I was sure that no justice would 
 allow of their seizing me like an outlaw. Besides which, I had 
 tlie licence with me, though I didn't want to have to show it to 
 them, as I was a stranger there, and I didn't wish them to know 
 my name. Weel, we went on in this way, till at last the laird's 
 keeper, who I knew well enough, though he didn't know me, 
 whispered to the rest, and all three made a push at me, while 
 the chiels below me tried to get up too. The keeper was the 
 only one with any pluck amongst them, and he sprang on my 
 neck, and as he was a clever-like lad, I began to get sore 
 pressed. Just then, however, I lifted up my left hand, and 
 pulled one of the sticks that served for rafters, out of the roof 
 above me, and my blood was getting quite mad like, and the 
 Lord only knows what would have happened if they hadn't all 
 been a bit frightened at seeing me get the stick, and when part 
 of the roof came falling on them, and so they all left me and 
 went to the other end of the shealing. The keeper was but ill 
 pleased though as for the bit constable body, his painted stick 
 came into my hand somehow, and he never got it again ! One 
 of the lads below my knee got hurt in this scuffle too, indeed 
 one of his ribs was broken, so I helped to lift him up, and put 
 him on the bed. The others threatened me a great deal, but 
 did na like the looks of the bit constable's staff I had in my 
 hand. At last, when they found that they could do nothing, 
 they begged me, in the Lord's name, to leave the shealing and 
 gang my way in peace. But I did na like this, as it was six 
 hours at least to the next bothy where I could get a good rest, 
 so I just told them to go themselves and as they did na seem
 
 v AFFRAY WITH POACHERS 53 
 
 in a hurry to do so, I went at them with my staff, but they did 
 na bide my coming, and were all tumbling out of the door in a 
 heap, before I was near them : I could na help laughing to see 
 them. It was coming on a wild night, and the poor fellow in 
 the bed seemed vera bad, so I called to them and told them 
 they might just come back and sleep in the shealing if they 
 would leave me in peace and after a little talk they all came in, 
 and I laid down in my plaid at one end of the bothy, leaving 
 them the other. I made the lad who was with me watch part 
 of the night to see they didn't get at me when I was asleep, 
 though I didn't want him to join in helping me, as they knew 
 his name, and it might have got him into trouble. In the 
 morning I made my breakfast with some meal I had with me, 
 and gave them the lave of it. They would have been right 
 pleased to have got me with them, but as they could na do it, 
 like wise chiels, they didn't try so I wished them a good day, 
 and took the road. I had my gun and four brace of grouse, 
 which they looked at very hard indeed, but I did not let them 
 lay hands on anything. When I had just got a few hundred 
 yards away, I missed my shot belt, so I went back and found that 
 the keeper had it, and would not give it up. ' You'll be giving 
 me my property, lad, I'm thinking,' I said to him ; but he was 
 just mad like with rage, and said that he would not let me have 
 it. However, I took him by the coat and shook him a bit, 
 and he soon gave it me, but he could na keep his hands off, and 
 as I turned away, he struck me a sair blow with a stick on my 
 back ; so I turned to him, and 'deed I was near beating him 
 weel, but after all I thocht that the poor lad was only doing his 
 duty, so I only gave him a lift into the burn, taking care not to 
 hurt him ; but he got a grand ducking and, Lord ! how he 
 did swear. I was thinking, as I travelled over the hills that 
 day, it was lucky that these twa dogs were not with me, for 
 there would have been wild work in the shealing. Bran there 
 canna bide a scuffle but what he must join in it, and the other 
 dog would go to help him ; and the Lord pity the man they 
 took hold of he would be in a bad way before I could get 
 this one off his throat wouldn't he, poor dog ? " and Bran 
 looked up in Ronald's face with such a half leer, half snake-like 
 expression, that I thought to myself, that I would about as soon 
 encounter a tiger as such a dog, if his blood was well roused.
 
 54 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 The life of a Highland poacher is a far different one from 
 that of an Englishman following the same profession. Instead 
 of a sneaking night-walking ruffian, a mixture of cowardice and 
 ferocity, as most English poachers are, and ready to commit 
 any crime that he hopes to perpetrate with impunity, the High- 
 lander is a bold fearless fellow, shooting openly by daylight, 
 taking his sport in the same manner as the Laird, or the 
 Sassenach who rents the ground. He never snares or wires 
 game, but depends on his dog and gun. Hardy and active as 
 the deer of the mountain, in company with two or three com- 
 rades of the same stamp as himself, he sleeps in the heather 
 wrapped in his plaid, regardless of frost or snow, and com- 
 mences his work at daybreak. 1 When a party of them sleep 
 out on the hill side, their manner of arranging their couch is as 
 follows : If snow is on the ground, they first scrape it off a 
 small space ; they then all collect a quantity of the driest 
 heather they can find. The next step is for all the party 
 excepting one to lie down close to each other, with room 
 between one couple for the remaining man to get into the rank 
 when his duty is done ; which is, to lay all the plaids on the 
 top of his companions, and on the plaids a quantity of long 
 heather ; when he has sufficiently thatched them in, he creeps 
 into the vacant place, and they are made up for the night. 
 The coldest frost has no effect on them when bivouacking in 
 this manner. Their guns are laid dry between them, and their 
 dogs share their masters' couch. 
 
 With the earliest grouse -crow they rise and commence 
 operations. Their breakfast consists of meal and water. They 
 generally take a small bag of meal with them ; but it is seldom 
 that there is not some good-natured shepherd living near their 
 day's beat, who, notwithstanding that he receives pay for keep- 
 ing off or informing against all poachers, is ready to give them 
 milk and anything else his bothy affords. If the shepherd has 
 a peculiarly tender conscience, he vacates the hut himself on 
 
 1 Times have changed since Mr. St. John's day, and the romantic sporting poacher 
 of the type of Ronald is a thing of the past. The organisation of an efficient police force 
 and more careful watching have rendered his life an impossible one. But of poaching 
 generally there is no decrease, especially in the neighbourhood of manufacturing towns 
 and by operatives out of work. With increase of game preserving, and of facilities of 
 locomotion and transport, has come an increase of the more unsportsmanlike class of 
 poachers. The Ground Game Act, moreover, and the large number of itinerant sur- 
 reptitious game dealers, have led to an increased amount of illicit destruction of game by 
 farmers and farm sen-ants.
 
 v POACHERS AND KEEPERS 55 
 
 seeing them approach, leaving his wife to provide for the guests. 
 He then, if accused of harbouring and assisting poachers, can 
 say in excuse, " 'Deed, your honour, what could a puir woman 
 do against four or five wild Hieland lads with guns in their 
 hands ? " In fact, the shepherds have a natural fellow-feeling 
 with the poachers, and, both from policy and inclination, give 
 them any assistance they want, or leave their wives and children 
 to do so ; and many a side of red deer or bag of grouse they 
 get for this breach of promise to their masters. In the winter 
 season a poacher calls on the shepherd, and says, " Sandy, lad, 
 if you look up the glen there, you'll see a small cairn of stones 
 newly put up ; just travel twenty paces east from that, and 
 you'll find a bit venison to yoursel' " some unlucky deer having 
 fallen to the gun of one of the poaching fraternity. This sort 
 of argument, as well as the fear of " getting a bad name," is too 
 strong for the honesty of most of the shepherds, who are errone- 
 ously supposed to watch the game, and to keep off trespassers. 
 The keepers themselves in the Highlands, as long as the 
 poachers do not interfere too much with their master's sport, so 
 as to make it imperative on them to interfere, are rather anxious 
 to avoid a collision with these " Hieland lads." For, although 
 they never ill-use the keepers in the savage manner that English 
 poachers so frequently do, I have known instances of keepers, 
 who (although they were too smart gentlemen to carry their 
 master's game) have been taken prisoners by poachers on the 
 hill, and obliged to accompany them over their master's ground, 
 and carry the game killed on it all day. They have then either 
 been sent home, or, if troublesome, the poachers have tied them 
 hand and foot, and left them on some marked spot of the muir, 
 sending a boy or shepherd to release them some hours afterwards. 
 Going in large bodies on well-preserved ground, these men defy 
 the keepers, and shoot in spite of them. If pursued by a party 
 stronger than themselves, they halt occasionally, and fire bullets 
 either over the heads of their pursuers or into the ground near 
 them, of course taking care not to hurt them. The keepers go 
 home, protesting that they have been fired upon and nearly 
 killed, while the Highlanders pursue their sport. The grand 
 object of the poachers being to keep out of the fangs of the 
 law, they never uselessly run the risk of being identified, 
 and although they frequently have licences, they always avoid
 
 56 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 showing them if possible, in order that their names may not 
 be known. If they shoot on ground where the watchers know 
 them, they take great care to avoid being seen. If they think 
 there is any likelihood of a prosecution occurring, they betake 
 themselves to a different part of the country till the storm is 
 blown over. In some of the wide mountain districts, a band of 
 poachers can shoot the whole season without being caught, and 
 I fancy that many of the keepers, and even their masters, rather 
 wish to shut their eyes to the trespassing of these gangs as long 
 as they keep to certain districts, and do not interfere with those 
 parts of the grouse-ground which are the most carefully pre- 
 served. 
 
 Some proprietors or lessees of shooting-grounds make a 
 kind of half-compromise with the poachers, by allowing them 
 to kill grouse as long as they do not touch the deer ; others, 
 who are grouse-shooters, let them kill the deer to save their 
 birds. I have known an instance where a prosecution was 
 stopped by the aggrieved party being quietly made to 
 understand, that if it was carried on, " a score of lads from 
 the hills would shoot over his ground for the rest of the 
 season." 
 
 In the eastern part of the Highlands and on the hills adjoin- 
 ing the Highland roads, the grand harvest of the poachers 
 arises from grouse, which are shipped by the steamers, and sent 
 by the coaches southwards, in numbers that are almost incred- 
 ible. Before the I2th of August, hundreds of grouse are 
 shipped, to be ready in London on the first day that they 
 become legal food for her Majesty's subjects. In these districts 
 the poachers kill the deer only for their amusement, or to repay 
 the obliging blindness and silence of shepherds and others. 
 Many a fine stag is either shot or killed by dogs during the 
 winter season ; the proprietor, or person who rents the forest, 
 supposing that his paying half-a-dozen watchers and foresters 
 ensures the safety of his deer. 
 
 " Indeed, his lordship has seven foresters/' said a Highlander 
 to me ; " but they are mostly old men, and not that fit for 
 catching the likes of me ; besides which, if we leave the forest 
 quiet during the time his lordship's down, they are not that 
 over hard on us ; nor are we sair on their deer either, for they 
 are all ceevil enough, except the head forester, who is an
 
 v POACHERS KILLING DEER 57 
 
 Englishman, and we wouldna wish to get them to lose their 
 bread by being turned away on our account. So it's not often 
 we trouble the forest, unless, maybe, we have a young dog to 
 try, and we canna get a run at a deer on the marches of the 
 ground, where it would harm no one." 
 
 " And how do you manage not to be caught ? " was my 
 question. 
 
 " Why, we sleep at some shepherd's house or shealing ; and 
 if there is not one convenient, we lay out somewhere on the 
 ground, going to our sleeping-place after nightfall ; and so we 
 are ready to get at the deer by daylight ; and maybe we have 
 killed one and carried him off before the foresters have found 
 out that we are out." 
 
 It is not so easy, however, for the poachers to kill deer 
 undiscovered with dogs, as it is with the gun ; for in the event 
 of the greyhounds getting in chase of a young stag or a hind, 
 they may be led away to a great distance, and in the course of 
 the run move half the deer in the forest ; and there is no surer 
 sign of mischief being afloat than seeing the deer passing over 
 the hills in a startled manner. No man, accustomed to them, 
 can mistake this sign of an enemy having disturbed them ; and 
 one can judge pretty well the direction the alarm comes from 
 by taking notice of the quarter in which the wind is, and from 
 which part of the mountain the deer are moving. With a rifle, 
 however, in the hand of a good shot, the business is soon over, 
 without frightening the rest of the herd a tenth part so much, 
 or making them change their quarters to such a distance ; and 
 even if the shot is heard by the keepers, which is a great 
 chance, it is not easy to judge exactly from which direction it 
 comes amongst the numerous corries and glens which confuse 
 and mislead the listener. 
 
 Ronald told me that one day his dogs brought a fine stag 
 to bay, in a burn close to the house of the forester on the 
 ground where he was poaching : " The forester luckily was no 
 at hame, sir ; but the dogs made an awful noise, yoivling at the 
 stag ; and a bit lassie came out and tried to stone them off the 
 beast ; so I was feared they might turn on her, and I just 
 stepped down from where I was looking at them, and putting 
 my handkerchief over my face, that the lassie mightn't ken me, 
 took the dogs away, though it was a sair pity, as it was a fine
 
 5 8 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 beast ; and one of the dogs was quite young at the time, and it 
 would have been a grand chance for blooding him." 
 
 Many a deer is killed during the bright moonlight nights. 
 The poacher in this case finds out some grassy burn or spot of 
 ground, where the deer are in the habit of feeding. Within 
 shot of this, and with his gun loaded with three pistol-balls, or 
 a bullet and two slugs, he lies ensconced, taking care to be well 
 concealed before the time that the deer come to feed, and keep- 
 ing to leeward of the direction in \vhich they \vill probably 
 arrive. Many an hour he may pass in his lonely hiding-place, 
 listening to every cry and sound of the different animals that 
 are abroad during the night-time, and peering out anxiously to 
 see if he can distinguish the object of his vigil approaching him. 
 Perhaps, although he may hear the deer belling or clashing 
 their horns together in the distance, none come within reach of 
 his gun during the whole night ; and the call of the grouse- 
 cock just before daybreak, as he collects his family from their 
 roosting-places in the heather, warns him that it is time to leave 
 his ambuscade, and betake himself home, chilled and dispirited. 
 It often, however, happens that he hears the tramp of the deer 
 as they descend from the more barren heights to feed on the 
 grass and rushes near his place of concealment. On they 
 come, till he can actually hear their breathing as they crop the 
 herbage ; and can frequently distinguish their ghostlike forms 
 as they pass to and fro, sometimes grazing, and sometimes 
 butting at each other in fancied security. His own heart beats 
 so that he almost fears the deer will hear him. Often his 
 finger is on the trigger ; but he still refrains, as no deer has 
 come into full view which he thinks worth killing. At last a 
 movement amongst the herd apprises him that the master stag 
 is probably approaching. And suddenly the gaunt form of the 
 animal appears in strong relief between him and the sky, stand- 
 ing on some rising bit of ground, within thirty yards of the 
 muzzle of his gun. The next instant the loud report is echoing 
 and rolling along the mountain side, till it gradually dies away 
 in the distance. The stag, on receiving the shot, utters a single 
 groan, partly of affright and partly of pain, and drops to the 
 ground, where he lies plunging and floundering, but unable to 
 rise from having received three good-sized pistol-balls in his 
 shoulder. The rest of the herd, frightened by the report and
 
 v ANCIENT POACHERS 59 
 
 the flash of the gun, dart off at first in all directions ; but soon 
 collecting together, they can be heard in the still night, for 
 some time after they are lost to view, going up the hill side at 
 a steady gallop. The poacher rushes up to the stag, who is 
 now nearly motionless, only showing symptoms of life by his 
 loud, deep breathing, and an occasional quiver of his limbs, as 
 his life is oozing rapidly away in streams of blood. The skene 
 dhu, plunged into the root of his neck, and reaching to his 
 heart, soon ends his struggles ; and before the next morning 
 the carcass is carried off and cut up. Many a noble stag falls 
 in this way. Near the Caledonian Canal, which affords great 
 facility of carriage, the Lochaber poachers kill a considerable 
 number during the season, sending them to Edinburgh, Glasgow, 
 or other large towns, where they have some confidential friend 
 to receive and sell them. In Edinburgh, there are numbers of 
 men who work as porters, etc., during the winter, and poach in 
 the Highlands during the autumn. When in town, these men 
 are useful to their friends on the hills in disposing of their 
 game, which is all killed for the purpose of being sent away, 
 and not for consumption in the country. 
 
 Many poachers of the class I have here described are of 
 respectable origin, and are well enough educated. When my 
 aforesaid acquaintance Ronald called on me, he had a neat 
 kind of wallet with his dry hose, a pair of rather smart worsted- 
 worked slippers (he did not seem disposed to tell me what fair 
 hands had worked them), and clean, linen, etc. He wore also 
 a small French gold watch, which had also been given him. 
 Several of the Highlanders who have lived in this way emigrate 
 to Canada, and generally do well ; others get places as foresters 
 and keepers, making the best and most faithful servants. Their 
 old allies seldom annoy them when they take to this profession, 
 as there is a great deal of good feeling amongst them, and a 
 sense of right, which prevents their thinking the worse of their 
 quondam comrade because he does his duty in his new line of 
 life. 
 
 There is another class of hill poacher the old, half worn- 
 out Highlander, who has lived and shot on the mountain 
 before the times of letting shooting-grounds and strict preserv- 
 ing had come in. These old men, with their long single- 
 barrelled gun, kill many a deer and grouse, though not in a
 
 60 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 wholesale manner, hunting more from ancient habit and for 
 their own use than for the market. I have met some quaint 
 old fellows of this description, who make up by cunning and 
 knowledge of the ground for want of strength and activity. I 
 made acquaintance with an old soldier, who after some years' 
 service had returned to his native mountains, and to his former 
 habits of poaching and wandering about in search of deer. He 
 lived in the midst of plenty of them too, in a far-off and very 
 lonely part of Scotland, where the keepers of the property 
 seldom came. When they did so, I believe they frequently 
 took the old man out with them to assist in killing a stag for 
 their master. At other times he wandered through the moun- 
 tains with a single-barrelled gun, killing what deer he wanted 
 for his own use, but never selling them. I never in my life 
 saw a better shot with a ball : I have seen him constantly kill 
 grouse and plovers on the ground. His occupation, I fear, is 
 at last gone, owing to changes in the ownership and the letting 
 of the shooting, for the last time I heard of him he was leading 
 an honest life as cattle-keeper. 
 
 When this man killed a deer far from home, he used to go 
 to the nearest shepherd's shealing, catch the horse, which was 
 sure to be found feeding near at hand, and make use of it to 
 carry home the deer. This done, he turned the horse's head 
 home, and let it loose, and as all Highland ponies have the 
 bump of locality strongly developed, it was sure to find its way 
 home. I have known one of these old poachers coolly ride his 
 pony up the mountain from which he intended to take a deer, 
 turn it loose, and proceed on his excursion. The pony, as 
 cunning and accustomed to the work as his master, would 
 graze quietly near the spot where he was left, till his services 
 were required to take home the booty at night. The old man 
 never went to the hill till he had made sure of the whereabouts 
 of the forester, by which means he always escaped detection. 
 
 The principal object of pursuit of the Highland poacher, 
 next to grouse and deer, are ptarmigan, as these birds always 
 bring a high price, and by making choice of good weather and 
 knowing where to find the birds, a man can generally make up 
 a bag that repays him for his day's labour, as well as for his 
 powder and shot. Being sportsmen by nature, as well as 
 poachers, they enjoy the wild variety of a day's ptarmigan-
 
 POACHERS IN WINTER 
 
 61 
 
 shooting as much as the more legal shooter does. In winter, 
 when a fresh fall of snow has taken place, a good load of white 
 hares is easily obtained, as this animal is found in very great 
 numbers on some mountains, since the destruction of vermin on 
 so large a scale has taken place. What with the sale of these 
 different kinds of game, and a tolerable sum made by breaking 
 dogs, a number of young men in the Highlands make a very 
 good income during the shooting-season, which enables them 
 to live in idleness the rest of the year, and often affords them 
 the means of emigrating to America, where they settle quietly 
 down and become extensive and steady farmers. 
 
 BIVOUAC ON THE HILLS UNDER THE HEATHER
 
 SPEARING SALMON OR BURNING THE WATER 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Salmon -fishing Salmon ascending Fords Fishers Cmives Right of Fishing 
 Anecdote Salmon -leaps History of the Salmon Spearing Salmon River 
 Poaching Angling Fly-making Eels Lampreys. 
 
 DURING the spring and summer it is an amusing sight to watch 
 the salmon making their way up the river. Every high tide 
 brings up a number of these fish, whose whole object seems to 
 be to ascend the stream. At the shallow fords, where the 
 river spreading over a wide surface has but a small depth of 
 water, they are frequently obliged to swim, or rather wade (if 
 such an expression can be used), for perhaps twenty yards in 
 water of two inches in depth, which leaves more than half the 
 fish exposed to view. On they go, however, scrambling up the 
 fords, and making the water fly to the right and left, like ducks 
 at play. When the fish are numerous, I sometimes see a 
 dozen or more at once. They might be killed in these places 
 by spears, or even a stick, and indeed many a salmon does
 
 CHAP, vi NETTING SALMON 63 
 
 come to his death in this way. The fishermen (when the river 
 is low) save a great deal of useless fatigue, and of injury to 
 their nets, by working in some pool immediately above a 
 shallow place, where they station one of their number, who 
 watches for the fish ascending, giving a signal to his companions 
 whenever he sees one. They then immediately put out their 
 nets, and are nearly sure to catch the salmon. In this way 
 very few of the fish can escape as long as the water is low, but 
 when a slight flood comes they can get up unperceived. It is 
 as easy to see them in the night-time as in the day, the water 
 glancing and shining as they struggle up. Indeed on the 
 darkest night the noise they make is easily heard, and dis- 
 tinguished by the accustomed ear of the fishermen. 
 
 There is something wild and interesting in listening during 
 the night to the shout of the man stationed to watch, when he 
 sees fish, and the sound of the oars and boat immediately after- 
 wards, though the object of pursuit is but a fish after all. 
 Sometimes a silent otter suddenly shows himself on the ford, 
 having slipped quietly and unobserved through the deeper parts 
 of the stream till he is obliged to wade, not having water 
 enough to cover him. His appearance is the signal of a 
 general outcry, and if he returns to the deep water where the 
 net is, the fishermen occasionally manage to entangle him, and 
 dragging him to shore, soon despatch him. He is one of their 
 worst enemies. More often, however, he slips noiselessly to the 
 side of the river, and half ensconced behind some broken bank, 
 remains quiet and concealed till the danger is past, and then 
 glides away unperceived. There is no animal more difficult to 
 get the advantage of than the otter, as long as he is on ground 
 that he knows. The fish which escape the nets, and those 
 which go up during floods and on Sundays, on which day they 
 are allowed to have a free passage, seldom stop until they get 
 to the deep quiet pools amongst the rocks some four or five 
 miles up the water, where they rest till fresh water and oppor- 
 tunity enable them to continue their upward progress. Neither 
 sea-trout nor salmon ever seem happy excepting when making 
 their way up a stream. It is wonderful, too, against what 
 difficulties, in the shape of falls and rapids, they will ascend a 
 river. In the Findhorn, owing to the impetuosity of the stream, 
 the frequent and sudden floods it is subject to, and the immense
 
 64 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 quantity of shingle and gravel, which is always shifting its 
 place, and changing the course of the lower part of the water, 
 there are no cruives made use of. They would probably be 
 destroyed as fast as they were built. In the Spey, however, 
 and many other rivers, large cruives are built, which quite pre- 
 vent the ascent of the fish, excepting on Sundays and on 
 floods. To describe a cruive minutely would be tedious. It 
 is, however, merely a kind of dam built across the river, with 
 openings here and there, allowing the water to pass through in 
 a strong stream, and through which the fish ascend and get 
 into a kind of wooden cage, out of which they cannot find their 
 way again, the entrance being made after the fashion of a wire 
 mouse-trap, affording an easier ingress than egress. Much do 
 the anglers on the upper part of the Spey pray for a furious 
 flood, or spate, as it is called, which may break down these 
 barriers, and enable the salmon to ascend to the higher pools 
 before the fishermen can repair the damage done. 
 
 The right of fishing in many of the Scotch rivers is vested 
 in a very singular manner ; as, for instance, in the Findhorn, 
 where the proprietor of many miles of land along the river 
 banks has no right to throw a line in the water, but is obliged 
 to pay a rent for fishing on his own ground. Indeed, this kind 
 of alienation of the right of fishing from the person who would 
 seem to be the natural proprietor of it is very common. I 
 remember an anecdote told me by an old Highlander as to the 
 cause of the fishing in a particular river in Sutherland being 
 out of the hands of the proprietor of the land on its banks. 
 The story is as follows : The laird of the property higher up 
 on the water was also the possessor of a small island in the 
 river. He was a deep, long-headed fellow, and grudged his 
 neighbour the profit he made out of the fishing just below him, 
 the water on the upper part not being so good. He therefore 
 commenced building a fort on the island, and falling in with 
 his neighbour, asked him in an off- hand, way to give him, 
 merely, he said, for the convenience of his workmen, a right 
 of fishing the whole river until his building was completed, 
 salmon in those days being used as a means of feeding the 
 numerous retainers and servants who lived upon and followed 
 every laird and chieftain. Indeed, but a few years back it was 
 often made a stipulation by servants on being hired by a
 
 vi SALMON LEAPING 65 
 
 Highland master that they should not be fed on salmon above 
 a certain number of days in the week. But to continue my 
 story. The permission was granted ; and, to save all dispute 
 about the matter, even a legal written document was given over 
 to the wily laird, granting him exclusive right of fishing and 
 netting the river, " until his house was finished." The building 
 was immediately stopped, and the right of fishing still belongs 
 to the proprietor of the little islet, who will probably never 
 finish his building, as doing so would put an end to his valuable 
 rights on the river. So runs the tale, which does more credit 
 to the acuteness than to the honesty of the inventor of the ruse. 
 The jumping of the salmon up a fall is a curious and beautiful 
 sight, and the height they leap, and the perseverance which 
 they show in returning again and again to the charge, after 
 making vain efforts to surmount the fall, are quite wonderful. 
 Often on a summer evening, when the river is full of fish, all 
 eager to make their way up, have I watched them for hours 
 together, as they sprang in rapid succession, looking like pieces 
 of silver as they dashed up the falls with rapid leaps. The 
 fish appear to bend their head to their tail, and then to fling 
 themselves forward and upwards, much as a bit of whalebone 
 whose two ends are pinched together springs forward on being 
 released. I have often watched them leaping, and this has 
 always seemed the way in which they accomplish their extra- 
 ordinary task. Both salmon and sea- trout, soon after they 
 enter the fresh water, from the sea, make wonderful leaps into 
 the air, shooting perpendicularly upwards, to the height of some 
 feet, with a quivering motion, which is often quite audible. 
 This is most likely to get rid of a kind of parasitical insect 
 which adheres to them when they first leave the sea. The 
 fishermen call this creature the sea-louse : it appears to cause 
 a great deal of irritation to the fish. It is a sure sign that the 
 salmon is in good condition, and fresh from the sea, when these 
 insects are found adhering to him. 
 
 Though the natural history of the salmon is daily being 
 searched into, and curious facts connected with it are constantly 
 ascertained, I fancy that there is much still to be learnt on the 
 subject, as some of the statements advanced seem so much at 
 variance with my own frequent though unscientific observations, 
 that I cannot give in to all that is asserted. But as I have 
 
 F
 
 66 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 not opportunities of proving many points, I will leave the whole 
 subject in the abler hands of those who have already written 
 on it, and whose accounts, though they may err here and there, 
 are probably in the main correct. As long as the salmon are 
 in the river water they seem to lose condition, and become 
 lean and dark coloured. By the time that they have ascended 
 to within a dozen miles or so of the source of the river they 
 are scarcely fit to eat. Nevertheless vast numbers are killed 
 by poachers and shepherds in the autumn, even after the legal 
 season is over. I once fell in with a band of Highlanders, 
 who were employed busily in the amusing but illegal pursuit 
 of spearing salmon by torchlight. And a most exciting and 
 interesting proceeding it was. The night was calm and dark. 
 The steep and broken rocks were illuminated in the most 
 brilliant manner by fifteen or sixteen torches, which were 
 carried by as many active Highlanders, and glanced merrily 
 on the water, throwing the most fantastic light and shade on 
 all around as they moved about. Sometimes one of them 
 would remain motionless for a few moments, as its bearer 
 waited in the expectation that some fish which had been 
 started by his companions would come within reach of his 
 spear, as he stood with it ready poised, and his eager counten- 
 ance lighted up by his torch as he bent over the water. Then 
 would come loud shouts and a confused hurrying to and fro, as 
 some great fish darted amongst the men, and loud and merry 
 peals of laughter when some unlucky fellow darting at a fish 
 in too deep water, missed his balance, and fell headlong into 
 the pool. Every now and then a salmon would be seen 
 hoisted into the air, and quivering on an uplifted spear. The 
 fish, as soon as caught, was carried ashore, where it was knocked 
 on the head and taken charge of by some man older than the 
 rest, who was deputed to this office. Thirty-seven salmon were 
 killed that night ; and I must say that I entered into the fun, 
 unmindful of its not being quite in accordance with my ideas 
 of right and wrong ; and I enjoyed it probably as much as 
 any of the wild lads who were engaged in it. There was not 
 much English talked amongst the party, as they found more 
 expressive words in Gaelic to vent their eagerness and im- 
 patience. All was good humour, however ; and though they 
 at first looked on me with some slight suspicion, yet when they 
 saw that I enjoyed their torchlight fishing, and entered fully
 
 vi LEISTERING SALMON 67 
 
 into the spirit of it, they soon treated me with all consideration 
 and as one of themselves. I happened to know one or two of 
 the men ; and after it was over, and we were drying our 
 drenched clothes in a neighbouring bothy, it occurred to me to 
 think of the river bailiff's and watchers, several of whom I knew 
 were employed on that part of the stream, and I asked where 
 they were, that they did not interfere with the somewhat 
 irregular proceeding in which we had all been engaged. 
 " 'Deed ay, sir, there are no less than twelve bailies and 
 offishers on the water here, but they are mostly douce-like lads, 
 and don't interfere much with us, as we only come qnce or 
 twice in the season. Besides which, they ken well that if they 
 did they might get a wild ducking amongst us all, and they 
 would na ken us again, as we all come from beyont the braes 
 yonder. Not that we would wish to hurt the puir chiels," 
 continued my informer, as he took off a glass of whisky, " as 
 they would be but doing their duty. They would as lave, 
 however, I am thinking, be taking a quiet dram at Sandy Roy's 
 down yonder as getting a ducking in the river ; and they are 
 wise enough not to run the risk of it." Not bad reasoning 
 either, thought I ; nor can I wonder that the poor water-bailiffs 
 would prefer a quiet bowl of toddy to a row with a party of wild 
 Badenoch poachers, who, though good-natured^ enough on the 
 whole, were determined to have their night's fun out in spite of 
 all opposition. There are worse poachers, too, than these said 
 Highlanders, who only come down now and then more for the 
 amusement than the profit of the thing ; and whom it is generally 
 better policy to keep friends with than to make enemies of. 1 
 
 The ponderous lexicographer, who describes a fishing-rod 
 as a stick with a fool at one end, and a worm at the other, 
 displays in this saying more wit than wisdom. Not that I 
 quite go the whole length of my quaint and amiable old friend, 
 Isaac Walton, who implies in every page of his paragon of a 
 book, that the art of angling is the summum bonum of happi- 
 ness, and that an angler must needs be the best of men. I do 
 believe, however, that no determined angler can be naturally a 
 bad or vicious man. No man who enters into the silent com- 
 munings with Nature, whose beauties he must be constantly 
 
 1 For a delightful account of a "leistering" expedition on the Tweed in which Sir 
 Walter Scott's old keeper Tom Purdie took part, we refer our readers to the last chapter 
 of Mr. Scrope's well-known Days and Nights of Salmon Fishing.
 
 68 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 surrounded by, and familiar with during his ramblings as an 
 angler, can fail to be improved in mind and disposition during 
 his solitary wanderings amongst the most lovely and romantic 
 works of the creation, in the wild Highland glens and moun- 
 tains through which the best streams take their course. I do 
 not include in my term angler, the pond or punt fisher, how- 
 ever well versed he may be in the arts of spitting worms and 
 impaling frogs, so learnedly discussed by Isaac notwithstand- 
 ing the kindliness and simplicity of heart so conspicuous in 
 every line he writes. Angling, in my sense of the word, implies 
 wandering with rod and creel in the wild solitudes, and tempt- 
 ing (or endeavouring to do so) the fish from their clear water, 
 with artificial fly or minnow. Nothing can be more unlike the 
 " worm " described as forming one end of the thing called a 
 fishing-rod, than the gay and gaudy collection of feathers and 
 tinsel which form the attraction of a Findhorn fly. Let us 
 look at the salmon-fly, which I have just finished, and which 
 now lies on the table before me, ready for trial in some clear 
 pool of the river. To begin : I tie with well-waxed silk a 
 portion of silkworms' intestines on a highly-tempered and 
 finished Limerick-made hook. Here are three different sub- 
 stances brought into play already. I next begin at the tail of 
 the fly : first come two turns of gold thread, then a tenth part 
 of an inch of red floss-silk ; next comes the tail, consisting of a 
 bright gold feather from the crest of the golden pheasant. The 
 body is now to be made of, alternately, a stripe of green, a stripe 
 of blue, and the remainder of orange-coloured floss-silk, with a 
 double binding of gold thread and silver tinsel ; the legs are 
 made of a black barn-door cock's hackle, taken from him, in 
 winter, when the bird is in full plumage ; next to the wing 
 comes a turn of grouse's feather, and two or three turns of the 
 purple-black feather which is pendent on the breast of an old 
 cock heron. Now for the wing, which is composed of a mixture 
 of feathers from the mallard killed in this country ; from the 
 teal drake, also a native ; from the turkey-cock ; the bustard, 
 from India ; a stripe or two of green parrot ; a little of the 
 tippet of the gold pheasant ; a thread or two from the peacock's 
 tail ; a bit from the Argus pheasant, and from the tail of a 
 common hen pheasant : all these mixed and blended together 
 form an irresistible wing. Round the shoulder of the wing a 
 turn of the blue and black feather off a jay's wing. For the
 
 SALMON-FLIES 69 
 
 head, a small portion of that substance called pig's wool, so 
 mysterious to the uninitiated, pigs not being the usual animals 
 from which wool is supposed to be derived ; then finished off 
 with a few turns of black ostrich feather ; not forgetting that 
 finish to the whole, two horns of red and blue macaw's feather. 
 Now, all this makes a fly, either of the dragon or some other 
 species, which no salmon who is in a taking mood (one can 
 hardly suppose he swallows it out of hunger) can resist. See 
 the gallant fish, as he rises suddenly up from the dark depths 
 of the pool, poises himself for a moment, as the fly hovers 
 before him, in the twirling eddy, then darts forward, seizes the 
 gaudy bait, and retreats again, apparently well satisfied with 
 his skill in fly-catching, till he suddenly finds himself pulled 
 up, and held fast by the unexpected strength of the insect. I 
 suspect that a salmon, after a quarter of an hour's struggle on 
 a line, would scarcely call the fisherman at the other end " a 
 fool," even if he took the fly to be some newly-discovered 
 glittering worm. Skill in fly-fishing can only be acquired by 
 practice, and no directions can make a good angler. And even 
 when fairly hooked, a salmon is only to be held by a happy 
 mixture of the suaviter in modo and fortiter in re, which keeps 
 the line at a gentle but firm stretch, from which he cannot 
 escape by dint of straightforward pulling to which the skilful 
 fisher must gradually yield, to prevent too much strain on his 
 slight line. Nor, on the other hand, ought the fish to be 
 allowed, by the angler slackening the line, to get a sudden jerk 
 at it, by means of a fresh rush, as few lines or hooks can stand 
 this. In fishing for sea-trout, I always kill the largest fish, and 
 the greatest number, by using small flies, though certainly too 
 small hooks are apt to lead to disappointment, by not taking 
 sufficient hold of this tender-skinned fish. As all rivers require 
 different flies for sea-trout, no general rule can be given, but I 
 never find myself unable to catch trout, if there are any in the 
 water, and I use either a small palmer, red, black, or white, and 
 if these do not succeed, I try a small fly with black or blue 
 body, a turn or two of silver twist, no hackle round the body, 
 but a little black hackle immediately under the wings, which 
 latter consist of lark's or hen blackbird's feather, or that of 
 some other bird of a similar pale grey colour. I have often 
 been amused by being told gravely by some fishing-tackle 
 maker in a country-town, when showing him one of these simple
 
 70 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 flies, " Why, sir, that fly may do now and then, but it is not 
 fit for this river, and I am afraid, sir, you will catch nothing 
 with it." His own stock of flies, which he wants to sell, being 
 all of one kind probably, which he has managed to convince 
 himself and others are the only sort the fish in the neighbour- 
 ing stream will rise at. I remember one day on the Findhorn 
 when the fish would not rise at a fly, although they were leap- 
 ing in all directions. I put on a small white fly and filled my 
 basket, to the astonishment of two or three habitues of the river, 
 who could catch nothing. Having watched me some time, and 
 not being able to make out why I had such good sport, they 
 begged to look at my fly. They scarcely believed their own eyes 
 when I showed them my little white moth, which the sea-trout 
 were rising at so greedily ; it being so unlike the flies which from 
 habit and prejudice they had been always accustomed to use. 
 
 I was much interested one day in May, in watching the 
 thousands of small eels which were making their way up the 
 river. It was some distance from the mouth, and where the 
 stream, confined by a narrow rocky channel, ran with great 
 strength. Nevertheless these little eels, which were about six 
 inches long, and as large round as a quill, persevered in swim- 
 ming against the stream. When they came to a fall, where they 
 could not possibly ascend, they wriggled out of the water, and 
 gliding along the rock close to the edge, where the stone was con- 
 stantly wet from the splashing and spray of the fall, they made 
 their way up till they got above the difficulty, and then again 
 slipping into the water, they continued their course. For several 
 hours there was a continued succession of these little fish going 
 up in the same way ; and, for more than a week, the same thing 
 was to be seen every day. The perseverance they displayed 
 was very great, for frequently, although washed back several 
 times, an eel would always continue its efforts till it managed to 
 ascend. Towards winter they are said to descend the river again, 
 in equal numbers. Trout and many birds feed constantly on 
 these small eels, catching them with great ease in the shallows. 
 
 One summer day I was amused by watching the singular 
 proceedings of two lampreys 1 in a small ditch of clear running 
 water near my house. They were about six inches in length, 
 
 1 The Lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) ascends the Scottish rivers to breed about the 
 end of June, and remains until August. T. Edward notes that it is a common fish in 
 Banffshire, and Yarrell quotes a passage from Sir \V. Jardine which illustrates Mr. St. 
 John's anecdote : "They are not furnished with the elongation of the jaw, afforded to
 
 LAMPREYS 71 
 
 and as large round as a pencil. The two little creatures were 
 most busily and anxiously employed in making little triangular 
 heaps of stones, using for the purpose irregularly-shaped bits of 
 gravel about the size of a large pea. When they wished to 
 move a larger stone, they helped each other in endeavouring to 
 roll it into the desired situation : occasionally they both left off 
 their labours and appeared to rest for a short time, and then to 
 return to the work with fresh vigour. The object of their 
 building I am not sufficiently learned in the natural history of 
 the lamprey to divine ; but I conclude that their work had 
 something to do with the placing of their spawn. I had, how- 
 ever, a good opportunity of watching them, as the water was 
 quite clear and shallow, and they were so intent upon what 
 they were at, that they took no notice whatever of me. I had 
 intended to examine the little heaps of stones which they had 
 made, but going from home the next day put it out of my 
 recollection, and I lost the opportunity. It seems, however, so 
 singular a manoeuvre on the part of fish to build up regular 
 little pyramids of gravel, bringing some of the stones from the 
 distance of two feet against the current and rolling them to the 
 place with evident difficulty, that the lampreys must have some 
 good reason which induces them to take this trouble. It is a 
 great pity that the habits of fish and animals living in water 
 are so difficult to observe with any degree of exactness. 
 
 most of our fresh-water fish, to form the receiving furrows at this important season ; but 
 the want is supplied by the sucker-like mouth, by which they individually remove each 
 stone. Their power is immense. Stones of a very large size are transported, and a large 
 furrow is soon formed. The P. marinus remains, in a pair, on each spawning-place ; 
 and, while there employed, retain themselves affixed by the mouth to a large stone" 
 (History of British Fishes, \. p. 36). 
 
 RAPIDS OX THE FINDHORX
 
 THE I.ONG-KARKD OWL 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Short-eared Owl: Habits of Long-eared Owl Tame Owl \VhiteOwl-Utilityof 
 Owls Mice Rats : Destructiveness of Water Rats : Food of Killing Rats 
 Ratcatchers. 
 
 AMONGST the migratory birds that pass the winter in this 
 country is the short-eared owl, 1 Strix bracJiyotus : it arrives in 
 
 1 The short-cared owl comes over in small flocks to this country, many being often 
 seen together in a turnip-field, or other low cover on their first arrival. Some few, how- 
 ever, remain to breed in this country, building on the ground in rough heather, etc. It 
 hunts earlier in the evening than other owls. C. St. J. 
 
 It is found in summer in North Europe ; eastwards it occurs throughout Siberia, 
 wintering in the southern countries, Persia, Burmah, and South China. On the American 
 continent it breeds in various parts of Canada and the United States, and in winter has 
 lx:en found as far south as Chili and the Falkland Isles. Seebohm, Siberia in Europe, 
 p. 1 1 8.
 
 CHAP, vii THE SHORT-EARED OWL 73 
 
 October, sometimes in flights of some number. I have heard 
 from perfectly good authority of sixteen or seventeen of these 
 birds having been found in one turnip-field on the east coast, 
 evidently having just arrived. It is a long-winged bird, and 
 more active in its manner of flight than most of the other owls, 
 nor is it so completely nocturnal. I saw one of this kind hunt- 
 ing a rushy field and regularly beating it for prey at mid-day. 
 The owl was so intent on his pursuit that he flew straight in 
 my direction and nearly close to me before he observed me. 
 When he did so, he darted off with great quickness and with 
 a most hawk-like flight, but too late to escape. I killed him 
 (though it is against my usual rule to shoot at an owl) because 
 he appeared to me to be of a different species from any with 
 which I was acquainted. Before I shot him he had put up 
 and made a dash at a snipe, but did not follow up his pursuit, 
 probably perceiving that it would be useless. I have very 
 frequently flushed this kind of owl in rushes, furze, and other 
 low cover. When put up, instead of being distressed and 
 confused by the light of the sun, he flies boldly and steadily 
 away. Sometimes I have seen one, when put up, rise high in the 
 air and fly straight away until I could no longer distinguish him. 
 
 The owls that breed here are the long -eared owl, the 
 tawny owl, and the barn-owl : the latter, though so common 
 in England, is by far the rarest in this country. 
 
 The long -eared owl l is a fine bold bird, and his bright 
 yellow eye gives him a peculiarly handsome appearance : 
 altogether he is of a lighter make and more active than the 
 other owls; they are very common in the shady fir- woods. 
 I often see this bird sitting on a branch close to the stem of 
 the tree, and depending on the exact similitude of his colour 
 to that of the bark, he sits motionless with his bright golden 
 eye watching earnestly every movement I make. If he fancies 
 himself observed, and likely to be molested, down he dashes, 
 flies a hundred yards or so, and then suddenly pitches again. 
 
 1 This owl is common enough in the fir-woods. It generally takes possession of the 
 deserted nest of the crow or some other large bird. When it has youug it hunts and 
 destroys a great number of birds. C. St. J. 
 
 The habits of pouting noticed in the text are common to this bird and the tawny owl. 
 I have seen the latter on the top of a farm-house in the moonlight, puffing out its throat 
 as it hooted. Virgil, no mean ornithologist, had probably noticed this habit 
 
 Solaque culminibus ferali carmine bubo 
 
 Snepe queri, et longas in fletum ducere voces. Aen. 4. 462.
 
 74 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CIIAP. 
 
 His long ears and bright eyes give him a most unbirdlike 
 appearance as he sits watching one. As soon as evening 
 comes on, the owl issues forth in full life and activity, and in 
 the woods here may be seen and heard in all directions, sitting 
 on the topmost branch of some leafless tree, generally a larch 
 or ash (these two being his favourites), where he hoots incessantly 
 for an hour together, swelling his throat out, and making the 
 eccentric motions of a pouter pigeon. They breed in rocks, 
 ivy, or in the deserted nest of a magpie. 
 
 I do not know why, but I never could succeed in rearing 
 one of these birds they have invariably died, without any 
 apparent cause, before their first year was over. Not so with 
 the tawny owl. 1 One of these birds has been in my kitchen- 
 garden for three years. Though his wing is sometimes cut, he 
 can fly sufficiently to get over the wall, but seldom ventures 
 beyond the adjoining flower-garden or orchard. From habit 
 or tameness this bird seems to pay little regard to sunshine or 
 shade, sitting during the daytime as indifferently in the most 
 open and exposed places as in the more shaded corners : he is 
 quite tame too, and answers to the call of the children. He 
 hoots as vigorously at mid-day as at night, and will take a bird 
 from my hand when offered to him. Although his flight has 
 been impeded by his wing being cut, he seems to have entirely 
 cleared the garden of mice, with which it was much overrun. 
 Though a light bird, and not apparently very strongly built, 
 his sharp claws and bill enable him to tear to pieces any crow 
 or sea-gull that is offered to him. When he has had his meal 
 off some large bird of this kind, and has satisfied his appetite, 
 he carries away and carefully hides the remainder, returning to 
 it when again hungry. I do not know whether the owl, when 
 at liberty in his native woods, has the same fox-like propensity 
 to hide what he cannot eat. I have frequently heard this kind 
 of owl hoot and utter another sharp kind of cry during the 
 daytime in the shady solitudes of the pine-woods. 
 
 The white or barn-owl 2 is rare here, and very seldom seen. I 
 believe him to have been almost eradicated by traps and keepers. 
 
 1 The tawny owl is common enough, building in old crows' nests, in clefts of rocks, old 
 ruins, etc., sometimes in rabbit-holes, in which latter situation I have found the eggs. 
 C. St. J. 
 
 2 This owl lives almost wholly on mice. It is not common at all in this part of the 
 country, though I have seen them about the rocks of the Findhorn and elsewhere, and on
 
 UTILITY OF OWLS 75 
 
 With regard to the mischief done by owls, all the harm 
 they do is amply repaid by their utility in destroying a much 
 more serious nuisance in the shape not only of the different 
 kinds of mice, but of rats also, these animals being their principal 
 food and the prey which they are most adapted for catching. 
 
 I knew an instance where the owls having been nearly 
 destroyed by the numerous pole-traps placed about the fields 
 for the destruction of them and the hawks, the rats and mice 
 increased to such an extent on the disappearance of these their 
 worst enemies, and committed such havoc among the nursery- 
 gardens, farm-buildings, etc., that the proprietor was obliged 
 to have all the pole -traps taken down, and the owls having 
 been allowed to increase again, the rats and mice as quickly 
 diminished in number. When the long-eared owls have young, 
 they are not particular as to what they prey upon, and I have 
 found the remains of many different kinds of game about their 
 nests. 
 
 The wings of the owl are peculiarly adapted for seizing 
 their sharp-eared prey with silence : were it otherwise, from 
 not having the rapidity of the hawk and other birds of prey, 
 the owl would have little chance of catching the active little 
 mouse. As it is, he comes silently and surely near the ground, 
 and dropping down on the unfortunate mouse, surrounds it 
 with his wings, and grasping it in his sharp and powerful claws, 
 soon puts an end to the little animal. The wings are fringed 
 with a downy texture, which makes his flight quite inaudible 
 on the calmest night The numbers of mice destroyed by a 
 breeding pair of owls must be enormous, and the service they 
 perform by so doing very great to the farmer, the planter, and 
 the gardener. Though neither cats nor owls ever eat the little 
 shrew-mouse, 1 they always strike and kill it when opportunity 
 offers, leaving the animal on the spot. What there is so 
 obnoxious to all animals of prey in this little creature it is 
 impossible to say. Besides the shrew we have the common 
 
 Elgin Cathedral. But they are comparatively rare. It is on the whole very useful in 
 destroying so many mice. C. St. J. 
 
 Mr. C. Innes, who edited St. John's Natural History and Sfort in Moray, 1863, adds 
 as a note to that book (p. 298), on the barn-owl : "This is one of the few birds I have 
 known transplanted and breed and thrive in its new country. A pair of white owls were 
 brought from England by a school-boy more than twenty years ago to the banks of the 
 Nairn, where their descendants are now in good numbers. Their first independent settle- 
 ment was in the tower of Kilravock. " 
 
 1 Sorex araneus and S. fodiens, water-shrew, Moray. C. St. f.
 
 76 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 house- mouse, the short-eared mouse, and that beautiful bright- 
 eyed kind the long-tailed field-mouse. The last is very 
 destructive to the garden-seeds, and without the assistance of 
 the owls would be kept under with great difficulty. The large- 
 headed, short-eared mouse is not so pretty an animal, but 
 equally destructive, taking great delight in sweet peas and 
 other seeds : they also climb the peach-trees and destroy great 
 quantities of the fruit. A fig-tree this year, when its winter 
 covering of straw was taken off, was found to be entirely barked 
 and all the shoots eaten off by these mice. The shrew r -mouse 
 has the same propensity for barking trees. I have known the 
 former kind, indeed, destroy Scotch fir-trees of the height of 
 fifteen or sixteen feet by nibbling and peeling the topmost 
 shoot till the tree gradually withered away. The quantities of 
 acorns and other seeds that the long-tailed field-mice hoard up 
 for their winter use show that, were they allowed to increase, 
 the mischief they would do would be incalculable ; and un- 
 doubtedly the best way of getting rid of all mice is to preserve 
 and encourage owls. The long-tailed field-mouse 1 has great 
 capabilities as a digger, and in making his hole carries up an 
 incredible quantity of earth and gravel in a very short time. 
 When the weather is cold they close up the mouth of their hole 
 with great care. They seem to produce their young not under- 
 ground, but in a comfortable, well-built nest, formed in the 
 shape of a ball, with a small entrance on one side. As it is 
 built of the same material as the surrounding herbage, and the 
 entrance is closed up, it is not easily seen. 
 
 Everybody must be glad to encourage any animal that kills 
 a rat, 2 and the owls are the most determined enemies to this, 
 the most disgusting and obnoxious animal which we have in 
 this country. For what can be so sickening as to know that 
 these animals come direct from devouring and revelling in the 
 foulest garbage in the drains of your house, to the larder where 
 your own provisions are kept ; and, fresh from their stinking 
 and filthy banquet, run over your meat with their clammy 
 paws, and gnaw at your bread with their foul teeth ? what 
 
 1 This mouse is very fond of flesh, frequently eating the dead rabbits, etc., used for 
 bait to verm in -traps. The dormouse frequently builds a nest in the branches of copse- 
 wood. C. St. J. 
 
 - Mus rattus (black rat) I believe is extinct in Moray. Twenty years ago plentiful 
 (1850). -C. St. J.
 
 vii MICE AND RATS 77 
 
 cleansing and washing can wipe away their traces ? Nothing 
 will keep out these animals when they have once established 
 themselves in a house. They gnaw through stone, lead, or 
 almost anything. They may be extirpated for a time, but you 
 suddenly find yourself invaded by a fresh army. Some old 
 rats, too, acquire such a carnivorous appetite, that fowls and 
 ducks, old or young, pigeons, rabbits, all fall a prey to them. 
 Adepts in climbing as well as in undermining, they get at 
 everything, dead or alive. They reach game, although hung 
 most carefully in a larder, by climbing the wall, and clinging to 
 beam or rope till they get at it ; they then devour and destroy 
 all that can be reached. I have frequently known them in this 
 manner destroy a larder full of game in a single night. They 
 seem to commence with the hind-legs of the hares, and to eat 
 downwards, hollowing the animal out as it hangs up, till nothing 
 but the skin is left. In the fields, to which the rats betake 
 themselves in the summer time, not only corn, but game, and 
 eggs of all kinds, fall to their share. 
 
 Mr. Waterton says that no house in England has more 
 suffered from the Hanoverian rats than his own ; I don't doubt 
 it in every sense. The poor water-rat l is a comparatively 
 harmless animal, feeding principally upon herbage, not refusing, 
 however, fish, or even toads, when they come in its way. The 
 succulent grasses that grow by the sides of ditches, seem to 
 form its chief food during the summer season. Early in the 
 spring, before these grasses are well grown, the water-rat preys 
 much on toads. I have found little piles of the feet, and 
 remains of several of these animals, near the edge of water 
 frequented by these rats, which they seem to have collected 
 together in certain places, and left there. I have known the 
 water-rat do great damage to artificial dams and the heads 
 of ponds, by undermining them, and boring holes in every 
 direction through them, below the water-mark, as well as above 
 it. The water-rat has peculiarly sensitive organs of scent, and 
 it is therefore almost impossible to trap him, as he is sure to 
 discover the taint of the human hand. Cunning as the house- 
 rat is, this kind is much more so. Though the former may be 
 in a measure kept down by constant trapping, it is a trouble- 
 
 1 Arvicola amphibia. Of its two varieties, in Morayshire the black water-rat is most 
 common, though the brown is also found. A. agrestis (field vole), Moray. C. St. J.
 
 78 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 some method, and there are sure to be some cunning old 
 patriarchs who will not enter any kind of trap. 1 I believe that 
 the best kind of trap in a house is the common gin, laid open 
 and uncovered in their runs. They then do not seem to 
 suspect any danger, but when the trap is covered they are sure 
 to detect its presence, and, like all wild animals, they are much 
 more cautious in avoiding a concealed danger than an open 
 one. Poison is the best means of getting rid of them, and the 
 manner of applying it is as follows : For the space of a fort- 
 night feed the rats with good wholesome meal and water in 
 some quiet room or cellar accessible to all these troublesome 
 inmates of your house. At first two or three rats may find it 
 out ; these are sure to lead others to the place, till the whole 
 company of freebooters go for their share. As soon as you see 
 that they seem to have collected in numbers in your feeding- 
 room, season your meal with plenty of arsenic, and you may be 
 pretty sure of its being all devoured. Continue giving them 
 this till you find no more come, and by that time probably 
 there are none left alive in the house. The only danger is, 
 that some of them may die behind the wainscots of your rooms, 
 in which case you must either open the place and search till 
 you find the dead animal, or you must vacate that room till 
 the dreadful stench is over. That rats carry off hens' and even 
 turkeys' eggs to some considerable distance is a fact ; how they 
 accomplish this feat I should like to known, as they do it with- 
 out breaking the shell, or leaving any mark upon it. 2 A crow 
 or magpie, Columbus-like, shortens the difficulty by sticking 
 the lower mandible of his bill into a hen's egg when he wants 
 to carry it off, but this is beyond a rat's capabilities ; neverthe- 
 less, eggs form one of their favourite repasts. The increase of 
 rats, if left to breed in peace, would exceed that of almost any 
 other animal, as they produce broods of six or eight young ones 
 in rapid succession, throughout the greatest part of the year. 
 In building a nest for her young, the female carries off every 
 
 1 Readers who wish to become acquainted with the habits of rats, and the best 
 methods of exterminating them, should read Barkley's Studies in the Art of Ratcatching. 
 
 2 Mr. Speedy in his Sport in the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland writes : 
 ' ' From personal observation I can testify how one was carried. Going hurriedly into a 
 stable where hens were in the habit of dropping their eggs, I witnessed a huge rat bearing 
 an egg along the manger towards its hole at the end. It hugged it with one of its fore 
 feet, holding it against its breast, and in this manner was travelling along the outer beam 
 of the manger."
 
 vii MIGRATION OF RATS 79 
 
 soft substance which she can find ; pieces of lace, cloth, and 
 above all, paper, seem to be her favourite lining. 
 
 The natural destroyers in this country of this obnoxious 
 animal seem to be, the hen-harrier, the falcon, the long-eared 
 and the tawny owls, cats, weasels, and stoats ; and, ante omncs, 
 boys of every age and grade wage war to the knife against rats, 
 wherever and whenever they can find them. 
 
 As for rat-catchers find me an honest one, and I will 
 forfeit my name. I would as soon admit a colony of rats 
 themselves, as one of these gentry to my house, not but what 
 I have amused myself by learning slight tricks of the trade 
 from one of these representatives of roguery and unblushing 
 effrontery, but, fas est et ab Jwsle doceri. Rats swarm about 
 the small towns in this country where the herrings are cured, 
 living amongst the stones of the harbours and rocks on the 
 shore, and issuing out in great numbers towards nightfall, to 
 feed on the stinking remains of the fish. 
 
 They have been seen migrating from these places at the 
 end of the fishing-season in compact bodies and in immense 
 numbers. They then spread themselves, an invading host, 
 amongst the farm-houses and stack-yards in the neighbourhood ; 
 repairing again to the coast for the benefit of a fish diet and 
 sea air, when their wonderful instinct tells them that the fishing- 
 season has again commenced. But I really must finish the 
 subject, or my reader will be as tired as I am myself of these 
 accounts of the unprincipled greediness and voracity of the 
 Hanoverian or Grey Rat, who has made for itself a home in 
 this country, after nearly extirpating the original indigenous 
 and much less vile race of British rats.
 
 THK SNOWY O\VI. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Crossbills : Habits of ; Nest Snowy Owl Great-eared Owl Hoopoe Shrike 
 Tawny and Snow Bunting Lizards Singular Pets Toads: Utility of; Com- 
 bats of Adders Dog and Snakes Large Snake Blind-Worm. 
 
 
 
 WHILST walking through the extensive fir and larch woods in 
 this neighbourhood, I am often much amused by the proceed- 
 ings of those curious little birds the crossbills. 1 They pass 
 incessantly from tree to tree with a jerking quick flight in 
 
 1 The Common Crossbill. The bill of the young is not crooked when they first leave 
 the nest. The male crossbill loses its red plumage, and returns to a plain olive green. 
 I have seen it during the whole year in Morayshire, where it breeds at Dulsie. I have 
 also obtained nest and eggs from Balnagowan in Ross-shire. The eggs are like those of 
 the greenfinch, but larger and more oval. The nest is also like that of the greenfinch, 
 but built more loosely. The only authentic nests that I know of are belonging to Mr. 
 Hancock at Newcastle (C. St. J. ) For another excellent account of the crossbill's 
 habits, breeding, nests, etc., see Natural History and Sport in Moray, p. 124. It is 
 not uncommon in Ross-shire and the eastern districts of Sutherland, but, of course, 
 owing to the paucity of trees, is unknown in Assynt. Mr. Knox (Autumns on the 
 Spcy, p. 33) gives a charming narrative of the feeding of a party of crossbills in the 
 woods.
 
 CHAP, vni THE CROSSBILL 81 
 
 search of their food, which consists of the seeds of the fir and 
 larch. They extract these from the cones with the greatest 
 skill and rapidity, holding the cone in one foot, and cutting it 
 up quickly and thoroughly with their powerful beak, which 
 they use much after the manner of a pair of scissors. When 
 the flock has stripped one tree of all the sound cones, they 
 simultaneously take wing, uttering at the same time a sharp 
 harsh chattering cry. Sometimes th'ey fly off to a considerable 
 height, and after wheeling about for a short time, suddenly 
 alight again on some prolific-looking tree, over which they dis- 
 perse immediately, hanging and swinging about the branches 
 and twigs, cutting off the cones, a great many of which they 
 fling to the ground, often with a kind of impatient jerk. These 
 cones, I conclude, are without any ripe seed. They continue 
 uttering a constant chirping while in search of their food on 
 the branches. I have never succeeded in finding the nest of the 
 crossbill, though I am confident that they breed in this country, 
 having seen the birds during every month of the year, so that 
 either some barren ones must remain, or they hatch their young 
 here. The nest has been described to me as placed at a con- 
 siderable height from the ground, at the junction of some large 
 branch with the main stem. 
 
 The crossbill itself is a busy, singular-looking little fellow, 
 as he flits to and fro, or climbs, parrot-like, up and down the 
 branches ; and the cock, with his red plumage shining in the 
 sun, has more the appearance of some Eastern or tropical bird 
 than any other of our sober northern finches. When engaged 
 in feeding, these birds are often so intent on their occupation 
 that they will allow a horsehair snare, attached to the end of a 
 long twig, to be slipped round their necks before they fly away. 
 In captivity they are very tame, but restless, and are constantly 
 tearing with their strong mandibles at the woodwork and wires 
 of their cage. 
 
 Altogether the crossbill is a gay, lively bird, and, I hope, 
 likely to increase and become a regular inhabitant of this 
 country, as the numerous plantations of fir and larch which are 
 daily being laid out, afford them plenty of their favourite and 
 natural food. 1 
 
 1 This forecast has been in a great measure verified. Crossbills are now fairly 
 .abundant in many districts, especially of the west coast. 
 
 G
 
 82 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 The eastern coast of Scotland, owing to its proximity to 
 Sweden and Norway, and also to the great prevalence of 
 easterly winds, is often visited by foreign birds. Amongst these 
 is that splendid stranger the snowy owl, 1 who occasionally is 
 blown over to our coast from his native fastnesses amongst the 
 mountains and forests of the north of Europe. Now and then 
 one of these birds is killed here, and I was told of one having 
 been seen two or three years back on part of the ground rented 
 by me. He was sitting on a high piece of muirland, and at a 
 distance looked, said my informant, " like a milestone." This 
 bird was pursued for some hours, but was not killed. The 
 snowy owl has been also seen, to the astonishment of the fisher- 
 man or bent-puller, on the sand-hills, where he finds plenty of 
 food amongst the rabbits that abound there. One was winged 
 in that district a few years ago, and lived for some time in 
 confinement. He was a particularly fine old bird, with perfect 
 plumage, and of a great size. I am much inclined to think 
 that the great -eared owl, Strix bubo? is also occasionally a 
 visitor to the wildest parts of this district. A man described 
 to me a large bird, which he called an eagle. The bird was 
 sitting on a fir-tree, and his attention was called to it by the 
 grey crows uttering their cries of alarm and war. He went up 
 to the tree, and close above his head sat a great bird, with large 
 staring yellow eyes, as bright (so he expressed it) as two brass 
 buttons. The man stooped to pick up a stone or stick, and the 
 bird dashed off the tree into the recesses of the wood, and was 
 not seen again. I have no doubt that, instead of an eagle, as 
 he supposed it to be, it was the great Strix bubo. The colour 
 of its eyes, the situation the bird was in on the branch of a tall 
 fir-tree, and its remaining quiet until the man approached so 
 close to it, all convince me that it must have been the great 
 owl, whose loud midnight hootings disturb the solitude of the 
 
 1 The snowy owl is an occasional visitor on the east coast, apparently driven over by 
 continued severe gales from the north-east. C. St. J. 
 
 Continental skins of this bird are worth a pound each in London. About 1845 a 
 friend was shooting a wild-duck in a snowstorm in the north of Caithness, when a snowy 
 owl swooped upon the falling duck, and carried it off in its claws. The sportsman's 
 second barrel laid the owl low, and they have been both stuffed and set up together. 
 
 Tengmalm's owl (N. Tengmalmi) was killed at Spinningdale, Sutherland, by Mr. 
 Dunbar. C. St. J. 
 
 3 Bubo maximus, Gray. It " has almost become extinct in the British Islands, but is 
 still a resident in the mountainous districts of most parts of Europe." Seebohm, Siberia 
 in Europe, p. 84.
 
 vni HOOPOE AND SHRIKE 83 
 
 German forests, giving additional weight to the legends and 
 superstitions of the peasants of that country, inclined as they 
 are to belief in supernatural sounds and apparitions. 
 
 The hoopoe l has been killed in the east of Sutherland, on 
 the bent-hills near Dornoch, and so also has the rose-coloured 
 ousel. 2 These birds must have been driven over by the east 
 winds, as neither of them are inhabitants of Britain. Indeed, 
 many a rare and foreign bird may visit the uninhabited and 
 desert tracts of bent and sand along the east coast without 
 being observed, excepting quite by chance ; and the probability 
 is, that nine persons out of ten who might see a strange bird 
 would take no notice of it. 
 
 Last winter I saw a great ash-coloured shrike 3 or butcher- 
 bird in my orchard. The gardener told me that he had seen 
 it for some hours in pursuit of the small birds, and I found 
 lying about the walls two or three chaffinches, which had been 
 killed and partly eaten, in a style unlike the performance of 
 any bird of prey that I am acquainted with ; so much so, in- 
 deed, that before I saw the butcher-bird, my attention was 
 called to their dead bodies by the curious manner in which they 
 seemed to have been pulled to pieces. Having watched the 
 bird for a short time as he sat perched on an apple-tree very 
 near me, I went in for my gun, but did not see him again. 
 The tawny bunting and the snow-bunting 4 visit us in large 
 
 1 The hoopoe (Upupa epops) has been seen once or twice in Shetland by Dr. Saxby, 
 but "can only be regarded as a straggler in any part of Scotland" (Gray, p. 198). 
 One was killed in the west woods of Moncreiff. 
 
 2 Pastor roseus. The rose-coloured pasor (or ousel). A very rare visitor. I have 
 killed it in Morayshire in June : the bird at the time was flying over my head. I saw 
 one which had just been killed near Inverness in July ; also near Dornoch. C. St. J. 
 
 3 A rare visitor. I once or twice have seen it near Forres. C. St. J. 
 
 4 " I have seen the snow-bunting on 4th September on a high mountain near Loch 
 Rannoch while ptarmigan -shooting. They appeared to be a family of two old and 
 three or four young birds" (C. St. J. ) "The snow -bunting {Plectrophanes nivalis] is 
 a circumpolar bird, breeding principally on the tundras of the Arctic regions beyond 
 the limit of forest growth. It is an irregular migrant driven southwards in severe seasons 
 in larger or smaller flocks to Central Europe, South Siberia, North China, Japan, 
 and the Northern States of America. These birds seem to lead a roving, gipsy life 
 during winter, perpetually trying to migrate northwards with every appearance of milder 
 weather, and perpetually driven southwards with each recurring frost "(Seebohm, p. 50). 
 It has long been suspected by ornithologists that the snow-bunting bred in Scotland. 
 It was reserved for Mr. B. N. Peach and Mr. L. N. Hinxman of the Geological Survey 
 of Scotland to verify this surmise. On 3rd July 1886 a nest with five young birds was 
 discovered by them 2800 feet above sea-level on the eastern face of one of the wildest 
 corries on the highest mountains of Sutherland. A most interesting description of this 
 nest and an account of the old ones feeding the little ones may be seen in Harvie-Brown 
 and Buckley's Vertebrate Fauna of Sutherland and Caithness (Douglas, 1887), p. 138 seq.
 
 84 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 flocks, especially the latter, which birds remain here during the 
 whole winter, appearing in greater or lesser flocks according 
 to the temperature. In severe weather the fields near the sea- 
 shore, and the shore itself, are sometimes nearly covered by 
 them. When the snow-buntings first arrive, in October and 
 November, they are of a much darker colour than they are 
 afterwards as the winter advances. If there is much snow, 
 they put on a white plumage immediately. I do not know 
 how this change of colour is effected, but it is very visible, and 
 appears to depend entirely on the severity of the season. They 
 feed a great deal on the shore. When flying they keep in 
 close rank, but as soon as they alight the whole company in- 
 stantly disperse, and run (not jump, like many small birds) 
 quickly about in search of their food, which consists principally 
 of small insects and minute seeds. They often pitch to look 
 for these on the barest parts of the sand-hills, the dry sands 
 always producing a number of small flies and beetles. So fine 
 and dry is the sand which composes the hillocks and plains of 
 that curious district, that every beetle and fly that walks or 
 crawls over its surface in calm and dry weather leaves its track 
 as distinctly marked on the finely-pulverised particles, as the 
 rabbit or hare does on snow. The footprints of the lizards, 
 which abound there, are very neatly and distinctly marked, till 
 the first breath of wind drifting the sand erases the impressions. 
 One of my children brought home a large lizard one day, and 
 put it into a box, intending to keep it as a pet ; boys having 
 strange tastes in the animals which they select as favourites. 
 I remember that when I was a boy at school, I was the owner 
 of three living pets a rat, a bat, and a snake, all of which 
 lived and flourished for some months under my tender care, 
 notwithstanding the occasional edicts sent forth from head- 
 quarters against any living animal whatever being kept in the 
 schoolroom. But to return to the lizard in the box. The 
 next morning, to the children's great delight, the lizard had 
 become much reduced in circumference, but had produced four 
 young ones, who were apparently in full and vigorous enjoyment 
 of life. They were voted, at a consultation of the children, to 
 be entitled to, and worthy of liberty, and were all (mother and 
 children) carefully put into the garden, in a sunny corner under 
 the wall. For my own part, I can see nothing more disgusting
 
 vin THE TOAD 85 
 
 in animals usually called reptiles, such as lizards and toads, 
 than in any other living creatures. A toad is a most useful 
 member of society, and deserves the freedom of all floricultural 
 societies, as well as entire immunity from all the pains and 
 penalties which he undergoes at the hands of the ignorant and 
 vulgar. In hotbeds and hothouses he is extremely useful, and 
 many gardeners take great care of toads in these places, where 
 they do good service by destroying beetles and other insects. 
 In the flower-beds too they are of similar use. Of quiet and 
 domestic habits, the toad seldom seems to wander far from his 
 seat or form under a loose stone, or at the foot of a fruit-tree or box- 
 edging. There are several habitues of this species in my garden, 
 whom I always see in their respective places during the middle 
 of the day. In the evening they issue out in search of their 
 prey. I found a toad one day caught by the leg in a horse- 
 hair snare which had been placed for birds. The animal, not- 
 withstanding the usual placid and phlegmatic demeanour of its 
 race, seemed to be in a perfect fury, struggling and scratching 
 at everything within his reach, apparently much more in anger 
 than fear. Like many other individuals of quiet exterior, toads 
 are liable to great fits of passion and anger, as is seen in the 
 pools during April, when five or six will contend for the good 
 graces of their sultanas with a fury and pertinacity that is quite 
 wonderful, fighting and struggling for hours together. And 
 where a road intervenes between two ditches, I have seen the 
 battle carried on even in the dry dust, till the rival toads, in 
 spite of their natural aquatic propensities, became perfectly dry 
 and covered with sand, and in this powdered state will they 
 continue fighting, regardless of the heat, which shrivels up their 
 skin, or of passers-by, who may tread on them and maim them, 
 but cannot stop their fighting. There is more character and 
 energy in a toad than is supposed. After the young ones have 
 acquired their perfect shape, they appear to leave the water, 
 and frequently the roads and paths are so covered with minute 
 but well-formed toadlings, that it is impossible to put your foot 
 down without crushing some of them. 
 
 In some of the drier banks and hills in this country, there 
 are numerous adders ; like most other snakes, however, they 
 never willingly fly at people, only biting when trod upon or 
 taken hold of. 1 have had my dogs occasionally, but rarely,
 
 86 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP, vm 
 
 bitten by adders. The swelling is very severe, and only reduced 
 after several hours' rubbing with oil and laudanum. A retriever 
 of mine, having been bitten by an adder, conceived the most 
 deadly hatred against them ever after, and killed a great number 
 of them without being again bitten ; his method was to snap 
 quickly at the adder, biting it in two almost instantaneously, and 
 before the reptile could retaliate. A favourite amusement of 
 this dog, when he was in Sussex with me some time afterwards, 
 used to be hunting the hedgerows for snakes and adders. He 
 made a most marked distinction between the two, killing the 
 former quietly and without hurry, but whenever he found an 
 adder, he darted on it with a perfect frenzy of rage, at the same 
 time always managing to escape the fangs of the venomous 
 reptile, quickly as it can use them. The poisonous teeth of 
 the adder greatly resemble the talons of a cat in shape, and 
 can be raised or laid flat on the jaw according to the wish of 
 their owner ; indeed, the fangs of the adder, which are hollow 
 throughout, are only raised when he is angry, and in self- 
 defence. The common snake, which is quite harmless, has no 
 such teeth. There are stories among the peasants, of adders 
 being seen in Darnaway Forest, of great size and length, measur- 
 ing five or six feet, but I do not believe that there are any larger 
 than the usual size. 
 
 I have never seen the Anguis fragilis, or blind-worm, as it 
 is called, but once in this country, though I am told it is not un- 
 common ; a man brought me one last year which he had found 
 floating down the river after a flood, as if swept off some rock by 
 the sudden rise of the water. I mentioned the circumstance to 
 some of my acquaintance, but could find no one who had either 
 seen or heard of such a creature in this country. This one was 
 alive when brought to me, but had received a cut which nearly 
 divided its body in two, so that it did not long survive. 
 
 Amongst the rare feathered visitors to these woods, I forgot 
 to mention the spotted woodpecker, 1 Picus medius, which bird 
 I killed in Inverness-shire ; I was attracted to the spot, where 
 he was clinging to the topmost shoot of a larch-tree, by hearing 
 his strange harsh cry. 
 
 1 This was probably Picus major, the greater spotted woodpecker (see Newton's 
 Yarrell, ii. p. 484). It has even been known to breed in limited numbers in North- 
 East Scotland (Gray).
 
 YELLOW-HAMMER S NEST 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 On the Peculiarities and Instinct of different Animals Eggs of Birds Nests The 
 Fox Red-Deer Hind 
 
 THERE are two birds which, although wild and unapproachable 
 at every other time, throw themselves during the breeding- 
 season on the mercy and protection of man : these are the 
 wood-pigeon and the missel-thrush. Scarcely any bird is more 
 wary than the wood-pigeon at other times, yet in the spring 
 there are generally half-a-dozen nests in the most exposed 
 places close to my house, while the old birds sit tamely, and 
 apparently devoid of all fear, close to the windows ; they seem 
 to have an instinctive knowledge of places where they are 
 allowed to go through the business of incubation without being 
 molested. In like manner, the missel -thrush, though during 
 the rest of the year it is nearly impossible to get within a 
 hundred yards of it, forms its nest in the apple-trees close to 
 the house : they build at a height of six or seven feet, in the 
 fork of the tree where the main limbs branch off; and although
 
 88 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 their nest is large, it is so carefully constructed of materials 
 resembling in colour the bark of the tree, and is made to blend 
 itself so gradually with the branches, as to show no distinct 
 outline of a nest, and to render it very difficult to discover ; 
 and this bird, at other times so shy and timid, sits so close on 
 her eggs that she will almost allow herself to be taken by the 
 hand. The missel-thrushes on the approach of a hawk give a 
 loud cry of alarm, and then collecting all their neighbours, lead 
 them on to attack the common enemy, swooping and striking 
 fearlessly at him, till he is driven out of the vicinity of their 
 nests. 
 
 The observation of the different plans that birds adopt to 
 avoid the discovery and destruction of their eggs, is by no 
 means an uninteresting study to the naturalist. There is far 
 more of art and cunning design in their manner of building, 
 than the casual observer would suppose, and this, even amongst 
 the commonest of our native birds. The wren, for instance, 
 always adapts her nest to the colour and appearance of the 
 surrounding foliage, or whatever else may be near the large 
 and comfortable abode which she forms for her tiny family. 
 In a beech-hedge near the house, in which the leaves of the last 
 year still remain at the time when the birds commence building, 
 the wrens form the outside of their nests entirely of the withered 
 leaves of the beech, so that, large as it is, the passer-by would 
 never take it for anything more than a chance collection of 
 leaves heaped together, and though the nest is as firm and 
 strong as possible, they manage to give it the look of a confused 
 mass of leaves, instead of a round and compact ball, which it 
 really is. The wren also builds near the ground, about the 
 lower branches of shrubs which are overgrown and surrounded 
 with long grass : in these situations she forms her nest of the 
 long withered grass itself, and twines and arches it over her 
 roof, in a manner which would deceive the eyes of any animal, 
 excepting those of boys. When her nest is built, as it often is, 
 in a spruce fir tree, she covers the outside with green moss, 
 which of all the substances she could select is the one most 
 resembling the foliage of the spruce : the interior of the wren's 
 nest is a perfect mass of feathers and soft substances. 
 
 The chaffinch builds usually in the apple-trees, whose lichen- 
 covered branches she imitates closely, by covering her nest with
 
 ix THE GREENFINCH AND WHITETHROAT 89 
 
 the lichens and moss of a similar colour. Even her eggs are 
 much of the same hue. Sometimes this bird builds in the wall 
 fruit trees, when she collects substances of exactly the same 
 colour as the wall itself. 
 
 The greenfinch, building amongst the green foliage of trees, 
 covers her nest with green moss, while her eggs resemble in 
 colour the lining on which they are laid. The yellow-hammer, 
 again, builds on or near the ground, and forming her nest out- 
 wardly of dried grass and fibres, like those by which it is 
 surrounded, lines it with horsehair ; her eggs too are not unlike 
 in colour to her nest while the greenish-brown of the bird 
 herself closely resembles the colour of the grass and twigs 
 about her. 
 
 The little whitethroat builds her nest on the ground, at the 
 root of a tree or in long withered grass, and carefully arches 
 it over with the surrounding herbage, and to hide her little 
 white eggs, places a leaf in front of the entrance whenever she 
 leaves her nest. When the partridge quits her eggs for the 
 purpose of feeding, she covers them in the most careful manner, 
 and even closes up her run by which she goes to and fro through 
 the surrounding grass. The same plan is adopted by the wild 
 duck, who hides her eggs and nest by covering them with dead 
 leaves, sticks, and other substances, which she afterwards smooths 
 carefully over so as entirely to conceal all traces of her dwelling. 
 There are several domesticated wild ducks, who build their 
 nests about the flower-beds and lawn near the windows a 
 privilege they have usurped rather against the will of my 
 gardener. Tame as these birds are, it is almost impossible to 
 catch them in the act of going to or from their nests. They 
 take every precaution to escape observation, and will wait for a 
 long time rather than go to their nests if people are about the 
 place. 
 
 The pewits, who lay their eggs on the open fields with 
 scarcely any nest, always manage to choose a spot where loose 
 stones or other substances of the same colour as their eggs are 
 scattered about. The terns lay their eggs in the same manner 
 amongst the shingle and gravel. So do the ring-dotterel, the 
 oyster-catcher, and several other birds of the same description : 
 all of them selecting spots where the gravel resembles their 
 eggs in size and colour. Without these precautions, the grey
 
 9 o WILD SPORl^S OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 crows and other egg-eating birds would leave but few to be 
 hatched. 
 
 The larger birds, the size of whose nests does not admit of 
 their concealment, generally take some precautions to add to 
 their safety. A raven, which builds in a tree, invariably fixes 
 on the one that is most difficult to climb. She takes up her 
 abode in one whose large size and smooth trunk, devoid of 
 branches, set at defiance the utmost efforts of the most expert 
 climbers of the village school. When she builds on a cliff, she 
 fixes on a niche protected by some projection of the rock from 
 all attacks both from above and below, at the same time 
 choosing the most inaccessible part of the precipice. The 
 falcon and eagle do the same. The magpie seems to depend 
 more on the fortification of brambles and thorns with which 
 she surrounds her nest than the situation which she fixes upon. 
 There is one kind of swallow which breeds very frequently 
 about the caves and rocks on the sea-shore here. It is almost 
 impossible to distinguish the nest of this bird, owing to her 
 choosing some inequality of the rock to hide the outline of her 
 building, which is composed of mud and clay of exactly the 
 same colour as the rock itself. 
 
 In fine, though some birds build a more simple and exposed 
 nest than others, there are very few which do not take some 
 precaution for their safety, or whose eggs and young do not 
 resemble in colour the substances by which they are surrounded. 
 The care of the common rabbit, in concealing and smoothing 
 over the entrance of the hole where her young are deposited, is 
 very remarkable, and doubtless saves them from the attacks of 
 almost all their enemies, with the exception of the wily fox, 
 whose fine scent enables him to discover their exact situation, 
 and who in digging them out, instead of following the hole in 
 his excavations, discovers the exact spot under which they are, 
 and then digs down directly on them, thus saving himself a 
 great deal of labour. 
 
 The fox chooses the most unlikely places and holes to 
 produce her young cubs in ; generally in some deep and 
 inaccessible earth, where no digging can get at them, owing to 
 the intervention of rocks or roots of trees. I once, however, 
 two years ago, found three young foxes about two days old, 
 laid in a comfortable nest in some long heather, instead of the
 
 RED-DEER HIND 91 
 
 usual subterraneous situation which the old one generally makes 
 choice of. Deer and roe fix upon the most lonely parts of the 
 mountain or forest for the habitation of their fawns, before they 
 have strength to follow their parents. I one day, some time 
 ago, was watching a red-deer hind with my glass, whose pro- 
 ceedings I did not understand, till I saw that she was engaged 
 in licking a newly-born calf. I walked up to the place, and 
 as soon as the old deer saw me she gave her young one a slight 
 tap with her hoof. The little creature immediately laid itself 
 down ; and when I came up I found it lying with its head flat 
 on the ground, its ears closely laid back, and with all the 
 attempts at concealment that one sees in animals which have 
 passed an apprenticeship to danger of some years, whereas it 
 had evidently not known the world for more than an hour, 
 being unable to run or escape. I lifted up the little creature, 
 being half inclined to carry it home in order to rear it. The 
 mother stood at the distance of two hundred yards, stamping 
 with her foot, exactly as a sheep would have done in a similar 
 situation. I, however, remembering the distance I had to carry 
 it, and fearing that it might get hurt on the way, laid it down 
 again, and went on my way, to the great delight of its mother, 
 who almost immediately trotted up, and examined her progeny 
 carefully all over, appearing, like most other wild animals, to 
 be confident that her young and helpless offspring would be a 
 safeguard to herself against the attacks of her otherwise worst 
 enemy. I have seen roe throw themselves in the way of danger, 
 in order to take my attention from their young. No animal is 
 more inclined to do battle for her young ones than the otter ; 
 and I have known an instance of an old female otter following 
 a man who was carrying off her young for a considerable 
 distance, almost disputing the way with him ; leaving the water, 
 and blowing at him in their peculiar manner ; till at last, having 
 no stick or other means of defence, he actually got so frightened 
 at her threats that he laid down the two young ones and went 
 his way. He returned presently with a stick he had found, 
 but both old and young had disappeared. Even a partridge 
 will do battle for her young. A hen partridge one day sur- 
 prised me by rushing out of some cover (through which I was 
 passing by a narrow path) and flying at a large dog which 
 accompanied me ; she actually spurred and pecked him, driving
 
 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 him several yards along the road ; and this done, she ran at 
 my heels like a barn-door hen. As I passed, I saw her newly- 
 hatched brood along the edge of the path. I have known 
 a pheasant do exactly the same thing. Wild ducks, snipes, 
 woodcocks, and many other shy birds, will also throw them- 
 selves boldly within the reach of destruction in defence of their 
 young. 
 
 WHITETHROATS NEST
 
 THE EAGLE AND MOUNTAIN HAKE 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 The Eagle: Habits; Greediness; Anecdotes of; Killing Eagles; Trapping; Food 
 of The Peregrine Falcon : Manner of Hunting Tame Falcon : Anecdotes of 
 Guinea- Hen and Ducks The Osprey The Kite: Trapping The Buzzard: 
 Nests and Habits of. 
 
 I SAW an eagle 1 to-day passing southwards, apparently on his 
 way from the mountains of Sutherland or Caithness to the 
 
 1 Rarely seen in Morayshire, excepting during its passage from the Grampians to the 
 more northern mountains. The eggs, sometimes white, and sometimes spotted closely 
 with light red brown. When taking its prey, such as a grouse or hare, on the ground,
 
 94 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 more southern heights of the Grampians. The bird was flying 
 very near the ground, making his way against the wind, and 
 pursued by a whole squadron of grey crows, who had found out 
 that he was a stranger, and taking advantage of the unconcerned 
 contempt with which he treated their attacks, kept up a con- 
 tinual clamour and petty warfare against the royal bird. The 
 eagle, as he came over the more enclosed part of the country, 
 flew higher, as if suspicious of concealed foes amongst the hedges 
 and enclosures. I have almost every year during my stay in 
 Morayshire seen the eagles occasionally passing, at the beginning 
 of winter invariably going southwards, and again early in the 
 spring on their return northwards ; in windy weather flying 
 low, but when calm cleaving the air at a great height. The 
 eagle's flight, when passing from one point to another, is 
 peculiarly expressive of strength and vigour. He wends his 
 way with deliberate strong strokes of his powerful wing, every 
 stroke apparently driving him on a considerable distance, and 
 in this manner advancing through the air as rapidly as the 
 pigeon or any other bird which may appear to fly much more 
 quickly. 
 
 Notwithstanding the facility with which he flies when once 
 fairly launched, like many other heavy birds, a very slight wound 
 disables him from rising into the air when on level ground. 
 Even after having gorged himself to excess (and there is no 
 greater glutton than this king of the air) the eagle is unable to 
 rise, and falls a victim occasionally to his want of moderation in 
 feeding. When in Sutherland I twice fell in with instances of 
 eagles being knocked down when unable to rise from over- 
 eating. On one occasion a curious kind of character, who acted 
 the part of hanger-on to me in my deer-shooting excursions, 
 brought home an eagle, which he had killed with his stick 
 
 the eagle generally carries it off without stopping for a moment. To kill an animal it 
 makes use only of its talons. The eagle, however, prefers the carcass of a large animal, 
 such as a deer or sheep, to the trouble of hunting and taking smaller game. 
 
 The golden eagle usually breeds inland, and the white-tailed eagle usually on the 
 cliffs overhanging the sea, though there are exceptions to both these rules. The white- 
 tailed eagle (A. albicilla) also feeds on carrion as well as on fish. It is rare in Moray. 
 C. St. J. 
 
 The golden eagle still holds its own in the western districts of Scotland. It is 
 preserved by the Duke of Sutherland and by almost all proprietors of land. Were 
 it not for the demand for its eggs and the large price paid for them it would increase 
 faster than, even as it is, it is said to do at present. It is a well-known bird in the Outer 
 Hebrides, best known in Lewis and Harris. Its Gaelic name is " iolair dhubh " (black 
 eagle).
 
 x EAGLES 95 
 
 before it could rise from the ground. This man, who was 
 dumb, and was supposed (very erroneously) to be half-witted 
 also, had a great penchant for assisting in beating the woods for 
 roe or deer ; and from long acquaintance with the country, and 
 from a propensity (very common to people similarly afflicted) 
 for wandering about, he had a perfect knowledge of every 
 corner of the extensive woods on the property, and also a most 
 shrewd guess as to where the deer would be lying, and in which 
 direction they would break cover. Though generally of a most 
 morose and even malicious temper, Muckle Thomas, as they 
 called him, entertained a great affection, in his way, for me ; 
 and every morning was to be found seated in front of the 
 windows, smoking a solitary pipe, and waiting to see if I wanted 
 him. Though dumb, he was not deaf, and understanding what 
 was said to him, could make himself quite intelligible by signs, 
 assisting my comprehension by drawing, in a rude way, figures 
 on the ground with the long staff which he invariably carried. 
 One morning I had sent him to look in a certain part of the 
 woods to see if any deer's tracks were visible. In an hour or 
 two he returned with something large bundled up in his plaid, 
 which he opened, and cast down his load at my feet with a 
 look and grunt of triumph. After some explanatory signs, 
 etc., I found out that he had come on the eagle, who had so 
 completely gorged himself with a rotten sheep in the wood that 
 he could not rise. 
 
 Another instance occurred in the same country. A shep- 
 herd's boy found an eagle gorging itself on some drowned sheep 
 in a watercourse, and being, like all herd-boys, as skilful as 
 David in the use of sling and stone, he had broken the eagle's 
 pinion with a pebble, and had actually stoned the poor bird to 
 death. In this case the eagle was taken at peculiar disadvan- 
 tage, being surprised in a deep rocky burn, out of which he 
 would have had difficulty in rising quickly, even if he had not 
 dined so abundantly. When wounded by shot, or even after 
 escaping (but maimed) from a trap, the eagle is often unable 
 to rise. A curious anecdote was told me by a friend. An 
 eagle had been caught in a vermin-trap, and, by his struggles, 
 had drawn the peg by which the trap was fastened to the ground, 
 and had flown away with it. Nothing was seen for some weeks 
 of eagle or trap, till one day my friend, seeing some strange
 
 96 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 object hanging from the branch of a tree, went to examine 
 what it was, and found the poor bird hanging by his leg, which 
 was firmly held by the trap. The chain and peg had got fixed 
 amongst the branches, and the poor eagle had died miserably 
 from starvation in this position, suspended by the foot. Though 
 certainly the eagles in some localities commit great havoc 
 amongst the lambs, and also destroy the grouse when no larger 
 game offers itself, it would be a great pity that this noble bird 
 should become extinct in our Highland districts, who, notwith- 
 standing his carnivorous propensities, should be rather preserved 
 than exterminated. How picturesque he looks, and how per- 
 fectly he represents the genius loci, as, perched on some rocky 
 point, or withered tree, he sits unconcerned in wind and storm, 
 motionless and statue-like, with his keen, stern eye, however, 
 intently following every movement of the shepherd or of the 
 sportsman, who, deceived by his apparent disregard, attempts 
 to creep within rifle-shot. Long before he can reckon on 
 reaching so far with his bullet, the bird launches himself into 
 the air, and gradually sweeping upwards, wheels high out of 
 shot, leaving his enemy disappointed and vexed at having crept 
 in vain through bog and over rock in expectation of carrying 
 home so glorious a trophy of his skill. When intent on his 
 game, the eagle frequently will venture within a short dis- 
 tance of the grouse-shooter or deer-stalker. I have seen him 
 pounce (no, that is not the proper word, for he rather rushes) 
 down on a pack of grouse, and, with outspread wings, he so 
 puzzles and confuses the birds, that he seizes and carries 
 ofT two or three before they know what has happened, and 
 in the very face of the astonished sportsman and his dogs. 
 The mountain hare, too, is carried off by the eagle with as 
 much apparent ease as the mouse is borne away by the 
 kestrel. 
 
 The marten and the wild cat are favourite morsels. A 
 tame eagle which I kept for some time killed all the cats about 
 the place. Sitting motionless on his perch, he waited quietly 
 and seemingly unheeding till the unfortunate animal came within 
 reach of his chain. Then down he flew, and surrounding the 
 cat with his wings, seized her in his powerful talons, with one 
 foot planted firmly on her loins, and the other on her throat ; 
 and nothing more was seen of poor Grimalkin except her skin,
 
 THE PEREGRINE 97 
 
 which the eagle left empty and turned inside out, like a rabbit- 
 skin hung up by the cook, the whole of the carcass, bones and 
 all, being stowed away in the bird's capacious maw. The 
 quantity of meat taken from the stomach of an eagle killed on 
 the mountain is sometimes perfectly incredible. I regret not 
 having taken a note of the weight of mutton I once saw taken 
 out of one I shot. 
 
 We are occasionally visited, too, by the peregrine falcon, 1 
 who makes sad havoc in the poultry-yard when he appears 
 here. There is a nest of these birds always built in the in- 
 accessible rocks of the Findhorn. Indeed, in the good old 
 days of hawking, when a gentleman was known by his hawk 
 and hound, and even a lady seldom went abroad without a 
 hawk on her gloved hand, the Findhorn hawks were always in 
 great request. The peregrine seems often to strike down birds 
 for his amusement ; and I have seen one knock down and kill 
 two rooks, who were unlucky enough to cross his flight, without 
 taking the trouble to look at them after they fell. In the plain 
 country near the seashore the peregrine frequently pursues the 
 pewits and other birds that frequent the coast. The golden- 
 plover, too, is a favourite prey, and affords the hawk a severe 
 chase before he is caught. I have seen a pursuit of this kind 
 last for nearly ten minutes, the plover turning and doubling 
 like a hare before greyhounds, at one moment darting like an 
 arrow into the air, high above the falcon's head ; at the next, 
 sweeping round some bush or headland but in vain. The 
 hawk, with steady, relentless flight, without seeming to hurry 
 herself, never gives up the chase, till the poor plover, seemingly 
 quite exhausted, slackens his pace, and is caught by the hawk's 
 talons in mid-air, and carried off to a convenient hillock or 
 stone to be quietly devoured. Two years ago I brought a young 
 peregrine falcon down from near the source of the Findhorn, 
 
 1 The peregrine falcon, Moray. Does not breed in trees. F. Islandicus (German 
 falcon) seen near Loch Spynie, March 1850. C. St. J. 
 
 It is a common bird in many districts of West Scotland, and is generally found in 
 pairs, each pair inhabiting a circle of some six or eight miles. The ravages of keepers 
 and egg-collectors have of late years much thinned its numbers. Mr. Gray saw one 
 strike off the head of a curlew on the seashore near Girvan. It was followed by its 
 mate. A keeper on Loch Laggan told us he had often seen one swoop down on a 
 Hying covey of grouse, strike the head off one bird, wheel, and catch the dead bird in its 
 talons. This he bore Cff while the head fell to the ground. Mr. Speedy says : "The 
 falcon almost invariably strikes in the air, using his wing, with which he frequently de- 
 jcapitates his victim " (p. 358). 
 
 H
 
 98 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 where I found her in the possession of a shepherd's boy, who fed 
 her wholly on trout. For the first year the bird was of a dark 
 brown colour above, with longitudinal spots on the feathers of 
 her breast. On changing her plumage during the second autumn 
 of her existence, she became of a most beautiful dark slate 
 colour above, and the spots on her breast turned into cross- 
 bars, every feather being barred with black ; her throat became 
 of a beautiful cream colour. With great strength, she is pos- 
 sessed of the most determined courage, and will attack any 
 person or dog whom she takes a dislike to. Her poultry-killing 
 propensities oblige me to keep her chained in the kitchen-garden, 
 where no other bird, except a tame owl, resides. The owl she 
 appears to tolerate with great good-nature, and even allows him 
 to carry off any remains of pigeon or crow that she leaves after 
 she has satisfied her hunger. One day an unfortunate duck 
 strayed within reach of her chain, and was immediately pounced 
 on and devoured, leaving a numerous family of ducklings to 
 mourn her loss. 
 
 A curious stepmother took them in hand, however. A 
 Guinea-fowl, whose mate had been condemned to death for kill- 
 ing young poultry, took compassion on the orphan ducklings, 
 and led them about, calling them, and tending them with as 
 much or more care than their deceased parent. It was a most 
 singular sight to see the Guinea-fowl quite changing her natural 
 habits, and walking about followed by a brood of young ducks. 
 She never left them for a moment, excepting when she retired 
 to her nest to lay ; and even then, if the ducks uttered any cry 
 of alarm, on the approach of dog or children, their stepmother 
 came flying over bushes and fences in a most furious hurry. 
 Indeed she became quite the terror of the children, running- 
 after them and pecking their legs if they came too near to her 
 adopted brood ; although at other times she was rather a wild 
 and shy bird. The ducks had a habit of hunting for worms 
 in the dusk of the evening, and the poor Guinea-hen, much 
 against her inclination and natural propensities, thought it 
 necessary always to accompany them. Frequently tired out, she 
 used to fly up to roost, but always kept her eye on the young 
 ducks, and on the least alarm came bustling down to protect them 
 if she thought it necessary, at any hour of the night. A pugna- 
 cious cock at another time was rash enough to attack the hawk,
 
 THE OS PREY 99 
 
 and was not only killed, but devoured. Frequently unlucky 
 pigeons came within reach of her chain, and were also eaten. 
 In consequence of these depredations, she is exiled to the walled 
 garden. One day I was altering her chain, and she flew away. 
 After flying three or four times round the house and garden, 
 she perched in a high tree and would not come down. I was 
 obliged to leave her at night, and in the morning the hawk was 
 nowhere to be found. For four days I saw nothing of her ; 
 but on going out early on the fifth morning, I saw her wheeling 
 about at a great height, with some hooded crows giving battle 
 to her. I stood out in an open place and whistled. As soon 
 as she heard me, after two or three rapid sweeps round my head, 
 she perched down on my arm, and immediately began caress- 
 ing me, and as plainly as possible expressing her delight at 
 having found me again ; whether hunger or affection induced 
 her to return, I know not ; though I rather fear the former, as, 
 on my giving her a rabbit, she commenced devouring it as if her 
 fast had not been broken since she got away. In feeding on 
 birds, I observe that she invariably begins by plucking them of 
 almost all their feathers, however hungry she may be ; and 
 when I give her a rat or rabbit, she always pulls off most of the 
 hair before commencing her meal. The only animal that she 
 appears unwilling to eat is a mole, everything else is devoured 
 without hesitation, and, when hungry, no bird is too large for 
 her to attack. Black-backed gull or cormorant is instantly 
 seized and plucked ; and one day, a Skye terrier going too near 
 her chain, she instantly flew at it, and, had I not come to the 
 rescue, would probably have killed it, as, perching on the dog's 
 back, the hawk commenced immediately tearing at its head 
 and eyes. The male peregrine is considerably smaller than the 
 female, and of a much lighter colour ; their nest is built in some 
 inaccessible niche or shelf of a lofty cliff or rock, and both birds 
 assist in the business of incubation. The quantity of game 
 killed by a pair of these birds to feed their young is immense ; 
 and, from their great courage and strength, no bird of the game 
 kind in this country has any chance with them. 
 
 Occasionally an osprey l comes sailing down the course of 
 
 1 The osprey rare in Moray. Seen near Spynie 1850 (C. St. J. ) See Natural History 
 and Sport in Moray, pp. 157-163, for an interesting account, probably the best in existence, 
 of this bird's nest and habits while breeding. Sad to say, Mr. St. John and a friend, Mr.
 
 ioo WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 the river, but does not breed anywhere in our immediate neigh- 
 bourhood. This very beautiful bird drops like a stone on any 
 unlucky fish that its sharp eye may detect in the clear pools of 
 the river, and I believe she seldom pounces in vain. Having 
 caught a trout or small salmon, she flies with it to land, or to 
 some rock, and there tears it up. When the river is too high 
 and black for the fish to be attainable, no dead carcass comes 
 amiss to her ; and in floods on the Findhorn there is seldom 
 any dearth of food of this kind. Mountain sheep or wounded 
 roe are frequently swept down its rapid course, when swollen 
 with much rain or by the melting of snows on the higher 
 mountains from whence this river derives its source. This 
 winter, a young red deer (a calf of about eight months old) 
 was found in the river. The animal had been shot with a slug 
 through the shoulder, and had probably taken to the water (as 
 wounded deer are in the habit of doing), and had been drowned 
 and carried down the stream. 
 
 That beautiful bird, the kite, 1 is now very rare in this 
 country. Occasionally I have seen one, wheeling and soaring 
 at an immense height ; but English keepers and traps have 
 nearly extirpated this bird, as no greater enemy or more de- 
 structive a foe to young grouse can exist. Their large and 
 ravenous young require a vast quantity of food, and the old 
 birds manage to keep their craving appetite well supplied. 
 Not only young grouse and black game, but great numbers of 
 young hares are carried to the nest. Though a bird of appa- 
 rently such powerful and noble flight, the kite appears not to 
 be very destructive to old grouse, but to confine her attacks 
 
 Dunbar, shot probably the last ospreys in Sutherland on Loch Assynt. They used to 
 build a huge nest, which from year to year had been added to until it attained size enough, 
 as my informant said, to fill a cart, on the top of the ruined castle of Macleod by the edge 
 of that-loch, and formed a very noticeable feature on it by their sailing over and plunging 
 into its waters for food. 
 
 The osprey (Pandion halicetus] is a rare visitor to the British Isles during the spring 
 and autumn migration. It is a circumpolar bird, and may almost be said to be cosmo- 
 politan in its range, breeding in Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Australia. It has 
 been recorded too from New Zealand (Seebohm, Siberia in Europe, p 138) The 
 osprey is now protected on several estates in Scotland. 
 
 1 The kite is nearly extinct in this country, though tolerably numerous a few years 
 back. A tame kite which I have feeds on almost anything that is dead, and also eats 
 porridge, etc., with the hens and chickens, never touching the live poultry. C. St. 1 
 See Natural History in ^foray l p. 254. 
 
 The kite (Milvus vulgaris) is now never seen in Assynt, and is hardly to be found in 
 Scotland. Mr. J. Smith in 1879 had been told that a pair bred on Spcvside at Rothie- 
 murchus.
 
 THE BUZZARD 101 
 
 to the young broods. During the season of the year, too, when 
 she has no young ones to provide for, carrion of all kinds forms 
 her principal food. In consequence of her greedy disposition, 
 the kite is very easily trapped. From her habit of following 
 the course of streams, and hunting along the shores of the loch 
 in search of dead fish or drowned animals of any kind, one of 
 the most successful ways of trapping the kite is to peg down 
 the entrails of some animal in the shallow part of the water, 
 and then to place the trap either on the shore immediately 
 adjoining ; or, what is often done, to form a small artificial 
 promontory close to the bait, and to set the trap on this. 
 The garbage catches the sharp eye of the bird, as she soars 
 at a great height above it, and the clever trapper seldom fails 
 in catching her in this manner. 
 
 The buzzard l is another of the hawk tribe which is gradually 
 becoming rarer and rarer, and from the same cause. Like the 
 kite, too, the buzzard is a carrion-feeding bird, and seldom kills 
 anything but small birds, mice, or frogs, excepting during the 
 breeding-season, when it is very destructive to game ; at other 
 times the buzzard lives an indolent, lazy life. After having 
 satisfied her hunger, this bird will sit for hours perfectly motion- 
 less on some withered branch, or on a projecting corner of rock, 
 whence she commands a good view of the surrounding country, 
 and can easily detect the approach of danger. A cowardly bird, 
 except when excited by hunger, she submits patiently to the 
 attacks of the smaller birds, and flies from the magpie or jackdaw. 
 Like the kite, the raven, the eagle, and all birds who feed much 
 on carrion, the buzzard has a lofty flight when in search of food. 
 Soaring high up in the air, and wheeling in circles, she appears 
 to examine the surface of the land for miles and miles, in hopes 
 of detecting some dead sheep or other carcass. The buzzard 
 evinces little cunning in avoiding traps, and is easily caught. 
 I have found their nests, containing from three to four large 
 and nearly white eggs, in different situations ; sometimes built 
 on rocks, and at other times in the branches of a tree, at no 
 great height from the ground. She sits close, and will allow 
 the near approach of a passer-by before she leaves her eggs. 
 Though she is one of the most ignoble of the hawk kind, I 
 have a lingering affection for this bird, in consequence of her 
 
 1 The buzzard (Butco vulgaris].
 
 102 
 
 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 
 
 CHAP. X 
 
 being connected in my remembrances with the rocky burns and 
 hanging woods of the most romantic glens in the Highlands, 
 where I have frequently fallen in with her nest and young. In 
 this part of the country the buzzard has become very rare, and 
 is only seen as an occasional visitor. 
 
 v^Y"vl;/ 
 
 *> 
 
 ' - ilMrtT"oCT'" T *^* >'J*S*.. i -x 
 
 MY PUGNACIOUS PEREGRINE
 
 THK SI'ARROWHAWK 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 The Hen-Harrier : Destructiveness to Game ; Female of ; Trapping The Sparrow- 
 hawk : Courage of; Ferocity; Nest The Kestrel: Utility of The Merlin: 
 Boldness The Hobby Increase of Small Birds. 
 
 IN the autumn my partridges suffer much from the hen-harrier. 1 
 As soon as the corn is cut this bird appears, and hunts the 
 whole of the low country in the most determined and systematic 
 manner. The hen-harrier, either on the hill -side or in the 
 turnip-field, is a most destructive hunter. Flying at the height 
 of only a few feet from the ground, he quarters the ground as 
 regularly as an old pointer, crossing the field in every direction ; 
 nor does he waste time in hunting useless ground, but tries 
 turnip-field after turnip-field, and rushy field after rushy field, 
 passing quickly over the more open ground, where he thinks 
 his game is not so likely to be found. The moment he sees a 
 
 1 The hen-harrier is fond of hunting about farm-yards, where it kills rats, etc. It also 
 is a great frequenter of marshes, where it hunts later in the evening than any other hawk. 
 Feeds on grouse, partridges, rats, reptiles. During summer the hen-harrier generally 
 frequents the moors and high grounds, killing great numbers of grouse, etc. ; in the winter 
 it hunts more in the lower part of the country. When hunting it flies low, and quarters 
 the ground as carefully as an old pointer. C. St. J.
 
 104 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 bird, the hawk darts rapidly to a height of about twenty feet, 
 hovers for a moment, and then comes down with unerring aim 
 on his victim, striking dead with a single blow partridge or 
 pheasant, grouse or black-cock, and showing a strength not to 
 be expected from his light figure and slender though sharp 
 talons. 
 
 I saw on a hill-side in Ross-shire a hen-harrier strike a 
 heath hen. I instantly drove him away, but too late, as the 
 head of the bird was cut as clean off by the single stroke as if 
 done with a knife. On another day, when passing over the hill 
 in the spring, I was attended by a hen-harrier for some time, 
 who struck down and killed two hen grouse that I had put up. 
 Both these birds I contrived to take from him ; but a third 
 grouse rose, and was killed and carried off over the brow of a 
 hill before I could get up to him. There is no bird more 
 difficult to shoot than this. Hunting always in the open 
 country, though appearing intent on nothing but his game, the 
 wary bird, with an instinctive knowledge of the range of shot, 
 will keep always just out of reach, and frequently carry off 
 before your very face the partridge you have flushed, and 
 perhaps wounded. 
 
 There is a diversity of opinion whether the hawk commonly 
 called the ringtail is the female of the hen-harrier. I have, 
 however, no doubt at all on the subject. The ringtail is 
 nothing more than the female or young bird. The male does 
 not put on his blue and white plumage till he is a year old. 
 I have frequently found the nest both on the mountain, where 
 they build in a patch of rough heather, generally by the side of 
 a burn, and also in a furze-bush. Though very destructive to 
 grouse and other game, this bird has one redeeming quality, 
 which is, that he is a most skilful rat-catcher. Skimming 
 silently and rapidly through a rickyard, he seizes on any 
 incautious rat who may be exposed to view ; and from the 
 habit this hawk has of hunting very late in the evening, many 
 of these vermin fall to his share. Though of so small and light 
 a frame, the hen-harrier strikes down a mallard without difficulty ; 
 and the marsh and swamp are his favourite hunting-grounds. 
 Quick enough to catch a snipe, and strong enough to kill a 
 mallard, nothing escapes him. Although so courageous in 
 pursuit of game, he is a wild, untameable bird in captivity ; and
 
 x i THE SPA RRO IV HA WK 105 
 
 though I have sometimes endeavoured to tame one, I could 
 never succeed in rendering him at all familiar. As he disdains 
 to eat any animal not killed by himself, he is a very difficult 
 bird to trap. The best chance of catching him is in what is 
 called a pole-trap, placed on a high post in the middle of an 
 open part of the country ; for this hawk has (in common with 
 many others) the habit of perching on upright railings and 
 posts, particularly as in the open plains, where he principally 
 hunts, there are but few trees, and he seldom perches on the 
 ground. His flight is leisurely and slow when searching for 
 game ; but his dart, when he has discovered his prey, is incon- 
 ceivably rapid and certain. 
 
 There is another most destructive kind of hawk who 
 frequently pays us a visit the sparrowhawk. 1 Not content 
 with the partridges and other fer<z naturce, this bold little free- 
 booter invades the poultry-yard rather too frequently. The 
 hens scream, the ducks quack, and rush to the cover of the 
 plantations ; whilst the tame pigeons dart to and fro amongst 
 the buildings, but in vain. The sparrowhawk darts like an 
 arrow after one of the latter birds, and carries it off, though the 
 pigeon is twice or three times his own weight. The woman 
 who takes care of the poultry runs out, but is too late to see 
 anything more than a cloud of white feathers, marking the place 
 where the unfortunate pigeon was struck. Its remains are, 
 however, generally found at some little distance ; and when this 
 is the case, the hawk is sure to be caught, as he invariably 
 returns to what he has left, and my boys bring the robber to 
 me in triumph before many days elapse. Sometimes he returns 
 the same day to finish picking the bones of the bird, but often 
 does not come back for two or three. In the meantime, what- 
 ever part of the pigeon he has left is pegged to the ground, and 
 two or three rat-traps are set round it, into one of which he 
 always contrives to step. When caught, instead of seeming 
 frightened, he flies courageously at the hand put down to pick 
 him up, and fights with beak and talons to the last. Occasion- 
 ally, when standing still amongst the trees, or even when passing 
 
 1 Accipiter nisus. In the remoter districts of the west of Scotland it is not nearly 
 so numerous as the merlin or kestrel, owing to the lack of wooded localities, in which it 
 delights. It is a great foe to partridges and domestic poultry. "The female sparrow- 
 hawk would be the game-preserver's worst enemy did it not vary its diet by an occasional 
 wood-pigeon or some such heavy bird of little consequence" (Gray, p. 41).
 
 io6 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 the corner of the house, I have been startled by a sparrowhawk 
 gliding rapidly past me. Once one came so close to me, that 
 his wing actually brushed my arm ; the hawk being in full 
 pursuit of an unfortunate blackbird. On another occasion, a 
 sparrowhawk pursued a pigeon through the drawing-room 
 window, and out at the other end of the house through another 
 window, and never slackened his pursuit, notwithstanding the 
 clattering of the broken glass of the two windows they passed 
 through. But the most extraordinary instance of impudence 
 in this bird that I ever met with, was one day finding a sparrow- 
 hawk deliberately standing on a very large pouter-pigeon on 
 the drawing-room floor, and plucking it, having entered in 
 pursuit of the unfortunate bird through an open window, and 
 killed him in the room. 1 
 
 The sparrowhawk sometimes builds on rocks, and sometimes 
 in trees. Like all rapacious birds, he is most destructive during 
 the breeding-season. I have found a great quantity of remains 
 of partridges, wood-pigeons, and small birds about their nests ; 
 though it has puzzled me to understand how so small a bird 
 can convey a wood-pigeon to its young ones. There is more 
 difference in size between the male and female sparrowhawk 
 than between the different sexes of any other birds of the hawk 
 kind, the cock bird being not nearly so large or powerful a bird 
 as the hen. Supposing either male or female sparrowhawk to 
 be killed during the time of incubation, the survivor immediately 
 finds a new mate, who goes on with the duties of the lost bird, 
 whatever stage of the business is being carried on at the time, 
 whether sitting on the eggs or rearing the young. 
 
 The kestrel breeds commonly with us about the banks of 
 the river, or in an old crow's nest.' 2 This is a very beautifully 
 marked hawk, and I believe does much more good than harm. 
 Though occasionally depriving us of some of our lesser singing 
 birds, this hawk feeds principally, and indeed almost wholly, on 
 
 1 My own windows have more than once been broken by sparrowhawks pursuing 
 pigeons and blackbirds from the shrubbery. On one occasion an unfortunate sparrow- 
 hawk thus broke its back in darting through the glass of my drawing-room window, yet 
 when found some little time afterwards lying on the floor it fought vigorously with beak 
 and talons and resisted every attempt to take it up or succour it. At another time I 
 know of one breaking the glass of a nursery window and striking the bare arm of a little 
 girl who was sitting close to the window. It probably mistook the child's arm for a small 
 bird, dimly visible as it was through the glass. 
 
 - On rocks and rarely in trees. C. St. J.
 
 xi THE KESTREL AND MERLIN 107 
 
 mice. Any person who knows a kestrel-hawk by sight must 
 have constantly observed them hovering nearly stationary in 
 the air, above a grass-field, watching for the exit from its hole 
 of some unfortunate field-mouse. When feeding their young, a 
 pair of kestrels destroy an immense number of these mischievous 
 little quadrupeds, which are evidently the favourite food of these 
 birds. Being convinced of their great utility in this respect, I 
 never shoot at, or disturb a kestrel. It is impossible, however, 
 to persuade a gamekeeper that any bird called a hawk can be 
 harmless ; much less can one persuade so opinionated and 
 conceited a personage (as most keepers are) that a hawk can 
 be useful ; therefore the poor kestrel generally occupies a 
 prominent place amongst the rows of bipeds and quadrupeds 
 nailed on the kennel, or wherever else those trophies of his skill 
 are exhibited. It is a timid and shy kind of hawk, and there- 
 fore very difficult to tame, never having an appearance of 
 contentment or confidence in its master when kept in captivity. 
 Another beautiful little hawk is common here in the winter, 
 the merlin. 1 This bird visits us about October, and leaves us 
 in the spring. Scarcely larger than a thrush, the courageous 
 little fellow glides with the rapidity of thought on blackbird or 
 fieldfare, sometimes even on the partridges, and striking his 
 game on the back of the head, kills it at a single blow. The 
 merlin is a very bold bird, and seems afraid of nothing. I one 
 day winged one as he was passing over my head at a great 
 height. The little fellow, small as he was, flung himself on his 
 back when I went to pick him up, and gave battle most furiously, 
 darting out his talons (which are as sharp and hard as needles) 
 at everything that approached him. We took him home, 
 however, and I put him into the walled garden, where he lived 
 for more than a year. He very soon became quite tame, and 
 came on being called to receive his food, which consisted of 
 birds, mice, etc. So fearless was he, that he flew instantly at 
 
 1 .The merlin breeds on the heather generally ; sometimes in a tree. It has four eggs. 
 C. St. J. 
 
 The merlin is a regular summer migrant to the moors of South Yorkshire and 
 North Derbyshire. These moors are the constant breeding-place of three species of hawk 
 the kestrel, the sparrowhawk, and the merlin. The kestrel hovers over the ground at 
 a considerable height, and pounces down on a mouse, and occasionally a lizard or a young 
 grouse. The sparrowhawk skims over hill-tops or hedges, or round rocks, and comes 
 upon its prey unawares. The merlin, on the contrary, fairly flies it down. The merlin 
 lays its eggs about the middle of May, so that the voracious young may be fed upon young 
 grouse. Seebohm, Siberia in Europe, p. 83.
 
 io8 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 the largest kind of sea-gull or crow that we gave him. When 
 hungry, and no other food was at hand, he would attend the 
 gardener when digging, and swallow the large earthworms as 
 they were turned up. To my great regret, we found the little 
 bird lying dead under the tree in which he usually roosted ; 
 and though I examined him carefully, I could not find out the 
 cause of his death. 
 
 Although all these small hawks which frequent this country 
 destroy a certain quantity of game, their principal food consists 
 of thrushes, blackbirds, and other small birds. In the winter, 
 when the greenfinches collect in large flocks on the stubble fields, 
 I have frequently seen the merlin or sparrowhawk suddenly 
 glide round the angle of some hedgerow or plantation, and 
 taking up a bird from the middle of the flock, carry it off almost 
 before his presence was observed by the rest of the greenfinches. 
 
 Sometimes two merlins hunt together, and, as it were, course 
 a lark, or even swallow, in the air, the two hawks assisting each 
 other in the most systematic manner. First one hawk chases 
 the unfortunate bird for a short time, while his companion hovers 
 quietly at hand ; in a minute or so, the latter relieves his fellow- 
 hunter, who in his turn rests. In this way they soon tire out 
 the lark or swallow ; and catching the poor bird in mid-air, one 
 of the hawks flies away with him, leaving his companion to hunt 
 alone till his return from feeding their young brood. 
 
 The hobby, 1 a beautiful little hawk, like a miniature peregrine 
 falcon, is not very common here, though I have occasionally 
 killed it. This kind of hawk leaves us before the winter. I 
 have seen its nest in a fir or larch tree ; but they seem to be 
 very rare here. A strong courageous bird, the hobby attacks 
 and preys on pigeons and partridges, though so much larger 
 than himself. 
 
 Since the introduction of English traps and keepers, all birds 
 of prey are gradually decreasing in this country, whilst black- 
 birds, thrushes, and other singing birds increase most rapidly. 
 In the highland districts of Moray, where a few years back a 
 blackbird or thrush was rather a rare bird, owing to the skill and 
 perseverance of gamekeepers and vermin-trappers in extermi- 
 
 1 The hobby (Falco subbuteo) is a regular summer migrant to temperate Europe and 
 Asia, and still breeds in the British Islands. A few winter in South Europe, but most 
 appear to migrate into Africa, occasionally straying as far as the Cape. Eastwards it 
 winters in India and South China. Seebohm, Siberia in Europe, p. 139.
 
 INCREASE OF SMALL BIRDS 
 
 109 
 
 nating their enemies, they now abound, devastating our fruit- 
 gardens, but amply repaying all the mischief they do by enliven- 
 ing every glade and grove with their joyous songs. This 
 year (1846) the thrushes and blackbirds were in full voice in 
 January, owing to the mildness of the winter ; and I knew of a 
 thrush who was sitting on eggs during the most severe storm 
 of snow that we have had the whole season.
 
 THE OTTKK IN' HIS HAUNTS 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 The Otter : Habits Catching of Shooting Attachment to each other Anecdotes 
 
 Fish killed by 
 
 HAVING lately seen the tracks of three or four otters l about 
 the edge of the burn, I had some strong traps placed on a sand- 
 bank where they were in the nightly habit of landing. For 
 
 1 In severe frosts, etc., the otter (Lutra vulgaris) catches and eats rabbits, hares, 
 and any animal which it can surprise, or in some situations takes to the sea-shore, 
 living on flounders, crabs, etc. ; produces its young at different seasons of the year. 
 C. St. J.
 
 CHAP, xii THE OTTER in 
 
 some unknown reason of their own, they appeared to leave the 
 water at this bank, and, after going round some alder bushes, 
 to return again to the pool. We placed the traps with great 
 care, fastening them strongly, and covering them with sand. 
 Before setting the trap for an otter, both the hands of the person 
 who sets it and the trap itself should be well washed and rubbed 
 with sand, in order to take away the human scent as much as 
 possible. After setting the trap, a small branch of a tree should 
 be used to smooth the ground and obliterate all footmarks, and 
 then dipping the branch in the water, the whole place should 
 be well sprinkled, which generally does away with all marks of 
 people having been about it. As otters invariably have some 
 particular points at which they leave the water, it is easy to 
 know where to place the trap. They do not, however, always 
 haunt the same part of a stream, so the trapper must have some 
 patience. After our traps had been set for two nights, we found, 
 on going to them in the morning, that an otter had been caught, 
 and by twisting the chain round the root of a tree had contrived 
 to break it, and escape with the trap on its leg. I sent home 
 for my retriever, who, from having been severely bitten by other 
 otters, was very eager in pursuing them. We hunted up and 
 down the burn for some time in vain ; at last we found his track 
 and that of the trap in the sand at a shallow place of the water. 
 This encouraged us, and we renewed our search. At last, nearly 
 a mile from where the trap had been set, the dog began to run 
 up and down the bank, whining and showing evident symptoms 
 of perceiving, or, as my old keeper called it, " feeling " the smell 
 of the otter. He could not make out exactly where it was, till 
 at last coming to a dead stop opposite a quantity of floating 
 branches and roots that had collected at a turn of the water, 
 he pointed for a moment, and then springing in, pulled out a 
 large otter with the trap still on him. It was rather difficult to 
 know whether the otter was bringing the dog, or the dog the 
 otter, so vehemently did they fight and pull at each other ; but 
 we ran up, and soon put an end to the battle. The next morn- 
 ing I found another otter in the traps. Nothing could keep the 
 dog from him ; the moment he came within three hundred yards 
 of the place he smelt him, and rushed off to attack him. A 
 few nights afterwards, the moon being bright and the air quite 
 still, my keeper determined to lay wait for the remaining otter.
 
 H2 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 His track showed that he was a very large one, and he seemed 
 too cunning for the traps. The man's plan was to make him- 
 self a small hiding-place, opposite a shoal in the burn, where 
 the otter must needs wade instead of swimming. We had come 
 to the conviction from the tracks that the otters remained con- 
 cealed during the daytime a considerable way up the water, 
 and hunted down the burn during the night to where it joined 
 the river. 
 
 It was a fine calm December night, with a full moon. The 
 old man, wrapped in a plaid, and with a peculiar head-dress 
 made of an old piece of drugget, which he always wore on occa- 
 sions of this kind, took up his position at six o'clock. Before 
 nine the otter was killed, having appeared, as he had calculated, 
 on its way down to the river. 
 
 This is one of the surest ways of killing this animal when 
 he frequents a river or brook which in parts is so shallow as to 
 oblige the otter to show himself in his nightly travels. They 
 appear to go a considerable distance, generally hunting down 
 the stream, and returning up to their place of concealment be- 
 fore dawn. At certain places they seem to come to land every 
 night, or, at any rate, every time that they pass that way. In 
 solitary and undisturbed situations I have sometimes fallen in 
 with the otter during the day. In a loch far on the hills, I 
 have seen one raise itself half out of the water, take a steady 
 look at me, and then sink gradually and quietly below the surface, 
 appearing again at some distance, but next time showing only 
 part of its head. At other times I have seen one floating down 
 a stream, with no exertion of its own which could attract notice ; 
 but passing with the current, showing only the top of its head 
 and its nose, with its tail floating near the surface, and waving 
 to and fro as if quite independent of all restraint from its owner. 
 If he fancies that he is observed on these occasions, down he 
 sinks to the bottom, where he lies quietly as long as he can do 
 without air ; and when obliged to rise to breathe, he comes up 
 close to the bank, or amongst weeds, with only his nose above 
 water. If, however, the water is clear, and you persist in watch- 
 ing him, and by quickly approaching him, oblige him constantly 
 to dive, the poor beast will at last in sheer despair crawl out 
 on the bank, concealing himself in the best manner he can. 
 But it takes some time to oblige him to do this.
 
 xu HABITS OF THE OTTER 113 
 
 Otters are very affectionate animals. If you shoot an old 
 one who has young in the vicinity, they very soon appear search- 
 ing anxiously for their mother ; and if you kill the young ones, 
 the parent will come boldly to the surface, and hover about the 
 place till she is killed herself. When a pair of otters frequent 
 a place, if one is killed, the other will hunt for its lost mate in 
 the most persevering manner. If one is caught in a trap, the 
 other remains all night near her, running round and round, in 
 vain trying to get her away. Though usually so noiseless and 
 quiet, on these occasions they make a great hubbub, blowing 
 and snorting almost like a swimming horse. 
 
 Sometimes they lie all day on some small island or bank 
 covered with rushes, ready to slip down into the water on the 
 approach of danger. I was one day in August looking for 
 young wild ducks in a swamp covered with rushes and grass, 
 when my dog, who was running and splashing through the 
 shallow water, suddenly stood still, sometimes whining as if 
 caught in a trap, and then biting furiously at something in the 
 water. I could not imagine what had happened to him, and 
 he either would not or could not come to me when called, so 
 I waded over to see what was the matter. I found a large otter 
 firmly holding on by his powerful jaws to the dog's shoulder, 
 and had he not had a good covering of curly hair, I believe 
 the brute would have broken his leg, so severe was the bite : 
 even when I came up, the otter seemed very little inclined 
 to let go ; but at last did so, and I shot him as he splashed 
 away. 
 
 When one of these animals is surprised in an open place, 
 he will for some time trust to being concealed, remaining flat 
 on the ground, with his sharp little eyes, which are placed very 
 high on the head, intently fixed on you. Like all other wild 
 animals, he has an instinctive knowledge of how long he is un- 
 perceived, for the moment he sees that your eye is on him, -he 
 darts off, but not till then. During the winter many of the 
 river and lake otters take to the coast, 1 travelling a long way for 
 
 1 The otter is plentiful in some localities in the Hebrides, frequenting the sea-shore for 
 the most part, until the salmon and sea trout begin to "run " in July, when it follows 
 them up the streams, and frequents the fresh-water lochs. A forester in Harris showed 
 me a small rock in Loch Resort where he once killed two at one shot. A shepherd in 
 North Uist, on his own beat alone, had shot over seventy otters during a residence of 
 twenty-fiveyears. " On the Mammalia of the Outer Hebrides," by J. Harvie-Brown, F. Z. S. , 
 Proceedings of the Nat. Hist. Soc. of Glasgow, 2gth April 1879, p. 93. 
 
 I
 
 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 
 
 this purpose, sometimes keeping the course of the streams, but 
 occasionally going across the country. I have seen their tracks 
 in places at a very great distance from water, where they evi- 
 dently had been merely passing down to the sea. 
 
 When on the coast, they frequent the caves and broken 
 masses of rock. The otters that live wholly on the coast grow 
 very large. It is easy to turn them out of their 'holes with 
 terriers, as long as you remain quiet and unobserved by the 
 otter yourself. If he once has found out that you are waiting 
 to receive him at the mouth of his hole, he will fight to the last 
 rather than leave it. I have been told that they bolt more 
 readily to a white-coloured dog than to any other. All 
 courageous dogs who have been once entered at otters, hunt 
 them with more eagerness and animosity than they do any 
 other kind of vermin. 
 
 The otters here are very fond of searching the shallow pools 
 of the sea at the mouth of the river for flounders, and I often 
 find their tracks, where they have evidently been so employed. 
 If surprised by the daylight appearing too soon to admit of 
 their returning to their usual haunts, they will lie up in any- 
 broken bank, furze bush, or other place of concealment. 
 
 At some of the falls of the Findhorn, where the river runs 
 so rapidly that they cannot stem it, they have to leave the water 
 to go across the ground ; and in these places they have regularly- 
 beaten tracks. I was rather amused at an old woman living 
 at Sluie, on the Findhorn, who, complaining of the hardness of 
 the present times, when " a puir body couldna get a drop 
 smuggled whisky, or shot a rae without his lordship's sportsman 
 finding it out," added to her list of grievances that even the 
 otters were nearly all gone, " puir beasties." " Well, but what 
 good could the otters do you ? " I asked her. " Good, your 
 honour? why scarcely a morn came but they left a bonny grilse 
 on the scarp down yonder, and the vennison was none the waur 
 of the bit the puir beasts eat themselves." The people here call 
 every eatable animal, fish, flesh, or fowl, venison, or as they pro- 
 nounce it, " vennison." For instance they tell you that the snipes 
 are " good vennison," or that the trout are not good " vennison " 
 in the winter. 
 
 It seems that a few years ago, before the otters had been 
 so much destroyed, the people on particular parts of the river
 
 XII 
 
 OTTERS AND SALMON 
 
 were never at a loss for salmon, as the otters always take them 
 ashore, and generally to the same bank or rock, and when the 
 fish are plentiful, they only eat a small piece out of the shoulder 
 of each, leaving the rest. The cottagers, aware of this, were in 
 the habit of looking every morning for these remains. 
 
 THE OTTER'S ATTACK
 
 THE WEASEL'S VICTIM 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Weasels Ferrets : Fierceness of Anecdotes Food of Weasels Manner of hunting 
 for Prey The Stoat : Change of Colour ; Odour of ; Food of ; their catching 
 Fish Polecat The Marten Cat : Habits ; Trapping ; Eating Fruit ; Activity 
 of; Different Species. 
 
 THE bloodthirstiness and ferocity of all the weasel tribe is per- 
 fectly wonderful. The proverb " Uappttit vient en mangeant " 
 is well applied to these little animals. The more blood they 
 spill, the more they long for, and are not content till every 
 animal that they can get at is slain. A she-ferret, with a litter 
 of young ones, contrived to get loose a few nights back, and 
 instinctively made her way to the henhouse, accompanied by 
 her six kittens, who were not nearly half grown, indeed their 
 eyes were not quite open. Seven hens and a number of tame 
 rabbits were killed before they were discovered ; and every 
 animal that they killed, notwithstanding its weight and size, 
 was dragged to the hutch in which the ferrets were kept, and
 
 CHAP, xin FERRETS AND WEASELS 117 
 
 as they could not get their victims through the hole by which 
 they had escaped themselves, a perfect heap of dead bodies 
 was collected round their hutch. When I looked out of my 
 window in the morning, I had the satisfaction of seeing four of 
 the young ferrets, covered with blood, dragging a hen (which I 
 had flattered myself was about to hatch a brood of young 
 pheasants) across the yard which was between the henhouse 
 and where these ferrets were kept ; the remainder of them 
 were assisting the old one in slaughtering some white rabbits. 
 Their eagerness to escape again, and renew their bloody attacks, 
 showed the excited state the little wretches were in, from this 
 their first essay in killing. 
 
 In the same way the wild animals of the tribe must be 
 wofully destructive when opportunity is afforded them. Sitting 
 opposite a rabbit-hole, I one day saw a tiny weasel bring out 
 four young rabbits one after the other, and carry, or rather 
 drag them away one by one towards her own abode in a cairn 
 of loose stones ; and, a few days ago, I saw one bring three 
 young landrails in as many minutes out of a field of high wheat. 
 In fact, as long as she can find an animal to kill, so long will a 
 weasel hunt, whether in want of food or not. I have frequently 
 seen a weasel, small as he is, kill a full-grown rabbit The 
 latter is sometimes so frightened at the persevering ferocity of 
 its little enemy, that it lies down and cries out before the weasel 
 has come up. Occasionally these animals join in a company 
 of six or eight, and hunt down rabbit or hare, giving tongue 
 and tracking their unfortunate victim like a pack of beagles. 
 
 There is no doubt that in some degree they repay the 
 damage done to game, by the number of rats and mice which 
 they destroy (the latter being their favourite food). The weasel 
 will take up its abode in a stack-yard, living on the mice and 
 small birds that it catches for some time, and the farmer looks 
 on it as a useful ally ; till, some night, the mice begin to grow 
 scarce, and then the chickens suffer. Eggs, fresh and rotten, 
 are favourite dainties with the weasel. 
 
 I once witnessed a very curious feat of this active little 
 animal. I saw a weasel hunting and prying about a stubble 
 field in which were several corn-buntings flying about, and 
 every now and then alighting to sing on the straggling thistles 
 that rose above the stubble. Presently the little fellow dis-
 
 n 8 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 appeared at the foot of a thistle, and I imagined he had gone 
 into a hole. I waited, however, to see what would happen, as, 
 from the way he had been hunting about, he evidently had 
 some mischief in his head. Soon a corn-bunting alighted on 
 the very thistle near which the weasel had disappeared, and 
 which was the highest in the field. The next moment I saw 
 something spring up as quick as lightning, and disappear again 
 along with the bird. I then thought it time to interfere, and 
 found that the weasel had caught and killed the bunting, 
 having, evidently guided by his instinct or observation, 
 waited concealed at the foot of the plant where he had ex- 
 pected the bird to alight. A friend of mine, who was a great 
 naturalist, assured me that, tracking a weasel in snow on the 
 hill-side, he found where the animal had evidently sprung upon 
 a grouse ; and, on carrying on his observation, he had convinced 
 himself that the bird had flown away with the quadruped, and 
 had fallen to the ground about thirty yards off, where he found 
 it with its throat cut ; and the tracks of the weasel again 
 appeared, as if he had come down with the bird, and having 
 sucked its blood, had gone on his way, looking for a new victim. 
 The stoat is also very common here, and equally destructive 
 and sanguinivorous if I may use such a word. Being larger, 
 too, he is more mischievous to game and poultry, and not so 
 useful in killing mice. I often see the stoat hunting in the 
 middle of an open field : its activity is so great that few dogs 
 can catch it. When pursued, it dives into any rat's or mole's 
 hole that lies in its way. I find that a sure mode of driving 
 all animals of this kind out of a hole, is to smoke tobacco into 
 it. They appear quite unable to stand the smell, and bolt out 
 immediately in the face of dog or man, rather than put up 
 with it. Tobacco-smoke will also bring a ferret out of a 
 rabbit-hole, when everything else fails to do so. In winter the 
 stoat changes its colour to the purest white, with the exception 
 of the tip of the tail, which always remains black. 1 The 
 animal is then very beautiful, with its shining black eyes and 
 white body. The fur is very like that of the ermine, but is 
 quite useless, owing to the peculiar odour of the animal, which 
 can never be got rid of. It is worthy of note that the stoat 
 does not emit this odour excepting when hunted or wounded. 
 
 1 The weasel never turns white, but only the stoat. C. St. J.
 
 xni THE STOAT 119 
 
 When I have shot one, killing it on the spot, before he has 
 seen me, no smell is to be perceived. The same thing I have 
 also observed when it has been caught in a large iron trap, 
 which has killed it instantaneously, before there has been time 
 for fear or struggling. When, however, I have had some chase 
 after a stoat before shooting it, or have caught one alive in a 
 trap, the stench of the little animal is insupportable, and sticks 
 to the skin, in spite of every attempt to get rid of it. 
 
 The attachment of the stoat and weasel to their young is 
 very great. I chased a weasel into a hollow tree : she was 
 carrying some animal in her mouth, and though I was on the 
 very point of catching her before she got to her refuge, she 
 would not drop it. I fancied that it was a newly-born rabbit 
 that she was carrying off. I applied smoke to the hole, and 
 out came the weasel again, still carrying the same burden. 
 She ran towards a stone wall, but was met by a terrier half- 
 way, who killed her, catching her with the greater facility in 
 consequence of her obstinacy in carrying away what I still 
 thought was some prey. On picking it up, however, I found 
 that it was a young weasel, unable to run, which its mother 
 was endeavouring to carry to a place of safety, her former hole 
 in an adjoining field having been ploughed over. I cannot 
 express my regret at the fate of this poor creature, when I saw 
 that her death was caused wholly by her maternal affection. 
 Notwithstanding the havoc which these animals make among 
 my rabbits, nothing would have induced me to molest her, had 
 I known what she was carrying. 
 
 The track of the stoat is very like that of a young rabbit, 
 and may be easily mistaken for it. They travel over an 
 amazing extent of ground in their nocturnal rambles, as their 
 marks in the snow can testify. The edges of rivers and brooks 
 seem their favourite hunting-places. By some means or other 
 they manage to catch eels. I tracked a stoat from the edge of 
 a ditch to its own hole, at the distance of several hundred yards. 
 He had been carrying some heavy body, as I could plainly see 
 by the marks in the snow ; and this, on digging out the hole, 
 I found to be an eel about nine inches long. No bait is better 
 for all kinds of the weasel tribe than fish, which they seem to 
 have a great liking for, and evidently feed upon whenever they 
 inhabit a neighbourhood where they can procure them.
 
 120 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 The polecat is now comparatively rare in this country, in 
 consequence of the number of gamekeepers and vermin-trappers: 
 they still, however, frequent the banks of the river, where they take 
 shelter among the loose stones and rocks. There is no difference 
 in appearance between the polecat and the brown ferret, which also 
 partakes very frequently of the shyness of his wild relative, being 
 much more apt to become cross-tempered and ready to return to a 
 state of nature than the tamer white ferret. The polecat is ex- 
 tremely destructive nothing comes amiss to it. 1 I found in 
 the hole of a she-polecat, besides her young ones, three kittens 
 that had been drowned at the distance of at least a quarter of 
 a mile. Besides these, her larder contained the remains of 
 hares, rabbits, and of an infinity of birds and several eels. 
 
 There was a wood-pigeon that had young ones nearly full- 
 grown in an ivy-covered tree close to the window of my 
 dressing-room. One morning I saw the old birds flying about 
 in distress, but I could see no hawk or bird of prey about. 
 Presently down fell one of the young birds, and in a moment 
 afterwards the other young one also fell to the ground, both 
 bleeding at the throat. I immediately loaded my gun, and 
 had the satisfaction of shooting a large polecat, which came 
 climbing down the tree and was just preparing to carry away 
 one of the young pigeons. 
 
 Like the stoat, the polecat has a beautiful fur, rendered 
 useless by the strong odour of the animal. Notwithstanding 
 the quantity of game and other creatures killed by the polecat, 
 he does not appear to be very quick on the ground, and must 
 owe his success in hunting more to perseverance and cunning 
 than to activity. Like the stoat and weasel, this animal is easily 
 caught in box-traps, and is attracted in an extraordinary manner 
 by the smell of musk, which they appear quite unable to resist. 
 
 In trapping all these small beasts with iron traps the bait 
 should be suspended at some little height above the trap, to 
 oblige them to jump up, and by so doing there is a better 
 chance that, notwithstanding their light weight, the trap will 
 be sprung. 
 
 Formerly I frequently mistook the track of the marten-cat 
 for that of a hare, when seen in the snow. Its way of placing 
 its feet, and of moving by a succession of leaps, is quite similar 
 
 1 The polecat is very fond of fish, eels, etc. C. St. J.
 
 xni THE MARTEN 121 
 
 to that of the more harmless animal, which so often serves it 
 for food. The general abode of the marten is in woods and 
 rocky cairns. He is a very beautiful and graceful animal, with 
 a fine fur quite devoid of all smell, but owing to its great agility 
 it must be one of the most destructive of the tribe. When 
 hunting, their movements are quick and full of elegance, the 
 effect of which is much heightened by their brilliant black eyes 
 and rich brown fur, contrasted with the orange-coloured mark 
 on their throat and breast. The marten, when disturbed by 
 dogs, climbs a tree with the agility of a squirrel, 1 and leaps 
 from branch to branch, and from tree to tree. I used frequently 
 to shoot them with my rifle on the tall pine-trees in Sutherland. 
 In this part of the country they are now seldom seen. This 
 animal is not wholly carnivorous, being very fond of some fruits 
 the strawberry and raspberry, for instance. I found in my 
 garden in Inverness-shire that some animal came nightly to the 
 raspberry-bushes ; the track appeared like that of a rabbit or 
 hare, but as I also saw that the animal climbed the bushes, I 
 knew it could be neither of these. Out of curiosity, I set a trap 
 for the marauder ; the next morning, on going to look at it very 
 early, I could see nothing on the spot where I had put my trap 
 but a heap of leaves, some dry and some green ; I was just 
 going to move them with my hand, when I luckily discerned a 
 pair of bright eyes peering sharply out of the leaves, and dis- 
 covered that I had caught a large marten, who, finding that he 
 could not escape, had collected all the leaves within his reach, 
 and had quite concealed himself under them. The moment 
 he found that he was discovered, he attacked me most courage- 
 ously, as the marten always does, fighting to the last. I had 
 other opportunities of satisfying myself that this animal is a 
 great fruit-eater, feeding much on the wild raspberries, and even 
 blackberries, that grow in the woods. Though generally inhab- 
 iting cairns of stones, the marten sometimes takes possession of 
 some large bird's nest, and relining it, there brings up her young, 
 which are remarkably pretty little creatures. I endeavoured 
 once to rear and tame a litter of young martens which I found 
 in an old crow's nest, and I believe I should have succeeded 
 had not a terrier got at them in my absence, and revenged 
 himself on them for the numerous bites he had felt from martens 
 
 1 The squirrel is not uncommon near the Spey. C. St. J.
 
 122 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 and polecats in his different encounters with them. I have 
 more frequently seen this animal abroad during the daytime 
 than any of the other weasels. 
 
 I remember starting one amongst the long heather in the 
 very midst of a pack of dogs of a Highland fox-hunter : though 
 all the dogs, greyhounds, fox-hounds, and terriers, were im- 
 mediately in full pursuit, the nimble little fellow escaped them 
 all, jumping over one dog, under another, through the legs of 
 a third, and finally getting off into a rocky cairn, whence he 
 could not be ejected. "It's the evil speerit hersel'," said the 
 old man, as, aiming a blow at the marten, he nearly broke the 
 back of one of his best lurchers. Nor did he get over his 
 annoyance at seeing his dogs so completely baffled, till after 
 many a Gaelic curse at the beast and many a pinch of snuff. 
 The marten-cat is accused by the shepherds of destroying a 
 great many sheep. His manner of attack is said to be by 
 seizing the unfortunate sheep by the nose, which he eats away, 
 till the animal is either destroyed on the spot or dies a lingering 
 death. I have been repeatedly told this by different Highland 
 shepherds and others, and believe it to be a true accusation. 
 They kill numbers of lambs, and when they take to poultry- 
 killing, enter the henhouse fearlessly, committing immense 
 havoc ; in fact seldom leaving a single fowl alive having the 
 same propensity as the ferret for killing many more victims than 
 they can consume. 
 
 The eagle is said to prey frequently on the marten-cat, but 
 I never happened to witness an encounter between them ; my 
 tame eagle, however, always seemed to prefer them to any other 
 food. I have no doubt that the eagle on its native mountain 
 pounces on any living creature that it can conquer, and therefore 
 must frequently kill both marten and wild cat, both which animals 
 frequent the rocks and high ground where this bird hunts. 
 
 From the strength and suppleness of the marten, he cannot 
 fall a very easy prey to any eagle of this country, and probably 
 when pounced upon he does not die without a severe battle. 
 
 There are said to be two kinds of martens here, 1 the pinc- 
 
 1 Mr. J. Smith, keeper in Assynt, informs me that he believes there is only one kind 
 of marten in that district, the yellow-breasted variety. About 1869 it was very numerous. 
 Now it is all but exterminated, owing to the premium paid for shooting it, and the price 
 its skin commands, viz. from ten to fifteen shillings. In the Shin valley, I heard of two 
 or three pairs in 1879.
 
 xin THE PINE-MARTEN 123 
 
 marten 1 and the beech-marten ; the former having a yellow mark 
 on the breast, and the latter a white one. I do not, however, 
 believe that they are of a distinct species, but consider the variety 
 of shade in the colour of the breast to be occasioned by difference 
 of age, or to be merely accidental having frequently killed 
 them in the same woods with every intermediate shade, from 
 yellow to white, on their breasts ; the animals being perfectly 
 alike in every other particular. The oldest-looking martens 
 had generally a whiter mark than the others, but this rule did 
 not apply to all. 
 
 1 The pine-marten is still not uncommon in the wilder districts of Scotland, as in the 
 Sutherland and Ross-shire deer forests, and also in the North of England, where it is 
 occasionally killed by fox-hounds. When pursued, it generally makes for the rocks. It 
 is very destructive to birds, lambs, and even sheep. 
 
 The late Mr. Blyth, it may be added, told Mr. Alston that his own investigations led 
 him to agree with the latter's conclusion on the single species of marten now to be found 
 in the British Isles. 
 
 .S ; ^;i
 
 A HUNTING BULLDOG 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Anecdotes and Instinct of Dogs Anecdotes of Retriever Shepherds' Dogs Sagacity 
 Dogs and Monkey Bulldog Anecdotes of Shooting a Stag Treatment of 
 Dogs. 
 
 So much has been written, and so many anecdotes told, of the 
 cleverness and instinct of dogs, that I am almost afraid to add 
 anything more on the subject, lest I should be thought tedious. 
 Nevertheless I cannot refrain from relating one or two incidents 
 illustrating the instinct, almost amounting to reason, that some 
 of my canine acquaintances have evinced, and which have 
 fallen under my own notice. Different dogs are differently 
 endowed in this respect, but much also depends on their edu- 
 cation, manner of living, etc. The dog that lives with his master 
 constantly, sleeping before his fire, instead of in the kennel, 
 and hearing and seeing all that passes, learns, if at all quick-
 
 CHAP, xiv THE RETRIEVER 125 
 
 witted, to understand not only the meaning of what he sees 
 going on, but also, frequently in the most wonderful manner, all 
 that is talked of. I have a favourite retriever, a black water- 
 spaniel, who for many years has lived in the house, and been 
 constantly with me ; he understands and notices everything 
 that is said, if it at all relates to himself or to the sporting plans 
 for the day : if at breakfast-time I say, without addressing the 
 dog himself, " Rover must stop at home to-day, I cannot take 
 him out," he never attempts to follow me ; if, on the contrary, 
 I say, however quietly, " I shall take Rover with me to-day," 
 the moment that breakfast is over he is all on the gut vive, 
 following me wherever I go, evidently aware that he is to be 
 allowed to accompany me. When left at home, he sits on the 
 step of the front door, looking out for my return, occasionally 
 howling and barking in an ill-tempered kind of voice ; his great 
 delight is going with me when I hunt the woods for roe and deer. 
 I had some covers about five miles from the house, where we 
 were accustomed to look for roe : we frequently made our plans 
 over night while the dog was in the room. One day, for some 
 reason, I did not take him : in consequence of this, invariably 
 when he heard us at night forming our plan to beat the woods, 
 Rover started alone very early in the morning, and met us up 
 there. He always went to the cottage where we assembled, 
 and sitting on a hillock in front of it, which commanded a view 
 of the road by which we came, waited for us : when he saw us 
 coming, he met us with a peculiar kind of grin on his face, ex- 
 pressing, as well as words could, his half doubt of being well 
 received, in consequence of his having come without permission : 
 the moment he saw that I was not angry with him, he threw 
 off all his affectation of shyness, and barked and jumped upon 
 me with the most grateful delight. 
 
 As he was very clever at finding deer, I often sent him with 
 the beaters or hounds to assist, and he always plainly asked me 
 on starting, whether he was to go with me to the pass, or to 
 accompany the men. In the latter case, though a very ex- 
 clusive dog in his company at other times, he would go with 
 any one of the beaters, although a stranger to him, whom I 
 told him to accompany, and he would look to that one man 
 for orders as long as he was with him. I never lost a wounded 
 roe when he was out, for once on the track he would stick to it,
 
 126 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 the whole day if necessary, not fatiguing himself uselessly, but 
 quietly and determinedly following it up. If the roe fell and 
 he found it, he would return to me, and then lead me up to 
 the animal, whatever the distance might be. With red-deer he 
 was also most useful. The first time that he saw me kill a 
 deer he was very much surprised ; I was walking alone with 
 him through some woods in Ross-shire, looking for woodcocks ; 
 I had killed two or three, when I saw such recent signs of deer, 
 that I drew the shot from one barrel, and replaced it with ball. 
 I then continued my walk. Before I had gone far, a fine 
 barren hind sprang out of a thicket, and as she crossed a small 
 hollow, going directly away from me, I fired at her, breaking 
 her backbone with the bullet ; of course she dropped immediately, 
 and Rover, who was a short distance behind me, rushed forward 
 in the direction of the shot, expecting to have to pick up a 
 woodcock ; but on coming up to the hind, who was struggling 
 on the ground, he ran round her with a look of astonishment, 
 and then came back to me with an expression in his face plainly 
 saying, " What have you done now ? you have shot a cow or 
 something." But on my explaining to him that the hind was 
 fair game, he ran up to her and seized her by the throat like a 
 bulldog. Ever afterwards he was peculiarly fond of deer- 
 hunting, and became a great adept, and of great use. When I 
 sent him to assist two or three hounds to start a roe as soon 
 as the hounds were on the scent, Rover always came back 
 to me and waited at the pass : I could enumerate endless 
 anecdotes of his clever feats in this way. 
 
 Though a most aristocratic dog in his usual habits, when 
 staying with me in England once, he struck up an acquaintance 
 with a ratcatcher and his curs, and used to assist in their 
 business when he thought that nothing else was to be done, 
 entering into their way of going on, watching motionless at the 
 rats' holes when the ferrets were in, and as the ratcatcher told 
 me, he was the best dog of them all, and always to be depended 
 on for showing if a rat was in a hole, corn-stack, or elsewhere ; 
 never giving a false alarm, or failing to give a true one. The 
 moment, however, that he saw me, he instantly cut his humble 
 friends, and denied all acquaintance with them in the most 
 comical manner. 
 
 The shepherds' dogs in the mountainous districts often
 
 xiv SHEEPDOGS 127 
 
 show the most wonderful instinct in assisting their masters, 
 who, without their aid, would have but little command over 
 a large flock of wild blackfaced sheep. It is a most interesting 
 sight to see a clever dog turn a large flock of these sheep in 
 whichever direction his master wishes, taking advantage of the 
 ground, and making a wide sweep to get round the sheep 
 without frightening them, till he gets beyond them, and then 
 rushing barking from flank to flank of the flock, and bringing 
 them all up in close array to the desired spot. When, too, the 
 shepherd wishes to catch a particular sheep out of the flock, I 
 have seen him point it out to the dog, who would instantly 
 distinguish it from the rest, and follow it up till he caught it. 
 Often I have seen the sheep rush into the middle of the flock, 
 but the dog, though he must necessarily have lost sight of it 
 amongst the rest, would immediately single it out again, and 
 never leave the pursuit till he had the sheep prostrate, but 
 unhurt, under his feet. I have been with a shepherd when 
 he has consigned a certain part of his flock to a dog to be 
 driven home, the man accompanying me farther on to the 
 hill. On our return we invariably found that he had either 
 given up his charge to the shepherd's wife or some other respon- 
 sible person, or had driven them, unassisted, into the fold, lying 
 down himself at the narrow entrance to keep them from getting 
 out till his master came home. At other times I have seen 
 a dog keeping watch on the hill on a flock of sheep, allowing 
 them to feed all day, but always keeping sight of them, and 
 bringing them home at a proper hour in the evening. In fact 
 it is difficult to say what a shepherd's dog would not do to 
 assist his master, who would be quite helpless without him 
 in a Highland district. 
 
 Generally speaking, these Highland sheepdogs do not show 
 much aptness in learning to do anything not connected in some 
 way or other with sheep or cattle. They seem to have been 
 brought into the world for this express purpose, and for no 
 other. 
 
 They watch their master's small crop of oats or potatoes 
 with great fidelity and keenness, keeping off all intruders in the 
 shape of sheep, cattle, or horses. A shepherd once, to prove 
 the quickness of his dog, which was lying before the fire in the 
 house where we were talking, said to me, in the middle of a
 
 128 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 sentence concerning something else " I'm thinking, Sir, the 
 cow is in the potatoes." Though he purposely laid no stress 
 on these words, and said them in a quiet, unconcerned tone of 
 voice, the dog, which appeared to be asleep, immediately jumped 
 up, and leaping through the open window, scrambled up the 
 turf roof of the house, from which he could see the potato-field. 
 He then (not seeing the cow there) ran and looked into the 
 byre where she was, and finding that all was right, came back 
 to the house. After a short time the shepherd said the same 
 words again, and the dog repeated his look-out ; but on the 
 false alarm being a third time given, the dog got up, and 
 wagging his tail, looked his master in the face with so comical 
 an expression of interrogation, that we could not help laughing 
 aloud at him, on which, with a slight growl, he laid himself 
 down in his warm corner, with an offended air, and as if 
 determined not to be made a fool of again. 
 
 Occasionally a poaching shepherd teaches his dog to be of 
 great service in assisting him to kill game. I remember one 
 of these men, who was in the habit of wiring hares, and though 
 the keepers knew of his malpractices, they were for some time 
 unable to catch him in the act, in consequence of his always 
 placing his three dogs as vedettes in different directions, to warn 
 him of the approach of any person. A herd-boy at the farm 
 near my house puts his dog to a curious use. A great part of 
 his flock are sent to pasture on the carse-ground across the 
 river, and when the boy does not want to go across to count 
 them and see that they are all right, deterred from doing so by 
 the water being flooded, or from any other reason, he sends his 
 dog to swim across and collect the sheep on the opposite bank, 
 where he can see them all distinctly. Though there are other 
 sheep on the carse belonging to different people, the dog only 
 brings his own flock. After they are counted and pronounced 
 to be all right by the boy, the dog swims back again to his 
 master. 
 
 Were I to relate the numberless anecdotes of dogs that 
 have been told me, I could fill a volume. 
 
 I am often amused by observing the difference of temper 
 and disposition which is shown by my own dogs as great a 
 difference, indeed, as would be perceived among the same 
 number of human beings.
 
 xiv PET DOGS 129 
 
 Having for many years been a great collector of living pets' 
 there is always a vast number of these hangers-on about the 
 house some useful, some ornamental, and some neither the 
 one nor the other. 
 
 Opposite one window of the room I am in at present are a 
 monkey and five dogs basking in the sun, a bloodhound, a 
 Skye terrier, a setter, a Russian poodle, and a young Newfound- 
 land bitch, who is being educated as a retriever ; they all live 
 in great friendship with the monkey, who is now in the most 
 absurd manner searching the poodle's coat for fleas, lifting up 
 curl by curl, and examining the roots of the hair. Occasionally, 
 if she thinks that she has pulled the hair, or lifted one of his 
 legs rather too roughly, she looks the dog in the face with an 
 inquiring expression to see if he is angry. The dog, however, 
 seems rather to enjoy the operation, and showing no symptoms 
 of displeasure, the monkey continues her search, and when she 
 sees a flea catches it in the most active manner, looks at it for 
 a moment, and then eats it with great relish. Having ex- 
 hausted the game on the poodle, she jumps on the back of the 
 bloodhound bitch, and having looked into her face to see how 
 she will bear it, begins a new search, but finding nothing, goes 
 off for a game at romps with the Newfoundland dog. While 
 the bloodhound bitch, hearing the voice of one of the children, 
 whom she has taken a particular fancy to, walks off to the 
 nursery, the setter lies dozing and dreaming of grouse ; while 
 the little terrier sits with ears pricked up, listening to any 
 distant sounds of dog or man that she may hear ; occasionally 
 she trots off on three legs to look at the back door of the house, 
 for fear any rat-hunt or fun of that sort may take place without 
 her being invited. Why do Highland terriers so often run on 
 three legs? particularly when bent on any mischief? Is it to 
 keep one in reserve in case of emergencies ? I never had a 
 Highland terrier who did not hop along constantly on three 
 legs, keeping one of the hind-legs up as if to rest it. 
 
 The Skye terrier has a great deal of quiet intelligence, learn- 
 ing to watch his master's looks, and understand his meaning in 
 a wonderful manner. Without the determined blind courage 
 of the English bull terrier, this kind of dog shows great intre- 
 pidity in attacking vermin of all kinds, though often his courage 
 is accompanied by a kind of shyness and reserve ; but when
 
 130 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 once roused by being bit or scratched in its attacks on vermin, 
 the Skye terrier fights to the last, and shows a great deal of 
 cunning and generalship, as well as courage. Unless well 
 entered, when young, however, they are very, apt to be noisy, 
 and yelp and bark more than fight. The terriers which I have 
 had of this kind show some curious habits, unlike most other 
 dogs. I have observed that when young they frequently make 
 a kind of seat under a bush or hedge, where they will sit for 
 hours together, crouched like a wild animal. Unlike other 
 dogs too, they will eat (though not driven by hunger) almost 
 anything that is given them, such as raw eggs, the bones and 
 meat of wild ducks, or wood-pigeons, and other birds, that every 
 other kind of dog, however hungry, rejects with disgust. In 
 fact, in many particulars, their habits resemble those of wild 
 animals ; they always are excellent swimmers, taking the water 
 quietly and fearlessly when very young. In tracking wounded 
 deer I have occasionally seen a Skye terrier of very great use, 
 leading his master quietly, and with great precision, up to the 
 place where the deer had dropped, or had concealed himself; 
 appearing too to be acting more for the benefit of his master, 
 and to show the game, than for his own amusement. I have 
 no doubt that a clever Skye terrier would in many cases get 
 the sportsman a second shot at a wounded deer with more 
 certainty than almost any other kind of dog. Indeed, for this 
 kind of work, a quiet though slow dog often is of more use 
 than the best deer-hound. I at one time had an English bull- 
 dog, which accompanied me constantly in deer-stalking ; he 
 learned to crouch and creep up to the deer with me, never 
 showing himself, and seeming to understand perfectly what 
 I wished him to do. When necessary I could leave him for 
 hours together, lying alone on the hill, when he would never 
 stir till called by me. If a deer was wounded, he would 
 follow the track with untiring perseverance, distinguishing the 
 scent of the wounded animal, and singling it out from the rest, 
 never making a mistake in this respect ; he would also follow 
 the stag till he brought him to bay, when, with great address 
 in avoiding the horns, he would rush in and seize him either 
 by the throat or the ear, holding on till I came up, or, as he 
 once did, strangling the animal, and then coming back to show 
 me where he had left it.
 
 TKA CKING A STAG \\\ 
 
 In driving some woods one day in Ross-shire, a fine stag 
 broke into a wide opening ; two or three sportsmen were 
 stationed at some distance above me ; as the deer passed, I 
 saw the light puffs of smoke, and heard the crack of their rifles 
 as they fired. At every shot the poor animal doubled with the 
 most extraordinary bounds ; he tried to turn back to the cover 
 from which he had been driven, but the shouts of the beaters 
 deterred him, and after stopping for a moment to deliberate, 
 he came back fully determined to cross the opening, in order 
 to gain the shelter of some large woods beyond it. He was 
 galloping across it, when crack went another rifle, the ball 
 striking with a splash into a small pool of water close to him, 
 this turned him towards me, and down he came in my direction 
 as hard as he could gallop ; he appeared to be coming directly 
 at me : just as he was about a hundred yards from me, a shout 
 from the beaters, who were coming in view, turned him again, 
 and he passed me, going ventre a terre, with his head up and 
 his horns back over his shoulders, giving me a good broadside 
 shot ; I fired, and he reeled, turning half round. Bang went 
 my other barrel, and the stag rolled over like a rabbit, with a 
 force and crash that seemed as if it would have broken every 
 bone in his body. Up he got again, and went off, apparently 
 as sound as ever, into the large wood, passing close to a sports- 
 man who was loading ; when in the wood, we saw him halt for 
 a moment on a hillock and take a good steady look at us all, 
 who were lost in astonishment at his escape after having been 
 so fairly upset. He then went off at a steady swinging gallop, 
 and we heard him long after he was out of view crashing 
 through the dry branches of the young fir-trees. " Bring the 
 dog," was the cry, and a very large animal, something between 
 a mastiff and a St. Bernard, was brought ; the dog went off for 
 a little while, barking and making a great noise, but after 
 rushing up against half a dozen trees, and tumbling over 
 amongst the hidden stones, he came back limping and unwilling 
 to renew the hunt. I had left my bulldog with a servant at a 
 point of the wood some distance off, and I proposed sending 
 for him ; one of the sportsmen, who had never seen him engaged 
 in this kind of duty, sarcastically said, "What, that dog who 
 followed us to-day, as we rode up ? He can be no use ; he 
 looks more fit to kill cats or pin a bull." Our host, however,
 
 1 3 2 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 who was better acquainted with his merits, thought otherwise ; 
 and when the bulldog came wagging his tail and jumping up 
 on me, I took him to the track and sent him upon it ; down 
 went his nose and away he went as hard as he could go, and 
 quite silently. The wood was so close and thick that we could 
 not keep him in sight, so I proposed that we should commence 
 our next beat, as the dog w r ould find me wherever I was, and 
 the strangers did not seem much to expect any success in 
 getting the wounded stag. During the following beat we saw 
 the dog for a moment or two pass an opening, and the next 
 instant two deer came out from the thicket into which he had 
 gone. " He is on the wrong scent, after all," said the shooter 
 who stood next to me. " Wait, and we will see," was my 
 answer. 
 
 We had finished this beat and were consulting what to do, 
 \vhen the dog appeared in the middle of us, appearing very well 
 satisfied with himself though covered with blood, and with an 
 ugly tear in his skin all along one side. " Ah ! " said some 
 one, " he has got beaten off by the deer." Looking at him, 
 I saw that most of the blood was not his own, the wound not 
 being at all deep ; I also knew that once having had hold 
 of the deer, he would not have let go as long as he had life in 
 him. " W T here is he, old boy ? take us to him," said I ; the 
 dog, perfectly understanding me, looked up in my face, and set 
 off slowly with a whine of delight. He led us through a great 
 extent of wood, stopping every now and then that we might 
 keep up with him ; at last he came to the foot of a rock where 
 the stag was lying quite dead with his throat torn open, and 
 marks of a goodly struggle all round the place ; a fine deer he 
 was too, and much praise did the dog get for his courage and 
 skill : I believe I could have sold him on the spot at any price 
 which I had chosen to ask, but the dog and I were too old 
 friends to part, having passed many years together, both in 
 London, where he lived with my horses and used to run with 
 my cab, occasionally taking a passing fight with a cat ; and 
 also in the country, where he had also accompanied me in 
 many a long and solitary ramble over mountain and valley. 
 
 In choosing a young dog for a retriever, it is a great point 
 to fix upon one whose ancestors have been in the same line of 
 business. Skill and inclination to become a good retriever are
 
 xiv MANAGEMENT OF DOGS 133 
 
 hereditary, and one come of good parents scarcely requires any 
 breaking, taking to it naturally as soon as he can run about. 
 It is almost impossible to make some dogs useful in this way, 
 no teaching will do it unless there be a natural inclination a 
 first-rate retriever nascitur non fit. You may break almost any 
 dog to carry a rabbit or bird, but it is a different thing entirely 
 to retrieve satisfactorily, or to be uniformly correct in distin- 
 guishing and sticking to the scent of the animal which is 
 wounded. 
 
 In the same way pointing is hereditary in pointers and 
 setters, and puppies of a good breed, and of a well-educated 
 ancestry, take to pointing at game as naturally as to eating 
 their food, and not only do they, of their own accord, point 
 steadily, but also back each other, quarter their ground regularly, 
 and in fact instinctively follow the example of their high-bred 
 and well-brought-up ancestors. For my own part, I think it 
 quite a superfluous trouble crossing a good breed of pointers 
 with fox-hound, or any other kind of dog, by way of adding 
 speed and strength, you lose more than you gain, by giving 
 at the same time hard-headedness and obstinacy. It is much 
 better, if you fancy your breed of pointers or setters to be 
 growing small or degenerate, to cross them with some different 
 family of pointers or setters of stronger or faster make, of which 
 you will be sure to find plenty with very little trouble. It is a 
 great point in all dogs to allow them to be as much at liberty 
 as possible ; no animal kept shut up in a kennel or place of 
 confinement can have the same use of his senses as one which 
 is allowed to be at large to gain opportunities of exerting his 
 powers of observation and increase his knowledge in the ways 
 of the world. Dogs which are allowed to be always loose are 
 very seldom mischievous and troublesome, it is only those which 
 are kept too long shut up and in solitude that rush into mischief 
 the moment they are at liberty ; of course it is necessary to 
 keep dogs confined to a certain extent, but my rule is to 
 imprison them as little as possible. Mine, therefore, seldom 
 are troublesome, but live at peace and friendship with numerous 
 other animals about the house and grounds, although many of 
 those animals are their natural enemies and objects of chase : 
 dogs, Shetland ponies, cats, tame rabbits, wild ducks, sheldrakes, 
 pigeons, etc., all associate together and feed out of the same
 
 134 
 
 ll'fLD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 
 
 CHAP. XIV 
 
 hand ; and the only one of my pets whose inclination to 
 slaughter I cannot subdue, is a peregrine falcon, which never 
 loses an opportunity of killing any duck or hen that may 
 venture within his reach. Even the wild partridges and wood- 
 pigeons, which frequently feed with the poultry, are left un- 
 molested by the dogs. The terrier, who is constantly at 
 warfare with cats and rabbits in a state of nature, leaves those 
 about the house in perfect peace ; while the wildest of all wild 
 fowl, the common mallards and sheldrakes, eat corn from the 
 hand of the " hen-wife." 
 
 Though naturally all men are carnivorous, and therefore 
 animals of prey, and inclined by nature to hunt and destroy 
 other creatures, and although I share in this our natural in- 
 stinct to a great extent, I have far more pleasure in seeing these 
 different animals enjoying themselves about me, and in observing 
 their different habits, than I have in hunting down and destroy- 
 ing them.
 
 WOOD-PIGEONS 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 Increase of Wood- Pigeons and other Birds Service to the farmer of these Birds 
 Tame Wood-Pigeons : Food of The Turtle-Dove Blue Rock- Pigeons : Caves 
 where they breed Shooting at the Rocks near Cromarty. 
 
 OWING to the decrease of vermin, that is, of all the carnivorous 
 birds and beasts of the country, there is a proportionate increase 
 in the numbers of the different living creatures on which they 
 preyed. I do not here allude to game only, but to all the other 
 ferce natures of the district. Wood-pigeons, blackbirds, thrushes, 
 and all the smaller birds increase yearly in consequence of the
 
 136 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 destruction of their natural enemies. The wood-pigeon l in par- 
 ticular has multiplied to a great extent. The farmers complain 
 constantly to me of the mischief done by these birds, whom I 
 cannot defend by giving them the credit of atoning for their 
 consumption of corn by an equal or greater consumption of 
 grubs and other noxious insects, as they feed wholly on seeds 
 and vegetables. An agricultural friend of mine near this place, 
 who had yielded with a tolerably good grace to my arguments 
 in favour of the rook, pointed out to me the other day (March 
 6th) an immense flock of wood-pigeons busily at work on a field 
 of young clover which had been under barley the last season. 
 "There," he said, "you constantly say that every bird does 
 more good than harm ; what good are those birds doing to my 
 young clover ? " On this, in furtherance of my favourite axiom, 
 that every wild animal is of some service to us, I determined to 
 shoot some of the wood-pigeons, that I might see what they 
 actually were feeding on ; for I did not at all fall into my 
 friend's idea that they were grazing on his clover. By watching 
 in their line of flight from the field to the woods, and sending 
 a man round to drive them off the clover, I managed to kill 
 eight of the birds as they flew over my head. I took them to 
 his house, and we opened their crops to see what they contained. 
 Every pigeon's crop was as full as it could possibly be of the 
 seeds of two of the worst weeds in the country, the wild mustard 
 and the ragweed, which they had found remaining on the surface 
 of the ground, these plants ripening and dropping their seeds 
 before the corn is cut. Now no amount of human labour and 
 search could have collected on the same ground, at that time of 
 the year, as much of these seeds as was consumed by each of 
 these five or six hundred wood-pigeons daily, for two or three 
 weeks together. Indeed, during the whole of the summer and 
 spring, and a considerable part of the winter, all pigeons must 
 feed entirely on the seeds of different wild plants, as no grain 
 is to be obtained by these soft-billed birds excepting immediately 
 
 1 C. palumbus (wood-pigeon or ring-dove) feeds on small potatoes. C. St. J. 
 
 Very abundant in cultivated districts, yet "its first appearance is an event actually 
 within the recollection of old people now living in the county (East Lothian) in which the 
 species is most abundant. About eighty years ago it was quite unknown there. The 
 introduction of the clovers and turnip effected this increase." From December 1862 to 
 6th June 1870, 130,440 of these birds were killed under the auspices of the United East 
 Lothian Agricultural Society, yet no perceptible diminution of the nuisance has taken 
 place. Of course the native birds are largely reinforced by migratory flocks every winter. 
 It is very injurious to the farmer from the amount of grain which it eats (Gray, p. 213).
 
 xv THE WOOD-PIGEON 137 
 
 after the sowing-time, and when the corn is nearly ripe, or for a 
 short time after it is cut. Certainly I can enter into the feelings 
 of a farmer who sees a flock of hundreds of these birds alighting 
 on a field of standing wheat or devouring the newly-sown oats. 
 Seeing them so employed must for the moment make him for- 
 get the utility they are of at other times. For my own part, I 
 never shoot at a wood-pigeon near my house, nor do I ever 
 kill one without a feeling of regret, so much do I like to hear 
 their note in the spring and summer mornings. The first de- 
 cisive symptom of the approach of spring and fine weather is 
 the cooing of the wood-pigeon. Where not molested, they are 
 very fond of building their nest in the immediate vicinity of a 
 house. Shy as they are at all other times of the year, no bird 
 sits closer on her eggs or breeds nearer to the abode of man 
 than the wood-pigeon. There are always several nests close 
 to my windows, and frequently immediately over some walk, 
 where the birds sit in conscious security, within five or six feet 
 of the passer-by ; and there are generally a pair or two that 
 feed with the chickens, knowing the call of the woman who 
 takes care of the poultry as well as the tame birds do. 
 
 I have frequently attempted to tame young wood-pigeons, 
 taking them at a very early age from the nest. They generally 
 become tolerably familiar till the first moult ; but as soon as 
 they acquire strength of plumage and wing, they have invariably 
 left me, except in one instance which occurred two years ago. 
 I put some wood-pigeons' eggs under a tame pigeon of my 
 children's, taking away the eggs on which she was sitting at the 
 time. Only one of the young birds grew up, and it became 
 perfectly tame. It remained with its foster parents, flying in 
 and out of their house, and coming with them to be fed at the 
 windows. After it had grown up, and the cares of a new nest 
 made the old birds drive it out of their company, the wood-pigeon 
 became still tamer, always coming at breakfast-time or whenever 
 he was called to the window-sill, where he would remain as long 
 as he was noticed, cooing and strutting up and down as if to 
 challenge attention to his beautiful plumage. 
 
 However, like all pets, this poor bird came to an untimely 
 end, being struck down and killed by a hen-harrier. I never 
 on any other occasion saw a wood-pigeon remain perfectly tame, 
 if left at liberty ; and if they are entirely confined, they seldom
 
 I 3 8 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 acquire their full beauty of feather. The bird seems to have a 
 natural shyness and wildness which prevent its ever becoming 
 domesticated like the common blue rock-pigeon. 
 
 It is very difficult to approach wood-pigeons when feeding 
 in the fields. They keep in the most open and exposed places, 
 and allow no enemy to come near them. It is amusing to 
 watch a large flock of these birds while searching the ground 
 for grain. They walk in a compact body, and in order that 
 all may fare alike, the hindmost rank every now and then fly 
 over the heads of their companions to the front, where they 
 keep the best place for a minute or two, till those now in the 
 rear take their place in the same manner. They keep up this 
 kind of fair play during the whole time of feeding. Almost 
 every kind of seed is eaten by them, and the farmers accuse 
 them of destroying their turnips in severe snow and frost. 
 They feed also on fruit of all kinds, both the wild berries, such 
 as mountain-ash, ivy, etc., and also upon almost all garden fruits 
 that are not too large to be swallowed. Numbers of them come 
 every evening to my cherry-trees, where they fearlessly swallow 
 as many cherries as they can hold, although the gardener may 
 be at work close at hand. Strawberries also are occasionally 
 laid waste by them ; and in the winter and early spring they 
 devour the young cabbage and lettuce-plants. Where acorns 
 are plentiful, the wood-pigeons seem to prefer them to anything 
 else ; and the quantity they manage to stow away in their crop 
 is perfectly astonishing. 
 
 There are many months of the year, however, during which 
 they are compelled, nolentes volentes, to feed wholly on the seeds 
 of wild plants, thereby saving the farmers an infinity of trouble 
 in weeding and cleaning their lands. The wood-pigeons breed 
 here in great numbers, the large fir-woods and ivy-covered 
 banks of the river affording them plenty of shelter. Their 
 greatest enemy in the breeding-season is the hooded crow, which 
 is constantly searching for their eggs, and from their white colour, 
 and the simplicity of the nest, he can distinguish them at a 
 great distance off. The sparrowhawk, too, frequently carries 
 off the young birds, when nearly ready to fly, taking them out 
 of the nest. It is a curious fact, but one I have very often 
 observed, that this hawk, though I have seen him in the vicinity 
 of the wood-pigeon's nest, and have no doubt that he has known
 
 xv PIGEONS 139 
 
 of the young birds in it, never carries them off till they have 
 attained to a good size, watching their daily growth till he thinks 
 them fit to be killed. 
 
 In game-preserves wood-pigeons are certainly of some use, 
 both in affording to vermin a more conspicuous and more 
 favourite food than even partridge or pheasant, and in taking 
 the attention of the larger hawks from the game. But he also 
 does good service in giving notice of the approach of any 
 danger, loudly flapping his wings as he flies off the trees on the 
 first alarm. And at night no bird is so watchful. I have 
 frequently attempted to approach the trees where the wood- 
 pigeons were roosting ; but even in the darkest nights these 
 birds would take the alarm, affording in this respect a great 
 contrast to the pheasant. The poor wood-pigeon has no defence 
 against its enemies excepting its watchful and never-sleeping 
 timidity, not being able to do battle against even the smallest 
 of its numerous persecutors. 
 
 Though the turtle-dove never breeds here, and is supposed 
 never to visit this part of the country, I have twice seen a pair 
 about my house, both times towards the end of autumn. Last 
 year a pair remained for about three weeks here, from the 
 middle of October to the beginning of November, when they 
 disappeared ; probably returning southwards, not being nearly 
 so hardy a bird as the wood-pigeon. Besides the wood-pigeon, 
 we have considerable numbers of the little blue rock-pigeon, 
 breeding along the caves and rocks of the coast, and feeding 
 inland in large flocks. On the opposite coast of Ross-shire and 
 Cromarty, very great numbers are found during the whole year. 
 The caves there are much more extensive, and the rocks less 
 easy of access, than they are along our coast by Burghead, 
 Gordonston, etc. ; the rock-pigeons therefore make those rocks 
 their headquarters. 
 
 Being at Cromarty early in last June, I made an excursion 
 along the rocks, for the double purpose of seeing the coast, 
 which is peculiarly bold and magnificent on the Ross-shire side 
 of the Cromarty Ferry, and also of shooting some pigeons l and 
 other birds which bred in the caves and cliffs. 
 
 1 The rock -pigeon (C. tivia) is very abundant over the coast -line of the west of 
 Scotland, especially in the numerous caverns, such as those at the Haskan Rocks, Mull, 
 Staffa, etc. They lay two eggs, and have several broods in the year (Gray, p. 220).
 
 140 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 Having hired a boat and crew, we started from Cromarty 
 at the first of the ebb on a bright calm day, with the little wind 
 that there was coming from the west. If the slightest east 
 wind comes on, the roll of the sea from the German Ocean is 
 so heavy on these rocks that it is impossible to approach them. 
 This is also the case for some days after an east wind has been 
 blowing, as there still remains a considerable swell. On nearing 
 the west end of the rocks, which are several hundred feet high, 
 we disturbed a good many cormorants, who were resting on 
 some points of the cliff, and basking with open wings in the 
 morning sun. Some parts of the rocks were quite white with 
 the dung of these birds. In the ivy-covered recesses, far up, 
 were every here and there a pair of small hawks, and rabbits 
 hopping about high over our heads, along narrow paths on the 
 face of the rock. I shot a rabbit at a great height with a rifle, 
 and he came tumbling over and over, till he finally fell right 
 into a hawk's nest, to the great astonishment of the young birds. 
 Innumerable jackdaws breed in every crevice. As we rowed 
 farther on, we came opposite a large cave, which the boatmen 
 told me was a great place of resort for the pigeons. So, stop- 
 ping our course, the men shouted, and out came a large flock 
 of these birds, flying directly over our heads. I killed two or 
 three, and the rest flew on, winding round the angles and head- 
 lands of the coast with inconceivable rapidity. Having picked 
 up the birds, I landed with great difficulty on the rocks, and 
 making my way over the slippery seaweed, got into the cave, 
 which extended some distance under the cliffs. There were 
 several pigeons' nests, though none that I could get at ; but I 
 shot a couple of young ones that had left the nest. The rever- 
 beration that succeeded the report of the gun in the arched 
 cave nearly deafened me. 
 
 Soon afterwards we landed at another point ; and here, 
 following the example of one of my crew, I crept through a 
 small aperture on my hands and knees, which led into a large 
 and nearly dark cave, said to be the abode of otters. Before I 
 could set fire to some dry fir-roots, which we brought with us, 
 my dog was barking furiously, some distance within the cave. 
 We got our light and went to examine what he had. By the 
 tracks, he had evidently come on an otter, which had made his 
 escape into a small hole that seemed to go into the very heart
 
 xv THE ROCK-PIGEON 141 
 
 of the rocks, and from which we had no chance of extracting 
 him. This cave was too damp for the birds, but was much 
 marked with the footprints of otters. Though the entry was so 
 small, the cave itself was both lofty and extensive. 
 
 As we floated along the coast, stopping at the mouths of 
 several caves, and occasionally landing, we put up several large 
 flocks of pigeons, and here and there cormorants and other sea- 
 birds. On one shelf of the rocks, far up above the sea, was the 
 nest of the raven. It was once inhabited by a pair of eagles, 
 but is now quietly tenanted by the raven. These birds had 
 flown ; but both young and old were flying about the tops of 
 the cliff, croaking and playing fantastic antics, as if in great 
 astonishment at our appearance ; for I fancy that they have 
 very few visitants here. I tried a shot at one with a rifle-ball, 
 but only splintered the rock at his feet. 
 
 Some of the caves were of great extent, and very full of 
 pigeons, old and young, several of which I killed. The birds 
 were nearly all blue ; here and there a sandy-coloured one, but 
 no other variety. Having made our way a considerable distance 
 along the coast, and the tide being now quite out, we landed 
 on a green spot of grass that stretched down between the rocks 
 to the water's edge. Above our heads, and in every direction, 
 were heron-nests ; some built in the clusters of ivy, and others 
 on the bare shelves of rocks. The young ones were full grown, 
 but still in the nests, standing upright and looking gravely at 
 us. Though I thought it a shame to make any of them 
 orphans, I took the opportunity of killing three fine old male 
 herons, whose black feathers I coveted much for my salmon- 
 flies ; sitting quietly at the foot of the rocks, I could distinctly 
 see which birds were well supplied with these feathers, as they 
 flew in to feed their young over my head. The feathers that 
 are so useful in fly-dressing are the black drooping feathers on 
 the breast of the cock heron : neither the young bird nor the 
 hen bird has them. While resting my men here, I sent rifle- 
 balls through three of the herons, each of whom afforded me a 
 goodly supply of feathers. 
 
 Looking with my glass to the opposite coast of the firth, I 
 could distinctly see the long range of sandhills between Nairn 
 and the Bay of Findhorn, and could distinguish many familiar 
 points and nooks. While resting here, too, a large seal appeared
 
 I 4 2 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 not above a hundred and fifty yards out at sea, watching us 
 with great attention, but would not come within sure range of 
 my rifle. As we returned homewards, the pigeons were in great 
 numbers flying into the caves to feed their young. A pair of 
 peregrine falcons also passed along, on their way to a rock 
 where they breed, farther eastwards than we had been. 
 
 We saw too a flock of goats winding along the most inac- 
 cessible-looking parts of the cliff; and now and then the old 
 patriarchal-looking leader would stop to peer at us as we passed 
 below him, and when he saw that we had no hostile intention 
 towards his flock, he led them on again, stopping here and there 
 to nibble at the scanty herbage that was to be found in the 
 clefts of the rocks. In one place where we landed, my dog 
 started an old goat and a pair of kids, who dashed immediately 
 at what appeared to be a perpendicular face of rock, but on 
 which they contrived to keep their footing in a way that quite 
 puzzled me. The old goat at one time alighted on a point of 
 the rock where she had to stand with her four feet on a spot 
 not bigger than my hand, where she stood for a minute or 
 two seemingly quite at a loss which way to go, till her eye 
 caught some (to me invisible) projections of the stone, up which 
 she bounded, looking anxiously at her young, who, however, 
 seemed quite capable of following her footsteps wherever she 
 chose to lead them. We caught sight also of a badger, as he 
 scuffled along a shelf of rock and hurried into his hole. 
 
 As the evening advanced, the cormorants kept coming in 
 to their roosting-places in great numbers, and I shot several of 
 them. We saw a good many seals as we approached the stake- 
 nets near the ferry, but did not get any shots at them ; and at 
 one place two otters were playing about in the water near the 
 rocks, but they also took good care to disappear before we came 
 within reach of them ; and as I wished to get back to Cromarty 
 before it was late, I would not stop to wait for their reappearance. 
 I was much pleased on the whole with my day's excursion the 
 beautiful scenery of the rocks, with the harbour of Cromarty, 
 and the distant hills of Ross-shire and Inverness-shire, forming 
 altogether as magnificent and varied a view as I have ever seen. 
 
 On an excursion along these same rocks I was once nearly 
 drowned. I had just killed a pigeon that had dropped in the 
 water in a recess between the rocks. We rowed in after it
 
 A NARROW ESCAPE 
 
 and just as I was leaning over the bow of the boat to pick it 
 up, a rolling swell of the sea lifted the boat nearly upright, 
 grating her keel on the edge of the rock. I was hoisted with 
 the bow of the boat into the air, and holding on looked round 
 to see what had happened, the day being perfectly calm ; the 
 boatmen were pale with fright as we appeared for a moment 
 balanced between life and death, the chances rather in favour 
 of the latter. The same wave, however, as it receded, took us 
 twenty or thirty yards out to sea, and the men immediately 
 rowed as hard as they could to get a good offing. The wave 
 that had nearly upset us was the forerunner of a heavy swell 
 and wind from the east, which was coming on unobserved by 
 us, for we had been wholly intent on our sport. I never could 
 understand how our boat could have righted again after the 
 position she was in for a few moments. The face of the rocks 
 was too perpendicular at the place to admit of our making good 
 a landing had we been upset. Once away from the rocks we 
 were safe enough, and rigging out a couple of strong lines with 
 large white flies, we caught as many fish of different kinds as 
 we could pull in during our way over to Cromarty. A large 
 gull made two swoops at one of the flies, and had not a fish 
 forestalled him, we should probably have hooked him also. 1 I 
 do not know a day's sport more amusing than one along these 
 rocks on a fine summer day, what with the variety of birds and 
 the beauty and grandeur of the scenery, taking good care, how- 
 ever, to avoid the rocks when there is the least wind or swell 
 from the east or north. 
 
 1 My friend the late E. R. Alston, while fly-fishing for trout in Loch Assynt in 1877, 
 did actually hook a large gull. One of the same pair which was nesting on a rock in 
 that loch pestered me the following year on drawing near its rock, and, had I wished, I 
 could probably have taken it with my artificial flies. 
 
 ACROSS CROMARTY BAY
 
 WILD DUCK 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 Wild Uucks : Edible kinds of Breeding-places of Mallards Change of Plumage 
 Shooting Feeding places Half - bred Wild Ducks Anas glacialis Anas 
 clangula: Habits of Teeth of Goosander Cormorants Anecdotes. 
 
 A FEW years ago I used to see a great many scaup ducks in the 
 pools and burns near the coast, but now it is very seldom that 
 I meet with a single bird of this kind ; the last which I killed 
 here was in the month of July. This is one of the few ducks 
 frequenting the shore which has not a rank or fishy flavour : * 
 out of the numerous varieties of birds of the duck kind, I can 
 only enumerate four that are really good eating, namely, the 
 common mallard, the widgeon, the teal, and the scaup duck. 
 
 1 This opinion differs from that generally entertained, for the scaup is regarded by 
 most persons as unfit for the table.
 
 CHAP, xvi WILD DUCK'S NEST 145 
 
 The best of these is the mallard : with us, they breed principally 
 about the most lonely lochs and pools in the hills ; sometimes 
 I have seen these birds during the breeding-season very far up 
 among the hills : a few hatch and rear their young about the 
 rough ground and mosses near the sea, but these get fewer and 
 fewer every year, in consequence of the increase of draining and 
 clearing which goes on in all the swamps and wild grounds. 
 
 Some few breed in furze-bushes and quiet corners near the 
 mouth of the river, and may be seen in some rushy pool, accom- 
 panied by a brood of young ones. Though so wild a bird, they 
 sit close, allowing people to pass very near to them without 
 moving. When they leave their nest, the eggs are always care- 
 fully concealed, so that a careless observer would never suppose 
 that the heap of dried leaves and grass that he sees under a 
 bush covers twelve or thirteen duck's eggs. 
 
 Occasionally a wild duck fixes on a most unlikely place to 
 build her nest in ; for instance, in a cleft of a rock, where you 
 would rather expect to find a pigeon or jackdaw building, and 
 I once, when fishing in a quiet brook in England, saw a wild 
 duck fly out of an old pollard oak-tree. My curiosity being 
 excited by seeing the bird in so unusual a place, I examined 
 the tree, and found that she had a nest built of sticks and grass, 
 containing six eggs, placed at the junction of the branches and 
 the main stem. I do not know how she would have managed 
 to get her young ones safely out of it when hatched, for on care- 
 fully measuring the height, I found that the nest was exactly 
 fifteen feet from the ground. 
 
 As soon as hatched, the young ones take to the water, and 
 it is very amusing to see the activity and quickness which the 
 little fellows display in catching insects and flies as they skim 
 along the surface of the water, led on by the parent bird, who 
 takes the greatest care of them, bustling about with all the hurry 
 and importance of a barn-yard hen. Presently she gives a low 
 warning quack, as a hawk or carrion crow passes in a suspicious 
 manner over them. One cry is enough, away all the little ones 
 dart into the rushes, screaming and fluttering, while the old bird, 
 with head flat on the water and upturned eye, slowly follows 
 them, but not until she sees them all out of danger. After a 
 short time, if the enemy has disappeared, the old bird peers 
 cautiously from her covert, and if she makes up her mind that 
 
 L
 
 I 4 6 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 all is safe, she calls forth her offspring again, to feed and sport 
 in the open water. 
 
 The young birds do not fly till they are quite full grown. 
 I have observed that, as soon as ever the inner side of the wing 
 is fully clothed, they take to flying ; their bones, which before 
 this time were more like gristle than anything else, quickly 
 hardening, and giving the bird full power and use of its pinions. 
 The old bird then leads them forth at night to the most distant 
 feeding-places, either to the grass meadows where they search 
 for snails or worms, or to the splashy swamps, where they dabble 
 about all night, collecting the different insects and young frogs 
 that abound in these places. As the corn ripens, they fly to 
 the oat-fields in the dusk of the evening, preferring this grain 
 and peas to any other. They are now in good order and easily 
 shot, as they come regularly to the same fields every night. 
 As soon as they have satisfied their hunger, they go to some 
 favourite pool, where they drink and wash themselves. After 
 this, they repair, before dawn, to their resting-place for the day, 
 generally some large piece of water, where they can float quietly 
 out of reach of all danger. In October, the drakes have acquired 
 their splendid plumage, which they cast off in the spring, at 
 that time changing their gay feathers for a more sombre brown, 
 resembling the plumage of the female bird, but darker. During 
 the time that they are clothed in this grave dress, the drakes 
 keep in flocks together, and show themselves but little, appearing 
 to keep as much out of observation as possible. During the 
 actual time of their spring moulting, the drakes are for some 
 days so helpless that I have frequently seen a dog catch them. 
 The same thing occurs with the few wild geese that breed in 
 the north of Scotland. With regard to shooting wild ducks, 
 I am no advocate or follower of the punt and swivel system. 
 I can see little amusement in taking a long shot at the sound 
 of feeding water-fowl, killing and maiming you know not what ; 
 nor am I addicted to punting myself in a flat boat over half- 
 frozen mud, and waiting for hours together for the chance of a 
 sweeping shot. There may be great sport in this kind of pro- 
 ceeding, but I cannot discover it. I much prefer the more 
 active and independent amusement of taking my chance with 
 a common gun, meeting the birds on their way to and from 
 their feeding or resting places, and observing and taking
 
 xvi WILD-FOWL SHOOTING 14? 
 
 note of their different habits and ways of getting their 
 living. 
 
 No rule can be laid down for wild-fowl shooting ; what suc- 
 ceeds in one place fails in another. The best plan, in whatever 
 district the sportsman is located, is to take note where the birds 
 feed, where they rest in the daytime, and where they take shelter 
 in heavy winds. By observing these different things, it is always 
 easy enough to procure a few wild ducks. On the coast, the 
 birds change their locality with the ebb and flow of the tide, 
 generally feeding with the ebb, and resting with the flow. I 
 believe that about the best wild-fowl shooting in the kingdom 
 is in the Cromarty Firth, where thousands of birds of every 
 variety pass the winter, feeding on the long sea-grass, and pass- 
 ing backwards and forwards constantly at every turn of the tide. 
 I have here often killed wild ducks by moonlight. It is an in- 
 teresting walk in the bright clear winter nights, to go round by 
 the shore, listening to the various calls of the birds, the constant 
 quack of the mallard, the shrill whistle of the widgeon, the low 
 croaking note of the teal, and the fine bugle voice of the wild 
 swan, varied every now and then by the loud whistling of a 
 startled curlew, or oyster-catcher. The mallard and teal are 
 the only exclusively night-feeding birds ; the others feed at any 
 time of the night or day, being dependent on the state of the 
 tide to get at the banks of grass and weed, or the sands where 
 they find shell-fish. All ducks are quite as wary in the bright 
 moonlight as in the daytime, but at night are more likely to 
 be found near the shore. Between the sea and the land near 
 my abode is a long stretch of green embankment, which was 
 made some years back in order to reclaim from the sea a great 
 extent of land, which then consisted of swampy grass and herb- 
 age, overflowed at every high tide, but which now repays the 
 expense of erecting the embankments, by affording as fine a 
 district of corn-land as there is in the kingdom. By keeping 
 the landward side of this grass-wall, and looking over it with 
 great care, at different spots, I can frequently kill several brace 
 of ducks and widgeon in an evening ; though, without a clever 
 retriever, the winged birds must invariably escape. Guided by 
 their quacking, I have also often killed wild ducks at springs 
 and running streams on frosty nights. It is perfectly easy to 
 distinguish the birds as they swim about on a calm moonlight
 
 1 4 8 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 night, particularly if you can get the birds between you and 
 the moon. It is a great assistance in night shooting to paste 
 a piece of white paper along your gun-barrel, half-way down 
 from the muzzle. In the stillness of the night the birds are 
 peculiarly alive to sound, and the slightest noise sends them 
 immediately out of shot. Their sense of smelling being also 
 very acute, you must always keep to leeward of them. The 
 mallard duck is more wary than any other kind in these respects, 
 rising immediately with loud cries of warning, and putting all 
 the other birds within hearing on the alert. I have seen the 
 wild swans at night swim with a low cheeping note close by 
 me ; their white colour, however, makes them more difficult to 
 distinguish than any other bird. It is quite easy to shoot ducks 
 flying by moonlight, as long as you can get them between you 
 and the clear sky. Practice, however, is required to enable the 
 shooter to judge of distance at night-time. 
 
 I have frequently caught and brought home young wild 
 ducks. If confined in a yard, or elsewhere, for a week or two 
 with tame birds, they strike up a companionship which keeps 
 them from wandering when set at liberty. Some few years 
 back I brought home three young wild ducks : two of them 
 turned out to be drakes. I sent away my tame drakes, and, 
 in consequence, the next season had a large family of half-bred 
 and whole wild ducks, as the tame and wild breed together 
 quite freely. The wild ducks which have been caught are the 
 tamest of all ; throwing off all their natural shyness, they follow 
 their feeder, and will eat corn out of the hand of any person 
 with whom they are acquainted. The half-bred birds are some- 
 times pinioned, as they are inclined to fly away for the purpose 
 of making their nests at a distance : at other times they never 
 attempt to leave the field in front of the house. A pair or two 
 always breed in the flower-garden. They appear to have a 
 great penchant for forming their nests in certain flower-beds, and 
 they are allowed to have their own way in this respect, as their 
 elegant and high-bred appearance interests even the gardener, 
 enemy as he is to all intruders on his favourite flowers. 
 
 These birds conceal their eggs with great care, and I have 
 often been amused at the trouble the poor duck is put to in 
 collecting dead leaves and straw to cover her eggs, when they 
 are laid in a well-kept flower-bed. I often have a handful of
 
 xvi WILD AND LONG-TAILED DUCKS 149 
 
 straw laid on the grass at a convenient distance from the nest, 
 which the old bird soon carries off, and makes use of. The 
 drakes, though they take no portion of the nesting labours, 
 appear to keep a careful watch near at hand during the time 
 the duck is sitting. The half-bred birds have a peculiarity in 
 common with the wild duck which is, that they always pair, 
 each drake taking charge of only one duck not, as is the case 
 with the tame ducks, taking to himself half a dozen wives. 
 The young, too, when first hatched, have a great deal of the 
 shyness of wild ducks, showing itself in a propensity to run off 
 and hide in any hole or corner that is at hand. When in full 
 plumage my drakes also have the beautifully-mottled feathers 
 above the wing which are so much used in fly-dressing. With 
 regard to the larder, the half-wild ducks are an improvement on 
 both the tame and wild, being superior to either in delicacy and 
 flavour. Their active and neat appearance, too, makes them a 
 much more ornamental object (as they walk about in search of 
 worms on the lawn or field) than a waddling, corpulent barn- 
 yard duck. 
 
 There is a very pretty and elegant little duck, which is 
 common on our coast the long-tailed duck, 1 Anas glacialis. 
 Its movements and actions are peculiarly graceful and amusing, 
 while its musical cry is quite unlike that of any other bird, 
 unless a slight resemblance to the trumpeting of the wild swan 
 may be traced in it. Lying concealed on the shore, I have often 
 watched these birds, as they swim along in small companies 
 within twenty yards of me ; the drake, with his gay plumage, 
 playing quaint antics round the more sad-coloured female 
 sometimes jerking himself half out of the water, at others diving 
 under her, and coming up on the other side. Sometimes, by a 
 common impulse, they all set off swimming in a circle after each 
 other with great rapidity, and uttering their curious cry, which 
 is peculiarly wild and pleasing. When feeding, these birds dive 
 constantly, remaining under water for a considerable time. 
 Turning up their tails, they dip under with a curious kind of 
 motion, one after the other, till the whole flock is under water. 
 They are not nearly so wild or shy as many other kinds of wild- 
 fowl, and are easily shot, though if only winged it is almost 
 impossible to catch them, even with the best retriever, so quickly 
 
 1 Known in some places as the " Calloo," from the cry they utter.
 
 1 5 o WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 do they dive. They swim in with the flowing tide, frequently 
 following the course of the water to some little distance from 
 the mouth of the river. When I see them in the heavy surf 
 on the main shore, they seem quite at their ease, floating high 
 in the water, and diving into the midst of the wildest waves. 
 When put up, they seldom fly far, keeping low, and suddenly 
 dropping into the water again, where they seem more at their 
 ease than in the air. When I have shot one of these birds, its 
 mate (whether the duck or the drake is the survivor) returns 
 frequently to the spot, flying round and round, and uttering a 
 plaintive call. 
 
 On the open part of the coast they are often seen in company 
 with the velvet duck. The latter very seldom comes into the 
 bay, but keeps without the bar, quite regardless of storm or 
 wind. It is a fine handsome bird, though of a rather heavy 
 make. When flying, they have very much the appearance of 
 a blackcock, having the same white mark on the wing, and 
 being black in all other parts of their plumage. It is not diffi- 
 cult to approach these birds in a boat, but as they are not fit 
 to eat, they are not much sought after. They are excellent 
 divers, and must be shot dead, or they generally escape. 
 
 The golden-eye, Anas dangula, and the morillon are common 
 about the mouth of the river and burns. I have often heard it 
 argued that these two birds are merely the same species in dif- 
 ferent degrees of maturity ; but I do not consider that there is 
 the least doubt as to their being quite distinct. I have fre- 
 quently shot what I suppose to be the young golden-eye not 
 arrived at its full plumage ; but in these the white spot at the 
 corner of the mouth is more or less visible. The birds are 
 larger than the morillon, besides which the golden-eye, in what- 
 ever stage of maturity it is found, always makes that peculiar 
 noise with its wings, when flying, which is not heard in the flight 
 of the morillon, or of any other kind of duck. I remember, too, 
 once watching a pair of morillons in a Highland loch, late in 
 the spring ; they had evidently paired, and were come to the 
 age of maturity, and ready for breeding. 
 
 The golden-eye dives well, remaining a considerable time 
 under water seeking its food, which consists of the small shell-fish 
 which it finds at the bottom. The morillon frequents the same 
 places as the golden-eye, but always remains singly or in pairs,
 
 xvi GOOSANDER AND MERGANSER 151 
 
 whereas the latter birds frequently unite in small flocks, particu- 
 larly when they take to the inland lochs, which they do at the 
 commencement of the spring. The golden-eye is frequently 
 very fat and heavy, but is of a rank, coarse flavour. 
 
 The goosander l and merganser 2 fish constantly in the river : 
 they remain late in the spring and return early in the autumn. 
 Quick-sighted, they perceive an enemy at a great distance and 
 keep a watch on all his movements. As long as he remains in 
 full view and at a safe distance the birds do not move ; but the 
 moment the sportsman conceals himself, or approaches too near, 
 they rise and go out to sea. They are easily killed by sending 
 a person above them, and concealing oneself some way down 
 the course of the stream, as when put up, although they may 
 at first fly a short way up the water, they invariably turn 
 downwards and repair to the open sea, following the windings 
 of the river during their whole flight. If winged, they instantly 
 dive, and rise at a considerable distance, keeping only their heads 
 above the water, and making for the sea as fast as they can. 
 
 They feed on small trout and eels, which they fish for at 
 the tails of the streams or in comparatively shallow water, unlike 
 the cormorant, who, feeding on good-sized fish, is always seen 
 diving in the large deep pools, where they are more likely to 
 find trout big enough to satisfy their voracious appetite. The 
 throat of the cormorant stretches to a very great extent, and 
 its mouth opens wide enough to swallow a good-sized sea- 
 trout. I saw a cormorant a few days ago engaged with a large 
 white trout which he had caught in a quiet pool, and which he 
 seemed to have some difficulty in swallowing. The bird was 
 swimming with the fish across his bill, and endeavouring to get 
 it in the right position, that is, with the head downwards. At 
 last, by a dexterous jerk, he contrived to toss the trout up, and, 
 catching it in his open mouth, managed to gulp it down, though 
 apparently the fish was very much larger in circumference than 
 the throat of the bird. The expanding power of a heron's 
 
 1 Sfergus castor is very destructive to' fish in rivers and fresh-water lakes. Macgillivray 
 mentions that eighteen trout were found in the gullet of one killed on the Tweed in 1838 
 (Gray, 403). 
 
 2 The merganser (Mergus serrator}, often called the red-breasted merganser, to dis- 
 tinguish it from an American visitor, the hooded merganser (.I/, cucullatus). The nest 
 is generally placed on heath in unfrequented islands (Gray, 400). It breeds throughout 
 the Arctic regions, and is frequently met in winter in most parts of England (Seebohm, 
 Siberia in Europe, p. 188).
 
 1 3 2 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 throat is also wonderfully great, and I have seen it severely 
 tested when the bird was engaged in swallowing a flounder 
 something wider than my hand. As the flounder went down, 
 the bird's throat was stretched out into a fan-like shape, as he 
 strained, apparently half- choked, to swallow it. These fish- 
 eating birds having no crop, all they gulp down, however large 
 it may be, goes at once into their stomach, where it is quickly 
 digested. Like the heron, the cormorant swallows young water- 
 fowl, rats, or anything that comes in its way. 
 
 There is a peculiarity in the bills of most birds which live 
 on worms or fish : they are all more or less provided with a 
 kind of teeth, which, sloping inwards, admit easily of the 
 ingress of their prey, but make it impossible for anything to 
 escape after it has once entered. In the goosander and merg- 
 anser this is particularly conspicuous, as their teeth are so placed 
 that they hold their slippery prey with the greatest facility. The 
 common wild duck has it also, though the teeth are not nearly 
 so projecting or sharp ; feeding as it does on worms and insects, 
 it does not require to be so strongly armed in this respect as 
 those birds that live on fish. 
 
 I wonder that it has never occurred to any one in this 
 country to follow the example of the Chinese in teaching the 
 cormorant to fish. 1 The bold and voracious disposition of this 
 bird makes it easy enough to tame, and many of our lochs and 
 river-mouths would be well adapted for a trial of its abilities 
 in fishing ; and it would be an amusing variety in sporting to 
 watch the bird as he dived and pursued the fish in clear water. 
 We might take a hint from our brethren of the Celestial Empire 
 with some advantage in this respect. 
 
 A curious anecdote of a brood of young wild ducks was 
 told me by my keeper to-day. He found in some very rough, 
 marshy ground, which was formerly a peat-moss, eight young 
 ducks nearly full grown, prisoners, as it were, in one of the old 
 peat-holes. They had evidently tumbled in some time before, 
 and had managed to subsist on the insects, etc., that it contained 
 or that fell into it. From the manner in which they had under- 
 mined the banks of their watery prison, the birds must have 
 been in it for some weeks. The sides were perpendicular, but 
 
 1 Since the author's time several have practised this mode of fishing with success in 
 England.
 
 XVI 
 
 PLUMAGE AFTER DEATH 
 
 '53 
 
 there were small resting-places under the bank which prevented 
 their being drowned. The size of the place they were in was 
 about eight feet square, and in this small space they had not 
 only grown up, but thrived, being fully as large and heavy as 
 any other young ducks of the same age. 
 
 In shooting water-fowl I have often been struck by the 
 fact that as soon as ever life is extinct in a bird which falls in 
 the sea or river, the plumage begins to get wet and to be 
 penetrated by the water, although as long as the bird lives 
 it remains dry and the wet runs off it. I can only account for 
 this by supposing that the bird, as long as life remains, keeps 
 his feathers in a position to throw off and prevent the water 
 from entering between them. This power is of course lost to 
 the dead bird, and the water penetrating through the outer part 
 of the feathers wets them all. This appears to be more likely 
 than that the feathers should be only kept dry by the oil 
 supplied by the bird, as the effect of this oil could not be so 
 instantaneously lost as to admit of wet as soon as the bird 
 drops dead, while if the bird be only wounded they remain dry. 
 
 THE SYMPATHETIC MATE
 
 OYSTER -CATCHERS AT HOME 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 Birds that come in Spring The Pewit: Pugnacity; Nests of; Cunning Ring- 
 Dotterel Redshank Oyster- Catcher : Food; Swimming of ; Nest Curlew 
 Redstart Swallows, etc. 
 
 THE pewit is the first bird that visits us for the purpose of 
 nidification. About the middle of February a solitary pewit 
 appears, or perhaps a pair, and I hear them in the evening 
 flying from the shore in order to search for worms in the field. 
 Towards the end of the month, great flocks arrive and collect 
 on the sands, always, however, feeding inland ; it is altogether 
 a nocturnal bird as far as regards feeding : at any hour of the 
 night, and however dark it is, if I happen to pass through the 
 grass-fields, I hear the pewits rising near me. Excepting to
 
 CHAP, xvn PEWITS 155 
 
 feed, they do not take much to the land till the end of March, 
 when, if the weather is mild, I see them all day long flying 
 about in their eccentric circles generally in pairs ; immediately 
 after they appear in this manner, they commence laying their 
 eggs, almost always on the barest fields, where they scratch 
 a small hole just large enough to contain four eggs the usual 
 number laid by all waders ; it is very difficult to distinguish 
 these eggs from the ground, their colour being a brownish-green 
 mottled with dark spots. I often see the hooded crows hunting 
 the fields frequented by the pewits, as regularly as a pointer, 
 flying a few yards above the ground, and searching for the eggs. 
 The cunning crow always selects the time when the old birds 
 are away on the shore ; as soon as he is perceived, however, 
 the pewits all combine in chasing him away: indeed, they attack 
 fearlessly any bird of prey that ventures near their breeding- 
 ground ; and I have often detected the locale of a stoat or 
 weasel by the swoops of these birds : also when they have laid 
 their eggs they fight most fiercely with any other bird of their 
 own species which happens to alight too near them. I saw 
 a cock pewit one day attack a wounded male bird which came 
 near his nest ; the pugnacious little fellow ran up to the intruder, 
 and taking advantage of his weakness, jumped on him, tramp- 
 ling upon him and pecking at his head, and then dragging him 
 along the ground as fiercely as a game-cock. 
 
 The hen pewit has a peculiar instinct in misleading people 
 as to the whereabouts of her nest ; as soon as any one appears 
 in the field where the nest is, the bird runs quietly and rapidly 
 in a stooping posture to some distance from it, and then rises 
 with loud cries and appearance of alarm, as if her nest was 
 immediately below the spot she rose from. When the young 
 ones are hatched too, the place to look for them is, not where 
 the parent birds are screaming and fluttering about, but at some 
 little distance from it ; as soon as you actually come to the 
 spot where their young are, the old birds alight on the ground 
 a hundred yards or so from you, watching your movements. 
 If, however, you pick up one of the young ones, both male and 
 female immediately throw off all disguise, and come wheeling 
 and screaming round your head, as if about to fly in your face. 
 The young birds, when approached, squat flat and motionless 
 on the ground, often amongst the weeds and grass in a shallow
 
 156 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 pool or ditch, where, owing to their colour, it is very difficult to 
 distinguish them from the surrounding objects. 
 
 Towards the end of March, the ring-dotterel, 1 the redshank, 
 the curlew, the oyster-catcher, and some other birds of the same 
 kind begin to frequent their breeding-places. On those parts 
 of the sandhills which are covered with small pebbles, the ring- 
 dotterels take up their station, uttering their plaintive and not 
 unmusical whistle for hours together, sometimes flitting about 
 after each other with a flight resembling that of a swallow, and 
 sometimes running rapidly along the ground, every now and 
 then jerking up their wings till they meet above their back. 
 Both the bird and its eggs are exactly similar in colour to the 
 ground on which they breed ; this is a provision of nature, to 
 preserve the eggs of birds that breed on the ground from the 
 prying eyes of their numerous enemies, and is observable in 
 many different kinds ; the colour of the young birds is equally 
 favourable to their concealment. 
 
 The redshank does not breed on the stones or bare ground, 
 but in some spot of rough grass ; their motions are very curious 
 at this time of year, as they run along with great swiftness, 
 clapping their wings together audibly above their heads, and 
 flying about round and round any intruder with rapid jerks, or 
 hovering in the air like a hawk, all the time uttering a loud 
 and peculiar whistle. They lead their young to the banks of 
 any pool or ditch at hand, and they conceal themselves in the 
 holes and corners close to the water's edge. 
 
 The oyster-catchers 2 sit quietly in pairs the chief part of 
 the day on the banks or islands of shingle about the river or 
 on the shore, but resort in the evenings to the sands in large 
 flocks. I have often been puzzled to understand why, during 
 the whole of the breeding-season, the oyster-catchers remain in 
 large flocks along the coast, notwithstanding their duties of 
 hatching and rearing their young. When all the other birds 
 are paired off, they still every now and then collect in the same 
 numbers as they do in winter. 
 
 1 It is not found east of the Himalayas. In the British Isles it is principally a spring 
 and autumn migrant, a few only remaining to breed on the Cumberland and Scotch 
 mountains. Its great breeding-grounds are on the grassy hills on the tundras of Siberia, 
 beyond the limits of forest growth (Seebohm, Siberia in Euro fie, p. 190). 
 
 2 Eggs very large. Breed commonly many miles inland on the gravelly banks of most 
 northern rivers. No nest. C. St. J.
 
 xvii OYSTER-CATCHERS 157 
 
 They lay very large eggs, of a greenish -brown colour 
 mottled with black ; both these birds and pewits soon become 
 tame and familiar if kept in a garden or elsewhere, watching 
 boldly for the worms turned up by the gardener when digging. 
 The oyster-catcher's natural food appears to be shell-fish only ; 
 I see them digging up the cockles with their powerful bill, or 
 detaching the small mussels from the scarps, and swallowing 
 them whole, when not too large ; if, however, one of these birds 
 finds a cockle too large to swallow at once, he digs away at it 
 with the hard point of his bill till he opens it, and then eats the 
 fish, leaving the shell. 
 
 It is a curious fact with regard to this bird, that if it drops 
 winged on the sea, it not only swims with great ease, but dives, 
 remaining under water for so long a time, and rising again at 
 such a distance, that I have known one escape out to sea in 
 spite of my retriever, and I have watched the bird swim gallantly 
 and with apparent ease across the bay, or to some bank at a 
 considerable distance off. The feet of the oyster-catcher seem 
 particularly ill adapted for swimming, as the toes are very short 
 and stiff in proportion to the size of the bird. Most of the 
 waders, when shot above the water and winged, will swim for a 
 short distance, but generally with difficulty ; none of them, 
 however, excepting this bird, attempt to dive. 
 
 When in captivity the oyster-catcher eats almost anything 
 that is offered to it. From its brilliant black and white plumage 
 and red bill, as well as from its utility in destroying slugs and 
 snails in the garden, where it searches for them with unceasing 
 activity, it is both ornamental and useful, and worthy of being 
 oftener kept for this purpose where a garden is surrounded by 
 walls ; it will, if taken young, remain with great contentment 
 with poultry without being confined. I have found its nest in 
 different localities, sometimes on the stones and sometimes on the 
 sand close to high-water mark very often on the small islands 
 and points of land about the river, at a considerable distance 
 from the sea ; its favourite place here is on the carse land 
 between the two branches of the Findhorn near the sea, where 
 it selects some little elevation of the ground just above the 
 reach of the tide, but where at spring-tides the nest must be 
 very often entirely surrounded by the water I never knew 
 either this or any bird make the mistake of building within
 
 158 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 reach of the high tides, though, from the great difference there 
 is in the height of the spring-tides, one might suppose that the 
 birds would be often led into such a scrape. 
 
 Unlike most birds of similar kind, the sandpiper 1 builds a 
 substantial, comfortable nest, in some tuft of grass near the 
 river-side, well concealed by the surrounding herbage, instead 
 of leaving its eggs on the bare stones or sand. It is a lively 
 little bird, and is always associated in my mind with summer 
 and genial weather as it runs jerking along the water's edge, 
 looking for insects or flies, and uttering its clear, pipe-like whistle. 
 The young of the sand-piper are neatly and elegantly mottled, 
 and are very difficult to be perceived. The eggs are brown and 
 yellow, nearly the colour of the withered grass and leaves with 
 which the bird forms its nest. 
 
 Towards the end of March the curlew 2 begins to leave the 
 shore, taking to the higher hills, where it breeds, near the edge 
 of some loch or marsh. During the season of breeding this 
 bird (though so shy and suspicious at all other times) flies 
 boldly round the head of any passer-by, with a loud, screaming 
 whistle. The eggs are very large. When first hatched, the 
 young have none of the length of bill which is so distinguishing 
 a feature in the old bird. On the shore the curlews feed mostly 
 on cockles and other shell-fish, which they extract from the 
 sand with ease, and swallow whole, voiding the shells broken 
 into small pieces. During open weather they frequent the 
 turnip and grass fields, where they appear to be busily seeking 
 for snails and worms. 
 
 There is no bird more difficult to get within shot of than 
 the curlew. Their sense of smelling is so acute that it is im- 
 possible to get near them excepting by going against the wind, 
 and they keep too good a look-out to leeward to admit of this 
 being always done. I have frequently killed them when feeding 
 in fields surrounded by stone walls, by showing my hand or 
 some small part of my dress above the wall, when they have 
 come wheeling round to discover what the object was. 
 
 1 The sandpiper (Tetanus hypoleucus) is everywhere in Scotland a common bird. It 
 " is a well-known object as it skims the surface of the quiet lochs with arched and almost 
 motionless wings, or stands on some isolated stone, vibrating its body as it salutes the 
 rambling intruder on its haunts." Its cry resembles "killi leepie," and itself is so called 
 in some districts (Gray, p. 296). 
 
 2 Lays four eggs (C. St. J. ) During the breeding season, like most wild birds at 
 such times, it becomes much tamer, and even approaches habitations.
 
 xvn REDSTART AND WHITETHROAT 159 
 
 Besides the sea-birds that come into this country to breed, 
 such as sand-pipers, pewits, terns, etc., there are some few of 
 our smaller birds that arrive in the spring to pass the summer 
 here. Amongst these I may name the redstart, the spotted 
 flycatcher, the whitethroat, the wheatear, etc. 
 
 The redstart is not very common : it breeds in several 
 places, however, up the Findhorn ; at Logic, for instance, where 
 year after year it builds in an old ivy-covered wall. The young, 
 when able to fly, appear often in my garden, for a few weeks, 
 actively employed in doing good service, killing numbers of 
 insects ; and every spring a pair or two of flycatchers breed in 
 one of the fruit-trees on the wall, building, as it were, only half 
 a nest, the wall supplying the other half. They cover the nest 
 most carefully with cobwebs, to make it appear like a lump of 
 this kind of substance left on the wall ; indeed, I do not know 
 any nest more difficult to distinguish. It is amusing to see the 
 birds as they dash off from the top of the wall in pursuit of 
 some fly or insect, which they catch in the air and carry to 
 their young. The number of insects which they take to their 
 nest in the course of half an hour is perfectly astonishing. 
 
 Another bird that comes every spring to the same bush to 
 breed is the pretty little whitethroat. On the la\vn close to 
 my house a pair come to the same evergreen, at the foot of 
 which, on the ground, they build their nest, carrying to it an 
 immense quantity of feathers, wool, etc. The bird sits fearlessly, 
 and with full confidence that she will not be disturbed, although 
 the grass is mown close up to her abode ; and she is visited at 
 all hours by the children, who take a lively interest in her pro- 
 ceedings. She appears quite acquainted with them all, sitting 
 snugly in her warmly-feathered nest, with nothing visible but 
 her bright black eyes and sharp-pointed bill. As soon as her 
 eggs are hatched, she and her mate are in a great bustle, 
 bringing food to their very tiny offspring flying backwards 
 and forwards all day with caterpillars and grubs. 
 
 Both this and the larger kind of whitethroat which visits us 
 have a lively and pleasing song. They frequently make their 
 nest on the ground in the orchard, amongst the long grass, 
 arching it over in the most cunning manner, and completely 
 concealing it. When they leave their eggs to feed, a leaf is 
 laid over the entrance of the nest to hide it ; in fact, nothing
 
 160 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 but the eyes of children (who in nest-finding would beat Argus 
 himself) could ever discover the abode of the little whitethroat. 
 Before they leave this country, these birds collect together, and 
 are seen searching the hedges for insects in considerable but 
 scattered flocks. They frequently fly in at the open windows 
 in pursuit of flies, and chase them round the room quite fear- 
 lessly. The gardener accuses them of destroying quantities of 
 cherries, by piercing them with their bills : they certainly do 
 so, but I am always inclined to suppose that it is only the 
 diseased fruit that they attack in this way, or that which has 
 already been taken possession of by small insects. 
 
 The wheatear 1 does not arrive till the first week of April, 
 when they appear in considerable numbers on the sand-hills, 
 flying in and out of the rabbit-holes and broken banks, in con- 
 cealed corners of which they hatch. Their eggs are peculiarly 
 beautiful, being of a pale blue delicately shaded with a darker 
 colour at one end. Though of such repute in the south of 
 England, it is not ever sought after here. As a boy, on the 
 Wiltshire downs, I used to be an adept at catching them in 
 horsehair nooses, as we used to consider them particularly good 
 eating. The shepherds there, as well as on the South downs, 
 make a considerable addition to their income by catching 
 wheatears and sending them to the London and Brighton 
 markets. 
 
 The swallows and swifts arrive also about the middle of 
 April. It is a curious thing to observe how a pair of swallows 
 season after season build their nest in the same angle of a 
 window, or corner of a wall, coming immediately to the same 
 spot, after their long absence and weary flight, and either 
 repairing their old residence or building a new one. 
 
 Great numbers of sand-martins build in the banks of the 
 river, returning to the same places every year, and after clearing 
 out their holes, they carry in a great quantity of feathers and 
 dried grass, which they lay loosely at the end of their subter- 
 ranean habitation. 
 
 The swifts appear always to take up their abode about the 
 highest buildings in the towns and villages, flying and screaming 
 
 1 The wheatear (Saxicola cenanthe), an abundant summer visitor, arrives by a few pairs 
 at a time on the west coast, but on the eastern side of Scotland in flocks of thousands at 
 a time. In hilly districts the nest is generally placed in the holes of dry-stone walls, but 
 on the coast mostly in deserted rabbit-holes (Gray, p. 87 ; Saxby, p. 69).
 
 xvii THE TREE-CREEPER 161 
 
 like restless spirits round and round the church steeple for hours 
 together, sometimes dashing in at a small hole under the eaves 
 of the roof, or clinging with their hard and powerful claws to 
 the perpendicular walls ; at other times they seem to be occu- 
 pied the whole day in darting like arrows along the course of 
 the burn in pursuit of the small gnats, of which they catch great 
 numbers in their rapid flight. I have found in the throat of 
 both swift and martin a number of small flies, sticking together 
 in a lump as large as a marble, and though quite alive, unable 
 to escape. It is probably with these that they feed their young, 
 for the food of all swallows consisting of the smaller gnats and 
 flies, they cannot carry them singly to their nests, but must wait 
 till they have caught a good quantity. 
 
 We are visited too by that very curious little bird the tree- 
 creeper, Certhia familiaris, whose rapid manner of running 
 round the trunk of a tree in search of insects is most amusing. 
 Though not exactly a bird of passage, as it is seen at all seasons, 
 it appears occasionally to vanish from a district for some months, 
 and then to return, without reference to the time of year. I 
 found one of their nests built within an outbuilding, which the 
 bird entered by a small opening at the top of the door. 
 
 LOGIE HOUSE 
 
 M
 
 WATER-HEN 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 Sheldrake : Nest ; Food Teal : Breeding-places ; Anecdotes Landrail : Arrival of 
 Cuckoo Nightjar : Habits of Quail Grebe : Arrival ; Account of Nest and 
 Young Bald Coot Water-Hen Water-Rail. 
 
 BESIDES the birds mentioned in the last chapter there are 
 several others which come here to breed, such as the sheldrake, 
 the corncrake, the cuckoo, etc. 
 
 1 should certainly call the sheldrake the most beautiful 
 bird of the duck tribe that visits this country. Its clear black 
 and white plumage, the beautiful bronze on the wing, and the 
 bright red bill, give it a particularly gay and at the same time 
 neat appearance. They arrive here in March or the end of 
 February. They float in large flocks in the sheltered creeks 
 and bays, swimming high in the water and making a great show. 
 When the tide recedes, they take to the sands in search of their
 
 CHAP, xvin THE SHELDRAKE 163 
 
 food, which consists of shell-fish, the sea-worms, etc. Their 
 manner of catching the latter is curious. When the sheldrake 
 perceives that he is above the hole of one of these insects, 
 which he knows by the worm-casts similar to those of a common 
 earth-worm, he begins patting the ground with his feet, dancing 
 as it were over the hole. This motion on the sands generally 
 brings the worm out of his abode. My tame sheldrakes, when 
 they come to ask for food, pat the ground in an impatient and 
 rapid manner, their natural instinct evidently suggesting this 
 as the usual way of procuring food. Though among the most 
 wary of birds when wild, their sharp eye detecting the least 
 movement, yet they become extremely fearless and bold when 
 once domesticated, and certainly no bird is more ornamental. 
 They breed freely in a tame state, if allowed a certain degree 
 of liberty, and I have no doubt would be quite as good eating 
 as a common duck when fed on corn and clean food. In their 
 wild state they have a rank, fishy flavour, but so would any duck 
 that lived on the same food as they do. My tame birds eat 
 anything, and will take their food out of my hand without the 
 least hesitation. They are pugnacious creatures, and the drakes 
 are always the masters of the poultry-yard, pursuing the other 
 birds with a peculiar croaking quack. The sheldrakes breed 
 in old rabbit-holes, laying their eggs several feet under ground. 
 When I am on the sandhills in May, early in the morning, I 
 frequently see their tracks in and out of the holes. It is curious 
 to watch the male bird standing and strutting in the sun on 
 some hillock waiting for the female, who is employed in her 
 domestic duties under ground. When she appears, the drake 
 goes to her, and after a short flirtation they fly away together 
 to the sea-shore. When the hen is sitting, she leaves the nest 
 during the time of low water, appearing to have an instinctive 
 knowledge of when that time arrives, as it is the part of the 
 day in which she can most quickly procure her food. This 
 done, she returns to her nest, and after wheeling several times 
 over it to see that nothing is amiss, she alights and walks to her 
 hole. The sheldrake has a quick, smart step, quite unlike the 
 waddling gait of most ducks. When hatched, the young take 
 at once to the sea, and never seem to leave it or the sand-banks 
 till their plumage is complete. I have occasionally found a 
 large flock of young birds nearly full grown on the sands, but
 
 164 IV1LD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 never could manage to catch one, as they run with great rapidity 
 and dash into the sea before I can get up to them. 
 
 The flight of the sheldrake is not so rapid or easy as that 
 of other ducks, rather resembling the heavy flapping of a goose 
 than the quick flight of a wild duck. I cannot understand why 
 this beautiful bird is not oftener kept on ornamental pieces of 
 water, as his fine plumage, his boldness, and familiarity render 
 him peculiarly interesting and amusing. 
 
 The teal 1 can scarcely be called a winter bird with us, 
 although occasionally a pair or two appear ; but in the spring 
 they come in numbers to breed and rear their tiny young in 
 the swamps and lochs. Nothing can exceed the beauty and 
 neatness of this miniature duck. They fly with great swiftness, 
 rising suddenly into the air when disturbed, and dropping as 
 quickly after a short flight, much in the same manner as a snipe. 
 In the spring the drake has a peculiar whistle, at other times their 
 note is a low quack. A pair of teal, if undisturbed, will return 
 year after year to the same pool for the purpose of breeding. 
 Like the wild duck, they sometimes hatch their young a con- 
 siderable distance from the water, and lead the young brood 
 immediately to it. I once, when riding in Ross-shire, saw an 
 old teal with eight newly-hatched young ones cross the road. 
 The youngsters could not climb up the opposite bank, and young 
 and old all squatted flat down to allow me to pass. I got off my 
 horse and lifted all the little birds up and carried them a little 
 distance down the road to a ditch, for which I concluded they 
 were making, the old bird all the time fluttering about me and 
 frequently coming within reach of my riding-whip. The part 
 of the road where I first found them passed through thick fir- 
 wood with rank heather, and it was quite a puzzle to me how 
 such small animals, scarcely bigger than a half-grown mouse 
 could have got along through it. The next day I saw them 
 all enjoying themselves in a small pond at some little distance 
 off, where a brood of teal appeared every year. In some of 
 the mountain lakes the teal breed in great numbers. When 
 shooting in August I have seen a perfect cloud of these birds 
 occasionally rise from some grassy loch. The widgeon >J never 
 breeds with us, but leaves this country at the end of April. 
 
 1 Nest, composed of dry grass (C. St. J.), is generally placed on the higher tufts of 
 heather. a Moray. Breeds in Sutherland, Loch Navcr, etc. C. St. J.
 
 THE LAXDRAIL 165 
 
 We have great numbers of landrails here in their breeding- 
 season. I have for several years first heard them on the 1st of 
 May. Hoarse and discordant as their voice is, I always hear 
 it with pleasure, for it brings the idea of summer and fine weather 
 with it. Oftentimes have I opened my window during the fine 
 dewy nights of June to listen to these birds as they utter their 
 harsh cry in every direction, some close to the very window, and 
 answered by others at different distances. I like too to see 
 this bird, as at the earliest dawn she crosses a road followed by 
 her train of quaint-looking, long-legged young ones, all walking 
 in the same stooping position ; or to see them earlier in the 
 year lift up their snake-like heads above the young corn, and 
 croak in defiance of some other bird of the same kind, whose 
 head appears now and then at a short distance. At other times, 
 one hears the landrail's cry apparently almost under one's feet 
 in the thick clover, and he seems to shake the very ground, 
 making as much noise as a bull. How strange it is that a bird 
 with apparently so soft and tender a throat can utter so hard 
 and loud a cry, which sounds as if it was produced by some 
 brazen instrument. I never could ascertain whether this cry 
 is made by the male or female bird, or by both in common : 
 I am inclined to suppose the latter is the case, as in endeavouring 
 to make this out I have watched carefully a small piece of grass 
 and shot four landrails in it in as many minutes, every bird in 
 the act of croaking. Two of them were larger and of a redder 
 plumage than the others, and were apparently cock birds : this 
 inclines me to think that the croaking cry is common to both 
 sexes. Their manner of leaving the country is a mystery. 
 Having hatched their young, they take to the high corn-fields, 
 and we never see them again, excepting by chance one comes 
 across a brood at dawn of day, hunting along a path or ditch side 
 for snails, worms, and flies, which are their only food, this bird 
 being entirely insectivorous, never eating corn or seeds. By the 
 time the corn is cut they are all gone ; how they go, or whither, 
 I know not, but with the exception of a stray one or two I never 
 see them in the shooting-season, although the fields are literally 
 alive with them in the breeding- time. You can seldom flush 
 a landrail twice ; having alighted he runs off at a quick pace, 
 and turning and doubling round a dog, will not rise. I have 
 caught them more than once when they have pitched by chance
 
 1 66 U'ILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 in an open wood, and run into a hole or elsewhere at the root 
 of a tree ;' they sometimes hide their head, like the story of the 
 ostrich, and allow themselves to be lifted up. Unlike most 
 other migrating birds, the landrail is in good order on his first 
 arrival, and being then very fat and delicate in flavour, is very 
 good eating. Their nest is of a very artless description, a mere 
 hollow scratched in the middle of a grass-field, in which they 
 lay about eight eggs. The young ones at first are quite black, 
 curious-looking little birds, with the same attitudes and manner 
 of running as their parents, stooping their heads and looking 
 more like mice or rats than a long-legged bird. 
 
 Besides those already mentioned, I can only call to mind 
 two other birds that visit us for the breeding-season the cuckoo 
 and the nightjar. 
 
 The cuckoo, like the landrail, is connected in all my ideas 
 with spring and sunshine, though frequenting such a different 
 description of country ; the landrail always inhabiting the most 
 open country, while the cuckoo frequents the wooded glades 
 and banks of the rivers and burns ; flitting from tree to tree, 
 alighting generally on some small branch close to the trunk, 
 or chasing each other, uttering their singular call. So much 
 has been written respecting their habit of laying their egg in 
 the nest of some other bird, that I can add nothing to what is 
 already known. In this country they seem to delight in the 
 woods on the hill-sides by the edge of loch or river, where I 
 constantly hear their note of good omen. When the young 
 ones are fledged, they remain for a week or two about the 
 gardens or houses, perching on the railings, and darting off, like 
 the flycatcher, in pursuit of passing insects. 
 
 The nightjar 1 is a summer resident here, building its nest 
 or rather laying its eggs, for nest it has none in some bare 
 spot of ground, near the edge of a wood, and seldom quite 
 within it. The eggs are of a peculiarly oval shape. The night- 
 jar, during the daytime, will lie flat and motionless for hours 
 together on some horizontal branch of a tree near the ground, 
 or on some part of the ground itself which exactly resembles its 
 
 1 This bird sits or rather lies on a branch of a tree, longways, not perching across it 
 like all other birds. It is common quite to the north of the island wherever there is any 
 wood, as at Tongue, etc. , in Sutherland. The goatsucker makes no nest whatever ; not 
 even does it scratch a hollow in the ground, but lays its two oval eggs without the least 
 preparation. C. St. J.
 
 xviii THE NIGHTJAR AND QUAIL 167 
 
 own plumage in colour. In this manner the bird will allow a 
 person to approach nearly close to it before it moves, although 
 watching intently with its dark eye to see if it is observed. If 
 it fancies that you are looking at it, up it rises straight into the 
 air, and drops again perpendicularly in some quiet spot, with a 
 flight like that of an insect more than of a bird. With the 
 shades of evening comes its time of activity. With rapid and 
 noiseless flight the nightjar flits and wheels round and round 
 as you take your evening walk, catching the large moths and 
 beetles that you put into motion. Sometimes the bird alights 
 in the path near you, crouching close to the ground, or sits on 
 a railing or gate motionless, with its tail even with its head. 
 Frequently, too, these birds pitch on a house-top, and utter 
 their singular jarring noise, like the rapid revolving of a wheel 
 or the rush of water, and the house itself appears to be trembling, 
 so powerful is their note. It is a perfectly harmless, indeed a 
 useful bird ; and I would as soon wantonly shoot a swallow as 
 a nightjar. I admire its curiously-mottled plumage, and manner 
 of feeding and flying about in the summer and autumn evenings, 
 which make it more interesting when alive than it can possibly 
 be when dead. Often, when I have been fishing late in the 
 evening, has the nightjar flitted round, or pitched on a rock or 
 bank close to me, as if inclined to take an interest in what I 
 was at confident, too, of not being molested. Its retreat in 
 the daytime is usually in some lonely wild place. Though 
 feeding wholly at night, I do not think that it is annoyed by 
 sunshine, as it frequently basks in an open spot, appearing to 
 derive enjoyment from the light and glare which are shining full 
 upon it ; unlike the owl, whose perch in the daytime is in some 
 dark and shady corner, where the rays of the sun never pene- 
 trate. 
 
 The quail l is sometimes killed here, but very rarely. I 
 once shot a couple on the Ross-shire side of the Moray Firth, 
 but never happened to meet with one on this side, though I 
 have heard of their being killed, and also of their having been 
 seen in the spring-time, as if they came occasionally to breed. 
 
 Another singular bird visits this country regularly in the 
 
 1 The quail is frequently killed in Morayshire, though in very small numbers. Every 
 autumn a few are seen, and during the spring I constantly hear them calling in the fields, 
 so that in all probability some few breed in this county. C. St. I.
 
 i68 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 spring, the lesser grebe l (in England commonly called the dab- 
 chick). It is difficult to understand how this bird makes out 
 its journey from the region, wherever it may be, where they 
 pass the winter. No bird is less adapted for a long flight, yet 
 they suddenly appear in some rushy loch. Generally a pair 
 take possession of some small pool, where they build their 
 singular nest and rear their young, till the returning autumn 
 warns them that it is time to return to some country less liable 
 than this to have its pools and lochs frozen. In a small rushy 
 pond in Inverness-shire I had frequent opportunities of observing 
 their domestic economy, and the manner in which they build 
 their nest and rear their young. Though there was no stream 
 connecting this pool with any other larger piece of water, a pair, 
 and only a pair, of these little grebes came to it every spring. 
 After two or three days spent in recruiting their strength and 
 making love to each other, the little birds set about making 
 their nest in a tuft of rushes, at a shallow part of the water, a 
 few yards from the shore. They first collected a considerable 
 quantity of dead rushes, which they found in plenty floating 
 about the edges of the water. Both male and female were 
 busily employed in building, swimming to and fro with the 
 greatest activity. After laying a good foundation of this 
 material, they commenced diving for the weeds which grew at 
 the bottom of the water, bringing up small bunches of it, and 
 clambering up the sides of their nest (the bottom of which was 
 in the water), they made a layer of this, hollowed out in the 
 middle. They worked only in the morning and very late in 
 the evening. Their eggs were six in number, and when first 
 laid, quite white, and nearly oval. During the time of sitting, 
 whenever the old bird left her nest she covered her eggs most 
 carefully. The singular part of this proceeding was, that she 
 always dived for a quantity of green weed, which grew at the 
 bottom of the pond, and used this, wet as it was, to cover her 
 eggs. By the time that they had been laid for a few days 
 they became green and dirty-looking, having quite the appear- 
 ance of being addled and no wonder, as the nest was con- 
 stantly wet from below, the water corning up through the rushes 
 
 1 I never saw the nest floating, but well fixed in a tuft of rushes. The old birds cover 
 the eggs with wet weeds, etc., when they leave them. Six eggs. C. St. J. 
 
 The dabchick (Podiceps minor). St. John's account of this bird's nest is an admirable 
 example of his skill and powers of observation.
 
 xvin THE DA DC HICK 169 
 
 and weeds of which it was composed ; and she gave them a 
 fresh wet covering every time that she left them, arranging 
 it around the eggs, so that the edges of the nest gradually 
 became higher and higher. The bird appeared to be very 
 frequently off during the daytime, remaining away for hours 
 together, playing about on the water with her mate. After a 
 fortnight of this kind of sitting, I one day saw her followed by 
 six little dabchicks, scarcely bigger than large beetles, but as 
 active and as much at home on the water as their parents. A 
 very windy day came on, and the young birds collected in a 
 group behind a floating rail, which being half grounded at an 
 angle of the pool, made a kind of breakwater for them. The 
 old birds swam out of this harbour when I came, but the little 
 ones crept close up to the railing, uttering a feeble squeak like 
 a young chicken. Huddled up in a group, they certainly were 
 the smallest and quaintest-looking little divers that I ever saw. 
 I have heard it argued that it was impossible that eggs could 
 be hatched in a situation constantly exposed to so much wet 
 and damp, but those of this kind of grebe are certainly an 
 exception, as they were continually wet below, and frequently 
 covered with wet green weed. I do not know why the bird 
 should always bring the covering from below the water, but she 
 invariably did so, and the pool being in a convenient place for 
 my watching them closely, I took some trouble to be sure that 
 my observations were correct. It is a pretty, amusing little 
 bird, and quite harmless : I have always much pleasure in 
 watching their lively actions in the water. Where undisturbed, 
 they soon become bold and confident. These little fellows used 
 to swim close to me, and after looking up in my face with an 
 arch cock of their tiny head, turn up their round sterns and dip 
 under the water. They often remained so long under water, 
 that the circles made in the calm pool from their last dive were 
 quite obliterated from the surface before the saucy-looking little 
 fellows would rise again, often in exactly the same spot, when 
 they would look at me again, as if to be sure of who I was ; 
 then, turning half over in the water, they would scratch their 
 neck with their curiously-formed foot, shake their apology of a 
 wing, and dip under again. 
 
 One day my dog jumped into the water for a swim, and the 
 motions of the birds were then very different. They dived
 
 i;o H7LD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 rapidly to the other end of the pool, where they rose, showing 
 only the very tip of their bill, which I could distinguish by the 
 small wave in the water made when it first came up. After 
 remaining in this position for a short time, they gradually lifted 
 up more and more of their head, till, seeing that all danger was 
 over and that the dog had left their pool, they rose entirely to 
 the surface, and shaking their feathers resumed their usual atti- 
 tudes, keeping, however, at a respectful distance and watching 
 the dog. After the young ones were hatched and full grown 
 they again disappeared, leaving us for the winter. How or where 
 they went it is difficult to imagine. 
 
 If the weather is tolerably open, the bald coot 1 arrives here 
 early in the spring. It is very difficult to make this bird fly, 
 unless it happens to be surprised in the open part of the lake, 
 when it darts off immediately to the rushes, where, diving and 
 wading with great quickness, it remains so completely concealed 
 that neither dog nor man can put it up again. Its young ones 
 are like a ball of black down, but swim about and dive as 
 cleverly as their parents. They build a very large nest amongst 
 the rushes growing in the water, and sit very close. The coot 
 has an ornamental appearance on a sheet of water, from their 
 constant activity in swimming about, and their loud, wild cry 
 adds an interest to the solitude of the Highland lake. 
 
 The water-hen - is another bird which deserves encourage- 
 ment and protection, as they repay it by becoming tame and 
 familiar, leaving the water to feed with the poultry, and walking 
 about all day on the grass, with an air of the greatest confidence 
 and sociability. I know nothing prettier than the young ones, 
 as they follow their parents in their active search for flies and 
 insects. When first hatched they are perfectly black, with a 
 small spot of bright red skin on the top of their beaks. 
 
 These birds remain with us all the winter, only changing 
 their location from the pools to the open ditches in severe 
 frosts. 
 
 The water-rail 3 I only see in the winter, and even then 
 rarely. I do not think that it is a regular visitor to us, for 
 
 1 Lays eight eggs. C. St. J. 
 
 2 Gallinitla chloropus, a bird always inclined to be tame and familiar, and to associate 
 with common fowls, etc. C. St. J. 
 
 3 Kallns aquatints, breeds in Spynie. Took the nest I7th May 1851, eight eggs. 
 C. St. J.
 
 XVIII 
 
 THE WATER- RAIL 
 
 171 
 
 were it so, notwithstanding its habits of concealment, my dogs 
 would, when looking through the wet places and ditches for 
 snipes, certainly find it oftencr than they do. I sometimes see 
 it in frosty weather, feeding at all hours of the day in a running 
 stream or ditch, busily searching amongst the weeds for its 
 food. 
 
 F: 
 
 LOCH INnORBII
 
 SHOOTING WILD GEKSK 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 Wild Geese: Arrival of; Different kinds of; Anecdotes of Shooting Wild Geese 
 Feeding - places Wariness Habits Breeding - places Black-headed Gull 
 Birds that breed on the River-banks. 
 
 ON the 2nd of March a flock of twelve wild geese passed over 
 my house, flying eastwards towards the Loch of Spynie : these 
 are the first birds of the kind I have seen this spring. On the 
 6th I hear of the same flock being seen feeding on a clover-field 
 to the eastward, in the flat country between this place and Loch 
 Spynie. This flock of geese are said to have been occasionally 
 seen during the whole winter about the peat-mosses beyond 
 Brodie, there having been no severe frost or snow to drive them 
 southward. 
 
 The first wild geese that we see here are not the common 
 grey goose, but the white-fronted or laughing goose, 1 Anas albi- 
 frons, called by Bufifon I'Oye ricnse. This bird has a peculiarly 
 harsh and wild cry, whence its name. It differs in another 
 respect also from the common grey goose, in preferring clover 
 and green wheat to corn for its food. Indeed this bird appears 
 to me to be wholly graminiferous. Unlike the grey goose too, 
 it roosts, when undisturbed, in any grass-field where it may have 
 
 1 Moray. Not so numerous as the bean-goose. C. St. J.
 
 CHAP, xix THE WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE 173 
 
 been feeding in the afternoon, instead of taking to the bay every 
 night for its sleeping-quarters. The laughing goose also never 
 appears here in large flocks, but in small companies of from 
 eight or nine to twenty birds. 
 
 Though very watchful at all times, they are more easily 
 approached than the grey goose, and often feed on ground that 
 admits of stalking them. I see them occasionally feeding in 
 small swamps and patches of grass surrounded by high banks, 
 furze, or trees. The grey goose appears to select the most open 
 and extensive fields in the country to feed in, always avoiding 
 any bank or hedge that may conceal a foe. 
 
 On the loth of March last year, when out rabbit-shooting 
 in a small furze cover, I saw a flock of some fifteen or sixteen 
 white-fronted geese hovering over a small clover-field not far 
 from where I was. My attendant, who has a most violent liking 
 for a " wild-goose-chase," immediately caught up the dogs, and 
 made me sit down to watch the birds, who presently pitched, as 
 we expected, on the clover-field. I was for immediately com- 
 mencing the campaign against them, but this he would not 
 admit of, and pointing out a part of the field sheltered by a 
 bank overgrown with furze, where the clover was greener than 
 elsewhere, he told me that in ten minutes the birds would be 
 there. Knowing his experience and cunning in these matters, 
 I put myself entirely under his orders, and waited patiently. 
 The geese, after sitting quietly for a few minutes, and surveying 
 the country around, began to plume their feathers, and this done, 
 commenced feeding in a straight line for the green spot of grass, 
 keeping, however, a constant watch in all directions. " They 
 will be in that hollow in a minute, Sir," said Simon ; " and 
 then, Sir, you must just run for it till you get behind the bank, 
 and then you can easily crawl to within thirty yards of where 
 they will pass." Accordingly, the moment they disappeared in 
 the hollow, I started literally venire a terrc. One of the wary 
 birds, however, evidently not liking that the whole flock should 
 be in the hollow at once, ran back and took up her station on 
 the rising ground which they had just passed over, where she 
 stood with her neck erect and looking in all directions. I was 
 in full view of her, and at the moment was crossing a wet rushy 
 spot of ground ; nothing was left for it but to lie flat on the 
 ground, notwithstanding the humid nature of my locale ; the
 
 174 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 bird appeared rather puzzled by my appearance, and my grey 
 clothes not making much show in the rushy ground and withered 
 herbage which I was lying in, she contented herself with giving 
 some private signal to the rest, which brought them all at a 
 quick run up to her side, where they stood looking about them, 
 undecided whether to fly or not. I was about two hundred 
 yards from the birds ; we remained in this manner for, I dare- 
 say, five minutes, the birds appearing on the point of taking 
 wing during the whole time : suddenly I heard a shout beyond 
 the birds, and they instantly rose in confusion and flew directly 
 towards me. As soon as they were over my head I stood up : 
 the effect of my sudden appearance was to make them break 
 their line and fly straight away from me in all directions, thus 
 giving me what I wanted, shots at them when flying away from 
 me, in which case they are easy to kill. My cartridges told 
 with good effect, and I killed a brace, one dropping perfectly 
 dead and the other extending her wings and gradually sinking, 
 till she fell on the top of a furze-bush three or four hundred 
 yards off, where I found her lying quite dead. It appeared 
 that Simon, seeing that the birds had observed me, ran round 
 them, and then setting up a shout, had luckily driven them 
 nolentes volcntes over my head. They were the white-fronted 
 goose, with pure white spots on their foreheads. About three 
 weeks after this time, at the end of March, large flights of grey 
 geese appear here, feeding on the fresh-sown oats, barley, and 
 peas during the day, and passing the night on the sands of the 
 bay, whither they always repair soon after sunset. 
 
 I had passed a great part of several days in endeavouring 
 to get at these wary birds, and had occasionally killed a stray 
 one or two, but some ill luck or error on my part (Simon would 
 never admit that his own tactics were wrong) had always pre- 
 vented my getting a good shot at the flocks. As for Simon, he 
 protested that " his heart was quite broken with the beasts." 
 One morning, however, I got up at daylight and went to the 
 shore ; a heavy mist was rolling over the bay, and I could see 
 nothing, but heard the wild and continued cry of hundreds of 
 geese answering each other, and apparently consulting as to 
 what direction they should seek their morning's repast in. 
 Presently I knew from their altered cry that the birds were on 
 wing, and were coming directly towards where I was : I sat
 
 xix STALKING GEESE 175 
 
 down, and very soon a long line of geese came cackling and 
 chattering within fifteen yards of me, and I killed a brace with 
 no trouble. In the afternoon, while walking on the shore, I saw 
 a large flock of geese rise off the sea and fly inland, in a long 
 undulating line,- evidently looking for a place to feed on. I 
 watched them with my glass, and saw the field in which they 
 alighted, at the distance of at least two miles from me. I sent 
 for Simon, and started in pursuit. We came within two fields 
 of the birds, and could advance no nearer without risk of putting 
 them up. On two sides of the field " in which they were 
 feeding," was a deep open drain ; and once in this we were 
 nearly sure of a shot. Luckily a farmer was ploughing in an 
 adjoining field, and though at every turn he approached the 
 ditch of the oatfield where the geese were, the birds, according 
 to their usual custom, took no notice of him. We joined the 
 ploughman, and keeping behind the horses, slipped unperceived 
 by the geese into the ditch, which, by the by, had in it about a 
 foot of the coldest water that I ever felt. It was deep enough, 
 however, to conceal us entirely, and following Simon I went 
 about three hundred yards down the drain, till we came to 
 another which ran at right angles to the first ; we turned along 
 this ditch, which, not being cut so deep as the other, obliged us 
 to stoop in a manner that made my back ache most unmerci- 
 fully. Simon appeared to understand exactly what he was at, 
 and to have a perfect knowledge of the geography of all the 
 drains in the country. Putting on a nondescript kind of cap, 
 made of dirty canvas, exactly the colour of a ploughed field, 
 he peered cautiously through a bunch of rushes which grew on 
 the edge of the ditch ; then looking at me with a most satisfied 
 grin, floundered on again till he came to another ditch that 
 crossed us at right angles ; up this he went, and of course I 
 had nothing to do but to follow, though as I occasionally sank 
 above my knees into cold spring water, I began to wish all the 
 wild geese were consigned to his black majesty : we went about 
 a hundred yards up this last drain, till we came to a part where 
 a few rushes grew on the banks ; looking through these we saw 
 about fifty geese coming straight towards us, feeding ; we got 
 our guns cautiously on the top of the bank and waited till the 
 birds were within twenty-five yards of us, they then began to 
 turn to cross the field back again. Some were within shot,
 
 1 76 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 however, and on our giving a low whistle they ran together, 
 preparatory to rising ; this was our moment : only one of my 
 barrels went off, the other having got wet through, copper cap 
 and everything, during our progress in the ditch. We, however, 
 bagged three birds, and another flew wounded away, and at last 
 fell close to the sea- shore, where we afterwards found her. 
 Having collected our game, I was not sorry to walk off home 
 in double-quick time to put a little caloric into my limbs, as I 
 felt perfectly benumbed after wading for such a distance in a 
 cold March wind. 
 
 On our way home we saw an immense flock of geese alight 
 to feed en a small field of newly-sown peas. Simon was de- 
 lighted, and promised me a good shot in the morning, if I left 
 him at the nearest farm-house to take his own steps towards 
 ensuring me the chance. 
 
 Accordingly the next morning, at daylight, I went with him 
 to the spot : the geese were still resting on the sands, not having 
 yet made their morning meal. In the very centre of the pea- 
 field Simon had constructed what he called an " ambush " ; this 
 was a kind of hut, or rather hole in the ground, just large enough 
 to contain one person, whose chin would be on a level with the 
 field. The ground was rather rough, and he had so disposed 
 the clods of earth that I was quite invisible till the geese came 
 within a yard or two of me. Into this hole he made me worm 
 myself, while he went to a hedge at some distance, for the chance 
 of the birds coming over his head after I had fired. The sun 
 was not yet up when I heard the cackle of the geese, and soon 
 afterwards the whole flock came soaring over my head ; round 
 and round they flew, getting lower every circle. I could several 
 times have fired at single birds as they flew close by me, and 
 so well concealed was I with clods of earth, dried grass, etc., 
 that they never suspected my presence in the midst of their 
 breakfast-table. Presently they all alighted at the farthest end 
 of the field from me, and commenced shovelling up the peas in 
 the most wholesale manner. Though the field was small, they 
 managed to feed from one end to the other without coming 
 within sixty yards of me; having got to the end of the field, they 
 turned round, and this time I saw that they would pass within 
 shot. Suddenly they all halted, and I saw that something had 
 alarmed them ; I looked cautiously out, and saw, in the direc-
 
 SHOOTING GEESE 177 
 
 tion in which their heads were turned, a large fox sitting upright 
 and looking wistfully at the geese, but seeming quite aware that 
 he had no chance of getting at them. The morning sun, how- 
 ever, which was just rising, and which, shining on his coat, made 
 it appear perfectly red, warned him that it was time to be off 
 to the woods, and he trotted quietly away, passing my ambus- 
 cade within forty yards, but always keeping his head turned 
 towards the geese, as if unwilling to give up all hope of getting 
 one of them. The distant bark of a dog, however, again warned 
 him, and he quickened his pace and was soon out of sight. 
 The geese seemed quite relieved at his departure, and recom- 
 menced feeding. I cocked my gun and arranged my ambus- 
 cade, so as to be ready for them when they came opposite to 
 me ; presently one or two stragglers passed within ten yards ; 
 I pulled the dead grass in front of my face, so that they could 
 not see me, and waited for the main flock, who soon came by, 
 feeding hurriedly as they passed ; when they were opposite to 
 me, I threw down part of the clods and grass that concealed 
 me, and fired both barrels at the thickest part of the flock : three 
 fell dead, and two others dropped before the flock had flown 
 many hundred yards. Simon ran from his hiding-place to 
 secure them ; one was dead, the other rose again, but was 
 stopped by a charge from his gun. Our five geese were no 
 light load to carry home, as they had been feeding on the corn 
 for a fortnight or three weeks, and had become very fat and 
 heavy. 
 
 The common grey goose, after having fed for some time 
 in the fresh-sown corn-fields, is by no means a bad bird for the 
 larder. But before they can procure grain to feed on, their flesh 
 is neither so firm nor so well flavoured. In this country there 
 are three kinds of geese, all called by the common name of 
 "wild geese," namely, the white-fronted goose, already mentioned 
 (p. 172 note) ; the common grey-leg goose, Anas Anscr ; l and 
 the bean-goose. 2 The latter kind differs from the grey goose 
 
 1 In Moray rare. Breeds in Sutherland, and will breed freely with tame goose. Lays 
 from five to seven eggs (C. St. J.) " To my surprise I found this species of goose breeding 
 in considerable numbers in the islands and about the shores of some of the Sutherland 
 lakes. They place their nests, which are exactly similar, though of course on a larger 
 scale, to that of a wild duck, either in the rank heather, or in any other long herbage ; 
 some that I found were imbedded in the wild garlic which often clothes the small islands 
 of the lakes with its bright and beautiful green. They breed early in the year " (Natural 
 History and Sport in Moray, p. 120). 
 
 - Moray. Not uncommon in March and April. C. St. J. 
 
 N
 
 i;8 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 in having a small black mark at the end of their bill, about the 
 size and colour of a horse-bean. This bird, too, differs in being 
 rather smaller and more dark in its general colour than the 
 grey goose. It is a great libel to accuse a goose of being a 
 silly bird. Even a tame goose shows much instinct and attach- 
 ment ; and were its habits more closely observed, the tame 
 goose would be found to be by no means wanting in general 
 cleverness. Its watchfulness at night-time is, and always has 
 been, proverbial ; and it certainly is endowed with a strong 
 organ of self-preservation. You may drive over dog, cat, hen, 
 or pig ; but I defy you to drive over a tame goose. As for 
 wild geese, I know of no animal, biped or quadruped, that is so 
 difficult to deceive or approach. Their senses of hearing, seeing, 
 and smelling are all extremely acute ; independently of which, 
 they appear to act in so organised and cautious a manner when 
 feeding or roosting, as to defy all danger. Many a time has 
 my utmost caution been of no avail in attempting to approach 
 these birds ; either a careless step or a piece of gravel, or an 
 eddy of wind, however light, or letting them perceive the 
 smallest portion of my person, has rendered useless whole hours 
 of manoeuvring. When a flock of geese have fixed on a field 
 of new -sown grain to feed on, before alighting they make 
 numerous circling flights round and round it, and the least sus- 
 picious object prevents their pitching. Supposing that all is 
 right, and they do alight, the whole flock for the space of a 
 minute or two remain motionless, with erect head and neck 
 reconnoitring the country round. They then, at a given signal 
 from one of the largest birds, disperse into open order, and 
 commence feeding in a tolerably regular line. They now 
 appear to have made up their minds that all is safe, and are 
 contented with leaving one sentry, who either stands on some 
 elevated part of the field, or walks slowly with the rest never, 
 however, venturing to pick up a single grain of corn, his whole 
 energies being employed in watching. The flock feed across 
 the field ; not waddling, like tame geese, but walking quickly, 
 with a firm, active, light-infantry step. They seldom venture 
 near any ditch or hedge that might conceal a foe. When the 
 sentry thinks that he has performed a fair share of duty, he 
 gives the nearest bird to him a sharp peck. I have seen him 
 sometimes pull out a handful of feathers, if the first hint is not
 
 xix HABITS OF WILD GEESE 179 
 
 immediately attended to, at the same time uttering a querulous 
 kind of cry. This bird then takes up the watch, with neck 
 perfectly upright, and in due time makes some other bird relieve 
 guard. On the least appearance of an enemy, the sentinel 
 gives an alarm, and the whole flock invariably run up to him, 
 and for a moment or two stand still in a crowd, and then take 
 flight ; at first in a confused mass, but this is soon changed into 
 a beautiful wedge-like rank, which they keep till about to alight 
 again. Towards evening, I observe the geese coming from the 
 interior, in numerous small flocks, to the bay ; in calm weather, 
 flying at a great height ; and their peculiar cry is heard some 
 time before the birds are in sight. As soon as they are above 
 the sands, where every object is plainly visible, and no enemy 
 can well be concealed, flock after flock wheel rapidly down- 
 wards, and alight at the edge of the water, where they 
 immediately begin splashing and washing themselves, keeping 
 up an almost incessant clamour. In the morning they again 
 take to the fields. Those flocks that feed at a distance start 
 before sunrise ; but those that feed nearer to the bay do not 
 leave their roosting-place so soon. During stormy and misty 
 weather, the geese frequently fly quite low over the heads of the 
 work-people in the fields, but even then have a kind of instinct- 
 ive dread of any person in the garb of a sportsman. I have 
 also frequently got shots at wild geese, by finding out the pools 
 where they drink during the daytime. They generally alight 
 at the distance of two or three hundred yards from the pool ; 
 and after watching motionless for a few minutes, all start off in 
 a hurry to get their drink. This done, they return to the open 
 fields or the sea-shore. 
 
 In some parts of Sutherland for instance on Loch Shin, 
 and other lonely and unfrequented pieces of water the wild 
 goose breeds on the small islands that dot these waters. If 
 their eggs are taken and hatched under tame geese, the young 
 are easily domesticated ; but, unless pinioned or confined, they 
 always take to flight with the first flock of wild geese that 
 pass over the place during the migrating season. Even when 
 unable to fly, they evince a great desire to take wing at this 
 season, and are very restless for a few weeks in spring and 
 autumn. In a lonely and little-frequented spot on the banks 
 ,of Loch Shin, where the remains of walls and short green
 
 i8o WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 herbage point out the site of some former shealing or residence 
 of cattle-herds, long since gone to ruin, I have frequently found 
 the wild goose with her brood feeding on the fine grass that 
 grows on what was once the dwelling of man. The young birds 
 do not fly till after they are full grown, but are very active in 
 the water, swimming and diving with great quickness. 
 
 March is a month full of interest to the observer of the 
 habits of birds, particularly of those that are migratory. During 
 the last week of February and the first week in March thousands 
 of pewits appear here : first a few stragglers arrive, but in the 
 course of some days the shores of the bay are literally alive 
 with them. 
 
 The black -headed gulls also arrive in great numbers. 
 This bird loses the black feathers on the head during the winter, 
 and at this season begins to resume them. I see the birds with 
 their heads of every degree of black and white just now ; in a 
 fortnight their black cowl is complete. In the evenings and at 
 night-time thousands of these birds collect on the bay, and every 
 one of them appears to be chattering at once, so that the whole 
 flock together make a noise that drowns every other sound or 
 cry for a considerable distance round them. 
 
 March 6t/t. I observe that the herons in the heronry on 
 the Findhorn x are now busily employed in sitting on their eggs, 
 the heron being one of the first birds to commence breeding in 
 this country. A more curious and interesting sight than the 
 Findhorn heronry I do not know : from the top of the high 
 rocks on the east side of the river you look down into every 
 nest, the herons breeding on the opposite side of the river, which 
 is here very narrow. The cliffs and rocks are studded with 
 splendid pines and larch, and fringed with all the more lowly 
 but not less beautiful underwood which abounds in this country. 
 Conspicuous amongst these are the bird-cherry and mountain- 
 ash, the holly and the wild rose ; while the golden blossoms ot 
 furze and broom enliven every crevice and corner in the rock. 
 Opposite to you is a wood of larch and oak, on the latter of 
 which trees are crowded a vast number of the nests of the heron. 
 The foliage and small branches of the oaks that they breed on 
 
 1 For a full account of this far-famed heronry at Darnaway, and the manner of the 
 birds deserting it owing to the persecution of crows and jackdaws, see Natural /fistory 
 and Sport in Moray, p. 5 5 and notes.
 
 xix THE HERON 181 
 
 seem entirely destroyed, leaving nothing but the naked arms 
 and branches of the trees on which the nests are placed. The 
 same nests, slightly repaired, are used year after year. Looking 
 down at them from the high banks of the Altyre side of the 
 river, you can see directly into their nests, and can become 
 acquainted with the whole of their domestic economy. You 
 can plainly see the green eggs, and also the young herons, who 
 fearlessly, and conscious of the security they are left in, are 
 constantly passing backwards and forwards and alighting on the 
 topmost branches of the larch or oak trees, whilst the still 
 younger birds sit bolt upright in the nest, snapping their beaks 
 together with a curious sound. Occasionally a grave-looking 
 heron is seen balancing himself by some incomprehensible feat 
 of gymnastics on the very topmost twig of a larch-tree, where 
 he swings about in an unsteady manner, quite unbecoming so 
 sage-looking a bird. Occasionally a thievish jackdaw dashes 
 out from the cliffs opposite the heronry and flies straight into 
 some unguarded nest, seizes one of the large green eggs, and 
 flies back to his own side of the river, the rightful owner of the 
 eggs pursuing the active little robber with loud cries and the 
 most awkward attempts at catching him. 
 
 The heron is a noble and picturesque-looking bird, as she 
 sails quietly through the air with outstretched wings and slow 
 flight ; but nothing is more ridiculous and undignified than her 
 appearance as she vainly chases the jackdaw or hooded crow 
 which is carrying off her egg and darting rapidly round the angles 
 and corners of the rocks. Now and then every heron raises its 
 head and looks on the alert as the peregrine falcon, with rapid 
 and direct flight, passes their crowded dominion ; but, intent on 
 his own nest, built on the rock some little way farther on, the 
 hawk takes no notice of his long-legged neighbours, who soon 
 settle down again into their attitudes of rest. The kestrel-hawk 
 frequents the same part of the river, and lives in amity with 
 the wood-pigeons that breed in every cluster of ivy which clings 
 to the rocks. Even that bold and fearless enemy of all the 
 pigeon race, the sparrowhawk, frequently has her nest within a 
 few yards of the wood-pigeon, and you see these birds (at all 
 other seasons such deadly enemies) passing each other in theit 
 way to and fro from their respective nests in perfect peace and 
 amity. It has seemed to me that the sparrowhawk and wood-
 
 182 
 
 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 
 
 CHAT. XIX 
 
 pigeon during the breeding -season frequently enter into a 
 mutual compact against the crows and jackdaws, which are 
 constantly on the look-out for the eggs of all other birds. The 
 hawk appears to depend on the vigilance of the wood-pigeon 
 to warn him of the approach of these marauders ; and then the 
 brave little warrior sallies out, and is not satisfied till he has 
 driven the crow to a safe distance from the nests of himself and 
 his more peaceable ally. At least in no other way can I account 
 for these two birds so very frequently breeding not only in the 
 same range of rock, but within two or three yards of each 
 other. 
 
 SITE OF HERONKV ON THK FINDHOKX
 
 SANDHILLS OF MORAY 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 The Sandhills of Morayshire : Description of ; Origin of Foxes : Destructiveness 
 and Cunning of ; Anecdote of Roe-hunting in the Sandhills Anecdotes 
 
 BETWEEN the fertile plains of Moray and the shores of the 
 Moray Firth there lies one of the most peculiarly barren and 
 strange districts of country in Scotland, consisting of a stretch 
 of sandhills, 1 in most parts formed of pure and very fine 
 
 1 Compare the account of these sandhills given by the author in his Xatural History 
 and Sport in Moray, p. 271. 
 
 " The lands of Godowine, near the mouth of the Thames, and likewise the land of 
 Moray on the east coast of Scotland, together with many villages, castles, towns, and 
 extensive woods both in England and Scotland, were overwhelmed by the sea, and the 
 labours of men laid waste by the discharge of sand from the sea" at the close of the 
 eleventh century (Boethius). 
 
 In the Hebrides the sandy sea-tracts known as machars are bound together by a wiry 
 bent grass. If sheep nibble this too closely and tear the protecting surface, the winds 
 soon enlarge it, and produce wild drifts of sand which do much damage. ' ' This is said 
 to have been the cause of that overwhelming sand-drift which converted the fertile lands 
 of Culbyn, in Morayshire, into that vast chain of sandhills which now extends along the 
 coast. Seven disastrous years of famine had reduced the people to such extremity of 
 poverty, that they were driven to collect fuel where and how they could. Thus the broom 
 and bent grass which had hitherto bound the shore were all torn up, and the wind catching 
 the sand, blew it in thick clouds upwards of twenty-five miles along the coast, burying
 
 1 84 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 yellowish sand, without a blade of vegetation of any description, 
 and constantly shifting and changing their shape and appearance 
 on the recurrence of continued dry winds. Looking from the 
 hills more inland, this range of sand, in the evening sun, has 
 the appearance of a golden boundary line to the beautiful 
 picture of the firth. With the magnificent rocks of Cromarty, 
 and the snow-capped mountains of Ross-shire and Sutherland 
 in the distance, I know no more striking picture than the coup 
 deceit of this landscape, with the smiling plains and groves of 
 Morayshire as a foreground. 
 
 In other parts of these sandhills are tracts covered with a 
 dry and rough kind of bent, the long roots of which, stretching 
 along the surface of the sand, and throwing out innumerable 
 fibres and holders, serve in some measure to prevent the drifting 
 of the sand. It is a matter of surprise how this bent can find 
 enough sustenance and moisture in the sand, which is always 
 moving and always dry. At the extremity, opposite Findhorn, 
 is a peninsula, with a solitary farm-house, and a tolerably-sized 
 arable farm, with tracts of broom and furze around it. The 
 furze-bushes are all eaten by the rabbits into peculiar shapes, 
 as the old yew and box trees in a Dutch garden are cut into 
 figures to humour the quaint fancies of their heavy- sterned 
 proprietors. The rabbits ought, by the bye, to be well clothed, 
 as they nibble the furze into regular cushions and ottomans, on 
 which they sit and look out in the fine summer evenings, with- 
 out fear or dread of the sharpness of the thorns, which in this 
 arid district appear to me sharper and more penetrating than 
 anywhere else. 
 
 Westwards, towards Nairn, the sandhills are interrupted by 
 an extent of broken hillocks, covered with the deepest heather 
 that I ever met with, which conceals innumerable pits and holes, 1 
 many of the latter not above a foot in diameter, three or four 
 feet deep, and so completely concealed by the growth of moss 
 and heather as to form the most perfect traps for the unwary 
 passer-by. I never could find out what these holes were 
 originally made for, as they evidently are not the work of 
 
 thousands of acres beneath this deep, ever-shifting sand desert " (Miss C. F. Gordon 
 Gumming, In the Hebrides, pp. 134, 292 : Chatto and Windus, London, 1883). 
 
 Many specimens, chiefly of prehistoric objects in stone and bronze, have been collected 
 upon Culbyn Sands, and may be seen in the Antiquarian Museum, Edinburgh. 
 
 1 In the heathery hill-side under Ben More, and over Loch Assynt in Sutherland, 
 similar curious holes and pits are to be found.
 
 THE SANDHILLS 185 
 
 nature. A large part of the ground is here well wooded ; the 
 trees do not, however, appear likely ever to come to a large size, 
 well as they flourish when young. This district of wood and 
 heath is here and there intersected by nearly impassable swamps, 
 the abode of mallards and teal, and occasionally of geese. In 
 the wooded parts are plenty of roe, who feed about the swamps, 
 and in the warm weather lie like hares on the hillocks covered 
 with long heath, and under the stunted fir-trees in the midst of 
 the wet places. Throughout the whole tract of this wild ground 
 there are great numbers of foxes, who live undisturbed, and 
 grow to a very great size ; feeding during the season on young 
 roe, wild ducks, and black game ; and when . these fail, they 
 make great havoc amongst the game, poultry, and rabbits in 
 the adjoining country. I have frequently started and shot a 
 fox here out of the rough heather, when I have been looking 
 for wild ducks, or passing through the place on my way to the 
 sea-shore. Farther westward, the sandhills are bounded by a 
 large extent of marsh and water, terminating at last in an 
 extensive lake, dreary and cold-looking, the resort of wild-fowl 
 of every kind, from the swan to the teal, but said to contain 
 no fish excepting eels. 
 
 I never yet could get a good account of the origin of these 
 sandhills ; I say origin, because they are evidently of a more 
 recent formation than any of the surrounding land. In several 
 places, where the sand is blown off, you see the remains of 
 cultivated ground, the land below the sand being laid out in 
 regular furrows and ridges, made by the plough ; and, from 
 their regularity and evenness, one would suppose that agriculture 
 must have been well advanced when these lands were in 
 cultivation. Did the covering that now conceals these fields 
 consist wholly of sand, one would agree with the popular story 
 of their having been overwhelmed with it by the wind ; but in 
 some parts the ground is covered to a good depth by shingle 
 and water-worn stones of a size to preclude the possibility of 
 their having been brought there by the action of the wind. In 
 certain places, too, there are curious regularly-formed pyramids 
 of shingle, about sixteen feet high, and of the same diameter at 
 the base. These, and long banks of shingle, having exactly 
 the appearance of the sea-beach, make me suppose that the 
 destruction of what was once a fertile country was brought
 
 1 86 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 about by some sudden and unaccountable inroad of the sea. 
 Indeed, the appearance of the whole -of this barren district 
 would lead one to the same conclusion. At any rate, amongst 
 the numerous traditions regarding the origin of the sandhills, I 
 never heard one that quite satisfied my mind. Whatever it 
 once was, it is now a mere barren waste, or, as a friend of mine 
 named it, a kind of Arabia Infelix, inhabited only by wild 
 animals ; and it seems a wonder that even these have not long 
 ago been starved out of it. Whatever the rabbits and hares 
 feed on, they are larger there than in the more cultivated and 
 fertile parts of the country ; and the foxes are like wolves in 
 size and strength. Owing to the solitude and quietness of the 
 place, I have seen the foxes at all hours of the day prowling 
 about, or basking in the sun, or sometimes coolly seated on the 
 top of a sandhill watching my movements. I have occasionally 
 fallen in with their earth or breeding-place. The quantity of 
 remains of different animals, which they have brought to these 
 places to feed their young, proves the fox to be a most universal 
 depredator. Turkeys which have been caught at several miles' 
 distance, tame geese from the farms, and wild geese from the 
 sea-shore ; fowls, ducks, pheasants, and game of every kind, 
 including old roe that have been wounded, and young roe too 
 weak to resist their attacks, all appear to form part of this wily 
 robber's larder. 1 He also takes home to his young any fish 
 that he finds on the shore, or that he can catch in the shallow 
 pools of the streams during the night-time. No animal is 
 cunning enough to escape the fox ; wild duck or wood-pigeon 
 (the most wary of all birds) fall to his share. Patient and 
 cunning, the fox finds out the pool where the mallard and his 
 mate resort to in the evenings, and lying in wait to the leeward 
 of the place, in some tuft of rushes, catches the bird before it 
 can take wing. One night, seven of my domesticated wild 
 ducks were taken from the poultry-yard, close to the house. 
 After some search, we found some of the birds concealed in 
 different places in the adjoining fields, where the fox had buried 
 them, not having time to carry them all to his earth that night. 
 He fell a victim to his greediness, however, being caught in a 
 trap a few nights afterwards. 
 
 1 Even small birds are not disdained, yellow-hammers and hedge-sparrows, as we 
 have seen. Moles too are a favourite food.
 
 xx FOXES AND TRAPS 187 
 
 A fox, after he has lost one of his feet in a trap, is still able 
 to get his own living, and to keep himself in as good plight as 
 if he had his whole complement of legs effective. One, which 
 had left a foot in a trap, and escaped on the other three, lived 
 for two years afterwards about the same ground. We knew 
 his track in the sand by the impression of his stump. This 
 winter, while shooting in the sandhills, we saw a fox sneak 
 quietly into a small thicket of trees. I immediately placed the 
 two sportsmen who were with me at different points of the 
 thicket, and then took my retriever on the track. The dog, 
 who, from his former battles with fox and otter, is very eager 
 in his enmity against all animals of the kind, almost immediately 
 started the fox, and, after a short chase, turned him out within 
 shot of a very sure gun. The consequence was the instant 
 death of Mr. Reynard. On examining, he turned out to be 
 the very fox whose foot had been nailed up two years before. 
 He was an immense old dog-fox, in perfect condition, although 
 he had only three legs to hunt on. The fox is a constant 
 attendant on the rabbit-trapper, robbing him of most of the 
 rabbits that are caught in his traps or snares. He sometimes, 
 however, pays dearly, by getting caught in the wires ; and 
 although he generally breaks the snare and escapes, does not 
 do so without most severe punishment. I shot a fox this season 
 who had the remains of a rabbit-wire round his hind-leg, which 
 was cut to the bone by his struggles to escape. 
 
 When living in Ross-shire, I went one morning in July 
 before daybreak to endeavour to shoot a stag, which had been 
 complained of very much by an adjoining farmer as having 
 done great damage to his crops. Just after it was daylight, 
 I saw a large fox come very quietly along the edge of the 
 plantation in which I was concealed ; he looked with great care 
 over the turf wall into the field, and seemed to long very much 
 to get hold of some hares that were feeding in it but apparently 
 knew that he had no chance of catching one by dint of running ; 
 after considering a short time, he seemed to have formed his 
 plans, and having examined the different gaps in the wall by 
 which the hares might be supposed to go in and out, he fixed 
 upon the one that seemed the most frequented, and laid himself 
 down close to it in an attitude like a cat watching a mouse- 
 hole. Cunning as he was, he was too intent on his own hunting
 
 1 88 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 to be aware that I was within twenty yards of him with a loaded 
 rifle, and able to watch every movement he made ; I was much 
 amazed to see the fellow so completely outwitted, and kept my 
 rifle ready to shoot him if he found me out and attempted to 
 escape. In the meantime I watched all his plans : he first with 
 great silence and care scraped a small hollow in the ground, 
 throwing up the sand as a kind of screen between his hiding- 
 place and the hares' meuse every now and then, however, he 
 stopped to listen, and sometimes to take a most cautious peep 
 into the field ; when he had done this, he laid himself down in 
 a convenient posture for springing upon his prey, and remained 
 perfectly motionless, with the exception of an occasional iccon- 
 noitrc of the feeding hares. When the sun began to rise, they 
 came one by one from the field to the cover of the plantation ; 
 three had already come in without passing by his ambush, one 
 of them came within twenty yards of him, but he made no 
 movement beyond crouching still more flatly to the ground 
 presently two came directly towards him ; though he did not 
 venture to look up, I saw by an involuntary motion of his ears 
 that thosequick organs had already warned him of their approach ; 
 the two hares came through the gap together, and the fox 
 springing with the quickness of lightning caught one and killed 
 her immediately ; he then lifted up his booty and was carrying 
 it off like a retriever, when my rifle-ball stopped his course by 
 passing through his backbone, and I went up and despatched 
 him. After seeing this I never wondered again as to how a 
 fox could make prey of animals much quicker than himself, and 
 apparently quite as cunning. 
 
 One day this winter, we attempted to beat the thickets and 
 rough ground in the sandhill district for foxes. Having ap- 
 pointed a place of meeting, I went with a friend and four couple 
 of beagles well entered to fox and roe, to meet the owner of 
 part of the ground and an adjoining proprietor. We were only 
 four guns. Having placed the other three in passes along the 
 edge of the swamps, through which the roe and foxes would 
 have to make their way on going from one wood to the other, 
 I went into the thickets with the keepers and hounds. We had 
 hardly entered when up got a fine buck, and the beagles were 
 immediately laid on, and away they went ; I ran to a small 
 height from which I had a good view of the country away
 
 ROE-HUNTING 
 
 went the buck at a rattling pace, and the gallant little pack 
 hard on his track, making the woods echo with their enlivening 
 cry. The buck first took a line into the roughest part of the 
 ground, expecting no doubt to throw off the dogs at once, as 
 he probably had often done with sheep-dogs or curs that had 
 chased him ; but finding that his persevering little enemies 
 were not to be so outwitted, after standing still for a short time 
 to deliberate, he turned back and went straight for the swamp 
 where the guns were, but seeing the hat of one of the gentlemen 
 posted there, and not liking to cross the water directly in his 
 face, he turned along the edge of it, half inclined to go back. 
 But just at this instant the little pack came full cry out of the 
 wood their deep notes sounding in full chorus as they came 
 upon the open ground ; they were rather at a loss for a moment 
 or two, and I ran up to put them on the scent. The buck, 
 who had been watching us as he went quietly along, was decided 
 as to his course by seeing this, and the moment the dogs' cry 
 gave notice that they had found the scent again, he dashed into 
 the water at a place where there was no pass it was not above 
 a hundred yards in width, and excepting two or three yards in 
 the middle where he had to swim, not deeper than a few inches. 
 The beagles came full cry on his track, and just viewed him 
 as he was cantering up a steep ascent on the other side of the 
 water ; they at once dashed in, and, encouraged by a view holloa, 
 swam through the water and took up the scent immediately 
 away they went, till we lost all sound of them ; presently we 
 heard their notes borne down on the wind from a great distance 
 the sound came nearer and nearer, and soon the buck appeared 
 on the top of the brae, near the water's edge, directly above 
 two of the guns, who had got together tired of waiting, and 
 were discussing the price of rail way -sleepers, etc. The deer 
 stood watching them for some minutes, till the hounds came 
 within fifty yards of him in the thicket behind him ; the gentle- 
 men, hearing the dogs, ran to their respective posts, and the 
 roe came down the brae, passed between them unobserved, and 
 crossed the water again ; the dogs full cry and all together 
 immediately behind them. Hark away ! hark away ! was the 
 cry, and away they did go, in a straight line towards the sea- 
 shore. The buck (whom I constantly saw) appeared quite 
 bewildered and was evidently getting distressed ; after a twenty
 
 190 
 
 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 minutes' burst along the shore and the open part of the cover, 
 he turned back and passed me within a hundred yards at a 
 slow canter the hounds had got well warmed to their work, 
 and never lost the scent for a moment. The buck, after a 
 great many turns and windings, was fairly driven to the swamp 
 again, which he crossed this time quite slowly, stopping in the 
 water every now and then, as if to cool himself ; but the dogs 
 did not leave him much time, and were soon at the edge of the 
 water. The buck crouched down in the middle of a small 
 heath-covered island in the water, which was here of a consider- 
 able width : the hounds, however, went right across the water, 
 and began trying for the scent along the opposite edge. I had 
 seen the roe stop where he was, and ran down to call the hounds 
 back, but before I could do so, one of the pack, a very excellent 
 young bitch, whom I had got from the New Forest in Hamp- 
 shire, gave a cast and got the wind of the roe, giving a quiet 
 cheep, sufficient however to warn the rest of the pack, who all 
 joined her ; she trotted through the water straight up to the 
 island, and very soon the whole of them in full cry were at the 
 roe's heels, and driving him directly in the face of one of the 
 guns, who finished the hunt with a cartridge, killing him not 
 twenty yards ahead of the dogs. When the roe was opened 
 afterwards, the whole cartridge, wire and all, was found em- 
 bedded in his heart, a proof of the great efficacy of this kind 
 of charge, and the superiority of its strength over that of loose 
 shot. 
 
 After resting the dogs and talking over the chase, I left 
 my friends at their passes again, and went back to draw the 
 cover for another roe. The dogs were very soon in full cry 
 again, and as luck would have it, out of four roe that had started 
 they had got on the track of a fine buck ; this roe was run for 
 some time in as good style as the last, and after he had narrowly 
 escaped being shot two or three times, I shot him dead about 
 fifty yards before the hounds. During the run I saw two 
 foxes start ; one of them waded quietly through the swamp 
 towards my English friend, who, however, did not shoot at him, 
 because he was afraid, he said, of losing a chance at the roe ; 
 but I rather suspect that, having been bred a fox-hunter in his 
 own country, he had a kind of holy horror against killing a fox in 
 any but the orthodox manner to which he had been accustomed.
 
 INCREASE OF DRAINAGE 
 
 191 
 
 After having opened one of the bucks and rewarded the 
 beagles with the entrails, liver, etc., we repaired to a cottage at 
 hand, where our host for the day had provided a capital luncheon. 
 
 Frequently when passing these swamps and rugged ground, 
 I have seen roe start up from the rough heather, or feeding, 
 knee-deep in the water, on the rank weeds and herbage. The 
 best part of this ground for wild-fowl is gradually getting drained, 
 and what was (a few years since) a dreary waste of marsh and 
 swamp has now become a range of smiling corn-land. I shall 
 not easily forget my old keeper's exclamation, on his first seeing 
 one of his favourite spots for stalking wild-fowl turned into an 
 oat-field. We had walked far, with little success, but he had 
 depended on our finding the ducks in a particular spot, not being 
 aware that it had been drained since his last visit to it. Having 
 taken a long and sonorous pinch of snuff, according to his usual 
 custom when in any dilemma, he turned to me, muttering, 
 " Well, well, the whole country is spoilt with their improve- 
 ments, as they ca' them. It will no be fit for a Christian man 
 to live in much longer." He thought that oats and wheat were 
 a bad exchange for his favourite ducks and eeesc.
 
 - 
 
 DEATH OK MY FIRST STAG 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 Death of my first Stag 
 
 WHERE is the man who does not remember and look back with 
 feelings of energy and delight to the day, the hour, and the wild 
 scene, when he killed unaided his first stag ? Of course, I refer 
 only to those who have the same love of wild sport, and the 
 same enjoyment in the romantic solitude and scenery of the 
 mountain and glen that I have myself : shooting tame partridges 
 and hares from the back of a well-trained shooting-pony in a
 
 CHAP, xxi SUDDEN APPROACH OF A STAG 193 
 
 stubble field does not, in my eyes, constitute a sportsman ; 
 though there is a certain interest attached even to this kind of 
 pursuit, arising more from observing the cleverness and instinct 
 of the dogs employed, than in killing the birds. But far differ- 
 ent is the enjoyment derived from stalking the red-deer l in his 
 native mountain, where every energy of the sportsman must be 
 called into active use before he can command success. 
 
 Well do I remember the mountain-side where I shot my 
 first stag, and though many years have since passed by, I could 
 now, were I to pass through that wild and lovely glen, lay my 
 hand on the very rock under which he fell. 
 
 Though a good rifle-shot, indeed few were much better, 
 there seemed a charm against my killing a deer. On two 
 occasions, eagerness and fear of missing shook my hand when 
 I ought to have killed a fine stag. The second that I ever 
 shot at came in my way in a very singular manner. 
 
 I had been looking during the chief part of the day for 
 deer, and had, according to appointment, met an attendant 
 with my gun and pointers at a particular spring in the hills, 
 meaning to shoot my way home. This spring was situated in 
 the midst of a small green spot, like an oasis in the desert, sur- 
 rounded on all sides by a long stretch of broken black ground. 
 The well itself was in a little round hollow, surrounded by high 
 banks. 
 
 I was resting here, having met my gillie, and was consoling 
 myself for my want of success by smoking a cigar, when, at the 
 same moment, a kind of shadow came across me, and the 
 pointers who were coupled at my feet pricked up their ears 
 and growled, with their eyes fixed on some object behind me. 
 My keeper, who had been out with me all day, was stretched 
 on his back, in a half slumber, and the gillie was kneeling down 
 taking a long draught at the cool well, with the enjoyment of 
 one who had had a long toiling walk on a hot August day. 
 Turning my head lazily to see what had roused the dogs, and 
 had cast its shadow across me, instead of a shepherd, as I 
 expected could I believe my eyes ! there stood a magnificent 
 stag, with the fine-shaped horns peculiar to. those of the Suther- 
 land forests. He was standing on the bank immediately behind 
 
 1 In the forests or grounds cleared of sheep the red-deer has increased considerably 
 of late years. C. St. J. 
 
 O
 
 194 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 me, and not above fifty yards off", looking with astonishment at 
 the group before him, who had taken possession of the very 
 spot where he had intended to slake his thirst. The deer 
 seemed too much astonished to move, and for a moment I was in 
 the same dilemma. The rifle was on the ground just behind 
 the slumbering Donald. I was afraid the deer would be off out 
 of sight, if I got up to take it, or if I called loud enough to 
 awake Donald. So I was driven to the necessity of giving him 
 a pretty severe kick, which had the effect of making him turn 
 on his side, and open his eyes with a grunt. " The rifle, Donald, 
 the rifle," I whispered, holding out my hand. Scarcely knowing 
 what he was at, he instinctively stretched out his hand to feel 
 for it, and held it out to me. All this takes some time to 
 describe, but did not occupy a quarter of a minute. At the 
 same instant that I got the rifle, the gillie lifted up his head 
 from the water, and half turning, saw the stag, and also saw 
 that I was about to shoot at him. With a presence of mind 
 worthy of being better seconded, he did not raise himself from 
 his knees, but remained motionless with his eyes fixed on the 
 deer. As I said before, I had never killed a deer, and my hand 
 shook, and my heart beat. I fired, however, with, as I thought, 
 a good aim at his shoulder. The deer at the instant turned 
 round. After firing my shot, we all (including Donald, who 
 by this time comprehended what was going on) ran to the top 
 of the bank to see what had happened, as the deer disappeared 
 the instant I fired. I had, I believe, missed him altogether, 
 though he looked as large as an ox, and we saw him going at 
 a steady gallop over the wide flat. Donald had out the glass 
 immediately, and took a steady sight at him, but having watched 
 the noble animal, as he galloped up the opposite slope and stood 
 for two or three minutes on the summit, looking back intently 
 at us, he shut up the telescope with a jerk that threatened to 
 break every glass in it, and giving a grunt, vastly expressive of 
 disgust, returned to the well, where he took a long draught. 
 His only remark at the time was, " There's no the like of that 
 stag in the country ; weel do I mind seeing him last year when 
 shooting ptarmigan up yonder, and not a bullet had I. The 
 deil's in the rifle, that she did na kill him ; and he'll cross the 
 river before he stops." It required some time, and some whisky 
 also, to restore Donald to his usual equanimity.
 
 xxi STARTING FOR A STALK 195 
 
 This was on a Saturday. On the Monday following, at a 
 very early hour, Donald appeared, and after his morning salute 
 of " It's a fine day, Sir," he added, " There will be some deer 
 about the west shoulder of the hill above Alt-na-cahr. When- 
 ever the wind is in the airt it now is, they feed about the burn 
 there." We agreed to walk across to that part of the ground, 
 and were soon en route. Bran galloped round us, baying 
 joyously, as if he expected we should have good luck. We had 
 not gone half a mile from the house, when we met one of the 
 prettiest girls in the country, tripping along the narrow path, 
 humming a Gaelic air, and looking bright and fresh as the 
 morning. " How are you all at home, Nanny, and how is your 
 father getting on ? does he see any deer on the hill ? " said I ; 
 her father was a shepherd not far from the house, and she was 
 then going down on some errand to my servants. " We are all 
 no' that bad, thank you, Sir, except mother, who still has the 
 trouble on her. Father says that he saw some hinds and a fine 
 stag yesterday as he crossed the hill to the kirk ; they were 
 feeding on the top of Alt-na-cahr, and didna mind him a bit." 
 
 Donald looked at me, with a look full of importance, at this 
 confirmation of his prophecy. " 'Deed, Sir, that's a bonny lass, 
 and as gude as she is bonny. It's just gude luck our meeting 
 her ; if we had met that auld witch, her mother, not a beast 
 would we have seen the day." I have heard of Donald turning 
 home again if he met an old woman when starting on any deer- 
 stalking excursion. The pretty young girl, however, was a 
 good omen in his eyes. We passed through the woods, seeing 
 here and there a roebuck standing gazing at us as we crossed 
 some grassy glade where he was feeding. On the rocks near the 
 top of the woods, Donald took me to look at a trap he had set, 
 and in it we found a beautiful marten cat, which we killed, and 
 hid amongst the stones another good omen in Donald's eyes. 
 
 On we went, taking a careful survey of the ground here and 
 there. At a loch whose Gaelic name I do not remember, we 
 saw a vast number of wild ducks, and at the farther extremity 
 of it a hind and calf feeding. We waited here for some time, 
 and I amused myself with watching the two deer as they fed, 
 unconscious of our neighbourhood, and from time to time drank 
 at the burn which supplied the loch. We then passed over a 
 long dreary tract of brown and broken ground, till we came to
 
 196 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 the picturesque-looking place where we expected to find the 
 deer a high conical hill, rising out of rather flat ground, which 
 gave it an appearance of being of a greater height than it really 
 was. We took a most careful survey of the slope on which 
 Donald expected to see the deer. Below was an extensive 
 level piece of heather with a burn running through it in an end- 
 less variety of windings, and fringed with green rushes and 
 grass, which formed a strong contrast to the dark -coloured 
 moor through which it made its way, till it emptied itself into 
 a long narrow loch, beyond which rose Ben Cleebrich and some 
 more of the highest mountains in Scotland. In vain we looked 
 and looked, and Donald at last shut up his telescope in despair : 
 " They are no' here the day," was his remark. " But what is 
 that, Donald ? " said I, pointing to some bluish-looking object 
 I saw at some distance from us, rising out of the heather. The 
 glass was turned towards it, and after having been kept motion- 
 less for some time, he pronounced it to be the head and neck 
 of a hind. I took the glass, and while I was looking at it, I 
 saw a fine stag rise suddenly from some small hollow near her, 
 stretch himself, and lie down again. Presently six more hinds 
 and a two-year-old stag got up, and after walking about for a 
 few minutes, they, one by one, lay down again, but every one 
 seemed to take up a position commanding a view of the whole 
 country. We crept back a few paces, and then getting into 
 the course of the burn, got within three hundred yards of 
 the deer, but by no means whatever could we get nearer. The 
 stag was a splendid fellow, with ten points, and regular, fine- 
 shaped horns. Bran winded them, and \vatched us most 
 earnestly, as if to ask why we did not try to get at them. The 
 sensible dog, however, kept quite quiet, as if aware of the 
 importance of not being seen or heard. Donald asked me 
 what o'clock it was ; I told him that it was just two. " Well, 
 well, Sir, we must just wait here till three o'clock, when the 
 deer will get up to feed, and most likely the brutes will travel 
 towards the burn. The Lord save us, but yon's a muckle 
 beast." Trusting to his experience, I waited patiently, employ- 
 ing myself in attempting to dry my hose by wringing them, 
 and placing them in the sun. Donald took snuff and watched 
 the deer, and Bran laid his head on his paws as if asleep, but 
 his sharp eye, and ear pricked up on the slightest movement,.
 
 xxi WATCHING A STAG 197 
 
 showed that he was ready for action at a moment's warning. 
 As nearly as possible at three o'clock they did get up to feed : 
 first the hinds rose and cropped a few mouthfuls of the coarse 
 grass near them ; looking at and waiting for their lord and 
 master, who, however, seemed lazily inclined and would not 
 move ; the young stag fed steadily on towards us. 
 
 Frequently the hinds stopped and turned back to their 
 leader, who remained quite motionless, excepting that now 
 and then he scratched a fly off his flank with his horn or turned 
 his head towards the hill-side when a grouse crowed or a plover 
 whistled. The young stag was feeding quietly within a hundred 
 and fifty yards of us, and we had to lie flat on the ground now 
 and then to escape his observation. The evening air already 
 began to feel chill, when suddenly the object of our pursuit 
 jumped up, stretched himself, and began feeding. Not liking 
 the pasture close to him, he trotted at once down into the flat 
 ground right away from us. Donald uttered a Gaelic oath, and 
 I fear I added an English one. The stag that had been feeding 
 so near us stood still for a minute to watch the others, who were 
 all now several hundred yards away, grazing steadily. I aimed 
 at him, but just as I was about to fire he turned away, leaving 
 nothing but his haunch in view, and went after the rest. 
 Donald applauded me for not shooting at him, but told me 
 that our case was hopeless, and that we had better make our 
 way home and attempt no more, as they were feeding in so 
 open a place that it was impossible to get at them : even Bran 
 yawned and rose, as if he too had given up all hope. " I will 
 have one try, Donald ; so hold the dog." " You need na fash 
 yoursel', Sir ; they are clean out of all hope and reason." I 
 determined to make an effort before it became dusk ; so leaving 
 Donald, I set off down the burn, looking for some hollow place 
 that might favour my getting up to them, but I could find 
 none : at last it struck me that I might by chance get up 
 within a long shot by keeping a small hillock, which was in 
 the middle of the plain, between me and the deer. The hillock 
 was not two feet high, and all depended on the animals keeping 
 together and not outflanking me. 
 
 On I went, not on my hands and knees, but crawling like a 
 snake, and never rising even to my knee. I could see their 
 hind -quarters as they walked away, feeding, however, most
 
 I 9 8 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 eagerly, and when they looked up I lay still flatter on the 
 ground with my face buried in the heather. They appeared, 
 however, not to suspect danger in the open plain, but often 
 looked anxiously towards the burn or the rocky side of the 
 mountain. One old long-legged hind kept me in a constant 
 state of alarm, as she frequently looked in my direction, turning 
 her ears as if to catch some suspicious sound. As for the stag, 
 he never looked about him once, leaving that to the hinds. I 
 at last got within about a hundred yards of the whole of them : 
 as they fed in a group turned away from me, I could not get a 
 shot at anything but their hind-quarters, and I did not wish to 
 shoot unless I could get a fair broadside towards me. While 
 waiting for an opportunity, still flat on the ground, a grouse 
 cock walked out of the heather close to me, and strutted on 
 with head erect and his bright eye fixed on me till he came to 
 a little hillock, where he stopped and began to utter a note of 
 alarm. Instantly every deer left off eating. I saw that no 
 time was to be lost and raised myself on my elbow, and with 
 cocked rifle waited for the hinds to move, that I might get at 
 the stag, who was in the midst of them. The hinds soon saw 
 me and began to trot away, but their leader seemed determined 
 to see what the danger was, and before he started turned round 
 to look towards the spot where the grouse w r as, giving me a 
 good slanting shot at his shoulder. I immediately touched the 
 trigger, feeling at the same time sure of my aim. The ball 
 went true and down he fell. I began reloading, but before I 
 had half done the stag was up again and making play after the 
 hinds, who were galloping up a gentle slope of the hill. The 
 poor beast was evidently moving with the greatest difficulty 
 and pain ; sometimes coming to his knees, and then recovering 
 himself with a strong effort, he still managed to keep not far 
 behind them. I sat down in utter despair : looking round too 
 for Donald and Bran I could see nothing of them. Between 
 anxiety and vexation I did not know what to do. All at once 
 I saw the hinds dash away in different directions, and the next 
 moment my gallant Bran appeared in the midst of them. I 
 shouted with joy. On came the dog, taking no notice of the 
 hinds, but making straight for the stag, who stood still for one 
 instant, and then rushed with apparently full vigour down the 
 hill. Down they came towards the burn, the dog not five yards
 
 xxi DEATH OF THE STAG 199 
 
 behind the stag, but unable to reach his shoulder (the place 
 where he always struck his game). In a few moments deer and 
 hound went headlong and seemingly both together into the 
 burn. Donald appeared running like a lunatic : with good 
 judgment he had, when I left him, gone to cut off the deer 
 in case I wounded one and it took up the hill. As good luck 
 would have it, the hinds had led off the stag right up to where 
 Donald and Bran were, notwithstanding his inclination to go 
 the other way. I ran to see what had become of them in the 
 burn, expecting to find the stag at bay. When I got there, 
 however, it was all over. The deer had probably tumbled from 
 weakness, and Bran had got his fangs well into the throat of 
 the poor brute before he could rise again. The gallant dog, 
 when I was up with him, lay down panting with his fore-paws 
 on the deer, and wagging his tail, seemed to congratulate me 
 on my victory and to expect to be caressed for his share in it. 
 A fine stag he was, in perfect order, with noble antlers. Donald 
 added to my satisfaction by applauding my manner of getting 
 up to him, adding that he never would have thought it possible 
 to kill a stag on such bare and flat ground. Little did I feel 
 the fatigue of our three hours' walk, two of them in the dark 
 and hard rain. We did not go home, but went to a shepherd's 
 house, whose inhabitants were at evening prayer when we 
 arrived ; we did not interrupt them, but afterwards the wife 
 prepared us a capital supper of eggs and fresh trout, which we 
 devoured with vast relish before the bright peat-fire, our wet 
 clothes steaming all the time like a boiler. Such was the death 
 of my first stag. 
 
 FIXDHORX BAY
 
 THE FINDHORN KIVER 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 The Findhorn River Excursion to Source Deer -stalking Shepherds Hind and 
 Calf Heavy Rain Floods Walk to Lodge Fine Morning Highland 
 Sheep Banks of River Cottages. 
 
 I DO not know a stream that more completely realises all one's 
 ideas of the beauty of Highland scenery than the Findhorn, 
 taking it from the spot where it is no more than a small rivulet 
 bubbling and sparkling along a narrow gorge in the far-off re- 
 cesses of the Monaghliahd mountains, down to the Bay of Find- 
 horn, where its accumulated waters are poured into the Moray 
 Firth. From source to mouth, this river is full of beauty and 
 interest. 
 
 On a bright August day, the 6th of the month, I joined a 
 friend in a deer-stalking expedition, near the source of the Find- 
 horn, in the Monaghliahd. We went from near Inverness to 
 our quarters. For the greatest part of our way our road was
 
 CHAP, xxn SHEPHERDS 1 HUT 201 
 
 over a flat though elevated range of dreary moor, more interest- 
 ing to the eye of a grouse-shooter than to any one else. When 
 within a few miles of the end of our journey, the Findhorn came 
 in sight, passing like a silver stripe, edged with bright green, 
 through the brown mountains, and sparkling brightly in the 
 evening sun. The sides of the hills immediately overhanging 
 the river are clothed with patches of weeping-birch and juniper, 
 with here and there a black hut perched on a green knoll, dotted 
 with groves of the rugged and ancient -looking birch -trees. 
 About these solitary abodes, too, were small patches of oats 
 and potatoes. The mavis with its joyous note, and the black- 
 bird's occasional full and rich song, greeted us as we passed 
 through these wooded tracts. Sometimes a wood-pigeon would 
 crash through the branches close to us as we wound round some 
 corner of the wood. 
 
 Having arrived at our destination, we made ourselves as 
 comfortable as we could, and retired to rest. 
 
 In the morning we started in different directions. I, accom- 
 panied by a shepherd, went westward towards the sources of 
 the river. I cannot say that I had much hope of finding deer, 
 as the whole line of my march was full of sheep ; and red-deer 
 will very seldom remain quiet when this is the case, either from 
 a dislike to the sheep themselves, or from knowing that where 
 there are sheep there are also shepherds and shepherds' dogs. 
 With black cattle, on the contrary, deer live in tolerable amity ; 
 and I have frequently seen cattle and deer feeding together in 
 the same glen. 
 
 I went some miles westward, keeping up the course of the 
 river, or rather parallel to it, sometimes along its very edge, 
 and at other times at some distance from the water. The 
 highest building on the river, if building it can be termed, is a 
 small shealing, or summer residence of the shepherds, called, I 
 believe, Dahlvaik. Seeing some smoke coming from this hut, 
 we went to it. When at some few hundred yards off, we were 
 greeted with a most noisy salute from some half-dozen sheep- 
 dogs, who seemed bent on eating up my bloodhound. But 
 having tried her patience to the uttermost, till she rolled over 
 two or three of them rather roughly (not condescending, how- 
 ever, to use her teeth), the colleys retreated to the door of the 
 shealing, where they redoubled, if possible, their noise, keeping
 
 202 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP, xxn 
 
 up a concert of howling and barking enough to startle every 
 deer in the country. My companion, whose knowledge of the 
 English tongue was not very deep, told me that the owners of 
 the dogs would be some " lads from Strath Errick," who were 
 to hold a conference with him about some sheep. 
 
 A black- headed, unshaven Highlander having come out, 
 and kicked the dogs into some kind of quiet, we entered the 
 hut, and found two more " lads " in it, one stretched out on a 
 very rough bench, and the other busy stirring up some oatmeal 
 and hot water for their breakfast. The smoke for a few 
 moments prevented my making out what or who were in the 
 place. I held a short (very short) conversation with the three 
 shepherds, they understanding not one word of English, and I 
 understanding very few of Gaelic. But, by the help of the man 
 who accompanied me, I found out that a stag or two were still 
 in the glen, besides a few hinds. The meal and water having 
 been mixed sufficiently, it was emptied out into a large earthen 
 dish, and placed smoking on the lid of a chest. Each man 
 then produced from some recess of his plaid a long wooden 
 spoon ; whilst my companion assisted in the ceremony by 
 fetching some water from the river in a bottle. They all three, 
 then, having doffed their bonnets, and raising their hands, 
 muttered over a long Gaelic grace. Then, without saying a 
 word, they set to with good will at the scalding mess before 
 them, each attacking the corner of the dish nearest him, shovel- 
 ling immense spoonfuls down their throats; and when more than 
 usually scalded their throats must have been as fire -proof as 
 that of the Fire King himself taking a mouthful of the water 
 in the bottle, which was passed from one to the other for that 
 purpose. Having eaten a most extraordinary quantity of the 
 pottage, each man wiped his spoon on the sleeve of his coat, 
 and again said a grace. The small remainder was then mixed 
 with more water and given to the dogs, who had been patiently 
 waiting for their share. After they had licked the dish clean, 
 it was put away into the meal-chest, the key of which was then 
 concealed in a hole of the turf wall. I divided most of my 
 cigars with the men to smoke in their pipes, and handed round 
 my whisky-flask, reserving a small modicum for my own use 
 during the day. 
 
 From this place to its source the river is very narrow, and
 
 THE VALLEY OF THE FINDHORN
 
 204 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 confined between steep and rocky hills that come down to the 
 edge of the water ; varied here and there by less abrupt ascents, 
 covered with spreading juniper-bushes and green herbage. On 
 one of these bright spots we saw a hind and her calf, the former 
 standing to watch us as we passed up the opposite side of the 
 river, while her young one was playing about her like a lamb. 
 They did not seem to care much for our coming there ; and 
 having watched us for some time, and seeing that we had no 
 evil intention towards them, the hind recommenced feeding, 
 only occasionally stopping to see that we did not turn. The 
 ring-ouzel, that near cousin of the blackbird, frequently flitted 
 across the glen, and, perching on a juniper-bush, saluted us with 
 its wild and sweet song. 
 
 The morning was bright, and the river sparkled and danced 
 over its stony bed ; while every little pool was dimpled by the 
 rising of the trout, which jumped without dread of hook and line 
 at the small black gnats that were playing about the surface of 
 the water. A solitary heron was standing on a stone in the 
 middle of the stream, seemingly quite regardless of us. But 
 while I was looking at his shadowy figure, which was perfectly 
 reflected in the water beneath him, the bird suddenly flew off 
 with a cry of alarm, occasioned by the appearance of a peregrine 
 falcon, who passed with even and rapid flight at no great height 
 along the course of the river, without taking the least notice of 
 the heron. 
 
 Beautiful in its grand and wild solitude is the glen where 
 the Findhorn takes its rise ; seldom does the foot of man pass 
 by it. It is too remote even for the sportsman ; and the grouse 
 cock crows in peace, and struts without fear of pointer or gun, 
 when he comes down from the hill-slopes at noonday to sip the 
 clear waters of the springs that give birth to this beautiful river. 
 The red-deer fearlessly quenches his thirst in them, as he passes 
 from the hills of Killen to the pine- woods in Strathspey. 
 Seldom is he annoyed by the presence of mankind, unless a 
 chance shepherd or poacher from Badenoch happens to wander 
 in that direction. Having rested for a short time, and satisfied 
 my curiosity respecting the source of the river, we struck off 
 over some very dreary slopes of high ground on the north-east, 
 interspersed with green stripes, through which small burns make 
 their way to swell the main stream of the river. Not a deer
 
 BURNS IN FLOOD 
 
 205 
 
 did we see, but great quantities of grouse, which, when flushed, 
 flew to short distances, and alighting on some hillock, crowed 
 as it were in defiance. A cold chill that passed over me made 
 me turn and look down the course of the stream, and the first 
 thing that I saw was a dense shower or cloud of rain working 
 its way up the valley, and gradually spreading over the face of 
 the country, shutting out hill after hill from our view as it crept 
 towards us. In the other direction all was blue and bright. 
 
 CROSSING THK BURN 
 
 " We must turn home, or we shall never get across the streams 
 and burns," was my ejaculation to the shepherd. " 'Deed, ay, 
 Sir," was his answer ; and, tightening our plaids, we turned 
 our faces towards the east. As the rain approached, the ring- 
 ouzel sang more loudly, as if to take leave of the sunshine ; 
 and the grouse flew to the dry and bare heights, where they 
 crowed incessantly. 
 
 The rain gradually came on, accompanied by a cold cutting 
 wind. I never saw such rain in my life ; it was a perfect 
 deluge ; and in five minutes I was as wet as if I had been 
 swimming through the river. We saw the burns we had to 
 cross on our way home tumbling in foaming torrents down the 
 hill-sides. In the morning we had stepped across them without
 
 206 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 wetting our feet. The first one that we came to I looked at 
 with wonder. Instead of a mere thread of crystal water, creep- 
 ing rather than flowing through the stones which filled its bed, 
 we had to wade through a roaring torrent, which was carrying 
 in its course pieces of turf, heather, and even large stones. 
 We crossed with some difficulty, holding by each other's collar. 
 Two or three burns we passed in this manner, the rain still 
 continuing, and if possible increasing. I looked round at my 
 companion, and was only prevented from laughing at his limp 
 and rueful countenance by thinking that he probably had just 
 as much cause for merriment in my appearance. The poor 
 hound was perfectly miserable, as she followed me with the 
 rain running in streams down her long ears. 
 
 After some time we came opposite the shealing where we 
 had been with the shepherds in the morning. And here my 
 companion said that he must leave me, having particular busi- 
 ness with the other men, who had come on purpose to meet him 
 there. He warned me to be very careful in crossing the burns, 
 as, if I once lost my footing in any of them, I should probably 
 never get up again. 
 
 Off I tramped through the sodden ground. I managed 
 the first burn pretty well. But the next one was wider, and, 
 if possible, more rapid. I had no stick to sound its depth, but 
 saw that it was too strong to venture into ; so I turned up its 
 course, hoping it would get narrower and shallower higher up. 
 Its banks were steep and rocky, and covered in some parts with 
 hazel and birch. On a withered branch of one of the latter 
 was a large buzzard, 1 sitting mournfully in the rain, and uttering 
 its shrill, wild cry, a kind of note between a whistle and a 
 scream. The bird sat so tamely, that in a pet I determined to 
 try if I could not stop his ominous-sounding voice with a rifle- 
 ball. But, after taking a most deliberate aim at him, the copper 
 cap snapped. I tried another with equally bad success. So I 
 had to continue my way, leaving the bird where he was. I 
 could find no place in the burn that was fordable for some 
 
 1 The buzzard (Buteo vulgaris) is regarded by Gray as a useful bird in game-preserves 
 (Gray, p. 46). Having kept one in confinement for nearly five years, \ve can quite con- 
 firm Gray's view. Our bird, though kept in a large cage with old and young rabbits and 
 guinea-pigs, never injured any of them, even when itself pressed for food. It lived solely 
 on carrion, thus rendering it a strong probability that the buzzard docs not kill young 
 rabbits or poults.
 
 xxii RAIN ON THE HILLS 207 
 
 distance ; and I said to myself, " If I had but a stick to sound 
 the water with ! " The next moment almost I saw one about 
 six feet in length standing upright in the ground. I could 
 scarcely believe my eyes. The stick must have been left by 
 mere chance by some shepherd. It came most opportunely 
 for me, however. The first place I tried in the water with it 
 (a spot where I thought I could wade), it went in to the depth 
 of at least five feet. This would never do ; so on I went up 
 the hill, splashing through the wet bog and heather. At last 
 I came to a place in the burn, where, by leaping from one stone 
 to the other, at no small risk to myself, I managed to get across. 
 My poor hound had to swim, and was very nearly carried off 
 by the stream. Instead of turning down again towards the 
 river, I still kept the high ground, remembering that I had to 
 pass through two or three other burns, one of them, at least, 
 much larger than any I had already crossed. I had now to 
 make my way over a long flat, covered with coarse grass, and 
 full of holes of water and rotten bog. I never walked a 
 more weary mile in my life, sinking, as I did, up to my knees 
 at nearly every step. When in the middle of this, I saw three 
 hinds and a calf walk deliberately along a ridge not three 
 hundred yards from me. I had to lead the hound for some 
 distance, as she lost all her fatigue on coming on their scent, 
 which she did as we passed their track. I made no attempt 
 on them, knowing the useless state of my rifle. We kept on, 
 and at last got across all the burns excepting the largest, which 
 was still between me and my dry clothes and dinner. I had 
 now got quite high up on the barren hill, leaving everything 
 but rock and heather far below me, the birch-woods not extend- 
 ing above half a mile from the river. I came here to another 
 long flat piece of ground ; and having to make many windings 
 and turnings to cross different small streams, I suddenly dis- 
 covered that I had entirely lost my points of the compass. So, 
 sitting down, I tried to make out which way the wind blew, as 
 my only guide. This soon set me right ; and after another 
 hour or two of weary walking, I found myself on the hill-top 
 almost immediately overhanging the Lodge, the smoke from 
 whose chimneys \vas a most welcome sight. On getting to it, 
 I found the river raging and pouring down between its narrow 
 banks in a manner that no one who has not seen a Highland
 
 208 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 river in full flood can imagine, carrying with it every kind of 
 debris that its course could produce. 
 
 At eleven o'clock at night, when looking at it by the light 
 of a brilliant northern moon (every cloud having long disap- 
 peared), we found that the water had already begun to subside, 
 though it still roared on with great fury. On the opposite 
 rocks we could see many a mountain burn as they glanced in 
 the moonlight. Every bird and animal was at rest, excepting 
 a couple of owls answering each other with loud hootings, which 
 were plainly heard above the noise of the waters. 
 
 The friend I was with being obliged to go home the next 
 day, I determined also to wend my way to the low country, and 
 to follow the river till I reached my own house. 
 
 We started on horseback very early. Nothing could exceed 
 the beauty of the morning, and everything, animate and inani- 
 mate, seemed to smile rejoicingly. The Findhorn had returned 
 to its usual size, and danced merrily in the sunshine. The 
 streams on the opposite cliffs were again like silver threads, and 
 the sheep were winding along the narrow paths on the face of 
 the rocks, the animals looking to us as if they were walking, 
 like flies, on the very face of the perpendicular cliffs. We saw 
 a flock of some thirty or so making their way in single file along 
 these paths : while we watched them they came to a place where 
 their road was broken up by the yesterday's torrents. We could 
 not understand what they would do. The path was evidently 
 too narrow to turn; and, as well as we could see with our 
 glasses, to proceed was impossible. However, after a short halt 
 the leader sprang over the obstacle, whatever it was, and alighted 
 safely on the opposite side. The least false step would have 
 sent him down many hundred feet. However, they all got 
 over in safety, and having filed away for some little distance 
 slowly along the face of the precipice, they came to a small 
 green shelf, apparently only a few yards square, the object of 
 all their risk and labour. As fast as they got on this they dis- 
 persed, and commenced feeding quickly about it. We did not 
 wait to see them return, as we had a long day's journey before 
 us. Behind the house the hill seemed alive with grouse, crow- 
 ing in the morning sun. My hound came out baying joyously 
 to see me, and we started on our day's journey. Our road took 
 us through birch-woods, fragrant from the yesterday's rain, and
 
 xxii THE RIVER FIND HORN 209 
 
 in which the birds sang right merrily. As we descended the 
 river we passed the plantations at Dalmigarie and considerable 
 tracts of corn-ground the corn in this high country being still 
 perfectly green. Here and there was a small farm-house on a 
 green mound, with a peat-stack larger than the house itself. 
 As we passed these, a bare-headed and bare-legged urchin 
 would look at us round a corner of the building, and then 
 running in, would bring out the rest of the household to stare 
 at us. If we entered one of the houses, we were always 
 greeted with hospitable smiles, and the goodwife, wiping a 
 chair with her apron, would produce a bowl of excellent milk 
 (such milk as you only can get in the Highlands) and a plate 
 of cheese and oat-cake, the latter apparently consisting of 
 chopped straw, and seasoned with gravel, though made palatable 
 by the kind welcome with which it was given. Frequently, too, 
 a bottle of whisky would be produced, and a glass of it urged 
 on us, or we were pressed to stop to take an egg or something 
 warm. At Freeburn we parted my friend to go by coach to 
 Inverness, and I to keep my course down the river, which is 
 surrounded by dreary grey hills. As I got on, however, the 
 banks grew more rocky and picturesque, enlivened here and 
 there by the usual green patches of corn, and the small farm- 
 houses, with their large peat-stack but diminutive corn-stack. 
 Near Freeburn I talked to an old Highlander, who was flogging 
 the water with a primitive-looking rod and line and a coarse- 
 looking fly, catching, however, a goodly number of trout. He 
 was the first angler I had as yet passed, with the exception of 
 a kilted boy, belonging to the shepherd at our place of rest, who 
 was already out when we left home, catching trout for his own 
 breakfast and that of a young peregrine falcon which he had 
 caught in the rocks opposite the house, and was keeping wholly 
 on a fish diet and a more beautiful and finer bird I never saw, 
 although she had fed for many weeks on nothing but small 
 trout, a food not so congenial to her as rabbits and pigeons and 
 the other products of the low country. I bought the hawk of 
 him, and have kept her ever since. Below Freeburn I had to 
 wade the river, in order to avoid a very difficult and somewhat 
 dangerous pass on the rocks. Frequently I met with fresh 
 tracks of the otter. In some places, where the water fell over 
 rocks of any height, so as to prevent the animal from keeping 
 
 P
 
 210 
 
 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP, xxn 
 
 the bed of the river, there were regularly hard beaten paths by 
 which they passed in going from one pool to the other. The 
 water-ouzel, too, enlivened the scene by its curious rapid flight 
 and shrill cry, as it flew from one shallow to another, or passed 
 back over my head to return to its favourite resting-stone from 
 which 1 had disturbed it. 
 
 The kestrel seems to abound in the rocks through which 
 the river runs, as I saw this bird very frequently either sitting 
 on some projecting angle of stone or hovering high above me. 
 
 The country here appears as good for grouse as the hills 
 near the sources would be for red-deer, were they free from 
 sheep. I do not know a district in Scotland that would make 
 a better deer-forest than that immediately round and to the 
 westward of Coignafern, where the Monaghliahd mountains 
 afford every variety of ground suited to these animals, with 
 most excellent feeding for them along the burns and straths 
 which intersect the high grounds in every direction, and the 
 most perfect solitude. It is almost a pity that the Mac Intosh 
 does not turn this district into a forest. 
 
 ....:. -.--I". 
 
 VALLEY OF THE F1NUHOKN
 
 DULSIE BRIDGE 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 Findhorn River Bridge of Dulsie Beauty of Scenery Falls of River Old Salmon- 
 fisher Anglers Heronry Distant View Sudden Rise of River Mouth of 
 River. 
 
 NOTHING can exceed the beauty of the river and the surround- 
 ing scenery when it suddenly leaves the open and barren ground
 
 212 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 and plunges at once into the wild and extensive woods of 
 Dunearn and Fairness. The woods at Dunearn are particularly 
 picturesque, in consequence of the fir-trees (at least those near 
 the river) having been left rather farther apart than is usual ; and 
 no tree adds more to the beauty of scenery than the Scotch fir, 
 when it has room to spread out into its natural shape. The 
 purple heather, too, in these woods forms a rich and soft 
 groundwork to the picture. What spot in the world can excel 
 in beauty the landscape comprising the old Bridge of Dulsie, 
 spanning with its lofty arch the deep black pool, shut in by grey 
 and fantastic rocks, surmounted with the greenest of grass 
 swards, with clumps of the ancient weeping-birches with their 
 gnarled and twisted stems, backed again by the dark pine-trees ? 
 The river here forms a succession of very black and deep pools, 
 connected with each other by foaming and whirling falls and 
 currents, up which in the fine pure evenings you may see the 
 salmon making curious leaps. I shall never forget the impres- 
 sion this scenery made on me when I first saw it. The bridge 
 of the Dulsie, the dark-coloured river, and the lovely woodlands, 
 as I viewed them while stretched on the short green sward 
 above the rocks, formed a picture which will never be effaced 
 from my memory. I cannot conceive a more striking coup d'ceil, 
 or one more worthy of the pencil of an artist. On these rocks 
 are small flocks of long-horned, half-wild goats, whose appear- 
 ance, with their shaggy hair and long venerable beards, adds 
 much to the wildness of the scene. 
 
 The blackcock and the roebuck now succeed the grouse and 
 red-deer. The former is frequently to be seen either sitting on 
 the trunk of a fallen birch-tree or feeding on the juniper-berries, 
 while the beautiful roebuck (the most perfect in its symmetry 
 of all deer) is seen either grazing on some grassy spot at the 
 water's edge, or wading through a shallow part of the river, 
 looking round when half-way through as timid and coy as a 
 bathing nymph. When disturbed by the appearance of a 
 passer-by, he bounds lightly and easily up the steep bank of 
 the river, and after standing on the summit for a moment or 
 two to make out the extent of the danger, plunges into the 
 dark solitudes of the forest. 
 
 On the left side of the river, as it proceeds towards the sea, 
 is a succession of most beautiful banks and heights, fringed with
 
 RIVER SCENERY 213 
 
 the elegant fern and crowned with juniper, which grows to a 
 very great size, twisting its branches and fantastic roots in the 
 quaintest forms and shapes imaginable over the surface of the 
 rocks. The lovely weeping-birch is everywhere, and about 
 Coulmony are groves of magnificent beech and other forest- 
 trees. On the opposite side are the wooded hills and heights 
 of Relugas, a spot combining every description of beauty. The 
 Findhorn here receives the tributary waters of the Divie, a burn, 
 or rather river, not much inferior in size and beauty to the main 
 river. Hemmed in by the same kind of birch-grown banks 
 and precipitous rocks, every angle of the Findhorn river presents 
 a new view and new beauty, and at last one cannot restrain the 
 exclamation of " Surely there is no other river in the world so 
 beautiful." At Logic the view of the course of the river, and 
 the distance seen far up the glen till it is gradually lost in a 
 succession of purple mountains, is worth a halt of some time to 
 enjoy. The steep banks opposite Logic, clothed with every 
 variety of wood, are lovely, and give a new variety to the scene 
 as we enter on the forests of Darnaway and Altyre. The wood- 
 pigeon cooes and breeds in every nook and corner of the woods, 
 and towards evening the groves seem alive with the song of 
 blackbirds and thrushes, varied now by the crow of the cock 
 pheasant, as he suns himself in all his glittering beauty on the 
 dry and sheltered banks of the river. 
 
 Still for many miles is the river shut in by extensive woods 
 and overhung by splendid fir, larch, and other trees, while the 
 nearly perpendicular rocks are clothed with the birch and the 
 ladylike bird-cherry, the holly and bright-berried mountain-ash 
 growing out of every niche and cleft, and clinging by their 
 serpent-like roots to the bare face of the rock ; while in the 
 dark, damp recesses of the stone grow several most lovely 
 varieties of pale green ferns and other plants. In the more 
 sunny places you meet with the wild strawberry and purple 
 foxglove, the latter shooting up in graceful pyramids of flower. 
 Between Logic and Sluie are some of the highest rocks on the 
 river, and from several hundred feet above it you can look 
 straight down into the deep pools and foaming eddies below 
 you. At a particular gorge, where the river rushes through 
 a passage of very few feet in width, you will invariably see an 
 old salmon -fisher perched on a point of rock, with his eye
 
 214 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 intent on the rushing cataract below him, and armed with a 
 staff of some sixteen feet in length ending in a sharp hook, with 
 which he strikes the salmon as they stop for a moment to rest 
 in some eddy of the boiling torrent before taking their final 
 leap up the fall. Watch for a few moments, and you will see 
 the old man make a peculiar plunge and jerk with his long clip 
 into the rushing water, and then hoisting it into the air he 
 displays a struggling salmon impaled on the end of the staff, 
 glancing like a piece of silver as it endeavours to escape. 
 Perhaps it tumbles off the hook, and dropping into the water, 
 floats wounded away, to fall a prey to the otter or fox in some 
 shallow below. If, however, the fish is securely hooked, there 
 ensues a struggle between it and the old man, who, by a twist 
 of his stick, turns himself and the fish towards the dry rock, 
 and having shaken the salmon off the hook, and despatched it 
 with a blow from a short cudgel which he keeps for the purpose, 
 covers it carefully up with wet grass, and lowering the peak of 
 his cap over his eyes, resumes his somewhat ticklish seat on the 
 rock to wait for the next fish. On some days, when the water 
 is of the right height, and the fish are numerous and inclined 
 to run up the river, the old man catches a considerable number ; 
 though the capture of every fish is only attained by a struggle 
 of life and death between man and salmon, for the least slip 
 would send the former into the river, whence he could never 
 come out alive. I never see him catch one without feeling 
 fully convinced that he will follow the example of his predecessor 
 in the place, who was washed away one fine day from the rock, 
 and not found for some days, when his body was taken out of 
 the river several miles below. In these pools (every one of 
 which has a name) you will see some sportsman angling, not 
 like the sans-culotte shepherd's boy at Coignafern, with his 
 hazel-wand and line made by himself, but here you have a 
 well-equipped and well-accoutred follower of the gentle craft in 
 waterproof overalls, and armed with London rod and Dublin 
 fly, tempting the salmon from their element with a bright but 
 indefinable mixture of feathers, pigs'-wool, and gold thread ; 
 while his attendant, stretched at his ease, wonders at the labour 
 his master undertakes, and watches quietly the salmon as he 
 rises from some dark abyss of the water, poises himself for a 
 moment steadily opposite the glittering hook, makes a dash
 
 XXIII 
 
 THE FIND HORN HEROXR Y 
 
 215 
 
 rapid as thought at it, and then swims slowly back to his 
 ambuscade in the depth of the water, not aware, till he feels the 
 jerk of the line, that he is carrying with him, not a painted 
 dragon-fly, but a carefully-prepared and strong weapon of death, 
 which he will only get quit of with his life. The nets are at 
 work too, sweeping a deep and quiet pool, but seldom with 
 much success, owing to the inequalities of the bottom of the 
 river. Making a wide turn here, the river passes by an object 
 of great interest, the Findhorn heronry, 1 a collection of these 
 birds quite unique in their way. They have taken possession 
 of a number of old trees growing on the Darnaway side of the 
 river, and here, year after year, they repair their old nests and 
 bring up their young, not frightened away by the frequenters 
 
 THE HILLS OF SUTHERLAND FROM THE MOORS ABOVE THE FINDHORN 
 
 of a walk which passes immediately under their nests. 
 Numbers of the old birds may be seen sitting motionless on 
 the dead branches, or perched on the very topmost twig of a 
 larch or birch-tree. 
 
 Sometimes the peregrine, on his way to Sluie, passes 
 quickly through the midst of the community, while a constant 
 chattering is kept up by the numberless jackdaws which breed 
 in holes of the rock on the Altyre side, and keep flying in and 
 out from far below the spot where you are standing. Far as 
 you can see, and indeed still farther, are stretched the forests 
 of Darnaway and Altyre. Following the river, or rather keep- 
 ing the top of the bank above it, a new and most striking view 
 meets your eye. Looking down the course of the water, you 
 suddenly see beyond the woodland a wide extent of corn-land, 
 interspersed with groves of timber and houses ; beyond this 
 
 1 Herons build at times on rocks. C. St. J.
 
 216 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 the golden line of the sand-hills of Culbin, dividing the plains 
 of Morayshire from the Moray Firth, while beyond the line of 
 blue sea-water are the splendid and lofty rocks on each side of 
 the entrance of the Bay of Cromarty, backed by a succession 
 of various-shaped peaks of the Sutherland and Caithness, the 
 Ross-shire and the Inverness-shire mountains. Opposite you 
 is the massive and square mountain of Ben Wyvis : to the 
 west, on a clear day, you can see far into the peaked and 
 sugar-loaf-shaped mountains of Strath Glass and Glen Strath- 
 farrar, cutting the horizon with their curious outlines. The 
 inland mountains of Sutherland on a clear day are also visible, 
 and Ben Morven, in Caithness, in its solitary grandeur, always 
 forms a conspicuous object ; while the Moray Firth, gradually 
 widening till it joins the German Ocean, and dotted here and 
 there with the white sails of the passing ships, completes the 
 scene. It is worth all the trouble of a voyage from London to 
 see this view alone. Far and wide may you travel without 
 finding such another combination of all that is lovely and grand 
 in landscape scenery wood and water, mountain and cultivated 
 ground, all in their most beautiful forms, combine together to 
 render it pre-eminent. The river has a wider and more open 
 current as you leave the woods, and is little confined by cliff 
 and rock. Many a destructive inroad has it made into the 
 fertile plain below, carrying off sheep and cattle, corn and 
 timber, to be deposited on the sand -banks near Findhorn 
 harbour. Calm and peaceful as it looks when at its ordinary 
 height, the angler, on a bright summer's evening, is sometimes 
 startled by a sound like the rushing of a coming wind, yet 
 wind there is none, and he continues his sport. Presently he 
 is surprised to see the water near which he has been standing 
 suddenly sweep against his feet ; he looks up the stream and 
 sees the river coming down in a perpendicular wall of water, or 
 like a wave of the sea, with a roaring noise, and carrying with 
 it trees with their branches and roots entire, large lumps of 
 unbroken bank, and every kind of mountain debris. Some 
 mountain storm of rain has suddenly filled its bed. Sometimes 
 on the occasion of these rapid speats I have had to gather up 
 my tackle and run for my life, which was in no small risk till I 
 gained some bank or rock above the height of the flood. When 
 this rush of water comes down between the rocks where the
 
 FLOODS OF THE FINDHORN 
 
 217 
 
 river has not room to spread, the danger is doubly great, owing 
 to the irresistible force acquired by the pent-up water. The 
 flood, when occasioned by a summer storm, soon subsides, and 
 the next day no trace is left of it excepting the dark, coffee- 
 coloured hue of the water. Passing the lime-quarries of Copt- 
 hall, the river flows through a fertile country and under a beajjfi- 
 ful suspension bridge, which was built after the great floocfp of 
 1829, when it was found that a bridge on no other construction 
 would be large enough to admit of the floating masses of timber 
 and the immense body of water during heavy floods. The net- 
 fishing is in active operation from this point down to the sea, 
 and the number of salmon and grilse sometimes caught is 
 astonishing. Instead of rock and cliff, the river is banked in 
 by heaps of shingle, which are constantly changing their shape 
 and size. There seems to be a constant succession of stones 
 swept down by the river: what in one season is a deep pool, 
 is, after the winter floods, a bank of shingle. An endless 
 supply seems to be washed off the mountains and rocks through 
 which the river passes, and these stones, by the time they have 
 been rolled down to the lower part of the river, are as rounded 
 and water-worn in their appearance as the shingle on the sea- 
 shore. 
 
 RELUGAS HOUSE
 
 THE SENTINEL 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 Migration of Birds in October \Vild Swans : Pursuit of; Manner of getting a Shot ; 
 Two killed Habits of Wild Swan 
 
 October 1st. There is no month more interesting, or productive 
 of more amusement, both to the naturalist and the sportsman, 
 than this many new birds now appear, on their route from 
 their more northern breeding-places, wending their weary way 
 to the southern shores of the kingdom, where vast numbers fall 
 victims to the guns which are brought to bear upon them some 
 for pleasure and some for profit. 
 
 Most migratory birds take advantage of the moonlight to 
 help them on their journey ; for example, woodcocks, snipes, 
 field-fares, etc., generally arrive in this country during the 
 lightest nights in October and November. The water-fowl
 
 CHAP, xxiv WILD SWANS 219 
 
 seem more independent of the moon, and to be chiefly guided 
 in their arrival by the weather. 
 
 October 6th. To-day we saw in the bay as many as fifty or 
 sixty wild swans, 1 evidently just arrived ; we went home for 
 swan-shot, Eley's cartridges, and other munitions of war, but by 
 the time we had got all in readiness to open a campaign on the 
 fleet of snow-white birds, they all took flight. After sailing two 
 or three times round the bay, and after an amazing deal of 
 trumpeting and noise, they divided into separate parties, and 
 flew off, some to the east, and some to the west, towards their 
 different winter-quarters. 
 
 October JtJi. My old garde-chasse insisted on my starting 
 early this morning, nolens volens, to certain lochs six or seven 
 miles off, in order, as he termed it, to take our " satisfaction " of 
 the swans. I must say that it was a matter of very small satis- 
 faction to me, the tramping off in a sleety, rainy morning, 
 through a most forlorn and hopeless-looking country, for the 
 chance, and that a bad one, of killing a wild swan or two. 
 However, after a weary walk, we arrived at these desolate-look- 
 ing lochs ; they consist of three pieces of water, the largest 
 about three miles in length and one in width ; the other two, 
 which communicate with the largest, are much smaller and 
 narrower, indeed scarcely two gunshots in width ; for miles 
 around them the country is flat, and intersected with a mixture 
 of swamp and sandy hillocks. In one direction the sea is only 
 half a mile from the lochs, and in calm winter weather the wild- 
 fowl pass the daytime on the salt water, coming inland in the 
 evenings to feed. As soon as we were within sight of the lochs 
 we saw the swans on one of the smaller pieces of water, some 
 standing high and dry on the grassy islands, trimming their 
 feathers after their long journey, and others feeding on the 
 grass and weeds at the bottom of the loch, which in some parts 
 was shallow enough to allow of their pulling up the plants which 
 they feed on as they swam about, while numbers of wild ducks 
 of different kinds, particularly widgeons, swarmed round them 
 and often snatched the pieces of grass from the swans as soon 
 as they had brought them to the surface, to the great annoyance 
 
 1 Cygnusferus, Moray. C. Bewickii (Bewick's swan), killed in Morayshire, Spynie, 
 Loch Lee, etc. , is easily distinguished even at a distance from the C. ferus, being a 
 shorter and rounder-looking bird. It is not so wild as the C. ferns, as far as my experi- 
 ence goes. C. St. J.
 
 220 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 of the noble birds, who endeavoured in vain to drive away these 
 more active little depredators, which seemed determined to profit 
 by their labours. Our next step was to drive the swans away 
 from the loch they were on ; it seemed a curious way of getting 
 a shot, but as the old man seemed confident of the success of 
 his plan, I very submissively acted according to his orders. As 
 soon as we moved them, they all made straight for the sea. 
 " This won't do," was my remark. " Yes, it will, though ; they'll 
 no' stop there long to-day with this great wind, but will all be 
 back before the clock chaps two." " Faith, I should like to see 
 any building that could contain a clock, and where we might 
 take shelter," was my inward cogitation. The old man, how- 
 ever, having delivered this prophecy, set to work making a 
 small ambuscade by the edge of the loch which the birds had 
 just left, and pointed it out to me as my place of refuge from 
 one o'clock to the hour when the birds would arrive. 
 
 In the meantime we moved about in order to keep our- 
 selves warm, as a more wintry day never disgraced the month 
 of October. In less than half an hour we heard the signal 
 cries of the swans, and soon saw them in a long undulating 
 line fly over the low sand-hills which divided the sea from the 
 largest loch, where they all alighted. My commander for the 
 time being then explained to me that the water in this loch 
 was everywhere too deep for the swans to reach the bottom 
 even with their long necks, in order to pull up the weeds on 
 which they fed, and that at their feeding -time, that is about 
 two o'clock, they would, without doubt, fly over to the smaller 
 lochs, and probably to the same one from which we had origin- 
 ally disturbed them. I was accordingly placed in my ambus- 
 cade, leaving the keeper at some distance, to help me as 
 opportunity offered a cold, comfortless time of it we (i.e. my 
 retriever and myself) had. About two o'clock, however, I 
 heard the swans rise from the upper loch, and in a few moments 
 they all passed high over my head, and after taking a short 
 survey of our loch (luckily without seeing me), they alighted 
 at the end of it farthest from the place where I was ensconced, 
 and quite out of shot, and they seemed more inclined to move 
 away from me than come towards me. It was very curious to 
 watch these wild birds as they swam about, quite unconscious 
 of danger and looking like so many domestic fowls. Now
 
 SHOOTING SWANS 221 
 
 came the able generalship of my keeper, who, seeing that they 
 were inclined to feed at the other end of the loch, began to 
 drive them towards me, at the same time taking great care not to 
 alarm them enough to make them take flight. This he did 
 by appearing at a long distance off, and moving about without 
 approaching the birds, but as if he was pulling grass or engaged 
 in some other piece of labour. When the birds first saw him, 
 they all collected in a cluster, and giving a general low cry of 
 alarm, appeared ready to take flight : this was the ticklish 
 moment, but, soon outwitted by his manoeuvres, they dispersed 
 again and busied themselves in feeding. I observed that fre- 
 quently all their heads were under the water at once, excepting 
 one but invariably one bird kept his head and neck perfectly 
 erect, and carefully watched on every side to prevent their being 
 taken by surprise ; when he wanted to feed, he touched any 
 passer-by, who immediately relieved him in his guard, and he 
 in his turn called on some other swan to take his place as 
 sentinel. 
 
 After waiting some little time, and closely watching the 
 birds in all their graceful movements, sometimes having a 
 swan within half a shot of me, but never getting two or three 
 together, I thought of some of my assistant's instruction which 
 he had given me en route in the morning, and I imitated, as 
 well as I could, the bark of a dog : immediately all the swans 
 collected in a body, and looked round to see where the sound 
 came from. I was not above forty yards from them, so gently 
 raising myself on my elbow, I pulled the trigger, aiming at a 
 forest of necks. To my dismay, the gun did not go off, the 
 wet or something else having spoilt the cap. The birds were 
 slow in rising, so without pulling the other trigger, I put on 
 another cap, and standing up, fired right and left at two of the 
 largest swans as they rose from the loch. The cartridge told 
 well on one, who fell dead into the water ; the other flew off 
 after the rest of the flock, but presently turned back, and after 
 making two or three graceful sweeps over the body of his 
 companion, fell headlong, perfectly dead, almost upon her body. 
 The rest of the birds, after flying a short distance away, also 
 returned, and flew r for a minute or two in a confused flock over 
 the two dead swans, uttering their bugle-like and harmonious 
 cries, but finding that they were not joined by their companions,
 
 222 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 presently fell into their usual single rank, and went undulating 
 off towards the sea, where I heard them for a long time 
 trumpeting and calling. 
 
 Handsome as he is, the wild swan is certainly not so grace- 
 ful on the water as a tame one. He has not the same proud 
 and elegant arch of the neck, nor does he put up his wings 
 while swimming, like two snow-white sails. On the land a 
 wild swan when winged makes such good way, that if he gets 
 much start it requires good running to overtake him. 
 
 Their feathers are so strong and they have so much down 
 beneath the breast-feathers, that when coming towards you over 
 your head, no shot makes the least impression unless you aim 
 at their head and neck. 
 
 If such constant warfare was not declared against these (now 
 only occasional) visitors to this country, as well as against 
 many others, our lakes and woods would have many more 
 permanent winter and summer occupants than they have. I 
 have no doubt that many birds which now only pass a few 
 months here would domicile themselves entirely if left in peace ; 
 and swans, instead of returning to the deserts and swamps of 
 Russia, Siberia, or Norway, would occasionally at least remain 
 here to breed, and by degrees become perfectly domiciled during 
 the whole year in some of the large marshes and lakes of 
 Scotland or Ireland, where proper food and feeding-places could 
 always be found by them. At present they visit us generally 
 about the middle of October. On their first arrival in Findhorn 
 Bay they are sometimes in immense flocks. Last year I saw 
 a flock of between two and three hundred resting on the sands. 
 After remaining quiet till towards evening, they broke off into 
 different smaller companies, of from twenty to three or four 
 birds in each, and dispersed in different directions, all of them, 
 however, inclining southwards. 
 
 They probably return year after year to the same district of 
 country, taking with them either their own broods of the season 
 or any others that are inclined to join them. In the large flock 
 that I mentioned having seen last year, I could not distinguish 
 a single young bird. The cygnets of the wild swan, like those 
 of the tame one, are during the first season of a greyish-white, 
 and are easily distinguished amongst the dazzling white plumage 
 of the old birds. When swans frequent any loch near the sea,
 
 xxiv HABITS OF SWANS 223 
 
 or any chain of fresh-water lakes, if they are disturbed and fly 
 either to the sea or to some adjoining piece of water, they keep 
 always about the same line. When once you have taken notice 
 of the exact line of their flight, it is easy to get shots by sending 
 a person to put them up when seen feeding, having previously 
 concealed yourself in the direction of their course. 
 
 It is useless shooting at them when coming towards you, 
 and the best chance of killing them is either to allow them to 
 pass before you fire, or, just as they are over your head, by 
 jumping up and showing yourself, you may make them turn 
 off to the right and left, in this way affording a fair chance to 
 your shot, which easily penetrates them when flying straight 
 away. 
 
 When in the water, a wild swan is not easy to kill, unless 
 hit in the head or neck, as they swim very flat and low, and their 
 feathers sit -so close that shot will scarcely penetrate unless you 
 can fire from above the birds. 
 
 I once winged a wild swan, which fell into a large and deep 
 loch. The rest of the birds flew away towards another piece 
 of water about a mile off. I had no retriever with me, but 
 profiting by the advice of my keeper, instead of attempting to 
 get at the bird in any way, I took a circuit, keeping myself 
 concealed, towards the line of flight taken by the rest of the 
 flock. The winged bird, after swimming about uneasily for a 
 short time, seeing no enemy at hand, and finding that her 
 companions did not return, went to the edge of the water, and 
 having taken a careful survey of the country around, scrambled 
 out, and commenced a journey after them on terra firma. I 
 allowed her to walk to some distance from the loch, and then 
 running up, cut her off from returning to it. As soon as she 
 saw me she made over a hillock in their line of flight ; I ran 
 up, and not seeing her, tracked her a little way in the sand, 
 and presently found her lying stretched out flat on the ground 
 amongst some long grass, endeavouring to hide herself. When 
 she found that I had discovered her she again made off, but 
 was soon caught. 
 
 I mention this for the benefit of any one who may be in 
 the predicament of having winged a swan on a lake, as this 
 bird, if left alone and not seeing an enemy, will invariably make 
 for the bank, and most probably leave the water to follow in
 
 224 
 
 H7LD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP, xxiv 
 
 the track of her companions if they have gone to any adjoining 
 water. 
 
 Though, as I have said, not so graceful in the water as 
 their tame relatives, nothing can be more splendid than the 
 flight of a flock of wild swans, as they pass over your head with 
 their transparently white pinions, and uttering their far-sounding 
 and musical trumpeting, which is often heard before the birds 
 come into sight. 
 
 I never ate a wild swan, but am told that their flesh, though 
 dark-coloured, has not the least rank taste, like that of some 
 water-fowl, but, on the contrary, is very palatable, and worthy 
 of being cooked. From their food, which consists wholly of 
 flavourless grasses, I can easily suppose that they may be as 
 good if not better eating than the mallard or any other kind 
 of wild duck, which all, more or less, feed on rank weeds, as well 
 as on worms and a variety of other unclean food. 
 
 SWANS IN THE BAY
 
 THE WATER-OUZEL 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 The Water-Ouzel : Nest ; Singular Habits ; Food ; Song of Kingfisher : Rare Visits 
 of; Manner of Fishing Terns: Quickness in Fishing; Nests of 
 
 FOR several years a pair of those singular little birds the water- 
 ouzel l have built their nest and reared their young on a buttress 
 of a bridge across what is called the Black burn, near Dalvey. 
 
 1 Common in most Highland burns ; in winter descending nearer the sea on the rivers 
 and burns. Feeds on fish spawn and small aquatic beetles, etc. , which it catches by 
 turning over the pebbles under the water. It sings sweetly during the coldest days in the 
 depth of winter, sometimes while floating on the surface of the water. It dives with great 
 facility when in search of food. C. St. J. 
 
 Q
 
 226 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 This year I am sorry to see that, owing to some repairs in the 
 bridge, the birds have not returned to their former abode. The 
 nest, when looked at from above, had exactly the appearance 
 of a confused heap of rubbish, drifted by some flood to the 
 place where it was built, and attached to the bridge just where 
 the buttress joins the perpendicular part of the masonry. The 
 old birds evidently took some trouble to deceive the eye of those 
 who passed along the bridge, by giving the nest the look of a 
 chance collection of material. I do not know, among pur 
 common birds, so amusing and interesting a little fellow as the 
 water-ouzel, whether seen during the time of incubation, or 
 during the winter months, when he generally betakes himself 
 to some burn near the sea, less likely to be frozen over than 
 those more inland. In the burn near this place there are 
 certain stones, each of which is always occupied by one 
 particular water-ouzel : there he sits all day, with his snow-white 
 breast turned towards you, jerking his apology for a tail, and 
 occasionally darting off for a hundred yards or so, with a quick, 
 rapid, but straight-forward flight ; then down he plumps into 
 the water, remains under for perhaps a minute or two ; and 
 then flies back to his usual station. At other times the water- 
 ouzel walks deliberately off his stone down into the water, and, 
 despite Mr. Waterton's strong opinion of the impossibility 
 of the feat, he walks and runs about on the gravel at the bottom 
 of the water, scratching with his feet among the small stones, 
 and picking away at all the small insects and animalcules which 
 he can dislodge. On two or three occasions, I have witnessed 
 this act of the water-ouzel, and have most distinctly seen the 
 bird walking and feeding in this manner under the pellucid 
 waters of a Highland burn. It is in this way that the water- 
 ouzel is supposed to commit great havoc in the spawning beds 
 of salmon and trout, uncovering the ova, and leaving what it 
 does not eat l open to the attacks of eels and other fish, or 
 
 1 Mr. St. John in another excellent account of this bird's habits (Natural History and 
 Sport in Moray, p. 88) again repeats the charge that it feeds on trout spawn. Mr. Buck- 
 land (see note, same page) says " the water-ouzel is guiltless of eating trout or salmon 
 spawn." At p. 283 Mr. St. John does not draw the bird's character in such dark shades : 
 " I am inclined to think that it attacks the trout spawn more frequently than that of the 
 salmon. If so, this bird also does fully as much good as harm ; the most deadly enemy 
 to salmon being the larger burn trout, whose favourite food is, undoubtedly, the ova of 
 the salmon." On the other hand it is a great pleasure to refer the reader to Mr. Knox's 
 admirable defence of the water-ouzel (Autumns on the Spey, pp. 150-154). He concludes : 
 "Instead of being a destroyer of fish spawn, he really assists in its preservation, by
 
 THE KINGFISHER 227 
 
 liable to be washed away by the current ; and, notwithstanding 
 my regard for this little bird, I am afraid I must admit that he 
 is guilty of no small destruction amongst the spawn. 
 
 The water-ouzel has another very peculiar habit, which 
 I have never heard mentioned. In the coldest days of winter 
 I have seen him alight on a quiet pool, and with outstretched 
 wings recline for a few moments on the water, uttering a most 
 sweet and merry song then rising into the air, he wheels 
 round and round for a minute or two, repeating his song as he 
 flies back to some accustomed stone. His notes are so pleasing, 
 that he fully deserves a place in the list of our song-birds ; 
 though I never found but one other person, besides myself, who 
 would own to having heard the water-ouzel sing. In the early 
 spring, too, he courts his mate with the same harmony, and 
 pursues her from bank to bank singing as loudly as he can- 
 often have I stopped to listen to him as he flew to and fro along 
 the burn, apparently full of business and importance ; then 
 pitching on a stone, he would look at me with such confidence, 
 that, notwithstanding the bad name he has acquired with the 
 fishermen, I never could make up my mind to shoot him. He 
 frequents the rocky burns far up the mountains, building in the 
 crevices of the rocks, and rearing his young in peace and security, 
 amidst the most wild and magnificent scenery. 
 
 The nest is large, and built, like a wren's, with a roof the 
 eggs are a transparent white. 
 
 The people here have an idea that the water-ouzel preys 
 on small fish, but this is an erroneous idea ; the bird is not 
 adapted in any way either for catching fish or for swallowing 
 them. 
 
 During a severe frost last year, I watched for some time a 
 common kingfisher, which, by some strange chance, and quite 
 against its usual habits, had strayed into this northern latitude. 
 He first caught my eye while darting like a living emerald 
 along the course of a small unfrozen stream between my house 
 and the river; he then suddenly alighted on a post, and remained 
 a short time motionless in the peculiar strange attitude of his 
 kind, as if intent on gazing at the sky. All at once a new idea 
 
 acting as a check on the increase of various predacious water-beetles and other aquatic 
 insects whose ravenous grubs or larva furnish his favourite food. His persecutors are 
 therefore, in my humble opinion, amenable to the double charge of injustice and in- 
 gratitude. ' '
 
 228 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 comes into his head, and he follows the course of the ditch, 
 hovering here and there like a hawk, at the height of a yard or 
 so above the water : suddenly down he drops into it, disappears 
 for a moment, and then rises into the air with a trout about 
 two inches long in his bill ; this he carries quickly to the post 
 where he had been resting before, and having beat it in an 
 angry and vehement manner against the wood for a minute, he 
 swallows it whole. I tried to get at him, coveting the bright 
 blue feathers on his back, which are extremely useful in fly- 
 dressirig, but before I was within shot, he darted away, crossed 
 the river, and sitting on a rail on the opposite side, seemed to 
 wait as if expecting me to wade after him ; this, however, I 
 did not think it worth while doing, as the water was full of 
 floating ice, so I left the kingfisher where he was, and never 
 saw him again. Their visits to this country are very rare I 
 only have seen one other, and he was sitting on the bow of my 
 boat watching the water below him for a passing trout small 
 enough to be swallowed. 
 
 The kingfisher, the terns, and the solan geese are the only 
 birds that fish in this way, hovering like a hawk in the air and 
 dropping into the water to catch any passing fish that their 
 sharp eyesight can detect. The rapidity with which a bird 
 must move, to catch a fish in this manner, is one of the most 
 extraordinary things that I know. A tern, for instance, is flying 
 at about twenty yards high suddenly he sees some small fish 
 (generally a sand-eel, one of the most active little animals in 
 the world), down drops the bird, and before the slippery little 
 fish (that glances about in the water like a silver arrow) can 
 get out of reach, it is caught in the bill of the tern, and in a 
 moment afterwards is either swallowed whole, or journeying 
 rapidly through quite a new element to feed the young of its 
 captor. Often in the summer have I watched flocks of terns 
 fishing in this manner at a short distance from the shore, and 
 never did I see one emerge after his plunge into the water 
 without a sand-eel. When I have shot at the bird as he flew 
 away with his prey, I have picked up the sand-eel, and there 
 arc always the marks of his bill in one place, just behind the 
 head, where it seems to be invariably caught. 
 
 The terns which breed in the islands on a loch in the woods 
 of Altyre, fully five miles in a straight line from where they
 
 TERNS 
 
 229 
 
 fish, fly up to their young with every sand-eel they catch. I 
 have seen them fly backwards and forwards in this way for 
 hours together, apparently bringing the whole of their food 
 from the sea, notwithstanding the distance ; their light body 
 and long swallow-like wings make this long flight to and fro 
 less fatiguing to the tern than it would be to almost any other 
 bird. 
 
 TERNS ON SALMON STAKES 
 
 Great numbers of terns '- breed every year on the sandhills. 
 Their eggs, three in number, are laid in a small hole scraped 
 amongst the shingle, or on the bare sand. Generally, however, 
 they choose a place abounding in small stones ; and their eggs 
 being very nearly of the same colour as the pebbles, it is very 
 difficult to distinguish them. The nests being frequently at so 
 considerable a distance from the water, it has often been a 
 matter of surprise to me how the young birds can live till they 
 
 1 Roseate Tern, Common Tern, Arctic Tern, and Lesser Tern (Moray). C. St. J.
 
 230 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 have strength to journey to the sea-shore. I never yet could 
 find any of the newly-hatched terns near the nests, and am of 
 opinion that the old birds in some way or other carry off their 
 young, as soon as they are out of the egg, to some place more 
 congenial to so essentially a water-bird than the arid ground 
 on which they are hatched. During fine weather the terns 
 never sit on their eggs in the daytime, but, uttering unceasing 
 cries, hover and fly about over the spot where their nests are. 
 All day long have I seen them hovering in this manner, with a 
 flight more like that of a butterfly than of a bird. If a man 
 approaches their eggs, they dash about his head with a loud 
 angry clamour ; and all the other terns which have eggs, for 
 miles around, on hearing the cry of alarm, fly to see what it is 
 all about, and having satisfied their curiosity, return to the 
 neighbourhood of their own domicile, ready to attack any 
 intruder. If a crow in search of eggs happens to wander near 
 the terns' building-places, she is immediately attacked by the 
 whole community, every bird joining in the chase, and striking 
 furiously at their common enemy, who is glad to make off as 
 quickly as she can. The terns, having pursued her to some 
 distance, return seemingly well satisfied with their feat of arms. 
 I have also detected the fox by the rapid swoops of the terns 
 as they dash at him if he happens to pass near their nests. 
 
 There is one kind of tern that breeds on the sandhills, which 
 is peculiarly beautiful, the Lesser Tern, or Terna minnta. This 
 little bird, scarcely bigger than a swift, and of a pale blue in 
 the upper part of her plumage, is of the most satin-like and 
 dazzling whiteness in all the lower portions. It is a most 
 delicate-looking creature, but has a stronger and more rapid 
 flight than the larger kinds, and, when he joins in their clamor- 
 ous attacks on any enemy, utters a louder and shriller cry than 
 one could expect to hear from so small a body. Its eggs are 
 similar in colour to those of the common tern, but much 
 smaller. 
 
 The Roseate Tern also visits us. I do not know that I have 
 ever found the eggs of this kind, but I have distinguished the 
 bird by its pale bluish coloured breast, as it hovered over my 
 head amongst the other terns. 
 
 A favourite position of the tern is on the stakes of the 
 salmon-fishers' nets. Frequently every stake has a tern on it,
 
 XXV 
 
 TERNS 
 
 231 
 
 where, if unmolested, they sit quietly watching the operations 
 of the fishermen. Indeed, they are rather a tame and familiar 
 bird, not much afraid of man, and seeming to trust (and, as far 
 as I am concerned, not in vain) to their beauty and harmlessness 
 as a safeguard against the wandering sportsman. Excepting 
 when wanting a specimen for any particular purpose, I make a 
 rule never to molest any bird that is of no use when dead, and 
 which, like the tern, is both an interesting and beautiful object 
 when living. 
 
 These birds make but a short sojourn with us, arriving in 
 April in great numbers, and collecting in flocks on the sands of 
 the bay for a few days. They then betake themselves to their 
 breeding-places, and, having reared their young, leave us before 
 the beginning of winter. 
 
 THE MORAY FIRTH FROM DAY A
 
 "I DASHED MY PLAID OVER HIS HEAD" 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 The Muckle Hart of Benmore 
 
 Sunday, This evening, Malcolm, the shepherd of the shealing 
 at the foot of Benmore, returning from church, reported his 
 having crossed on the hill a track of a hart of extraordinary size; 
 and he guessed it must be " the muckle stag of Benmore." This 
 was an animal seldom seen, but which had long been the talk 
 and marvel of the shepherds for its wonderful size and cunning. 
 They love the marvellous, and in their report " the muckle 
 stag " bore a charmed life ; he was unapproachable and in- 
 vulnerable. I had heard of him too, and, having got the 
 necessary information, resolved to try to break the charm 
 though it should cost me a day or two.
 
 CHAP, xxvi GOLDEN EAGLES 233 
 
 Monday. This morning at sunrise, I with my rifle, Donald 
 carrying my double-barrel, and Bran, took our way up the glen 
 to the shealing at the foot of Benmore. Donald had no heart 
 for this expedition. He is not addicted to superfluous conver- 
 sation, but I heard him mutter something of a " feckless errand 
 as good deer nearer hame." Bran had already been the victor 
 in many a bloody tussle with hart and fox. We held for the 
 most part up the glen, but turning and crossing to seek every 
 likely corrie and burn on both sides. I shot a wild cat stealing 
 home to its cairn in the early morning ; and we several times 
 in the day came on deer, but they were hinds with their calves, 
 and I was bent on higher game. As night fell, we turned down 
 to the shealing rather disheartened ; but the shepherd cheered 
 me by assuring me the hart was still in that district, and 
 describing his track, which he said was like that of a good-sized 
 heifer. Our spirits were quite restored by a meal of fresh- 
 caught trout, oatcake and milk, with a modicum of whisky, 
 which certainly was of unusual flavour and potency. 
 
 Tuesday. We were off again by daybreak. I will pass by 
 several minor adventures, but one cannot be omitted. Malcolm 
 went with us to show us where he had last seen the track. As 
 we crossed a long reach of black and broken ground, the first 
 ascent from the valley, two golden eagles rose out of a hollow 
 at some distance. Their flight was lazy and heavy, as if gorged 
 with food, and on examining the place we found the carcass of 
 a sheep half eaten, one of Malcolm's flock. He vowed venge- 
 ance ; and, merely pointing out to us our route, returned for a 
 spade to dig a place of hiding near enough the carcass to 
 enable him to have a shot at the eagles if they should return. 
 We held on our way, and the greater part of the day without 
 any luck to cheer us, my resolution " not to be beat " being, 
 however, a good deal strengthened by the occasional grumbling 
 of Donald. Towards the afternoon, when we had tired ourselves 
 with looking with our glasses at every corrie in that side of the 
 hill, at length, in crossing a bare and boggy piece of ground, 
 Donald suddenly stopped, with a Gaelic exclamation, and pointed 
 and there, to be sure, was a full fresh footprint, the largest 
 mark of a deer either of us had ever seen. There was no more 
 grumbling. Both of us were instantly as much on the alert as 
 when we started on our adventure. We traced the track as
 
 234 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 long as the ground would allow. Where we lost it, it seemed 
 to point down the little burn, which soon lost itself to our view 
 in a gorge of bare rocks. We proceeded now very cautiously, 
 and taking up our station on a concealed ledge of one of the 
 rocks, began to search the valley below with our telescopes. 
 It was a large flat, strewed with huge slabs of stone, and sur- 
 rounded on all sides but one with dark rocks. At the farther 
 end were two black lochs, connected by a sluggish stream ; 
 beside the larger loch a bit of coarse grass and rushes, where 
 we could distinguish a brood of wild ducks swimming in and 
 out. It was difficult ground to see a deer in, if lying ; and 
 I had almost given up seeking, when Donald's glass became 
 motionless, and he gave a sort of grunt as he changed his 
 posture, but without taking the glass from his eye. " Ugh ! 
 I'm thinking yon's him, sir : I'm seeing his horns." I was at 
 first incredulous. What he showed me close to the long grass 
 I have mentioned looked for all the world like some withered 
 sticks ; but the doubt was short. While we gazed the stag 
 rose and commenced feeding ; and at last I saw the great hart 
 of Benmore ! He was a long way off, perhaps a mile and a 
 half, but in excellent ground for getting at him. Our plan 
 was soon arranged. I was to stalk him with the rifle, while 
 Donald, with my gun and Bran, was to get round, out of sight, 
 to the pass by which the deer was likely to leave the valley. 
 My task was apparently very easy. After getting down behind 
 the rock I had scarcely to stoop my head, but to walk up 
 within shot, so favourable was the ground and the wind. I 
 walked cautiously, however, and slowly, to give Donald time 
 to reach the pass. I was now within three hundred yards of 
 him, when, as I leant against a slab of stone, all hid below my 
 eyes, I saw him give a sudden start, stop feeding, and look 
 round suspiciously. What a noble beast ! what a stretch of 
 antler ! with a mane like a lion ! He stood for a minute or 
 two, snuffing every breath. I could not guess the cause of his 
 alarm ; it was not myself the light wind blew fair down from 
 him upon me ; and I knew Donald would give him no inkling 
 of his whereabouts. He presently began to move, and came at 
 a slow trot directly towards me. My pulse beat high. Another 
 hundred yards forward and he is mine ! But it was not so to 
 be. He took the top of a steep bank which commanded my
 
 xxvi RAVENS AND EAGLES 235 
 
 position, saw me in an instant, and was off, at the speed of 
 twenty miles an hour, to a pass wide from that where Donald 
 was hid. While clattering up the hill, scattering the loose 
 stones behind him, two other stags joined him, which had evi- 
 dently been put up by Donald, and had given the alarm to my 
 quarry. It was then that his great size was conspicuous. I 
 could see with my glass they were full-grown stags, and with 
 good heads, but they looked like fallow-deer as they followed 
 him up the crag. I sat down, disappointed for the moment, 
 and Donald soon joined me, much crestfallen, and cursing the 
 stag in a curious variety of Gaelic oaths. Still it was something 
 to have seen " the muckle stag," and nil desperanduin was my 
 motto. We had a long and weary walk to Malcolm's shealing ; 
 and I was glad to get to my heather bed, after arranging that 
 I should occupy the hiding-place Malcolm had prepared near 
 the dead sheep next morning. 
 
 Wednesday. We were up an hour before daylight ; and in 
 a very dark morning I sallied out with Malcolm to take my 
 station for a shot at the eagles. Many a stumble and slip I 
 made during our walk, but at last I was left alone fairly 
 ensconced in the hiding-place, which gave me hardly room to 
 stand, sit, or lie. My position was not very comfortable, and 
 the air was nipping cold just before the break of day. It was 
 still scarcely grey dawn when a bird, with a slow flapping 
 flight, passed the opening of my hut, and lighted out of sight, 
 but near, for I heard him strike the ground ; and my heart 
 beat faster. What was my disappointment when his low crow- 
 ing croak announced the raven ! and presently he came in sight, 
 hopping and walking suspiciously round the sheep ; till, sup- 
 posing the coast clear, and little wotting of the double-barrel, 
 he hopped upon the carcass, and began with his square cut-and- 
 thrust beak to dig at the meat. Another raven soon joined 
 him, and then two more ; who, after a kind of parley, quite 
 intelligible, though in an unknown tongue, were admitted to 
 their share of the banquet. I was watching their voracious 
 meal with some interest, when suddenly they set up a croak of 
 alarm, stopped feeding, and all turned their knowing-looking 
 eyes in one direction. At that moment I heard a sharp scream, 
 but very distant. The black party heard it too ; and instantly 
 darted off, alighting again at a little distance. Next moment
 
 236 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 a rushing noise, and a large body passed close to me ; and the 
 monarch of the clouds alighted at once on the sheep, with his 
 broad breast not fifteen yards from me. He quietly folded up 
 his wings ; and, throwing back his magnificent head, looked 
 round at the ravens, as if wondering at their impudence in 
 approaching his breakfast-table. They kept a respectful silence, 
 and hopped a little farther off. The royal bird then turned his 
 head in my direction, attracted by the alteration in the appear- 
 ance of the ground which he had just noticed in the dim morn- 
 ing light. His bright eye that instant caught mine as it 
 glanced along the barrel. He rose : as he did so I drew the 
 trigger, and he fell quite dead half a dozen yards from the 
 sheep. I followed Malcolm's directions, who had predicted 
 that one eagle would be followed by a second, and remained 
 quiet, in hopes that his mate was not within hearing of my 
 shot. The morning was brightening, and I had not waited 
 many minutes when I saw the other eagle skimming low over 
 the brow of the hill towards me. She did not alight at once. 
 Her eye caught the change in the ground or the dead body of 
 her mate, and she wheeled up into the air. I thought her lost 
 to me, when presently I heard her wings brush close over my 
 head ; and then she went wheeling round and round above the 
 dead bird, and turning her head downwards to make out what 
 had happened. At times she stooped so low that I could see 
 the sparkle of her eye and hear her low complaining cry. I 
 watched the time when she turned up her wing towards me, 
 and fired, and dropped her actually on the body of the other. 
 I now rushed out. The last bird immediately rose to her feet, 
 and stood gazing at me \vith a reproachful, half-threatening look. 
 She would have done battle, but death was busy with her ; and 
 as I was loading in haste, she reeled and fell perfectly dead. 
 Eager as I had been to do the deed, I could not look on the 
 royal birds without a pang. But such regrets were now too 
 late. Passing over the shepherd's rejoicing, and my incredible 
 breakfast, I must return to our great adventure. Our line of 
 march to-day was over ground so high that we came repeatedly 
 into the midst of ptarmigan. On the very summit, Bran had 
 a rencontre with an old mountain fox, toothless, yet very fat, 
 whom he made to bite the dust. We struck at one place the 
 tracks of the three deer, but of the animals themselves we saw
 
 xxvi THE WHISKY BOTH IE 237 
 
 nothing. We kept exploring corrie after corrie till night fell ; 
 and as it was in vain to think of returning to the shealing, which 
 yet was the nearest roof, we were content to find a sort of niche 
 in the rock, tolerably screened from all winds ; and having 
 almost filled it with long heather, flower upwards, we wrapped 
 our plaids round us, and slept pretty comfortably. 
 
 Thursday. A dip in the burn below our bivouac renovated 
 me. I did not observe that Donald followed my example in 
 that ; but he joined me in a hearty attack on the viands which 
 still remained in our bag ; and we started with renewed courage. 
 About mid-day we came on a shealing beside a long narrow 
 loch, fringed with beautiful weeping-birches, and there we found 
 means to cook some grouse which I had shot to supply our 
 exhausted larder. The shepherd, who had " no Sassenach," 
 cheered us by his report of " the deer " being lately seen, and 
 describing his usual haunts. Donald was plainly getting dis- 
 gusted and home -sick. For myself, I looked upon it as my 
 fate that I must have that hart ; so on we trudged. Repeatedly, 
 that afternoon, we came on the fresh tracks of our chase, but 
 still he remained invisible. As it got dark, the weather sud- 
 denly changed, and I was glad enough to let Donald seek for 
 the bearings of a " whisky bothie " which he had heard of at 
 our last stopping-place. While he was seeking for it the rain 
 began to fall heavily, and through the darkness we were just 
 able to distinguish a dark object, which turned out to be a 
 horse. *' The lads with the still will no be far off," said Donald. 
 And so it turned out. But the rain had increased the darkness 
 so much, that we should have searched in vain if I had not 
 distinguished at intervals, between the pelting of the rain and 
 the heavy rushing of a black burn that ran beside us, what 
 appeared to me to be the shrill treble of a fiddle. I could 
 scarcely believe my ears. But when I communicated the 
 intelligence to Donald, whose ears were less acute, he jumped 
 with joy. " It's all right enough, sir ; just follow the sound ; 
 it's that drunken deevil, Sandy Ross ; ye'll never haud a fiddle 
 frae him, nor him frae a whisky-still." It was clear the sound 
 came from across the black stream, and it looked formidable in 
 the dark. However, there was no remedy. So grasping each 
 the other's collar, and holding our guns high over head, \ve 
 dashed in, and staggered through in safety, though the water
 
 238 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 was up to my waist, running like a mill-race, and the bottom 
 was of round slippery stones. Scrambling up the bank, and 
 following the merry sound, we came to what seemed a mere 
 
 o J 
 
 hole in the bank, from which it proceeded. The hole was 
 partially closed by a door woven of heather ; and, looking 
 through it, we saw a sight worthy of Teniers. On a barrel in 
 the midst of the apartment half hut, half cavern stood aloft, 
 fiddling with all his might, the identical Sandy Ross, while 
 round him danced three unkempt savages ; and another figure 
 was stooping, employed over a fire in the corner, where the 
 whisky -pot was in full operation. The fire, and a sliver or 
 two of lighted bog-fir, gave light enough to see the whole, for 
 the place was not above ten feet square. We made our 
 approaches with becoming caution, and were, it is needless to 
 say, hospitably received ; for who ever heard of Highland 
 smugglers refusing a welcome to sportsmen ? We got rest, 
 food, and fire all that we required and something more ; 
 for long after I had betaken me to the dry heather in the 
 corner, I had disturbed visions of strange orgies in the bothie, 
 and of my sober Donald exhibiting curious antics on the top 
 of a tub. These might have been the productions of a disturbed 
 brain ; but there is no doubt that when daylight awoke me, 
 the smugglers and Donald were all quiet and asleep, far past 
 my efforts to rouse them, with the exception of one who was 
 still able to tend the fire under the large black pot. 
 
 Friday. From the state in which my trusty companion 
 was, with his head in a heap of ashes, I saw it would serve no 
 purpose to awake him, even if I were able to do so. It was 
 quite clear that he could be good for nothing all day. I 
 therefore secured some breakfast and provisions for the day 
 (part of them oatcake, which I baked for myself), tied up Bran 
 to wait Donald's restoration, and departed with my rifle alone. 
 The morning was bright and beautiful, the mountain -streams 
 overflowing with last night's rain. I was now thrown on my 
 own resources, and my own knowledge of the country, which, 
 to say the truth, was far from minute or exact. " Benna-skiach " 
 was my object to-day, and the corries which lay beyond it, 
 where at this season the large harts were said to resort. My 
 way at first was dreary enough, over a long slope of boggy 
 ground, enlivened, however, by a few traces of deer having
 
 xxvi A MISTY EVENING 239 
 
 crossed, though none of my " chase." I at length passed the 
 slope, and soon topped the ridge, and was repaid for my labour 
 by a view so beautiful, that I sat down to gaze at it, though 
 anxious to get forward. Looking down into the valley before 
 me, the foreground was a confusion of rocks of most fantastic 
 shape, shelving rapidly to the edge of a small blue lake, the 
 opposite shore of which was a beach of white pebbles, and 
 beyond, a stretch of the greenest pasture, dotted with drooping 
 white-stemmed birches. This little level was hemmed in on 
 all sides by mountains, ridge above ridge, the lowest closely 
 covered with purple heath, the next more green and broken 
 by ravines, and the highest ending in sharp serrated peaks 
 tipped with snow. Nothing moved within range of my vision, 
 and nothing was to be seen that bespoke life but a solitary heron 
 standing on one leg in the shallow water at the upper end of 
 the lake. From hence I took in a good range, but could see 
 no deer. While I lay above the lake, the day suddenly changed, 
 and heavy wreaths of mist came down the mountain -sides in 
 rapid succession. They reached me soon, and I was enclosed 
 in an atmosphere through which I could not see twenty yards. 
 It was very cold, too, and I was obliged to move, though scarcely 
 well knowing whither. I followed the course of the lake, and 
 afterwards of the stream which flowed from it, for some time. 
 Now and then a grouse would rise close to me, and, flying a 
 few yards, alight again on a hillock, crowing and croaking at 
 the intruder. The heron, in the darkness, came flapping his 
 great wings close past me ; I almost fancied I could feel the 
 movement they caused in the air. Nothing could be done 
 in such weather, and I was not sure that I might not be going 
 away from my object. It was getting late too, and I made 
 up my mind that my most prudent plan was to arrange a 
 bivouac before it became quite dark. My wallet was empty, 
 except a few crumbs, the remains of my morning's baking. 
 It was necessary to provide food : and just as the necessity 
 occurred to me, I heard, through the mist, the call of a cock 
 grouse as he alighted close to me. I contrived to get his head 
 between me and the sky as he was strutting and croaking on 
 a hillock close at hand ; and aiming at where his body ought 
 to be, I fired my rifle. On going up to the place, I found I 
 had not only killed him, but also his mate, whom I had not
 
 24 o WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 seen. It was a commencement of good luck. Sitting down, 
 I speedily skinned my birds, and took them down to the burn 
 to wash them before cooking. In crossing a sandy spot beside 
 the burn, I came upon could I believe my eyes? "the 
 Track." Like Robinson Crusoe in the same circumstances, I 
 started back ; but was speedily at work taking my information. 
 There were prints enough to show the hart had crossed at a 
 walk leisurely. It must have been lately, for it was since the 
 burn had returned to its natural size, after the last night's flood. 
 But nothing could be done till morning, so I set about my 
 cooking ; and having after some time succeeded in lighting a 
 fire, while my grouse were slowly broiling, I pulled a quantity 
 of heather, which I spread in a corner a little protected by an 
 overhanging rock : I spread my plaid upon it, and over the 
 plaid built another layer of heather. My supper ended, which 
 was not epicurean, I crawled into my nest under my plaid, and 
 was soon sound asleep. I cannot say that my slumbers were 
 unbroken. I dreamt of the great stag thundering up the hills 
 with preternatural speed, and of noises like cannon (which I 
 have since learnt to attribute to their true cause the splitting 
 of fragments of rock under a sudden change from wet to sharp 
 frost), and above all, the constant recurrence of visions of weary 
 struggles through fields of snow and ice kept me restless ; and 
 at length awoke me to the consciousness of a brilliant skylight 
 and keen frost a change that rejoiced me in spite of the cold. 
 Saturday. Need I say my first object was to go down and 
 examine the track anew. There was no mistake. It was 
 impossible to doubt that " the muckle hart of Benmore " had 
 actually walked through that burn a few hours before me, and 
 in the same direction. I followed the track, and breasted the 
 opposite hill. Looking round from its summit, it appeared to 
 me a familiar scene, and on considering a moment, I found I 
 overlooked from a different quarter the very same rocky plain 
 and the two black lochs where I had seen my chase three days 
 before. I had not gazed many minutes when I saw a deer 
 lying on a black hillock which was quite open. I lay down 
 immediately, and with my glass made out at once the object 
 of all my wanderings. My joy was somewhat abated by his 
 position, which was not easily approachable. My first object, 
 however, was to withdraw myself out of his sight, which I did
 
 THE STALK 241 
 
 by crawling backwards down a little bank till only the tops of 
 his horns were visible, and they served to show me that he 
 continued still. As he lay looking towards me, he commanded 
 with his eye three-fourths of the circle, and the other quarter, 
 where one might have got in upon him under cover of the little 
 hillock, was unsafe from the wind blowing in that direction. A 
 burn ran between him and me, one turn of which seemed to 
 come within two hundred yards of him. It was my only 
 chance ; so, retreating about half a mile, I got into the burn 
 in hidden ground, and then crept up its channel with such 
 caution that I never allowed myself a sight of more than the 
 tips of his horns, till I had reached the nearest bend to him. 
 There, looking through a tuft of rushes, I had a perfect view of 
 the noble animal, lying on the open hillock, lazily stretched out 
 at length, and only moving now and then to scratch his flank 
 with his horn. I watched him for fully an hour, the water up 
 to my knees all the time. At length he stirred, gathered his 
 legs together, and rose ; and arching his back, he stretched 
 himself just as a bullock does when rising from his night's lair. 
 My heart throbbed, as turning all round he seemed to try the 
 wind for his security, and then walked straight to the burn, at a 
 point about one hundred and fifty yards from me. I was much 
 tempted, but had resolution to reserve my fire, reflecting that I 
 had but one barrel. He went into the burn at a deep pool, and 
 standing in it up to his knees, took a long drink. I stooped to 
 put on a new copper cap and prick the nipple of my rifle ; and 
 on looking up again, he was gone ! I was in despair ; and 
 was on the point of moving rashly, when I saw his horns again 
 appear a little farther off, but not more than fifty yards from 
 the burn. By and by they lowered, and I judged he was lying 
 -down. " You are mine at last," I said ; and I crept cautiously 
 up the bed of the burn till I was opposite where he had lain 
 .down. I carefully and inch by inch placed my rifle over the 
 bank, and then ventured to look along it. I could see only his 
 horns, but within an easy shot. I was afraid to move higher 
 up the bed of the burn, where I could have seen his body ; the 
 direction of the wind made that dangerous. I took breath for 
 .a moment, and screwed up my nerves ; and then with my 
 cocked rifle at my shoulder and my finger on the trigger, I 
 Jacked a stone, which splashed into the water. He started up 
 
 R
 
 242 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 instantly ; but exposed only his front towards me. Still he 
 was very near, scarcely fifty yards, and I fired at his throat just 
 where it joins the head. He dropped on his knees to my shot ; 
 but was up again in a moment, and went staggering up the 
 hill. Oh, for one hour of Bran ! Although he kept on at a 
 mad pace, I saw he was becoming too weak for the hill. He 
 swerved and turned back to the burn ; and came headlong 
 down within ten yards of me, tumbling into it apparently dead. 
 Feeling confident, from the place where my ball had taken 
 effect, that he was dead, I threw down my rifle, and went up 
 to him with my hunting-knife. I found him stretched out, 
 and as I thought dying ; and I laid hold of his horns to raise 
 his head to bleed him. I had scarcely touched him when he 
 sprang up, flinging me backwards on the stones. It was an 
 awkward position. I was stunned by the violent fall ; behind 
 me was a steep bank seven or eight feet high ; before me the 
 bleeding stag with his horns levelled at me, and cutting me off 
 from my rifle. In desperation I moved ; when he instantly 
 charged, but fortunately tumbled ere he quite reached me. He 
 drew back again like a ram about to butt, and then stood still 
 with his head lowered, and his eyes bloody and swelled, glaring 
 upon me. His mane and all his coat were dripping with water 
 and blood ; and as he now and then tossed his head with an 
 angry snort, he looked like some savage beast of prey. We 
 stood mutually at bay for some time, till recovering myself, I 
 jumped out of the burn so suddenly, that he had not time to 
 run at me, and from the bank above, I dashed my plaid over 
 his head and eyes, and threw myself upon him. I cannot 
 account for my folly, and it had nearly cost me dear. The 
 poor beast struggled desperately, and his remaining strength 
 foiled me in every attempt to stab him in front ; and he at 
 length made off, tumbling me down, but carrying with him a 
 stab in the leg which lamed him. I ran and picked up my 
 rifle, and then kept him in view as he rushed down the burn on 
 three legs towards the loch. He took the water and stood at 
 bay up to his chest in it. As soon as he halted, I commenced 
 loading my rifle, when to my dismay I found that all the balls 
 I had remaining were for my double-barrel, and were a size too 
 large for my rifle. I sat down and commenced scraping one 
 to the right size, an operation that seemed interminable. At
 
 XXVI 
 
 DEATH OF THE STAG 
 
 243 
 
 last I succeeded ; and, having loaded, the poor stag remaining 
 perfectly still, I went up within twenty yards of him, and shot 
 him through the head. He turned over and floated, perfectly 
 dead. I waded in and towed him ashore, and then had leisure 
 to look at my wounds and bruises, which were not serious, 
 except my shin-bone, which was scraped from ankle to knee 
 by his horn. I soon had cleaned my quarry and stowed him 
 away as safely as I could, and then turned down the glen at a 
 gay pace. I found Donald with Bran reposing at Malcolm's 
 shealing ; and for all reproaches on his misconduct, I was satis- 
 fied with sending him to bring home the " muckle hart of Ben- 
 more," a duty which he performed before nightfall. 
 
 BKIXGING HOME THE "MUCKLE HART"
 
 THE WHOLE COMMUNITY ATTACKED HIM ' 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 Different kinds of Gulls : Large Collections of Breeding-places Islands on a Loch 
 Eggs of Gulls Young Birds Food and Voracity of Large Gulls : Salmon-fry 
 killed by Boatswain-Gull Manner of procuring Food. 
 
 As great a variety of the gull tribe l frequents the Findhorn Bay 
 and the Moray Firth as perhaps is to be seen in any one locality 
 in Great Britain. To the uninterested passer-by a gull is a gull, 
 and nothing more, whether the race is represented at the moment 
 
 1 St. John here gives an excellent picture of a fresh-water loch in the North of Scotland. 
 Black-headed gulls breed at Loch Lee and on Belivat Lake. The particular spot here 
 meant is probably the " Pictarnies " Loch in Darnaway Forest.
 
 CHAP, xxvn BLACK-HEADED GULLS 245 
 
 by that splendid bird, the great black-backed gull, Larus marinus, 
 or by the small but elegant black-headed gull, Larus ridibundns 
 of Linnaeus, or as Buffon, alluding also to its laugh-like cry, calls 
 it, la Mouette rieuse. Yet, if closely observed, every kind of gull 
 has its own peculiar ways arid habits, all of which are worthy 
 of note, and adapted to its own manner of feeding and providing 
 for its wants. During March and April the black-headed gull, 
 which has been absent during the winter, returns in innumerable 
 flocks. After sunset they hold long consultations on the sands 
 of the bay, and when the night is calm I can hear them from 
 my windows at the distance of nearly two miles chattering and 
 clamouring for hours together. In the daytime they frequent 
 the fields, and wherever a plough is at work there are the black- 
 headed gulls in thousands, hovering over the ploughman's head, 
 and keeping up such a continual screaming, that I have seen 
 both man and horses fairly bewildered by the noise. A man 
 left his plough and came to me the other day, as I was passing 
 1 in the next field, to beg me to fire a shot or two at these noisy 
 and uninvited followers. As fast as a worm or grub is turned 
 up by the plough, down drop two or three gulls to scramble for 
 it. In this manner they soon get the necessary supply of food, 
 and return to join the assembly on the sands, where, having 
 drunk and bathed, they remain for the rest of the day. After 
 passing a fortnight or more in this manner, they betake them- 
 selves to their breeding-place, which is generally either some rushy 
 and quiet pool or island on some mountain lake, where they 
 can breed and rear their young unmolested. There are several 
 lochs in this neighbourhood where they breed. One they chiefly 
 resort to is a small piece of water in the forest of Darnaway, 
 where they are not allowed to be annoyed or disturbed during 
 the time of incubation. In these places their nests are placed 
 as close as possible to each other, and from the constant noise 
 and flying backwards and forwards of the birds, one would 
 suppose that the greatest confusion must prevail amongst their 
 crowded commonwealth, but every bird knows and attends to 
 her own nest, and though their cries sound angry and harsh, 
 the greatest amity and the strictest peace are preserved. Though 
 crossing and jostling each other in all directions, they never 
 appear to quarrel or fight. On the contrary, the birds all unite 
 and make common cause against any enemy, man or beast,
 
 246 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 that approaches them, or whose presence seems to threaten 
 danger. I once took a boat to a mountain lake in Inverness- 
 shire, where thousands of these birds bred on some small islands 
 which dot the surface of the water. 1 The gulls, though not 
 exactly attacking me, dashed unceasingly so close to my head 
 that I felt the wind of their wings, and I sometimes really 
 feared some one more venturous than the rest might drive his 
 bill into my eyes. They had probably never had a visitor to 
 their islands before. The shepherds, having a kind of super- 
 stitious dread of the place, from its being supposed to be haunted 
 ground, never attempt to cross to the islands by swimming or 
 wading. The greater part of the largest island was absolutely 
 covered with eggs, laid in small hollows scraped by the birds, 
 with little pretensions to any other kind of nest. I could 
 scarcely walk without treading on them. Close to the edge of 
 the water, indeed so near that the nest was always wet, was the 
 domicile of a pair of black-throated divers, or loon, with a couple 
 of long greenish-coloured eggs. The old birds swam out to a 
 short distance, and watched me with great interest, uttering 
 their strange hollow call. There were several smaller islands, 
 or points of rock, appearing above the water, on each of which 
 a pair of black-backed gulls had made their nest, constructed 
 with more care and skill than those of their black-headed 
 cousins. These large birds allowed none of the others to 
 approach them, and each couple kept undisputed possession of 
 their own particular kingdom, not joining in the same sociable 
 kind of society as other gulls. When I approached the black- 
 backed gulls' nest, they did not dash round me like the smaller 
 kind, but flew in circles at some height, uttering a loud warlike 
 kind of shout, much like the voice of a human being. The 
 eggs of the black-headed gulls are exactly like those of the 
 common lapwing, and are equally good eating ; so I took home 
 a great number, selecting them from the nests that had only 
 one or two eggs, knowing that the owners of these would not 
 have commenced sitting. I returned in a week, and found 
 every nest with its full number in it. I was walking along the 
 
 1 Mr. St. John mentions the following as being found in Moray : ' ' The little gull 
 (Larus minutus), shot in Spynie, Morayshire, early in May ; L. capistratus (brown-headed 
 gull) ; L. ridibundus (black-headed gull) ; L. tridactylus (kittiwake) ; L. canus (common 
 gull) ; L. argentatus (herring gull) ; L. fuscus (lesser black-backed gull) ; L. warinus 
 (great black-backed gull), nests inland."
 
 xxvn THE LARGER BLACK-BACKED GULL 247 
 
 shore of the lake some weeks afterwards, when the birds had 
 hatched, and whole fleets of young gulls of a dark grey colour 
 were swimming about. A young retriever I had with me swam 
 into the water after them. He had scarcely got twenty yards 
 from the shore when the whole community of gulls attacked 
 him, and not content with harmless threats, struck down on the 
 dog with right good will ; and I am convinced that his life was 
 only saved by my keeping up a constant fire on the large black- 
 headed gulls, which, in defence of their young, made common 
 cause with the others, and, from their great weight and strength, 
 were most dangerous assailants. When lounging, gun in hand, 
 
 GULLS COMING INLAND 
 
 on the sea-shore here, or lying in wait for seals, I have frequent 
 opportunities of watching unobserved the proceedings of the 
 gulls of different kinds. The large black-backed gull soars 
 slowly along the edge of the receding tide, with his sharp eye 
 fixed on the beach, and turning his head and neck to observe 
 every object that may be left by the tide. If anything is seen 
 which his omnivorous appetite covets, down he pitches on it, 
 and with his powerful bill soon tears up and swallows it. The 
 sand-eel or small fish is swallowed whole. If a floating prize 
 presents itself, such as the remains of a large fish or dead bird, 
 it is soon discovered by one of the large gulls, who is not 
 allowed, however, to enjoy his prize alone ; for every one of his 
 fellows within sight joins in tearing it to pieces. When I have 
 winged a duck, and it has escaped and gone out to sea, I have
 
 248 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 frequently seen it attacked and devoured almost alive by these 
 birds. If a dead fish is left on the shore they alight a few feet 
 from it, and, having reconnoitred carefully, fall to and devour 
 it. It is interesting to see these strong birds battling against 
 a high wind, always working to windward, and taking advantage 
 of every headland and cliff for a moment's shelter. When going 
 to windward in their search for food (indeed, they never fly 
 down wind if they can help it), and perceiving something edible, 
 they keep on a short distance beyond it, and then drifting back 
 with the wind, drop down upon it. I saw a seal last week 
 (April) which had caught a salmon, and was eating it above the 
 water. A number of large gulls had collected round him, and 
 seemed inclined to dispute his prize, darting down at it with 
 clamorous cries. The large grey gull, or wagel, hunts the shore 
 in much the same manner ; but is still more voracious than the 
 black-backed gull. Nothing comes amiss to this greedy bird. 
 I have seen a dozen of them feeding on a dead and putrid 
 horse, digging it out with their powerful bills like so many 
 ravens. I have no doubt a dead human being would be con- 
 sidered a fair and lawful prize also. While I am lying ensconced 
 on the shore for seals, this bird frequently comes hovering over 
 me, as if well inclined to pounce down. If wounded, he does 
 good battle against my retriever, aiming (like a heron) at the 
 eyes. When shot, he often disgorges a great quantity of food, 
 generally small fish ; and on one occasion a wounded wagel 
 brought up, amongst a variety of undigested food, a well-sized 
 young kitten, which he had somewhere made prize of. The 
 grey gull, though frequently feeding in the fields, seems very 
 seldom to take to fresh-water lakes. The next-sized gull which 
 is common here is the blue-back, a beautiful clean-looking bird, 
 though, as far as fish is concerned, as great a glutton as the two 
 last-named kinds. This bird is particularly conspicuous in its 
 attacks on the salmon-fry as they descend the river in May. 
 Thousands of them fish in the shallow pools at low-water in 
 the bay, and every bird seems to feed wholly on these silvery 
 little creatures as long as they are to be had. The quantity 
 that they disgorge when shot is perfectly astonishing, and they 
 must be one of the most destructive enemies that the salmon 
 has. Besides these larger kinds of gulls, there are several smaller 
 species, who hover constantly about the shore and sand-banks,
 
 xxvn THE BOATSWAIN GULL 249 
 
 drifting to and fro, and beating against the wind in search of 
 any prey, and darting fearlessly into the very foam of the 
 breakers to obtain it, or floating as buoyantly as corks at a 
 respectful distance from the larger gulls, who may be engaged 
 in tearing to pieces any cast-up carcass, and being content to 
 catch at the smaller morsels which are detached unperceived 
 by the rightful owners of the prize. 
 
 I was much amused the other day by the proceedings of a 
 pair of the black-toed gull, or boatswain. 1 These two birds 
 were sitting quietly on an elevated ridge of sand, near which a 
 number of other gulls of different kinds were fishing and hover- 
 ing about in search of what the waves might cast up. Every 
 bird, indeed, was busy and employed, excepting these two black 
 robbers, who seemed to be quietly resting, quite unconcerned. 
 When, however, a gull had picked up a prize, these birds seemed 
 instinctively to know it, and darting off with the rapidity of a 
 hawk (which bird they much resemble in their manner of flight), 
 they attacked the unfortunate gull in the air, and, in spite of his 
 screams and attempts to escape, they pursued and beat him till 
 he disgorged the fish or whatever he had swallowed, when 
 one of them darted down and caught the substance before it 
 could reach the water. The two then returned quietly to their 
 sand-bank, where they waited patiently to repeat the robbery, 
 should an opportunity occur. As the flock of gulls moved on 
 with the flow of the tide the boatswains moved on also, hovering 
 on their flank like a pair of plundering freebooters. I observed 
 that in chasing a gull they seemed perfectly to understand each 
 other as to who should get the spoil ; and in their attacks on 
 the largest gulls (against whom they waged the most fearless 
 warfare) they evidently acted so as to aid each other. If 
 another pair of boatswains intruded on their hunting-ground, 
 they immediately seemed to send them farther off, not so much 
 by actual battle as by a noisy and screaming argument, which 
 they continued most vigorously till the new-comers left the 
 neighbourhood. 
 
 I never saw these birds hunt for their own living in any 
 other way than by robbing the other gulls. Though not nearly 
 so large as some of the birds which they attack, their hawk-like 
 swoops and great courage seem to enable them to fight their 
 
 1 Richardson's skua (Leslris Richardsonii], Moray. C. St. J.
 
 250 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP, xxvn 
 
 way most successfully. They are neatly and powerfully made ; 
 their colour, a kind of sooty dull black, with very little gloss or 
 shining tints on their feathers. The boatswains seldom appear 
 here excepting during April and May. All the gull tribe 
 during their first year are of a dingy and mottled colour, very 
 unlike the neat and elegant combination of colours they after- 
 wards acquire. 
 
 THE FINDHORN FROM ALTYRE WOODS, LOOKING NORTH
 
 WOODCOCKS TILTING 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 Woodcock's nest : Early Breeding of; Habits of, in Spring ; First Arrival of; Anec- 
 dotes of; Manner of Carrying their Young Habits of Snipe Number of Jack- 
 Snipes Solitary Snipe. 
 
 March 9, 1 846. A woodcock's nest, with three eggs, was 
 brought to me to-day. Two years ago, a boy brought me a 
 young woodcock nearly full-grown, and fledged, in the second 
 week of April the exact day I do not remember. Reckoning 
 from this, I should suppose that the woodcock is about the first 
 bird to hatch in this country. A few years ago, it was supposed 
 that none remained in Britain after the end of winter, except a 
 few wounded birds, which were unable to cross the sea to their 
 usual breeding-places.
 
 252 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 However, since the great increase of fir plantations, great 
 numbers remain to breed. In the woods of Altyre and Darna- 
 way (as well as in all the other extensive plantations in the 
 country), during the whole spring and summer, I see the wood- 
 cocks flying to and fro every evening in considerable numbers. 
 As early as six or seven o'clock, they begin to fly, uttering their 
 curious cry, which resembles more the croak of a frog than 
 anything else ; varied, however, by a short shrill chirp. Down 
 the shaded course of the river, or through the avenues and 
 glades of the forest, already dark from the shadow of the pine- 
 trees, the woodcocks keep up a continual flight, passing and 
 repassing in all directions, as if in search of each other. As 
 the twilight comes on, in the open part of the country, they 
 leave the shade of the woods and fly down to the swamps and 
 pools near the sea-shore and elsewhere, to feed during the night. 
 When watching in the evening for wild ducks or geese near 
 the swamps by the shore, I have constantly seen them pitch 
 close to me, and commence feeding in their peculiar manner. 
 These birds must probably come from the Altyre woods, the 
 nearest point of which is at a distance of two or three miles. 
 In the evening the woodcock's flight is rapid and steady, instead 
 of being uncertain and owl-like, as it often is in the bright sun- 
 shine. I consider their vision to be peculiarly adapted to the 
 twilight, and even to the darker hours of night this being the 
 bird's feeding-time. In very severe and protracted snowstorms 
 and frosts I have seen them feeding at the springs during the 
 daytime ; but in moderate weather they pass all the light hours 
 in the solitary recesses of the quietest parts of the woods, 
 although occasionally one will remain all day in the swamp, or 
 near the springs on the hill-side, where he had been feeding 
 during the night. When they first arrive, about the month of 
 November, I have sometimes fallen in with two or three brace 
 far up on the mountain, while grouse-shooting. They then sit 
 very close, and are easily killed. The first frost, however, sends 
 them all to the shelter of the woods. No bird seems less 
 adapted for a long flight across the sea than the woodcock ; 
 and it is only by taking advantage of a favourable wind that 
 they can accomplish their passage. An intelligent master of a 
 ship once told me, that in his voyages to and from Norway and 
 Sweden, he has frequently seen them, tired and exhausted, pitch
 
 WOODCOCKS 253 
 
 for a moment or two with outspread wings in the smooth water 
 in the ship's wake ; and having rested themselves for a few 
 moments, continue their weary journey. 
 
 Although those that remain here breed so early in the year, 
 the woodcocks that migrate do not leave England till the 
 end of March or beginning of April. In the wild extensive 
 woods of Sussex, I have often seen them in the evenings, about 
 the beginning of April, flying to and fro in chase of each other, 
 uttering a hoarse croaking, and sometimes engaging each other 
 at a kind of tilting-match with their long bills in the air. I 
 remember an old poaching keeper, whose society I used greatly 
 to covet when a boy, shooting three at a shot, while they were 
 engaged in an aerial tournament of this kind. 
 
 There was a sporting turnpike-man (a rare instance of such 
 a combination of professions) on Ashdown forest, in Sussex, 
 who used to kill two or three woodcocks every evening for a 
 week or two in March and April shooting the birds while he 
 smoked his pipe and drank his smuggled brandy and water 
 at his turnpike -gate, which was situated in a glade in the 
 forest, where the birds were in the habit of flying during the 
 twilight. 
 
 I rather astonished an English friend of mine, who was 
 staying with me in Inverness-shire during the month of June, 
 by asking him to come out woodcock-shooting one evening. 
 And his surprise was not diminished by my preparations for 
 our battue, which consisted of ordering out chairs and cigars 
 into the garden at the back of the house, which happened to 
 be just in the line of the birds' flight from the woods to the 
 swamps. After he had killed three or four from his chair, we 
 stopped murdering the poor birds, which were quite unfit to eat, 
 having probably young ones, or eggs, to provide for at home, 
 in the quiet recesses of the woods, along the banks of Loch Ness, 
 which covers afford as good woodcock -shooting as any in 
 Scotland. 
 
 The female makes her nest, or rather, lays her eggs for 
 nest she has none in a tuft of heather, or at the foot of a 
 small tree. The eggs are four in number, and resemble those 
 of a plover. They are always placed regularly in the nest, the 
 small ends of the eggs meeting in the centre. When disturbed 
 from her nest, she flutters away like a partridge, pretending to
 
 254 WILD SPOKTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 be lame, in order to take the attention of the intruder away 
 from her young or eggs. It is a singular but well-ascertained 
 fact, that woodcocks carry their young ones down to the springs 
 and soft ground where they feed. Before I knew this, I was 
 greatly puzzled as to how the newly-hatched young of this bird 
 could go from the nest, which is often built in the rankest 
 heather, far from any place where they could possibly feed, 
 down to the marshes. I have, however, ascertained that the 
 old bird lifts her young in her feet, and carries them one by 
 one to their feeding-ground. Considering the apparent improb- 
 ability of this curious act of the woodcock, and the un fitness 
 of their feet and claws for carrying or holding any substance 
 whatever, I should be unwilling to relate it on my own un- 
 supported evidence ; but it has been lately corroborated by the 
 observations of several intelligent foresters and others, who are 
 in the habit of passing through the woods during March and 
 April. 
 
 The woodcock breeds a second time in July and August. 
 I am of opinion that all those which are bred in this country 
 emigrate about the beginning of September, probably about the 
 full moon in that month. At any rate they entirely disappear 
 from woods where any day in June or July I could find several 
 brace. In September and the beginning of October I could 
 never find a single bird, though I have repeatedly tried to do 
 so. A few come in October ; but the greatest number which 
 visit this country arrive at the November full moon ; these birds 
 invariably taking advantage of the lightest nights for their 
 journey. In many parts of the country near the coast, the day, 
 and almost the hour, of their arrival can be accurately calculated 
 on, as also the particular thickets and coverts where the first 
 birds alight. 
 
 The snipe l also begins to breed in March, though it is not 
 quite so early a bird as the woodcock. Snipes hatch their 
 young in this country, breeding and rearing them in the swamps, 
 or near the springs on the mountains. During the pairing 
 time the snipes fly about all day, hovering and wheeling in the 
 air above the rushes where the female bird lies concealed, and 
 uttering their peculiar cry, which resembles exactly the bleating 
 
 1 Both snipe and jack-snipe lay four eggs (C. St. J.) Owing to the reclaiming of 
 marshland, their numbers are decreasing in many parts of Scotland.
 
 xxvin SNIPE 255 
 
 of a goat, and from which they have one of their Gaelic names, 
 which signifies the air-goat. 
 
 About the end of July and first week in August the snipes 
 descend from the higher grounds, and collect in great numbers 
 about certain favourite places. They remain in these spots 
 for a week or ten days, and then disperse. The rest of the 
 season we have but few in this part of the country. Particular 
 ditches and streams near my house always afford me two or 
 three snipes ; and as fast as I kill these, others appear. 
 
 Occasionally flights of jack-snipes come here ; generally 
 about the end or middle of October ; and last year I find, on 
 referring to my game -book, that on the ipth of October I 
 killed eight brace of jack-snipes in an hour or two, finding them 
 all in a small rushy pool and in the adjoining ditch. Usually, 
 however, I only find three or four during a day's shooting ; 
 but in this manner I kill a great many in the course of the 
 season, as there appears to be a constant succession of these 
 birds from October to March, when they leave us. The jack- 
 snipe never remains to breed here. I can scarcely call the 
 solitary snipe a bird of this country ; never having seen but 
 one in Scotland, and that was in Sutherlandshire.
 
 <;> ". ^ : 
 
 DONALD AND THE SEAL 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 Seals Destruction to Fish and Nets Shooting Seals in River and Sea Habits 
 of Seals Anecdotes Seal and Dog Seal and Keeper Catching Seals 
 Anecdotes. 
 
 SEALS, 1 which a few years ago abounded along this coast, are 
 now comparatively rare, and before long will be entirely banished 
 to the undisturbed and unfrequented rocks of the more northern 
 islands. The salmon-fishers on the coast wage a constant war 
 against them, in consequence of the great damage they do to 
 their stake-nets, which are constantly torn and injured by these 
 powerful animals. Nor is the loss they occasion to the salmon- 
 fishers confined to the fish which they actually consume or to 
 
 1 The colour of seals varies very much. When first born they are cream-coloured. 
 It is soon drowned when entangled in a net, but when undisturbed can remain a con- 
 siderable time under the water. Does not always devour the fish which it captures under 
 the water. C. St. J. 
 
 The true fur seals of the far North, many thousands of which are killed annually in 
 Davis Straits and round Spitzbergen and Greenland, are Cystophora cristata, Phoca 
 barbata and P. granlandica. A few specimens of these (with the exception of P. 
 barbata) have been taken on our coasts.
 
 CHAP, xxix HABITS OF THE SEAL 257 
 
 the nets that they destroy, for a seal hunting along the coast 
 in the neighbourhood of the stake-nets keeps the salmon in a 
 constantly disturbed state, and drives the shoals of fish into 
 the deep water, where they are secure from the nets. There 
 is consequently a constant and deadly feud between the fisher- 
 men and the seals, which has almost totally expelled the latter 
 from this part of the coast. An old seal has been known to 
 frequent a particular range of stake-nets for many years, escaping 
 all attacks against him, and becoming both so cunning and so 
 impudent that he will actually take the salmon out of the nets 
 (every turn of which he becomes thoroughly intimate with) 
 before the face of the fishermen, and retiring with his ill-gotten 
 booty, adds insult to injury by coolly devouring it on some 
 adjoining point of rock or shoal, taking good care, however, 
 to keep out of reach of rifle-ball or slug. Sometimes, however, 
 he becomes entangled in the nets, and is drowned, but this 
 seldom happens to a full-grown seal, which easily breaks through 
 the strongest twine if he can find no outlet. From the shore 
 opposite Cromarty I one day saw a large seal swim into the 
 stake-nets and take out a salmon, with which he retired to a 
 small rock above the water, and there devoured it entirely in 
 a very short space of time. 
 
 Sometimes at high -water and when the river is swollen a 
 seal comes in pursuit of salmon into the Findhorn, notwith- 
 standing the smallness of the stream and its rapidity. I was 
 one day, in November, looking for wild ducks near the river, 
 when I was called to by a man who was at work near the water, 
 and who told me that some " muckle beast " was playing most 
 extraordinary tricks in the river. He could not tell me what 
 beast it was, but only that it was something " no that canny." 
 After waiting a short time, the riddle was solved by the ap- 
 pearance of a good-sized seal, into whose head I instantly sent 
 a cartridge, having no balls with me. The seal immediately 
 plunged and splashed about in the water at a most furious rate, 
 and then began swimming round and round in a circle, upon 
 which I gave him the other barrel, also loaded with one of 
 Eley's cartridges, which quite settled the business, and he floated 
 rapidly away down the stream. I sent my retriever after him, 
 but the dog, being very young and not come to his full strength, 
 was baffled by the weight of the animal and the strength of 
 
 s
 
 2 5 8 
 
 the current, and could not land him ; indeed, he was very near 
 getting drowned himself, in consequence of his attempts to 
 bring in the seal, who was still struggling. I called the dog 
 away, and the seal immediately sank. The next day I found 
 him dead on the shore of the bay, with (as the man who skinned 
 him expressed himself) " twenty-three pellets of large hail in 
 his craig." 
 
 Another day, in the month of July, when shooting rabbits 
 on the sand-hills, a messenger came from the fishermen at the 
 stake-nets, asking me to come in that direction, as the " muckle 
 sealgh " was swimming about, waiting for the fish to be caught 
 in the nets, in order to commence his devastation. 
 
 I accordingly went to them, and having taken my observa- 
 tions of the locality and the most feasible points of attack, I 
 got the men to row me out to the end of the stake-net, where 
 there was a kind of platform of netting, on which I stretched 
 myself, with a bullet in one barrel and a cartridge in the other. 
 I then directed the men to row the boat away, as if they had 
 left the nets. They had scarcely gone three hundred yards 
 from the place when I saw the seal, which had been floating, 
 apparently unconcerned, at some distance, swim quietly and 
 fearlessly up to the net. I had made a kind of breastwork of 
 old netting before me, which quite concealed me on the side 
 from which he came. He approached the net, and began 
 examining it leisurely and carefully to see if any fish were in 
 it ; sometimes he was under and sometimes above the water. 
 I was much struck by his activity while underneath, where I 
 could most plainly see him, particularly as he twice dived 
 almost below my station, and the water was clear and smooth 
 as glass. 
 
 I could not get a good shot at him for some time ; at last, 
 however, he put up his head at about fifteen or twenty yards' 
 distance from me ; and while he was intent on watching the 
 boat, which was hovering about waiting to see the result of my 
 plan of attack, I fired at him, sending the ball through his brain. 
 He instantly sank without a struggle, and a perfect torrent of 
 blood came up, making the water red for some feet round 
 the spot where he lay stretched out at the bottom. The men 
 immediately rowed up, and taking me into the boat, we 
 managed to bring him up with a boathook to the surface of
 
 xxix SEAL-SHOOTING 259 
 
 the water, and then, as he was too heavy to lift into the boat 
 (his weight being 378 Ibs.), we put a rope round his flippers, 
 and towed him ashore. A seal of this size is worth some 
 money, as, independently of the value of his skin, the blubber 
 (which lies under the skin, like that of a whale) produces a 
 large quantity of excellent oil. This seal had been for several 
 years the dread of the fishermen at the stake-nets, and the head 
 man at the place was profuse in his thanks for the destruction 
 of a beast upon which he had expended a most amazing 
 quantity of lead. He assured me that 100 would not repay 
 the damage the animal had done. Scarcely any two seals are 
 exactly of the same colour or marked quite alike, and seals 
 frequenting a particular part of the coast become easily known 
 and distinguished from each other. 
 
 There is a certain part of the coast near the sand-hills 
 where I can generally get a shot at a seal. I have frequently 
 killed them, but seldom get the animal, as the water is deep 
 at the place and the current strong. The spot I allude to is 
 where the sea, at the rise of the tide, flows into a large basin 
 through a narrow channel, the deep part of which is not much 
 more than a hundred yards in width. If there are any seals 
 hunting this part of the coast, they come into this basin at 
 every tide in search of fish, or to rest in the quiet water. My 
 plan is to be at the place before the tide has begun to rise, and 
 then, having made up a breastwork of sand and weed, I wait 
 for the appearance of the seals, which frequently, before the tide 
 has risen much, come floating in, with their heads above the 
 water. If they do not perceive my embankment, I am nearly 
 certain of a shot, but if they do, they generally keep over on 
 the opposite side of the channel, watching it so closely that on 
 the least movement on my part they instantly dive. So quick 
 are their movements in the water, that I find it impossible to 
 strike a seal with ball if he is watching me, for quick and 
 certain as is a detonating gun, they are still quicker, and dive 
 before the ball can reach them. As for a flint gun, it has not 
 a chance with them. Within the memory of some of the people 
 here, seals were very numerous about this part of the coast, 
 and were constantly killed by the farmers for the sake of their 
 oil, and with no weapons except their hoes or spades, with 
 which they attacked them when lying on the sand-banks. It
 
 260 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 is but seldom that I see them resting on the shore, but occa- 
 sionally watch them in that situation, as they either lie sleeping 
 on the banks or play about, which, notwithstanding their 
 unwieldy appearance, they sometimes do. At other times they 
 engage in the most determined battles with each other, fighting 
 like bulldogs, and uttering loud mournful cries. In waiting 
 for seals, attention must be paid more to the state of the tide 
 than to the time of day, although certainly, like all wild animals, 
 they appear less on their guard at early dawn than at any 
 other hour. The seal generally takes the same course every 
 day at the same height of tide, and basks on the same rock or 
 sand-bank during low-water. They show themselves much less 
 in cold and stormy weather than when it is warm and fine. 
 Knowing this, and having seen a seal show himself in a parti- 
 cular channel or basin of the sea, you may be nearly sure of 
 seeing him there the next day, about the same height of tide. 
 
 The young appear about July. When first born they are 
 nearly white, and the hair is rough and long : they gradually 
 become spotted and of a darker colour, like the old ones. The 
 very young ones that I have seen here were probably born 
 about the rocks and caves of the Ross-shire coast. Some rocks 
 off the coast near Gordonston were till very lately the constant 
 resort of seals, but owing to workmen having been employed 
 there of late years in building a lighthouse and other works, 
 they very seldom rest on them at present. They were also 
 much frightened by a plan for catching them adopted by some 
 of the workmen. Observing that the seals when disturbed 
 tumbled off the rocks in great confusion, two fellows, during 
 low -water, fixed firmly into the rock several strongly -barbed 
 iron hooks, with the points turned upwards. This done, the 
 first time that they saw any great assemblage of seals basking 
 on the rock, near their hooks, they got into a boat and rowed 
 quickly up to the place, firing guns and making all the noise 
 that they could. The poor seals, in their hurry to escape, came 
 tumbling over the side of the rocks where the hooks were 
 placed. Several were much torn and wounded, and one was 
 held till the men got up and despatched him. This cruel pro- 
 ceeding had the effect of keeping them from the place for a con- 
 siderable time afterwards. Notwithstanding the great timidity, 
 of the seals, they have immense strength in their jaws, and,
 
 SEAL-SHOOTING 261 
 
 indeed, great muscular power in every part of their body. A 
 farmer near the coast here, seeing several basking on the sand- 
 banks, and not being possessed of a gun, hit upon what seemed 
 to him the capital plan of setting a strong bulldog at them, 
 hoping that the dog would hold one of them till he could get 
 up and kill it with his spade. The dog reached the seals before 
 they could get into the water, and attacked one of the largest. 
 The seal, however, with a single bite completely smashed the 
 head of the dog, and flinging him to one side, scuffled away 
 into the water, leaving the farmer not much inclined to attempt 
 seal-hunting again. 
 
 My man, one day while we were waiting in our ambuscade 
 for the seals, gave me an account of a curious adventure he had 
 with one near the same spot a few years back. 
 
 He was lying at daybreak ensconced close to the water's 
 edge, waiting in vain for a shot at some grey geese that fre- 
 quented the place at the time, when he saw a prodigiously large 
 seal floating quietly along with the tide, not thirty yards from 
 the shore. Donald did not disturb the animal, but went home 
 early in the day, and, having cast some bullets for his gun and 
 made other preparations, retired to rest. The next morning 
 he was again at the shore, well concealed, and expecting to see 
 the seal pass with the flowing tide ; nor was he disappointed. 
 About the same period of the rise of the tide, the monster ap- 
 peared again. Donald cocked his gun, and crouched down 
 behind his ambuscade of seaweed and shingle, ready for the 
 animal's head to appear within shot. This soon happened, but 
 instead of swimming on with the tide, the seal came straight to 
 the shore, not above ten yards from where his mortal enemy 
 was lying concealed. The water was deep to the very edge, 
 and the great unwieldy beast clambered up the steep beach, 
 and was very soon high and dry, a few yards from the muzzle 
 of Donald's gun, which was immediately pointed at him, but 
 from the position in which the seal was lying he could not get 
 a shot at the head, the only part where a wound would prove 
 immediately fatal. Donald waited some time, in hopes that 
 the animal would turn or lift his head, but at last losing patience, 
 he gave a low whistle, which had the immediate effect of making 
 the animal lift its head to listen. The gun was immediately 
 discharged, and the ball passed through the seal's neck, close
 
 262 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 to the head. Up ran Donald, and flinging down his gun, seized 
 one of the immense fins or flippers of the beast, which he could 
 scarcely span with both hands. The seal was bleeding like a 
 pig at the throat, and quite stunned at the same time, but 
 though it did not struggle, it showed a kind of inclination to 
 move towards the water, which obliged Donald to stick his heels 
 into the ground, and to lean back,holding on with all his strength 
 to prevent the escape of the enormous beast. " 'Deed, Sir," 
 said Donald, " if you believe me, he was as big as any Hieland 
 stirk in the parish." Well, there the two remained for above 
 an hour motionless, but always straining against each other, 
 Donald's object being to keep the seal in the same place till 
 the tide had receded to some distance, and then to despatch 
 him how he best could. Many a wistful glance he cast at his 
 gun, which he had so rashly flung down without reloading ; the 
 said gun being, as he said, " but a bit trifling single-barrelled 
 thing, lent him by a shoemaker lad, who whiles took a shot 
 along the shore " in other words, who poached more hares 
 than he made shoes. 
 
 After they had remained in this uncomfortable position for a 
 long time, till Donald's hands had become perfectly cramped 
 and stiff, the seal suddenly seemed to recover himself, and turning 
 round to see what was holding him, looked the man full in the 
 face, with a bewildered air of astonishment ; then seeing what 
 kind of enemy he had to deal with, he gave a tremendous shake, 
 casting Donald off like a " bit rag," as he expressed it, and 
 leaving him prostrate in the pool of blood that had come out 
 of the bullet-hole, moved slowly into the water, and quietly 
 went down to the bottom. Donald, in utter disgust and 
 wretchedness at losing his prize, walked straight home, and 
 went to bed to sleep off his disappointment. The next morning, 
 however, on considering over the matter, he came to the con- 
 clusion that the seal must be dead, and would probably, as the 
 tide ebbed, be grounded on one of the adjacent sand-banks ; 
 so he returned to the bay at low-water, and the first thing he 
 saw was his seal lying dead on a sand-bank, and looking like 
 a coble keel uppermost. And a perfect argosy did it turn out, 
 producing more pints of oil and a larger skin than ever seal 
 produced before or since. 
 
 I have seen these animals caught by placing a strong net,
 
 xxix NETTING SEALS 263 
 
 made for the purpose, across a deep and narrow channel through 
 which they escaped when frightened off a sand-bank, where 
 they were in the habit of resting at low-water. We quietly 
 laid the net down, fixing it at each end with an anchor ; we 
 then rowed round to the bank, and away went the seals, 
 splattering over the wet sands into the channel ; we came after 
 them as hard as we could row. At first, when they struck the 
 net, some turned back, but frightened on by our shouts, they 
 made a rush at the net. We got to one end of it, detached 
 the anchor, and began to haul it round, so as to enclose the 
 seals ; then began a noise and clamour which surpassed anything 
 of the kind I ever heard the seals splashing and snorting like 
 drowning horses, while we were all straining every nerve to row 
 round the boat, with the weight and struggles of seventeen seals, 
 large and small, against us ; my crew of six Highlanders shout- 
 ing, cursing, and swearing, and encouraging each other in Gaelic 
 presently a more furious shout from the leader of the crew 
 announced that something unexpected had happened, and 
 looking round, we saw that thirteen of the seals had escaped, 
 partly by jumping over the net, and partly by breaking through 
 a weak part of it. One very large seal, which we afterwards 
 found had left her young one within the net, returned in her 
 maternal fondness to rescue it ; she swam round, and finding 
 her offspring in the midst of all the confusion, swam away 
 again from the net, leading the way for the little one to escape 
 also. I snatched up my gun and fired, killing her on the spot, 
 so that she fell back into the net, and we managed to land her, 
 and the other four, and despatched them, despite their struggles, 
 to the great joy of the salmon-fishers of the Cromarty Firth. 
 At another time, several years ago, I was put into rather a 
 dilemma by one of these animals : we had shot a three-parts 
 grown seal, as she was asleep on an isolated rock. Having 
 got her into our very frail and crazy boat, we proceeded towards 
 the land in high spirits ; but before we were half-way across, 
 our seal, who had only been stunned, the shot having merely 
 grazed her head, came to life, and finding herself in so unwonted 
 a position, commenced an indiscriminate attack on everything 
 in her way ; our legs being more so than anything else, we had 
 to throw our feet up on the gunwale of the boat, and despatch 
 her how we could, as she was tearing away, with immense
 
 264 
 
 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP, xxix 
 
 strength, at the woodwork within her reach, and we expected 
 that she would have made a hole in the bottom of the boat. 
 We managed, however, with some difficulty, to stun her again, 
 with the handle of an oar, and got safe to land with our prize, 
 the first of the kind I had ever captured. 
 
 LOOKING UP THE FIXDHORN VALLEY FROM DULSIE BRIDGE
 
 FOX-HUNTING IN THE HIGHLANDS 
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 Fox-hunting in the Highlands 
 
 I HAVE very little to say on this most momentous of all 
 sporting subjects ; and that little will, I fear, be sadly 
 
 " Unmusical to Melton ears, 
 And harsh in sound to Ouorn." 
 
 But what are a set of poor fellows like us to do, living here 
 amongst mountains, and ravines, and torrents, and deep water- 
 courses, and morasses, against none of which the best horse 
 that ever put foot on turf could contend for five minutes ? It 
 took me, I must confess, some time before I could get over all 
 the finer tone of my Leicestershire feelings ; and I have no 
 doubt that I blushed a perfect scarlet the first time that I 
 doubled up a fox l with a rifle-ball ; but now, rendered callous 
 by use and necessity, I can do execution upon him without a 
 pang. 
 
 1 The fox is still common in Scotland, but the enmity of farmers and shepherds, 
 together with guns and traps, have reduced its numbers of late years. Mr. J. Colquhoun 
 in The Moor and the Loch, vol. ii., has a good chapter on the Highland fox. It lives 
 much on sheep and lambs, whereas an English fox only kills lambs in times of scarcity or 
 when it has cubs. But there is no reason to suppose the two are of different species.
 
 266 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 In Scotland the fox holds the first place among " vermin." 
 I do not think that a mountain-fox would live long before a 
 pack of regular fox-hounds, but in his own country he is well 
 able to take care of himself. He is a handsome powerful 
 fellow ; and in size and strength more like a wolf than a 
 Lowland fox, and well he may be, since his food consists of 
 mutton and lamb, grouse and venison. His stronghold is 
 under some huge cairn, or among the fragments that strew 
 the bottom of some rocky precipice, perhaps three thousand 
 feet above the sea. In those mountain solitudes he does not 
 confine his depredations to the night ; I have often encountered 
 him in broad daylight ; and through my deer-glass have watched 
 his manner of hunting the ptarmigan, which is not so neat, but 
 appears quite as successful, as the tactics of the cat. By an 
 unobservant eye, the track of a fox is easily mistaken for that 
 of a dog. The print is somewhat rounder, but the chief 
 difference is the superior neatness of the impression, and the 
 exactness of the steps, the hind-foot just covering the print of 
 the fore-foot. The fox makes free with a great variety of game, 
 and the demands of his nursery require a plentiful supply. 1 In 
 the hills he lives on lambs, sheep, grouse, and ptarmigan ; in 
 the low country, the staple of his prey is rabbits, where these 
 are plentiful ; but nothing comes amiss to him, from the field- 
 mouse upwards. The most wary birds, the wood-pigeon and 
 the wild duck, do not escape him, and he destroys a considerable 
 number of the young of the roe. The honey of the wild 
 bee is one of his favourite delicacies ; and vermin-trappers have 
 found no bait more effective to lure him than a piece of honey- 
 comb. His nose is very fine, and he detects the taint of human 
 footstep or hand for days after it has been communicated. 
 Several ways are tried for evading his suspicions. Some 
 trappers place three or four traps in a circle, and leave them 
 well covered for some days without any bait ; and at the end 
 of that time, when all taint must have left the traps, they place 
 a bait in the centre. Another way is to place the traps in 
 shallow water, and a bait on some bank where he cannot reach 
 it without running a good chance of treading on them. Even 
 when the enemy is in the trap, the victory is not won : and if 
 
 1 The fox is fond of the sea-shore, where it feeds on dead fish, etc. , thrown up by the 
 sea. It manages to catch old wild ducks and other birds. It also kills young roe, lambs, 
 and cats. C. St. J.
 
 xxx THE HIGHLAND FOX-HUNTER 267 
 
 he escapes, whether whole or maimed, after being trapped, he is 
 too well warned ever to be caught again. Altogether, trapping 
 has never been very successfully practised against the fox in 
 the Highlands, and the old native practice of " fox-hunting," as 
 the professional mode of killing them is called here, is still 
 much preferred. 
 
 Of all ways of earning a livelihood, perhaps there is none 
 that requires a greater degree of hardihood and acuteness than 
 the trade of a vermin-killer in the Highlands meaning by 
 " vermin," not magpies, crows, and " such small deer," but the 
 stronger and wilder carnivorous natives of the mountain and 
 forest the enemies of the sheep and lambs. In the Highlands 
 he is honoured with the title of " The Fox-hunter " ; but the 
 Highland fox-hunter leads a very different life, and heads a 
 very different establishment, from him of Leicestershire. 
 When you first come upon him in some wild glen, you are 
 somewhat startled at his appearance and bearing. He is 
 generally a wiry active man, past middle age, slung round with 
 pouches and belts for carrying the implements of his trade ; he 
 wears a huge cap of badger-skin, and carries an old-fashioned 
 long-barrelled fowling-piece. At his feet follow two or three 
 couple of strong gaunt slow-hounds, a brace of greyhounds, 
 rough, and with a good dash of the lurcher, and a miscellaneous 
 tail of terriers of every degree. 
 
 A short time ago the foxes having made too free with the 
 lambs, the sheep-farmer of the glen summoned the fox-hunter 
 to his assistance, and I joined him with my rifle. Before day- 
 light, the fox-hunter and myself, with two shepherds, and the 
 usual following of dogs, were on the ground, and drew some 
 small hanging birch-woods near the scene of the latest depreda- 
 tions. While the whole pack of dogs were amusing themselves 
 with a marten-cat in the wood, we found a fresh fox-track on 
 the river bank below it, and after considering its direction 
 leisurely, the fox-hunter formed his plans. The hounds were 
 coupled up, and left to the charge of the two shepherds, whilst 
 we started with our guns for a steep corrie, where he expected 
 we could command the passes. It was a good hour and half 
 of a jog-trot, which seemed a familiar pace to my companion. 
 We at length turned off the great glen, and proceeded up a 
 small, rapid, rocky burn, tracing it to where it issued through
 
 268 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 a narrow fissure in the rocks, down which the water ran like a 
 mill-race. Scrambling up to the head of the ravine, we found 
 ourselves in the corrie, a magnificent amphitheatre of precipitous 
 grey rocks. The fox's favourite earth was known to be far up 
 on the cliff, and as only two passes could easily lead to it, we 
 endeavoured to command them both. My station was high up, 
 on a dizzy enough crag, which commanded one of the passes 
 for a considerable way, and sufficiently screened me from all 
 the lower part of the corrie. Having with some difficulty got 
 to my place, and arranged the best vista I could command 
 whilst keeping myself unseen, I had a few minutes to admire 
 the wild scene below me. It was a narrow corrie, with a small 
 clear stream twisting and shining through an endless confusion 
 of rugged grey rocks. 
 
 I had not been placed many minutes when a deep bay 
 reached me through the clear morning air. I listened with 
 eagerness ; and soon heard the whole pack in full cry, though 
 at a great distance, and apparently not coming quite in our 
 direction. While watching, however, the different entries to 
 the corrie, I saw a fox come leisurely down a steep slope of 
 loose stones, towards where the fox-hunter was concealed. Pre- 
 sently he stopped, and quietly sitting down, appeared to listen 
 for the dogs ; and, not hearing their cry come nearer, he came 
 quietly and leisurely along, till he reached the track where we 
 had crossed the corrie ; when, cautiously stopping with his nose 
 to the ground, he changed his careless manner of running to a 
 quick canter, halting now and then, and snuffing the air, to find 
 out where the enemy was concealed. Just then, too, the hounds 
 appeared to have turned to our direction, and another fox came 
 in view, entering the corrie to my right hand at a great pace, 
 and making directly towards me, though still at a mile's distance. 
 The first fox had approached within sixty or seventy yards of 
 the fox-hunter, when I saw a small stream of smoke issue from 
 the rocks, and the fox staggered a little, and then I heard the 
 report of the gun. The foxes both rushed down the hill again, 
 away from us, one evidently wounded ; when, the echo of the 
 shot sounding in every direction, first on one side of the corrie, 
 then on another, and then apparently on every side at once, 
 fairly puzzled the poor animals. The wounded fox turned 
 back again, and ran straight towards where the fox-hunter was,
 
 XXX 
 
 FOX-SHOOTING 
 
 269 
 
 while the other came towards me. He was within shot, and I 
 was only waiting till he got to an open bit of ground, over 
 which I saw he must pass, when the hounds appeared in full 
 cry at the mouth of the corrie by which he had entered. Rey- 
 nard stopped to look ; and stretching up his head and neck to 
 do so, gave me a fair shot at about sixty yards off. The next 
 moment he was stretched dead, with my ball through him ; 
 while the other, quite bewildered, ran almost between the legs 
 of my fellow-chasseur, and then turned back towards the dogs ; 
 who, meeting him full in the face, wounded as he was, soon 
 caught and slew him. In a short time the whole of our troops, 
 dogs, shepherds, and all, were collected ; and great were the 
 rejoicings over the fallen foe. I must say, that though our 
 game was ignoble, the novelty of the proceedings, and the wild- 
 ness and magnificence of the scenery, had kept me both amused 
 and interested. I forget the name of the corrie : it was some 
 unpronounceable Gaelic word, signifying the " Corrie of the 
 Echo." 
 
 -, 
 
 HIGHLAND MOWING
 
 BADGER AND WASPS' NEST 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 The Badger : Antiquity of ; Cleanliness ; Abode of ; Food ; Family of Trapping 
 Badgers Anecdotes Escape of Badger Anecdotes Strength of Cruelty to. 
 
 AMONGST the aboriginal inhabitants of our wilder districts, who 
 are likely to be soon extirpated, we may reckon that ancient, 
 peaceable, and respectable quadruped, the badger; 1 of an ancient 
 family he certainly is the fossil remains which have been 
 found prove his race to have been co-existent with that of the 
 mammoths and megatheriums which once wandered over our 
 islands. Though the elk - and beaver have long since ceased 
 
 1 Not uncommon in wooded parts of Morayshire ; it destroys the nests of wild ducks, 
 partridges, etc. , sometimes catching the old bird on her eggs and eating her. In the 
 winter they turn up the ground in the turnip-fields after the manner of a pig, travelling 
 far from their holes for this purpose. C. St. J. 
 
 2 Megaceros Hibcrnicus. Remarkable from the fact that it is the sole survivor from 
 the Pleistocene into the Prehistoric Age which has since become extinct, and also from 
 having existed in vast numbers in Ireland, while its bones are rarely found in Britain. It 
 has, however, been discovered in the marl below the peat in the parish of Maybole, Ayr- 
 shire. Dawkins, Early Alan in Britain, 1880, p. 257, 8.
 
 CHAP, xxxi THE BADGER 271 
 
 to exist amongst us, our friend the brock still continues to 
 burrow in the solitary and unfrequented recesses of our larger 
 woods. Persevering and enduring in his every-day life, he 
 appears to have been equally so in clinging to existence during 
 the numerous changes which have passed over the face of the 
 globe since the first introduction of his family into it. Notwith- 
 standing the persecutions and indignities that he is unjustly 
 doomed to suffer, I maintain that he is far more respectable in 
 his habits than we generally consider him to be. " Dirty as a 
 badger," " stinking as a badger," are two sayings often repeated, 
 but quite inapplicable to him. As far as we can learn of the 
 domestic economy of this animal when in a state of nature, he 
 is remarkable for his cleanliness his extensive burrows are 
 always kept perfectly clean, and free from all offensive smell ; 
 no filth is ever found about his abode ; everything likely to 
 offend his olfactory nerves is carefully removed. I once, in 
 the north of Scotland, fell in with a perfect colony of badgers ; 
 they had taken up their abode in an unfrequented range of 
 wooded rocks, and appeared to have been little interrupted 
 in their possession of them. The footpaths to and from 
 their numerous holes were beaten quite hard ; and what 
 is remarkable and worthy of note, they had different small 
 pits dug at a certain distance from their abodes, which were 
 evidently used as receptacles for all offensive filth ; every other 
 part of their colony was perfectly clean. A solitary badger's 
 hole, which I once had dug out, during the winter season, pre- 
 sented a curious picture of his domestic and military arrange- 
 ments a hard and long job it was for two men to achieve, the 
 passage here and there turned in a sharp angle round some 
 projecting corners of rock, which he evidently made use of 
 when attacked, as points of defence, making a stand at any of 
 these angles, where a dog could not scratch to enlarge the 
 aperture, and fighting from behind his stone buttress. After 
 tracing out a long winding passage, the workmen came to two 
 branches in the hole, each leading to good-sized chambers : in 
 one of these was stored a considerable quantity of dried grass, 
 rolled up into balls as large as a man's fist, and evidently 
 intended for food ; in the other chamber there was a bed of 
 soft dry grass and leaves the sole inhabitant was a peculiarly 
 large old dog-badger. Besides coarse grasses, their food consists
 
 272 \V1LD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 of various roots ; amongst others, I have frequently found 
 about their hole the bulb of the common wild blue hyacinth. 
 Fruit of all kinds and esculent vegetables form his repast, and 
 I fear that he must plead guilty to devouring any small animal 
 that may come in his way, alive or dead ; though, not being 
 adapted for the chase, or even for any very skilful strategy of 
 war, I do not suppose that he can do much in catching an 
 unwounded bird or beast. Eggs are his delight, and a part- 
 ridge's nest with seventeen or eighteen eggs must afford him a 
 fine meal, particularly if he can surprise and kill the hen-bird 
 also ; snails and worms which he finds above ground during 
 his nocturnal rambles are likewise included in his bill of fare. 
 I was one summer evening walking home from fishing in Loch 
 Ness, and having occasion to fasten up some part of my tackle, 
 and also expecting to meet my keeper, I sat down on the shore 
 of the loch. I remained some time, enjoying the lovely pro- 
 spect : the perfectly clear and unruffled loch lay before me, 
 reflecting the northern shore in its quiet water. The opposite 
 banks consisted, in some parts, of bright green sward, sloping 
 to the water's edge, and studded with some of the most beautiful 
 birch-trees in Scotland ; several of the trees spreading out like 
 the oak, and with their ragged and ancient-looking bark re- 
 sembling the cork-tree of Spain others drooping and weeping 
 over the edge of the water in the most lady-like and elegant 
 manner. Parts of the loch were edged in by old lichen-covered 
 rocks ; while farther on a magnificent scaur of red stone rose 
 perpendicularly from the water's edge to a very great height. 
 So clearly was every object on the opposite shore reflected in 
 the lake below, that it was difficult, nay impossible, to distin- 
 guish where the water ended and the land commenced the 
 shadow from the reality. The sun was already set, but its rays 
 still illuminated the sky. It is said that from the sublime to 
 the ridiculous there is but one step ; and I was just then 
 startled from my reverie by a kind of grunt close to me, and 
 the apparition of a small waddling grey animal, which was busily 
 employed in hunting about the grass and stones at the edge of 
 the loch ; presently another, and another, appeared in a little 
 grassy glade which ran down to the water's edge, till at last I 
 saw seven of them busily at work within a few yards of me, all 
 coming from one direction. It at first struck me that they
 
 xxxi HABITS OF THE BADGER 273 
 
 were some farmer's pigs taking a distant ramble, but I shortly 
 saw that they were badgers, come from their fastnesses rather 
 earlier than usual, tempted by the quiet evening, and by a heavy 
 summer shower that was just over, and which had brought out 
 an infinity of large black snails and worms, on which the badgers 
 were feeding with good appetite. As I was dressed in grey 
 and sitting on a grey rock, they did not see me, but waddled 
 about, sometimes close to me ; only now and then as they 
 crossed my track they showed a slight uneasiness, smelling the 
 ground, and grunting gently. Presently a very large one, which 
 I took to be the mother of the rest, stood motionless for a moment 
 listening with great attention, and then giving a loud grunt, 
 which seemed perfectly understood by the others, she scuttled 
 away, followed by the whole lot. I was soon joined by my 
 attendant, whose approach they had heard long before my less 
 acute ears gave me warning of his coming. In trapping other 
 vermin in these woods, we constantly caught badgers sometimes 
 several were found in the traps ; I always regretted this, as my 
 keeper was most unwilling to spare their lives, and I fancy 
 seldom did so. His arguments were tolerably cogent, I must 
 confess. When I tried to persuade him that they were quite 
 harmless, he answered me by asking " Then why, Sir, have 
 they got such teeth, if they don't live, like a dog or fox, on 
 flesh? and why do they get caught so often in traps baited 
 with rabbits ? " I could not but admit that they had most 
 carnivorous -looking teeth, and well adapted to act on the 
 offensive as well as defensive, or to crunch the bones of any 
 young hare, rabbit, or pheasant that came in their way. When 
 caught in traps, they never left part of their foot behind them 
 and so escaped, as foxes and other vermin frequently do ; but 
 they display very great strength and dexterity in drawing up 
 the peg of the trap, and this done, they will carry off the heaviest 
 trap to an amazing distance, over rock or heather. They never 
 attempt to enter their hole with a trap dangling to their foot, 
 but generally lie up in some furze-bush or thicket ; on these 
 occasions we invariably found them, by tracking them with a 
 dog which generally attended the trapper, and which dog was 
 peculiarly skilful in tracking animals of this kind. Rover (for 
 that was his name), a strong water-spaniel, was very fond of, 
 and took great interest in, trapping ; if he accompanied the 
 
 T
 
 274 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 keeper when placing his traps overnight, he would often start 
 alone in the morning to take a survey of them, and either kill 
 any animal he found captive, or, if he was not very confident of 
 being the strongest, he would return impatiently for the man, 
 and, running before him, point out plainly where every head of 
 vermin was caught. As for getting into a trap himself, he was 
 far too cunning, but always halting a few yards to leeward of 
 them, and sniffing the air, would at once know if anything 
 was caught. If a cat, marten-cat, or any smaller animal was 
 there, he at once rushed in and killed it ; but he waited for 
 the assistance of his friend the keeper to despatch any larger 
 animal. 
 
 To return to the badger, and his food. One of his most 
 favourite repasts is the contents of the nest of the wasp or wild 
 bee, great numbers of which he must destroy. However far 
 under ground the hive may be, and in however strong and 
 difficult a situation, he digs them up, and, depending on his 
 rough coat and long hair as a protection from their stings, 
 devours comb, larvae, honey, and insects. Many a wasps' nest 
 I have found dug up in this way, and often far from the badger's 
 usual abode ; but the tracks of the animal always made it 
 evident who had been the robber. 
 
 The badger is easily tamed, and will (if taken young and 
 well used) become much attached to his master. When first 
 caught, their efforts to escape show a degree of strength and 
 ingenuity which is quite wonderful, digging and tearing at their 
 prison with the strength of a rhinoceros. When first imprisoned, 
 if looked at, he immediately rolls himself up into a ball and 
 remains quite motionless. As soon as the coast is clear again, 
 he continues his attempts to escape ; but if unsuccessful, he 
 soon becomes contented in his confinement. I one day found 
 a badger not much hurt in a trap. Tying a rope to his hind 
 leg, I drove him home before me, as a man drives a pig, but 
 with much less trouble, for he made no attempts at escape, but 
 trotted quietly ahead, only occasionally showing a natural 
 inclination to bolt off the main path whenever he passed any 
 diverging road, all of which were probably familiar haunts of 
 the unlucky beast. When at home I put him into a paved 
 court, where I thought he could not possibly escape. The next 
 morning, however, he was gone ; having displaced a stone that
 
 xxxi HABITS OF THE BADGER 275 
 
 I thought him quite incapable of moving, and then digging 
 under the wall, he got away. 
 
 The badger always puts me in mind of a miniature bear, 
 and to this family he evidently belongs. His proportions are 
 similar to those of the bear ; his manner of placing his feet on 
 the ground is like that of a bear, and is very peculiar. Beyond 
 the marks of his toes, which, five in number, mark the ground 
 in a nearly straight line, are the impressions of his strong, sharp 
 nails, apparently unconnected with, and at the distance of an 
 inch or two from the rest of his track. These long and power- 
 ful nails are a formidable weapon, and in engagements with 
 dogs he makes good use of them, inflicting fearful and some- 
 times fatal wounds. Though a quiet animal, and generally 
 speaking not much given to wandering, I have occasionally 
 fallen in with his unmistakable track miles from any burrow. 
 His habits are wholly nocturnal, and it is only in the summer 
 evenings, when the darkness lasts but a few hours, that he is 
 ever met with whilst it is light. During winter he not only 
 keeps entirely within his hole, but fills up the mouth of it to 
 exclude the cold and any troublesome visitor who might intrude 
 on his slumbers. Frequently, however, tempted by mild weather 
 in the winter, he comes out for some good purpose of his own 
 either to enjoy the fresh air or to add to his larder ; but 
 never does he venture out in frost or snow. Sometimes I have 
 known a badger leave the solitude of the woods and take to 
 some drain in the cultivated country, where he becomes very 
 bold and destructive to the crops, cutting down wheat and 
 ravaging the gardens in a surprising manner. One which I 
 know to be now living in this manner derives great part of his 
 food during the spring from a rookery, under which he nightly 
 hunts, feeding on the young rooks that fall from their nests or 
 on the old ones that are shot. This badger eludes every 
 attempt to trap him. Having more than once run narrow risks 
 of this nature, he has become so cunning that no one can catch 
 him. If a dozen baited traps are set, he manages to carry off 
 the baits and spring every trap, always with total impunity to 
 himself. At one time he was watched out to some distance 
 from his drain, and traps were then put in all directions round 
 it, but, by jumping over some and rolling over others, he escaped 
 all. In fact, though a despised and maltreated animal, when
 
 276 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 he has once acquired a certain experience in worldly matters, 
 few beasts show more address and cunning in keeping out of 
 scrapes. Though eaten in France, Germany, and other countries, 
 and pronounced to make excellent hams, we in Britain despise 
 him as food, though I see no reason why he should not be 
 quite as good as any pork. 
 
 The badger becomes immensely fat. Though not a great 
 eater, his quiet habits and his being a great sleeper prevent his 
 being lean. 
 
 The immense muscular power that he has in his chest and 
 legs enables him to dig with great rapidity, while his powerful 
 jaws (powerful, indeed, beyond any other animal of his size) 
 enable him to tear away any obstacle in the shape of roots, etc., 
 that he meets with. He can also stand with perfect impunity 
 a blow on his forehead which would split the frontal bone of 
 an ox. This is owing to its great thickness, and also to the 
 extra protection of a strong ridge or keel which runs down the 
 middle of his head. A comparatively slight blow on the back 
 of his head kills him. In his natural state he is more than a 
 match for any animal that would be inclined to molest him, and 
 can generally keep at bay any dog small enough to enter his 
 hole. Fighting at advantage from behind some stone or root, 
 he gives the most fearful bites and scratches, while the dog has 
 nothing within his reach to attack save the badger's formidable 
 array of teeth and claws. 
 
 Though nearly extinct as one of the/mz naturce of England, 
 the extensive woods and tracts of rocks in the north of Scotland 
 will, I hope, prevent the badger's becoming, like the beaver and 
 other animals, wholly a creature of history, and existing only in 
 record. Much should I regret that this respectable representa- 
 tive of so ancient a family, the comrade of mammoths and 
 other wonders of the antediluvian world, should become 
 quite extirpated. Living, too, in remote and uncultivated 
 districts, he very seldom commits any depredations deserving 
 of death or persecution, but subsists on the wild succulent 
 grasses and roots, and the snails and reptiles which he finds 
 in the forest glades, or, on rare occasions, makes capture of 
 young game or wounded rabbits or hares, but I do not believe 
 that he does or can hunt down any game that would not 
 otherwise fall a prey to crow or weasel, or which has the full
 
 XXXI 
 
 BA DGER-DAITING 
 
 277 
 
 use of its limbs. It is only wounded and injured animals 
 that he can catch. 
 
 It is difficult to understand how any person who is not lost 
 to every sense of humanity and shame can take delight in the 
 cowardly and brutal amusement of badger-baiting instead of 
 amusement, I should have said, the disgusting exhibition of a 
 peaceable and harmless animal worried by fierce and powerful 
 dogs. The poor badger, too, has probably been kept for a 
 length of time in a confined and close hutch, thereby losing 
 half his energy and strength ; while the dogs, trained to the 
 work and in full vigour of wind and limb, attack him in the 
 most tender and vulnerable parts. Truly, I always feel a wish 
 to make the badger and his keeper change places for a few 
 rounds. Not that I would pay the former so bad a compliment 
 as to suppose that he would take delight in tormenting even so 
 great a brute as his gaoler must be. 
 
 GROUP OF HIGHLAND DOGS. FROM SIR E. LANDSEER, R.A.
 
 THE NEXT MOMENT HE WAS PASSING FULL BROADSIDE TO ME 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 Autumn Day on the Mountain Stags and Hinds A Bivouac Death of the Stag 
 
 IN the same ratio that steam-boats, railways, coaches, and every 
 other kind of conveyance were crowded in the months of July 
 and August with men, dogs, and guns, all travelling northwards, 
 every road is in October occupied by travellers to the south ; 
 for the cold blasts of the mountain, and the uncertain state of 
 the weather, in the Highlands, drive most of our English sports- 
 men back again to the more solid comforts of their own homes. 
 Nevertheless, there are, perhaps, more variety of sport and more 
 objects of interest to the hunter and naturalist to be met with 
 during the autumn and winter months in the northern parts of
 
 CHAP, xxxn AN AUTUMNAL WALK 279 
 
 Scotland than during any other season of the year. And, as 
 for weather, after the first burst of the equinoctial winds and 
 rains, the climate is as good as in any part of Great Britain. 
 The fine clear bracing frosts of the autumn are nowhere to be 
 felt with greater enjoyment than on the mountains. It is not, 
 indeed, quite so desirable to bivouac out, " sub Jove frigido," in 
 the month of October or November, with no covering -but a 
 plaid and a heap of heather, as it is in July or August ; still I 
 have done so, and been none the worse for it. 
 
 Some years back I remember sleeping under a rock in the 
 beginning of October with much satisfaction, and no ill conse- 
 quences to myself. 
 
 The red deer had just commenced what is called by the 
 Highlanders roaring, 1 i.e. uttering their loud cries of defiance to 
 rival stags, and of warning to their rival mistresses. 
 
 There had been seen, and reported to me, a particularly 
 large and fine-antlered stag, whose branching honours I wished 
 to transfer from the mountain side to the walls of my own hall. 
 Donald and myself accordingly, one fine morning early in 
 October, started before daybreak for a distant part of the 
 mountain, where we expected to find him ; and we resolved to 
 pass the night at a shepherd's house far up in the hills, if we 
 found that our chase led us too far from home to return the 
 same evening. 
 
 Long was our walk that day before we saw horn or hoof; 
 many a likely burn and corrie did we search in vain. The 
 shepherds had been scouring the hills the day before for their 
 sheep, to divide those which were to winter in the low ground 
 from those which were to remain on the hills. However, the 
 day was fine and frosty, and we were in the midst of some of 
 the most magnificent scenery in Scotland ; so that I, at least, 
 was not much distressed at our want of luck. Poor Donald, 
 who had not the same enjoyment in the beauty of the scene, 
 unless it were enlivened by a herd of deer here and there, began 
 to grumble and lament our hard fate ; particularly as towards 
 evening wild masses of cloud began to sweep up the glens and 
 along the sides of the mountain, and every now and then a 
 storm of cold rain and sleet added to the discomfort of our 
 
 1 The old word for this is " bell" (i.e. bellow), see Marmion, iv. 15 : 
 " The wild-buck bells from ferny brake."
 
 2 8o WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 position. There was, however, something so very desolate and 
 wild in the scene and the day, that, wrapt in my plaid, I stalked 
 slowly on enjoying the whole thing as much as if the elements 
 had been in better temper, and the Goddess of Hunting pro- 
 pitious. 
 
 We came in the afternoon to a rocky burn, along the course 
 of which was our line of march. To the left rose an intermi- 
 nable-looking mountain, over the sides of which were scattered a 
 wilderness of grey rock and stone, sometimes forming immense 
 precipices, and in other places degenerating into large tracts of 
 loose and water-worn grey shingle, apparently collected and 
 heaped together by the winter floods. Great masses of rock 
 were scattered about, resting on their angles, and looking as if 
 the wind, which was blowing a perfect gale, would hurl them 
 down on us. 
 
 Amongst all this dreary waste of rock and stone, there were 
 large patches of bright green pasture and rushes on the level 
 spots formed by the damming up of the springs and mountain 
 streams. 
 
 Stretching away to our right was a great expanse of brown 
 heather and swampy ground, dotted with innumerable pools of 
 black-looking water. The horizon on every side was shut out 
 by the approaching masses of rain and drift. The clouds closed 
 round us, and the rain began to fall in straight hard torrents ; 
 at the same time, however, completely allaying the wind. 
 
 " Well, well," said Donald, " I just dinna ken what to do." 
 Even I began to think that we might as well have remained at 
 home ; but, putting the best face on the matter, we got under 
 a projecting bank of the burn, and took out our provision of 
 oat-cake and cold grouse, and having demolished that, and 
 made a considerable vacuum in the whisky flask, I lit my 
 cigar, and meditated on the vanity of human pursuits in 
 general, and of deer-stalking in particular, while dreamy visions 
 of balls, operas, and the last pair of blue eyes that I had sworn 
 everlasting allegiance to, passed before me. 
 
 Donald was engaged in the more useful employment of 
 bobbing for burn trout with a line and hook he had produced 
 out of his bonnet that wonderful blue bonnet, which, like the 
 bag in the fairy tale, contains anything and everything which 
 is required at a moment's notice. His bait was the worms
 
 xxxn DEER ON THE HILL 281 
 
 which in a somewhat sulky mood he kicked out of their damp 
 homes about the edge of the burn. Presently the ring-ousel 
 began to whistle on the hill-side, and the cock grouse to crow 
 in the valley below us. Roused by these omens of better 
 weather, I looked out from our shelter, and saw the face of 
 the sun struggling to show itself through the masses of cloud, 
 while the rain fell in larger but more scattered drops. In a 
 quarter of an hour the clouds were rapidly disappearing, and 
 the face of the hill as quickly opening to our view. We 
 remained under shelter a few minutes longer, when suddenly, 
 as if by magic, or like the lifting of the curtain at a theatre, 
 the whole hill was perfectly clear from clouds, and looked more 
 bright and splendidly beautiful than anything I had ever seen. 
 No symptoms were left of the rain, excepting the drops on the 
 heather, which shone like diamonds in the evening sun. The 
 masses of rock came out in every degree of light and shade, 
 from dazzling white to the darkest purple, streaked here and 
 there with the overpourings of the swollen rills and springs, 
 which danced and leapt from rock to rock, and from crag to 
 crag, looking like streams of silver. 
 
 " How beautiful ! " was both my inward and outward ex- 
 clamation. " 'Deed it's not just so dour as it was," said Donald ; 
 " but, the Lord guide us ! look at yon," he continued, fixing 
 his eye on a distant slope, at the same time slowly winding up 
 his line and pouching his trout, of which he had caught a goodly 
 number. " Tak your perspective, Sir, and look there," he added, 
 pointing with his chin. I accordingly took my perspective, as 
 he always called my pocket -telescope, and saw a long line of 
 deer winding from amongst the broken granite in single file 
 down towards us. They kept advancing one after the other, 
 and had a most singular appearance as their line followed the 
 undulations of the ground. They came slowly on, to the 
 number of more than sixty (all hinds, not a horn amongst them), 
 till they arrived at a piece of table-land four or five hundred 
 yards from us, when they spread about to feed, occasionally 
 shaking off the raindrops from their hides, much in the same 
 manner as a dog does on coming out of the water. 
 
 " They are no that canny," said Donald. " Nous verrons" 
 said I. " What's your wull ? " was his answer ; " I'm no un- 
 derstanding Latin, though my wife has a cousin who is a placed
 
 282 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 minister." " Why, Donald, I meant to say that we shall soon 
 see whether they are canny or not : a rifle-ball is a sure remedy 
 for all witchcraft." Certainly there was something rather 
 startling in the way they all suddenly appeared as it were from 
 the bowels of the mountain, and the deliberate, unconcerned 
 manner in which they set to work feeding like so many tame 
 cattle. 
 
 We had but a short distance to stalk. I kept the course 
 of a small stream which led through the middle of the herd ; 
 Donald followed me with my gun. We crept up till we 
 reckoned that we must be within an easy shot, and then, looking 
 most cautiously through the crevices and cuts in the bank, I 
 saw that we were in the very centre of the herd : many of the 
 deer were within twenty or thirty yards, and all feeding quickly 
 and unconscious of any danger. Amongst the nearest to me 
 was a remarkably large hind, which we had before observed as 
 being the leader and biggest of the herd. I made a sign to 
 Donald that I would shoot her, and left him to take what he 
 liked of the flock after I fired. 
 
 Taking a deliberate and cool aim at her shoulder, I pulled 
 the trigger ; but, alas ! the wet had got between the cap and 
 nipple-end. All that followed was a harmless snap : the deer 
 heard it, and starting from their food rushed together in a 
 confused heap as if to give Donald a fair chance at the entire 
 flock, a kind of shot he rather rejoiced in. Before I could get 
 a dry cap on my gun, snap, snap, went both his barrels ; and 
 when I looked up, it was but to see the whole herd quietly 
 trotting up the hill, out of shot, but apparently not very much 
 frightened, as they had not seen us, or found out exactly where 
 the sound came from. " We are just twa fules, begging your 
 honour's pardon, and only fit to weave hose by the ingle," said 
 Donald. I could not contradict him. The mischief was done ; 
 so we had nothing for it but to wipe out our guns as well as 
 we could and proceed on our wandering. We followed the 
 probable line of the deer's march, and before night saw them 
 in a distant valley feeding again quite unconcernedly. 
 
 " Hark ! what is that ? " said I, as a hollow roar like an 
 angry bull was heard not far from us. " Kep down, kep down," 
 said Donald, suiting the action to the word, and pressing me 
 down with his hand ; " it's just a big staig." All the hinds
 
 xxxn THE GREA T HART 283 
 
 looked up, and, following the direction of their heads, we saw 
 an immense hart coming over the brow of the hill three hundred 
 yards from us. He might easily have seen us, but seemed too 
 intent on the hinds to think of anything else. On the height 
 of the hill he halted, and stretching out his neck and lowering 
 his head, bellowed again. He then rushed down the hill like 
 a mad beast : when half-way down he was answered from a 
 distance by another stag. He instantly halted, and looking in 
 
 ' ' ON THE HEIGHT OF THE HILL HE HALTED " 
 
 that direction roared repeatedly, while we could see in the 
 evening air, which had become cold and frosty, his breath 
 coming out of his nostrils like smoke. Presently he was 
 answered by another and another stag, and the whole distance 
 seemed alive with them. A more unearthly noise I never 
 heard, as it echoed and re-echoed through the rocky glens that 
 surrounded us. 
 
 The setting sun threw a strong light on the first comer, 
 casting a kind of yellow glare on his horns and head, while his 
 body was in deep shade, giving him a most singular appearance,
 
 284 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 particularly when combined with his hoarse and strange bellow- 
 ing. As the evening closed in, their cries became almost 
 incessant, while here and there we heard the clash of horns as 
 two rival stags met and fought a few rounds together. None, 
 ho\vever, seemed inclined to try their strength with the large 
 hart who had first appeared. The last time we saw him, in 
 the gloom of the evening, he was rolling in a small pool of 
 water, with several of the hinds standing quietly round him, 
 while the smaller stags kept passing to and fro near the hinds, 
 but afraid to approach too close to their watchful rival, who 
 was always ready to jump up and clash at any of them who 
 ventured within a certain distance of his seraglio. " Donald," 
 I whispered, " I would not have lost this sight for a hundred 
 pounds." " 'Deed, no, it's grand," said he. " In all my travels 
 on the hill I never saw the like." Indeed it is very seldom 
 that chances combine to enable a deer-stalker to look on quietly 
 at such a strange meeting of deer as we had witnessed that 
 evening. But night was coming on, and though the moon was 
 clear and full, we did not like to start off for the shepherd's 
 house, through the swamps and swollen burns among which 
 we should have had to pass, nor did we forget that our road 
 would be through the valley where all this congregation of deer 
 were. So, after consulting, we turned off to leeward to bivouac 
 amongst the rocks at the back of the hill, at a sufficient distance 
 from the deer not to disturb them by our necessary occupation 
 of cooking the trout, which our evening meal w r as to consist of. 
 Having hunted out some of the driest of the fir-roots which 
 were in abundance near us, we soon made a bright fire out of 
 view of the deer, and after eating some fish and drying our 
 clothes pretty well, we found a snug corner in the rocks, where, 
 wrapped up in our plaids and covered with heather, we arranged 
 ourselves to sleep. 
 
 Several times during the night I got up and listened to the 
 wild bellowing of the deer : sometimes it sounded close to us, 
 and at other times far away. To an unaccustomed ear it 
 might easily have passed for the roaring of a host of much 
 more dangerous wild beasts, so loud and hollow did it sound. 
 I awoke in the morning cold and stiff, but soon put my blood 
 into circulation by running two or three times up and down a 
 steep bit of the hill. As for Donald, he shook himself, took a
 
 HART AND HINDS 285 
 
 pinch of snuff, and was all right. The sun was not yet above 
 the horizon, though the tops of the mountains to the west were 
 already brightly gilt by its rays, and the grouse cocks were 
 answering each other in every direction. 
 
 Having discharged our guns, which we did close to a steep 
 and very noisy cascade in the burn, so that the report could 
 scarcely be heard beyond the place we were in, we dried the 
 locks as well as we could, and after a meagre breakfast on the 
 remains of the trout and some very wretched remnants of oat- 
 cake, we proceeded on our journey. The deer had moved from 
 the valley where we had left them the previous evening ; but 
 Donald, who knew every mountain and glen in the country, 
 having ascertained exactly the way the wind came from, led me 
 off in an easterly direction. The sun was well up when we came 
 towards the summit of a hill from which he expected to see the 
 herd, and his anticipations proved to be correct ; on looking 
 carefully down into the extended valley below us, we saw the 
 whole of them. They had apparently finished feeding, and 
 were retiring to rest on a hill-side which faced the morning 
 sun ; the hinds were in a compact body, while the largest hart 
 kept a little to their rear, and constantly employed himself in 
 keeping off a number of smaller stags which were moving about ; 
 occasionally one of these would make an impatient rush into the 
 centre of the herd of hinds, but was as quickly driven out by the 
 large stag, who then returned to his post in the rear. When 
 they had ascended to near the summit, the hinds began to drop 
 one by one into the long heather, until they were all lying down, 
 with the exception of five or six who kept constantly fidgeting 
 about, turning their long ears and snuffing the air in all direc- 
 tions. The old stag walked quietly about, going round and 
 round the herd ; now and then lying down for a few moments, 
 and then rising again, to see that no other stag intruded too 
 near. The smaller stags kept continually circling round the 
 whole herd ; occasionally two of these youngsters would meet, 
 but after a few tilts at each other, separated again and continued 
 their watchful march. I saw no chance of getting near the big- 
 antlered leader, though one of the smaller stags could easily 
 have been shot. After consulting with Donald, I sent him to 
 make a large circuit, and when he got quite round them he was 
 to show himself in the distance to the deer. We reckoned on
 
 286 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 their leaving the glen by a particular pass, close to which I 
 stationed myself. I kept both gun and rifle with me. From 
 my position, though I could not see Donald, I had a good view 
 of the deer. After waiting for nearly an hour, I saw one of the 
 smaller stags suddenly stop in his rounds, and having gazed 
 for a moment or two in the direction in which I knew Donald 
 was, he trotted nearer to the hinds, still, however, halting occa- 
 sionally, and turning an anxious glance down the valley. I 
 saw by his manner that he had not quite made up his mind as 
 to whether there was an enemy at hand ; not having got the 
 wind of Donald, but probably having caught a glimpse of some 
 part of his cap or dress. 
 
 The stag then stood motionless on a small hillock, with his 
 head turned towards the suspected quarter, though none of his 
 rivals took any notice of him. The hinds, one and all, kept a 
 most anxious watch on his movements, evidently aware that he 
 suspected some danger. In the meantime Donald seemed to 
 have got a little more to windward of the deer. Presently one 
 old hind got up and snuffed the air, then another and another, 
 till all were on their legs ; still they were not decided as to the 
 danger. At last a general panic seemed to seize the hinds, and 
 they all trotted together a short way up the hill ; the large stag 
 had got up also, but seemed not at all disposed to make off. 
 The hinds came to a halt near the top of the first slope of the 
 hill, and were joined immediately by about a dozen stags, which, 
 collecting together, galloped up the hill to join them ; this 
 seemed to arouse the old fellow, and he trotted up after them. 
 The hinds only waited for his joining them, and then the whole 
 herd set off towards my pass. They had to cross a trifling 
 hollow, during which time I lost sight of them. When they 
 emerged their order had quite changed ; first of all came eight 
 stags in a body, jostling each other as they hurried up through 
 the narrow passes of the rocks ; then came the whole lot of 
 hinds, mostly in single file, but breaking into confused flocks as 
 they passed over pieces of heather and open ground ; next to 
 them came the object of our manoeuvres, and at a small distance 
 behind him the rest of the stags, four or five in number. On 
 they came, sometimes in full view and sometimes half concealed 
 from me. Donald, too, now showed himself, waving his plaid. 
 The hindmost deer halted on seeing him, and then rushed on
 
 xxxn SHOOTING THE HART 287 
 
 to the main herd, who now all got into rare confusion as they 
 hurried on to the pass through which they left the glen. The 
 foremost stags were now passing one by one within forty yards 
 of me ; just at that point they had to make a spring over a kind 
 of chasm in their road. I kept quite motionless, and they did 
 not observe me, half concealed as I was amongst the grey rocks. 
 Now came the hinds, with a noise like a rushing stream ; amongst 
 them were four or five stags ; they were trotting quickly past 
 me, when an unlucky hind caught sight of my rifle-barrel as a 
 ray of the sun fell upon it ; the rest of the herd took the alarm 
 from her manner, and they all rushed through the pass in the 
 most mad confusion. The difficult part was only a few yards 
 in length, and once through this, they got into regular order 
 again. But where is their lord and leader ? I was afraid to look 
 over my ambuscade for fear of turning him. Just as I was 
 about to do so, however, I heard his step on the stones, and in 
 the next moment he was in full view passing broadside to me, 
 but going slowly and undecided whether to proceed or turn back, 
 having perceived the panic of the rest of the flock. When he 
 came to the difficult point where the rest had leaped, he halted 
 for a moment, looking round. The next moment my rifle-ball 
 passed through the top of his shoulder, just too high ; the blow, 
 however, knocked him down, and before he was up I had my 
 gun in my hand ; the poor brute rose, and looked wildly round ; 
 not knowing where the enemy was, nor which way to go, he 
 stood still, looking with anxious glance at his companions, who 
 were galloping off up an opposite slope. Expecting him to drop 
 dead every moment, I did not pull the trigger, but kept my aim 
 on him. The way the rest had gone seemed too rough for him, 
 and after standing for a minute gazing after them, he turned 
 round with the intention, probably, of going down the hill to 
 some well-known burn where he had been in the habit of bathing, 
 and cooling his limbs. He twice fell to his knees before he had 
 gone five yards, and then walked slowly away. I thought he 
 might recover strength, and taking a deliberate aim, I fired. 
 This time he fell without a struggle, perfectly dead. Donald 
 joined me by the time I had bled him, and examined the shot- 
 marks. One had broken the very top of his shoulder, but just 
 missed the large arteries ; the other ball seemed to have passed 
 through his heart. The Highlander was vastly delighted at
 
 288 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP, xxxn 
 
 our getting the stag we had determined on, but his enjoyment 
 was somewhat damped by my not having sent both barrels 
 into the middle of the hinds. " Aiblins your honour would have 
 tuk down twa or three at each shot, and the brutes will all be 
 off our march in an hour's time. Lord, Sir, if I had only been 
 where your honour was, with the dooble-barrel loaded with swan- 
 post, I'd hae rattled it about their lugs ; I fairly suspect I'd 
 have put down half-a-dizen." I consoled Donald with a dram, 
 and we set to work to prepare our stag for taking home, which, 
 with the help of a shepherd's pony, we succeeded in doing 
 before night. 
 
 Donald, though, professedly, he cared for neither wind nor 
 weather, was in bed all the next day, from what he called rheu- 
 matiz, but what I called whisky toddy, taken to counteract any 
 bad effects of his cold bivouac ; for my own part, I did not feel 
 at all the worse for our cool couch, and was quite ready to renew 
 the campaign.
 
 THE RAVEN 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 Peculiarities and Instinct of Different Animals Feeding Habits The Beaks of Birds 
 Wings of Owl Instinct in finding Food Ravens Knowledge of Change of 
 Weather Fish. 
 
 I CANNOT conclude these hasty sketches without remarking that 
 few people are aware of the numberless subjects of interest and 
 observation to be found in the habits and structure of the com- 
 monest birds and animals which pass before our eyes every day 
 of our lives. How perfectly are all these adapted to their 
 respective modes of living and feeding. In every garden and 
 shrubbery the naturalist finds amusement in watching its living 
 tenants. Look at the chaffinch, how it adapts the colour and 
 even the shape of its nest to the spot in which it is placed, 
 covering the outside with materials of the same colour as the 
 
 U
 
 290 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 bark of the tree in which it is. So do also all the other small 
 birds. Again, they line their nests with materials of the same 
 colour as their eggs. The chaffinch lines it with wool and 
 feathers mixed together, giving it a background of nearly the 
 same hue as the shell of the eggs. The greenfinch lines it with 
 light-coloured feathers, collected from the poultry-yard, as her 
 eggs are nearly white. The yellow-hammer has a greyish egg 
 with stripy marks ; she lines her nest with horsehair. The 
 robin's eggs being of a reddish-brown, she makes use of dried 
 grass and similar substances. The prevailing colour of the 
 hedge-sparrow's nest is green, and her eggs are of a greenish- 
 blue ; and in the same manner all our common and unregarded 
 birds adapt both the outside and the lining of their nests to the 
 colour of the surrounding substances and that of their own eggs 
 respectively. In the same manner they all have bills adapted 
 to the food on which they live the grain-feeding birds have 
 short, strong mandibles, while those of the insectivorous birds 
 are longer and more slender, and as perfectly adapted for search- 
 ing in crannies and corners for the insects and eggs that may 
 be hidden there, as the former are for cutting and shelling the 
 seeds and grain on which they feed. 
 
 Look, too, at the eggs of lapwings and of all those birds 
 that hatch on the bare ground. Those that lay on fields have 
 their eggs of a brownish -green, while those that lay on the 
 stones and pebbles have them of a sandy and brown mottled 
 colour, so like the substances which surround them, that it is 
 most difficult for the passer-by to distinguish the egg from the 
 stone. In the same manner the young of all birds which live 
 on the ground resemble the ground itself in colour, thereby 
 eluding many of their enemies. Look also at the birds whose 
 residence and food are placed in the marshes and swamps the 
 woodcocks and snipes, for example, which feed by thrusting their 
 bills into the soft mud for the purpose of picking out the minute 
 red worms and animalcules which abound in it, have the bill 
 peculiarly adapted for this purpose. The upper mandible has 
 a kind of knob at the end, which overlaps the under mandible, 
 and not only prevents its being injured, but makes it quite easy 
 for the bird to pass its bill both into and out of the ground 
 without obstruction. How peculiarly well the bill of these birds 
 is adapted for this purpose is perceived at once by drawing it
 
 xxxin THE BEAKS OF BIRDS 291 
 
 through the fingers. The end of the mandible, too, is full of 
 nerves, which enables the bird to distinguish the soft and minute 
 substances on which it feeds without seeing them. The oyster- 
 catcher, which feeds on shell-fish and similar food, has a bill 
 with hard, sharp points, with which it can dig into and break 
 the strong coverings of its prey ; no tool could be made to 
 answer the purpose better. The curlew's long curved bill is 
 also a perfect implement for worming out the sea-slugs, which 
 it extracts from the wet sands. The birds that live chiefly on 
 the insects and water-plants which are found in swamps and 
 muddy places have their feet of great size and length, which 
 enables them to walk and run over muddy and soft places with- 
 out sinking. The water-hen and water-rail, indeed, often run 
 along the floating leaves of the water-plants without bearing 
 them down by their weight. The bald coot, too, a bird that 
 lives almost wholly in muddy places, has its feet and toes formed 
 purposely for running on a soft surface. How different from 
 the strongly retractile talons of the hawk and owl, made pur- 
 posely to seize and hold their struggling prey. 
 
 Thus also the beak of these carnivorous birds is formed for 
 tearing and rending, while the strong wedge-shaped mandibles 
 of the raven and carrion-crow are the best possible implements 
 for the half-digging, half-cutting work which they are called 
 upon to perform in devouring the dead carcasses of large animals. 
 The goosander and merganser, which feed principally on small 
 eels and fish, have a row of teeth-like projections inside their 
 bill, which, slanting inwards, admits of the easy entrance of their 
 slippery prey, but effectually prevents its escape ; while the cor- 
 morant, whose food consists of larger fish, instead of these 
 numerous teeth has a strong curved beak, well fitted for holding 
 the strongest sea-trout or haddock. Put your finger into the 
 bill of a common duck, and you will see how easily it goes in, 
 but how difficult it is to draw it out again, in consequence of 
 the sloping projections, by means of which the bird is enabled 
 to hold worms and snails. No bill but that of a crossbill could 
 cut and divide the strong fir-cones from which it extracts its 
 food. The common woodpecker bores holes with its strongly- 
 tipped wedge-shaped bill in the hard beech-trees, with a pre- 
 cision and regularity not to be excelled by the best carpenter ; 
 while with its long worm-like tongue it darts upon and catches
 
 292 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 the small insects which take refuge in the chinks and crevices 
 of the bark. The swallows, which catch their insect prey while 
 flying at speed in the air, are provided with large wide-opening 
 mouths, which enables them to capture the swiftest-flying moth 
 or midge. In fact, if we take the trouble to examine the manner 
 
 O 
 
 of feeding and the structure of the commonest birds, which we 
 pass over without observation in consequence of their want of 
 rarity, we see that the Providence that has made them has also 
 adapted each in the most perfect manner for acquiring with 
 facility the food on which it is designed to live. The owl, that 
 preys mostly on the quick-eared mouse, has its wings edged 
 with a kind of downy fringe, which makes its flight silent and 
 inaudible in the still evening air. Were its wings formed of the 
 same kind of plumage as those of most other birds, it is so slow 
 a flier that the mouse, warned by the rustling of its approach, 
 would escape long before it could pounce upon it. The heron 
 has also a quantity of downy plumage about its wings, which are 
 also of a very concave form, and the bird alights in the calm pool 
 without making a ripple, and whilst standing motionless, knee- 
 deep in the water, it is almost invisible in the gloom of evening, 
 owing to its grey shadowy colour. So also is the colour of the 
 wild duck, partridge, and other birds which hatch on the ground, 
 exactly similar in its shade to the dry foliage among which they 
 sit insomuch so, that even when they are pointed out to one by 
 another person it is very difficult to distinguish these birds. 
 
 How curiously quick is the instinct of birds in finding out 
 their food. Where peas or other favourite grain is sown, wood- 
 pigeons and tame pigeons immediately congregate. It is not 
 easy to ascertain from whence the former come, but the house- 
 pigeons have often been known to arrive in numbers on a new- 
 sown field the very morning after the grain is laid down ; 
 although no pigeon-house from which they could come exists 
 within several miles of the place. 
 
 Put down a handful or two of unthrashed oat straw, in 
 almost any situation near the sea-coast where there are wild 
 ducks, and they are sure to find it out the first or second night 
 after it has been left there. 
 
 There are many almost incredible stories of the acuteness 
 of the raven's instinct in guiding it to the dead carcass of any 
 large animal, or even in leading it to the neighbourhood on the
 
 xxxin INSTINCT OF RA VENS AND DUCKS 293 
 
 near approach of death. I myself have known several instances 
 of the raven finding out dead bodies of animals in a very short 
 space of time. One instance struck me very much. I had 
 wounded a stag on a Wednesday. The following Friday I was 
 crossing the hills at some distance from the place, but in the 
 direction towards which the deer had gone. Two ravens passed 
 me, flying in a steady straight course. Soon again two more 
 flew by, and two others followed, all coming from different 
 directions, but making direct for the same point. " 'Deed, Sir," 
 said the Highlander with me, "the corbies have just found the 
 staig ; he will be lying dead about the head of the muckle burn." 
 By tracing the course of the birds, we found that the man's con- 
 jecture was correct, as the deer was lying within a mile of us, 
 and the ravens were making for its carcass. The animal had 
 evidently only died the day before, but the birds had already 
 made their breakfast upon him, and were now on their way to 
 their evening meal. Though occasionally we had seen a pair 
 of ravens soaring high overhead in that district, we never 
 saw more than that number ; but now there were some six or 
 seven pairs already collected where from, we knew not. When 
 a whale, or other large fish, is driven ashore on the coast of any 
 of the northern islands, the ravens collect in amazing numbers, 
 almost immediately coming from all directions, and from all 
 distances, led by the unerring instinct which tells them that a 
 feast is to be found in a particular spot. 
 
 Ducks go out to the grass-fields to search for the snails 
 which they know will be found before the coming shower ; the 
 field-mouse covers up her hole in due time before the setting in 
 of cold weather. Fish have the strongest instinct with regard 
 to changes of the weather, refusing obstinately to rise at the 
 most tempting baits or flies when clouds charged with thunder 
 or rain are passing through the air. Indeed most birds and 
 animals have a singular foreknowledge of changes in the 
 weather ; shifting their quarters according as the coming rain 
 or the dryness of the atmosphere warns them. 
 
 The grouse foretell the approaching rains before the most 
 weather-wise shepherd can do so, by betaking themselves to the 
 dry heights, where they sit or walk about with erect heads and 
 necks, in quite a different manner from their usual gait. So do 
 the mountain sheep change their feeding-ground to the lee side
 
 294 
 
 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP, xxxm 
 
 of the hills before severe blasts of wind and rain. I have often 
 been warned of an approaching change in the weather by the 
 proceedings of the wild fowl in the bay ; and before changes of 
 wind these birds betake themselves to those places which will 
 afford them the best shelter during the coming storm. 
 
 There are few animals which do not afford timely and sure 
 prognostications of changes in the weather. It is proverbial 
 that pigs see the wind ; and they undoubtedly become restless, 
 and prepare their straw beds prior to a severe storm, some hours 
 before human organs are aware of its approach. 
 
 In fine, there is matter not only for amusement but for ad- 
 miration in the actions and habits of every animal that we see, 
 even down to the most common small birds and quadrupeds : 
 and the unoccupied man may always find wherewithal to amuse 
 himself profitably in watching the instinct which prompts the 
 everyday proceedings of the animals which are always around us. 
 
 HIGHLAND BAROMETERS
 
 THE STAG AT BAY 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 Coursing Deer 
 
 THOUGH I am by no means of opinion that running red deer 
 with the rough deer-hound is so exciting or so satisfactory a 
 sport as stalking the noble animal, and attacking him in his 
 fastnesses with the aid only of a rifle, I have sometimes seen 
 runs with the deer-hounds which fully answered all my expecta- 
 tions. It much oftener happens, however, that after the first 
 start nothing more is seen of dogs or deer until they are found 
 at bay in some rocky burn or stream, the whole run having
 
 296 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 taken place out of sight of the sportsman. Moreover, the dogs 
 run a great risk of being disabled and injured either by the stag 
 or by the sharp and rugged rocks and stones over which they 
 take their headlong course. The deer-hound is so noble and 
 handsome an animal, that, independently of his actual and 
 marketable value, he is invariably a pet and favourite of his 
 master, so that any accident which happens to him is the more 
 regretted. With good management the experienced stalker 
 can generally secure his dogs from running at young deer or 
 hinds unfit to be killed. Indeed, many deer-hounds have a 
 wonderful instinct in singling out the biggest head of horns in 
 a herd of deer, and in sticking to this one, regardless of the rest 
 of the herd. It will often happen, however, that the dogs set 
 off after some hind or young stag, which leads both them and 
 you away a long chase, unsatisfactory both in its commencement 
 and termination, disturbing the ground and taking up twice as 
 much time as would be required to kill the fine old ten-antlered 
 stag, whose head you covet for your lobby, and whose haunches 
 you wish to send to your English friend, to show him what 
 size a mountain-fed stag will grow to. A large heavy hart is 
 also much sooner blown and brought to bay than a younger 
 and lighter deer. 
 
 The breed of deer-hounds, which had nearly become extinct, 
 or at any rate was very rare a few years ago, has now become 
 comparatively plentiful in all the Highland districts, owing to 
 the increased extent of the preserved forests and the trouble 
 taken by different proprietors and renters of mountain shootings, 
 who have collected and bred this noble race of dogs, regardless 
 of expense and difficulties. The prices given for a well-bred 
 and tried dog of this kind are so large, that it repays the cost 
 and trouble of rearing him. Fifty guineas is not an unusual 
 price for a first-rate dog, while from twenty to thirty are fre- 
 quently given for a tolerable one. 
 
 My object, however, in commencing this Chapter was not 
 to enter into a disquisition concerning greyhounds, but to 
 describe some of their performances which have fallen under 
 my own observation, and which I noted down at the time. 
 
 September 22, 18 . Started this morning at daybreak 
 with Donald and Malcolm Mohr, as he is called (Anglice, Mal- 
 colm the Great, or big Malcolm), who had brought his two
 
 xxxiv DEER-HOUNDS 297 
 
 deer-hounds, Bran and Oscar, to show me how they could kill 
 a stag. Malcolm himself is as fine a looking " lad " (of thirty- 
 five years old, however) as ever stepped on the heather ; a head 
 and shoulders taller than Donald, who, for this reason, and I 
 believe for no other, affects to treat his capabilities as a deer- 
 stalker with considerable contempt, always ending any descrip- 
 tion of a sporting feat of Malcolm's with the qualification, 
 " 'Twas no that bad for so long-legged a chiel as yon." 
 
 The dogs were perfect. Bran, an immense but beautifully- 
 made dog, of a light colour, with black eyes and muzzle ; his 
 ears of a dark brown, soft and silky as a lady's hand, the rest 
 of his coat being wiry and harsh, though not exactly rough and 
 shaggy like his comrade Oscar, who was long-haired and of a 
 darker brindle colour, with sharp long muzzle, but the same soft 
 ears as Bran, which, by the bye, is a distinctive mark of high 
 breeding in these dogs. Malcolm Mohr and I took no guns 
 with us ; but Donald, as usual, had his old " <^?<?^-barrel," as 
 he calls it, an ancient flint -and -steel affair ; the barrels by 
 Manton, and therefore excellent when you could get them off, 
 which the stock and locks, apparently the workmanship of a 
 Highland carpenter and blacksmith, generally prevented me 
 from doing, the triggers being inaccessible to any ordinary fore- 
 finger, and the stock about half the length of any other gun- 
 stock that ever came in my way. Donald, however, was in the 
 habit of relating great feats which he had performed amongst 
 red deer with this gun, and he always coddled it up with great 
 care from wet or damp, either when laid up in ordinary at 
 home or when carried by himself over mountain and glen. On 
 the present occasion he had a very snuffy and dirty-looking 
 cotton handkerchief tied over the muzzle, and a footless stock- 
 ing knotted over the locks, to keep out the morning mists. 
 
 Our path for some time was along the course of the river, 
 where the great yellow trout were plainly to be seen in the per- 
 fectly clear water, waiting for the insects as they fell off the 
 weeping branches of the birch-trees which overhung the still 
 pools, as if admiring their own elegance in the water, where 
 every leaf was as plainly reflected as it would have been in the 
 costliest mirror ; and as we made our way up the hill-side the 
 autumnal air felt fine, fresh, and exhilarating. 
 
 On coming out of the scattered wood which clothed the
 
 298 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 glen on each side of the stream, we saw a fine roebuck feeding 
 in a grassy spot a few hundred yards out of the wood. I and 
 Donald also were much tempted to run the dogs at him, as he 
 was so far from cover; but as Malcolm voted against it, I yielded, 
 though Donald was obliged to take sundry pinches of snuff 
 before he quietly acquiesced in my determination to leave the 
 buck unmolested. As we edged off from him in order that the 
 dogs might not see him and be tempted by his starting off to 
 break away from us, the buck lifted his head, and Bran's quick 
 eye immediately caught sight of him ; and the dog stood im- 
 movable, with his ears erect, and one fore-foot raised from the 
 ground. The sensible creature, however, instead of straining 
 at his leash, looked up inquiringly at his master, asking him 
 plainly, " Am I to chase that beauty ? " Oscar, who was trot- 
 ting quietly behind Donald, who held him, seeing that Bran 
 had game in view by his manner of gazing, and following the 
 direction of his eyes, also saw the buck. Not being so well 
 broken as Bran, he no sooner saw the buck than he sprang 
 forward, pulling the old keeper down on the flat of his back. 
 Luckily, Donald had the strap twisted round his arm, or the 
 dog would have escaped after the deer. As it was, Donald 
 managed to hold him, and having got up, rubbed his back, and 
 vented his ill-humour in numberless Gaelic imprecations against 
 the dog for upsetting him, and against Malcolm, " the muckle 
 fule," as he called him, for laughing at his mishap, he got under 
 way again. In the meantime the roe had disappeared down 
 some hollow of the ground, and we proceeded on our way. 
 
 After leaving the woods, we traversed a long range of 
 broken ground, where we had but small chance of seeing the 
 deer, though their tracks were tolerably fresh here and there ; 
 our object was to find the animals in certain places more adapted 
 for the running of the dogs than the ground we were then 
 passing. We therefore did not examine two favourite but 
 rugged and steep corries, where deer were generally found. 
 
 Our forbearance was rewarded, for on coming to a point 
 overlooking a long and wide stretch of hill-side, through the 
 centre of which ran a winding but not very rapid burn, we 
 immediately distinguished nine deer still feeding, though the 
 morning was somewhat advanced ; they were scattered about 
 a green spot at the head of the burn, and feeding on the coarse
 
 AN EASY STALK 299 
 
 grass and rushes which grew about the springs and marsh that 
 fed the main stream. They could not have been better placed, 
 and after a short consultation which, however, lasted longer 
 than it need have done, owing to Donald's determined and 
 customary opposition to every proposal made by his tall rival 
 we turned back behind the shoulder of the hill, in order to 
 get into a hollow of the ground which would enable us to reach 
 the course of the burn : for, this done, our task was compara- 
 tively easy. 
 
 As the water, owing to the dry weather, was but shallow, 
 and the little wind which there was, was blowing right down 
 the stream, by keeping its course we hoped to reach the deer 
 unobserved. Before starting, I took a good look at them 
 through my glass, and saw that the herd consisted wholly of 
 hinds, except one tolerably handsome stag. The dogs instinct- 
 ively perceived that we had found game, and changed their 
 careless and slouching trot for an eager and quick walk ; every 
 now and then they looked with pricked-up ears and an inquiring 
 glance at Malcolm's face, as if to ask him where the deer were, 
 and how soon they would be seen. 
 
 Malcolm proposed to me that Donald should get up to a 
 height of the hill, from whence he could see for a long distance 
 on the other side, in case the deer crossed the top, and went to 
 bay in any of the burns that were within his view, and after a 
 slight demur, rather at the proposer than at the proposal, Donald 
 started off, with his " dooble-\>dxtz\ " still carefully swaddled up 
 under his arm. 
 
 Malcolm and I proceeded carefully, though with great ease, 
 till we got into the burn ; I led Oscar, while Bran was under 
 his guidance we waded and scrambled with no great difficulty, 
 excepting that now and then Oscar was a little annoyed at not 
 being close to his master, as' both dogs seemed perfectly aware 
 of what was going on, and in momentary expectation of seeing 
 the deer. Never was ground more favourable : till we were 
 within four hundred yards of the deer, we had scarcely occasion 
 to stoop our heads. Having come at length to rather a difficult 
 pass, Malcolm asked me to look up carefully, that we might 
 know exactly where the deer were, while he held the dogs. 
 Raising my head gradually, I looked through a tuft of rushes, 
 and saw first the horns of the stag, and then the heads of five
 
 300 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 of the hinds ; they had lain down in the long heather, near the 
 spot they had been feeding on. But where were the remainder 
 of the herd ? I looked for two or three minutes in vain, keeping 
 my head perfectly motionless. Presently, however, the rest of 
 the deer appeared from amongst some broken ground, a hundred 
 yards higher up the hill than the others. Having looked 
 anxiously round them, they all dropped quietly down to rest, 
 with the exception of one lanky -looking hind, who stood 
 motionless on a small hillock, with her eyes and ears turned 
 with great attention in the direction of Donald's place of 
 ambuscade : she evidently had some kind of suspicion of danger 
 from that quarter, though she had not yet quite made up her 
 mind as to the reality of it. I lowered myself as gradually as 
 possible, and looked back at Malcolm. He was kneeling on 
 one knee with a dog held in each hand ; the dogs themselves 
 were a perfect picture, as they stood, with the most intense 
 expression of anxiety, watching my movements, and snuffing 
 the air in the direction in which I had been looking ; the wind 
 was too light, however, for them as yet to scent the deer. As 
 they stood motionless, and scarcely drawing their breath, I 
 could plainly see their hearts beating with anxiety and eager- 
 ness ; I explained the position of the deer to Malcolm, and we 
 immediately agreed that no time was to be lost, lest they should 
 take alarm at Donald, whose whereabouts the hind seemed 
 strongly to suspect. 
 
 We had a difficult task in advancing the next fifty yards 
 with the dogs. The sensible animals, however, crouched when 
 we did, and were wonderfully little in the way, considering the 
 nature of the ground which we had to pass. The old hind's 
 ears were visible, but no more of her, as we crept along ; she 
 appeared to be still intently watching in the same direction as 
 before. Having crawled over a small height, we got into a 
 hollow place, and then proceeded to put the dogs' collars and 
 straps in a state to enable us to slip them at a moment's warning. 
 Both Bran and Oscar stood motionless, and almost seemed to 
 turn their necks in order to assist us in the operation. 
 
 We then advanced with great care and silence, on our 
 hands and knees, for a couple of hundred yards along a cut in 
 the ground that took us away from the burn. Everything 
 had favoured us, the deer's attention had been taken off by
 
 COURSING DEER 301 
 
 Donald, and the ground had been the easiest I ever stalked a 
 deer in. We were now within about a hundred yards of them, 
 and could get no nearer unobserved ; so, patting the dogs and 
 whispering a word of encouragement to them, we led them in 
 front of us, and rising up in full view of the deer, pointed 
 towards them. We had no need, however, to show their game 
 to the noble hounds, for the deer starting up as soon as they 
 saw us, were at once caught sight of by both Bran and Oscar. 
 Away went the deer ; those which were the farthest off waited 
 for their comrades to join them, and then all took the hill in 
 a compact body, and the dogs with an impatient whine darted 
 off the instant they were released from their collars. 
 
 The deer ran in a sloping direction up the hill, apparently 
 not exerting themselves very much, but in reality getting over the 
 ground at a very quick pace ; the two dogs ran neck and neck, 
 not exactly straight at the deer, but almost parallel, sloping 
 a little, however, towards them, and gaining slowly, but still 
 perceptibly, on their game. This lasted for half a mile or so, 
 when the dogs had gained so much, that they were within forty 
 yards of the deer. Nearer and nearer they approached, the 
 hinds running in a close body, the stag now and then lagging 
 behind a few yards, and then with a great effort joining them 
 again, his greater weight and fat beginning to tell on his wind. 
 Malcolm danced and shouted with eagerness : for my own part 
 I went along at a quiet trot, in order not to lose sight of the 
 run in case they turned up the hill and got over the height. 
 
 Presently the dogs seemed to be in the midst of the deer ; 
 and the next moment we saw the stag coming straight down 
 the hill with tremendous strides, and the dogs ten yards behind 
 him Bran rather the first ; his thinner coat telling in his favour. 
 As for the hinds, they dispersed for a moment, then collected 
 again, and went off up the hill ; being intent on the stag, I saw 
 nothing more of them ; they probably did not halt till they 
 had crossed the hill and the river too. 
 
 Down came the stag at a pace and with bounds that seemed 
 likely to smash his legs every moment. Luckily for the dogs 
 the ground was (as it had been all along) most favourable. I 
 lost view of all three as they got into the course of a burn, 
 which joined the one we had come up. The dogs were then 
 at his haunches, but unable to get hold. Bran's point of attack
 
 302 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 was always at the shoulder, or fore-leg, while Oscar had a habit 
 of biting at the hind -leg above the hock, frequently cutting 
 through the flesh and tendons in a most extraordinary manner, 
 and tumbling the deer over very quickly. He had, however, 
 not yet got a fair chance at his present chase. Once in the 
 burn, I knew that neither dog could do much, excepting to 
 bring the stag to bay. I ran as hard as I could towards them, 
 and soon saw the deer rattling down the stream, with stones 
 and water flying about him in all directions. The dogs were 
 still keeping up as well as they could in the narrow and rough 
 path the stag had chosen, and sometimes springing at him, but 
 unable to get a hold. Malcolm and myself were in great dread 
 that they would be injured or killed. When within fifty yards 
 of us, both dogs were thrown down, after making an ineffectual 
 attempt at holding the deer, who broke away, and, getting a 
 little ahead of his pursuers, came to bay under a rock in a 
 pool of the burn which reached to his knees. The dogs had 
 recovered themselves almost immediately, and, crouching in the 
 water, bayed furiously at the stag, who, with his back to the 
 rock, presented only his armed front to them. Knowing their 
 business well, from having gained experience in many hard- 
 fought battles, they did not risk their lives by rushing at his 
 horns, but contented themselves by keeping him there, while 
 they now and then looked round at Malcolm, as if to ask for 
 his assistance. " Down, good dogs, down," he said, when, seeing 
 us approach, they seemed inclined to rush in. 
 
 The deer now and then appeared anxious to break off, but 
 whenever he attempted to move, the hound nearest the direction 
 towards which he turned sprang in front of him, baying and 
 preventing his leaving the spot. 
 
 Not seeing Donald and his gun, we consulted together as 
 to what was to be done, and at last Malcolm determined, by 
 cautiously attacking the deer from above with his stick, to make 
 him turn from the dogs, and give them a chance of fixing on 
 him without risk from his horns ; if they succeeded, I was to 
 run in, and act as circumstances permitted, and, if possible, 
 to help the dogs by stabbing the deer in the throat. As soon 
 as Malcolm had commenced his part of the business, by going 
 round the deer, I called off the dogs in order that they should 
 not be trampled down by the first rush of the poor beast.
 
 xxxiv DEATH OF THE STAG 303 
 
 They came quite willingly, evidently placing entire confidence 
 in our manner of attack. Malcolm got just above the stag, 
 and then flinging his heavy stick at his legs, and shouting 
 loudly, frightened him so that he rushed out of the pool, 
 passing close to me. 
 
 " Now, then, good dogs, at him " ; and the next moment 
 the stag was tumbled over, with both hounds fixed on him 
 Bran at his shoulder and Oscar at his throat. I easily managed 
 my part of the affair, and put an end to the poor animal's pain 
 with my hunting- knife. " Well done, Sir, well done," said 
 Malcolm ; " that was quickly finished." " Deed, ay," said 
 Donald, who just then came up, panting like a walrus. " No 
 that bad either " ; this being the utmost praise that he ever 
 bestowed on any one. The hounds, as soon as they saw that 
 the stag was quite dead, left him, and, lying quietly down, 
 began to lick the bruises and cuts they had received in the run ; 
 luckily there were none of any consequence. Every now and 
 then one of the dogs would get up, and, going up to the deer, 
 examine him all over, as if to satisfy himself that there was no 
 life remaining. We examined the dogs' limbs to see that there 
 was no serious strain or cut, and then, after rubbing the dirt 
 and blood off their skins, set to work to open the deer, and 
 dispose of the body, ready to be carried off the next day. This 
 done, we sat down, talked over the run, and consulted as to our 
 proceedings for the rest of the day ; and as it was still early, 
 we agreed to try some more ground, in the contrary direction 
 to that in which the hinds had gone, and, if kept out late, to 
 sleep at a shepherd's house some distance up in the hills. 
 
 We searched many a corrie and glen in vain, till towards 
 evening, Donald, who had been examining the rushy ground 
 that fringed the sides of a considerable mountain stream, in 
 hopes of seeing some deer at feed, suddenly shut up the tele- 
 scope, and as he deliberately wiped the glasses, and placed it 
 in its case, said, without looking up, " I'm seeing a fine stag 
 down yonder, Sir." Then having taken a long pinch of snuff, 
 he added, " He is just the beast that the shepherd up there was 
 telling me of last Sabbath " Sunday being the day on which 
 Donald invariably heard all the hill news. 
 
 The evening was coming on, so having no time to lose, and 
 a considerable retrograde movement to make before we could
 
 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 
 
 approach the stag with any hope of success, off we set at once, 
 and we had a quick and difficult march of it for nearly half an 
 hour before we got into the burn, up the course of which we 
 proposed to keep, as it led straight to the deer. The banks, 
 however, were not so high as those of the former stream, and 
 the water ran over loose round stones, which made our task 
 much more difficult. 
 
 We were within five hundred yards, and had got over the 
 worst of our ground, when, on looking up, we saw the deer 
 trotting deliberately but steadily up the hill away from us, 
 evidently having been moved by some suspicion of danger, 
 though we were positive he had not seen or scented us. " See 
 to that ; the brute is clean gone," said Donald ; and, indeed, 
 clean gone he was for that evening, as just then we lost sight 
 of his antlers as he got over the crest of the hill. On taking 
 the glass, and examining the whole country round, I soon saw 
 the object of his alarm in the person of the very shepherd 
 whose house we were making for. The man was passing at 
 some distance on his way homewards, quite unconscious of our 
 presence or the mischief he had done, as he trudged along 
 towards us with his plaid over his shoulder, and his two colley 
 dogs trotting slowly at his heels. " Oh, but we'll give him a 
 bonny fleg for spoiling our sport the night," said Malcolm. 
 Accordingly Donald and he concealed themselves in the burn, 
 one above and the other below the point at which the shepherd 
 appeared likely to cross it, while I remained hid in a hollow of 
 the moss, a quiet spectator of their attack on the poor fellow's 
 nerves. 
 
 The shepherd had just put his foot in the burn, when 
 Malcolm shouted at the top of his voice, " Willie Young, Willie 
 Young," this being the man's name. He stopped short, and 
 with a frightened look at seeing no one, was going on his way 
 again, when Donald took up the chorus, " Willie Young, Willie 
 Young." " Wha's you ? " said the shepherd, turning towards 
 Donald. " Willie Young, Willie Young," then shouted Malcolm, 
 and at his voice the unhappy proprietor of the name wheeled 
 round as on a pivot. I could not refrain from joining in the 
 persecution, and Willie Young was kept for ten minutes, turning 
 from side to side, on hearing his name called by his unseen 
 tormentors, till he got so terribly frightened that I thought it
 
 xxxiv THE SHEPHERD'S HUT 305 
 
 as well to show myself, or I firmly believe the man would have 
 gone mad. I never saw a poor fellow more relieved in my life 
 than he was on seeing that his persecutors were mere flesh and 
 blood like himself, and not spirits of the air or flood as he 
 had imagined. Having laughed at him for his fright, and 
 appeased his somewhat reasonable anger, we found out from 
 him that this stag was constantly about the same place, and had 
 got so accustomed to seeing the shepherd pass to and fro, that 
 he invariably returned to the same glen within a few hours. 
 
 It was getting late, so we postponed attacking him till 
 the next morning. The shepherd also told us that, although 
 the stag had not particularly fine antlers, he was one of the 
 heaviest and largest deer that had been in that part of the 
 country for some years. He knew him by his large track, and 
 also by his colour, which was peculiarly light. We accompanied 
 Willie Young home to his domicile ; and having taken our 
 frugal supper of porridge and milk, followed, however, by some 
 whisky-and-water of no mean flavour and strength, which Mr. 
 Young informed us in confidence had been made by some 
 " lads down the glen yonder," we retired to our sleeping-places. 
 For my own part, I took up my quarters in the building dignified 
 by the name of barn, where, rolled in my plaid, and burrowed 
 in the straw, I slept free from the ten thousand nightly visitants 
 called fleas, which would have eaten me up in Willie Young's 
 house, where, on a former occasion, I had discovered that they 
 rivalled the celebrated plague of Egypt in number and power 
 of tormenting. My two attendants, Donald and Malcolm, 
 slept somewhere near me, as I heard them talking till a very 
 late hour, probably consulting about their plans of attack for 
 the next day. 
 
 Before the sun was above the heathery brae which was to 
 the east of us, I looked out and saw the opposite mountain 
 tops already lighted up, and illuminated in the most beautiful 
 and fanciful manner the glare catching the projecting peaks 
 and angles, and throwing the other parts of the rocks and 
 heights into the deepest shade. Donald was sitting on a stone, 
 rubbing his eyes and his gunlocks alternately with his ancient 
 " pocket napkin," as he called it. Malcolm and the shepherd 
 were leaning against the corner of the house chattering Gaelic, 
 while the rather pretty wife of the latter, bare-headed and bare- 
 
 x
 
 306 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 legged, was coming over from the cow-byre with a tin pail of 
 fresh and frothing milk. " I hope your honour slept weel ; I'll 
 be taking your breakfast ben the house directly," said pretty 
 Mrs. Young. The two hounds were yawning and stretching 
 themselves in front of the door, and received me with a joyful 
 though rough welcome, Bran putting his front paws on my 
 shoulders, and Oscar almost knocking me down by running 
 and rubbing against my legs. The shepherd's two colley-dogs 
 were standing down at the burn side with their tails between 
 their legs, barking and howling at their unusual four -legged 
 visitors, who occasionally looked, first at the colleys and then 
 at me, as much as to say, " Shall we punish their impertinence, 
 or not ? " One word of encouragement would have sent the 
 two hounds full chase after the yelping curs. 
 
 Breakfast done, we started to look for the stag. The shep- 
 herd went with us, anxious to see the sport, and we were glad 
 of his assistance in finding the deer, as he was so well acquainted 
 with the animal's haunts. On our way he told us that he had 
 no doubt we should at once find him, but that the dogs would 
 have hard work to kill him, as he was an old cunning fellow, 
 and was supposed to be the same stag who had killed the grey- 
 hound of Rory Beg, the fox-hunter, last year, in a corrie at 
 some distance off. The dog having got after the deer (as Rory 
 said, by accident /), and being close alongside of him, was killed 
 dead on the spot by a single blow of his antler ; the stag having 
 struck him without stopping, simply turning his head and 
 striking him as he ran alongside. We examined the glen 
 where we had seen the deer, but without success ; no mark of 
 him was to be seen. The shepherd, however, told us to wait 
 till about nine o'clock ; it was nearly that hour now, and he 
 would probably be seen coming in to lie down for the day, on 
 the slope of the hill above the burn. We accordingly lay down 
 quietly in a concealed place, and, as he had predicted, we presently 
 saw the magnificent fellow appear on the top of the hill, where 
 he halted for full ten minutes, looking carefully over the glen 
 in order to see that it was free from any enemy. The morning 
 sun shining on his bright hide made him look of even a lighter 
 and brighter colour than he really was. His horns, though not 
 exactly of first-rate size, loomed large and wide, as seen in clear 
 relief between us and the sky. After standing some time,
 
 xxxiv WATCHING THE DEER 307 
 
 looking like the solitary spirit of the mountain, he seemed to 
 have made up his mind that all was right and safe, and he 
 walked slowly and deliberately half-way down the hill, and 
 after stopping again to reconnoitre for a short time, he dropped 
 at once down into the heather. I watched him for a few 
 minutes through the glass, as he lay motionless, excepting that 
 now and then he turned his horn down to scratch a fly off his 
 side, or shook his ears when the gnats were particularly trouble- 
 some about his head. 
 
 We saw that he had taken up too wary and commanding a 
 position to admit of our approaching him with the dogs ; so 
 after some consultation, and, as usual, much opposition from 
 Donald, we adopted my plan of driving him, taking the chance 
 of his leaving the glen at his usual pass, where Malcolm and I 
 were to hold the dogs. The shepherd was to move him ; and 
 Donald was to be placed with his gun in a burn over the hill, to 
 which we judged he would probably run, and go to bay, when 
 pressed by the hounds. Donald, having loaded his gun with an 
 immense charge of slugs in one barrel and a ball in the other, 
 started. off. The shepherd took a long circuit to get below the 
 deer, while Malcolm and I took up our post in a capital hiding- 
 place near the line by which the game had entered the glen. 
 There was not a breath of wind blowing from any direction, 
 everything was as calm as it could possibly be, so that although 
 we had no fear of being scented by the stag, we had to take the 
 extremest care not to make the least noise in going to our place 
 of ambuscade. We held the dogs in our handkerchiefs as the 
 quickest way of slipping them. The stag was easily seen with- 
 out much risk of his observing us, as we looked through a crevice 
 in the rocks. 
 
 After waiting an anxious half-hour or more, we saw the deer 
 suddenly spring up, and, after standing at gaze for a moment, 
 trot up the hill, but not exactly in our direction. He came to a 
 flat spot, and then halted again, and looked earnestly down into 
 the glen. The shepherd was now in full view, and the deer 
 having looked at him fixedly for a minute, seemed to recognise 
 an old and harmless acquaintance ; and then turning, trotted 
 deliberately, at no great pace, straight towards us. We heard 
 every step he took as he trotted up the hard hill-side ; now and 
 then he crossed a sloping piece of loose gravel which rattled as
 
 308 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 his hard hoofs struck the stones, and at one time he had to 
 pick his way through a wet splashy piece of marsh, which he 
 did deliberately and slowly, occasionally looking round at the 
 shepherd below him. At this time we could not move or lift 
 our heads for fear of being seen, but had to wait till the deer had 
 passed the rocks amongst which we were concealed, that we 
 might let slip the hounds at a distance of about thirty or forty 
 yards. The deer was now close to us, not more than ten yards 
 off, but we did not want to let the dogs go for fear of turning 
 him back again into the valley from which he had come, where 
 the ground was not nearly so favourable for the dogs as the slope 
 on the other side of us. We heard him tramp past us as he 
 trotted slowly along on the other side of the rocks behind which 
 we were concealed. The next moment he had cleared the rocky 
 ground, and was in full view about thirty yards from us, on a 
 wide expanse of good heather-ground. The dogs saw him too, 
 and getting to our feet, we slipped them. 
 
 With one affrighted glance behind him, away went the stag, 
 at first along the top of the slope, as if anxious to keep above 
 the dogs ; but finding himself hard pressed, he turned his head 
 down the hill, and the race began. Down they went, the dogs 
 close on the stag. Now and then they tried to spring on him, 
 but his strength and quickness always enabled him either to 
 shake them off or to elude them ; indeed after running for some 
 distance he seemed rather to gain on the dogs than to lose ground. 
 Finding this, they seemed more intent upon trying to tire him 
 out than to seize him, and galloped along, keeping somewhat 
 above him, as if to drive him into the burn, where he would 
 come to bay. The stag tried again to ascend the slope, but 
 could not manage it ; his wind began to fail, and he turned 
 straight down, gaining a little on the dogs. Crossing some 
 rather wet ground, they were again up to him, and he only 
 escaped being pulled down by his great strength, which enabled 
 him to shake off the hounds more than once. It was clear that 
 his object was now to gain the burn. All three were evidently 
 beginning to fail, as the chase had already lasted some time. 
 
 Malcolm and I had now reached the bum also, having made 
 for it in a straight line as soon as the dogs were slipped. As 
 luck would have it, deer and hounds all passed us down the 
 stream, the dogs panting, and the deer with his tongue hanging
 
 xxxiv SHOOTING THE DEER 309 
 
 out and blowing like a porpoise. He soon came to bay, and the 
 dogs were glad to get a rest, and lying down in the water, oppo- 
 site his head, they alternately bayed at him, and rolled in the 
 stream to cool themselves. We came up, and the deer im- 
 mediately broke his bay, and rushing over the dogs, trampled 
 them under foot, and striking Oscar a sharp blow (which luckily 
 only grazed him) with his antler, took down the stream again. 
 We looked round for Donald, and presently saw him crouched 
 on a rock immediately above the stream, and about two hundred 
 yards below us. The dogs recovered quickly, and were again 
 close on the stag. He stopped two or three times for a few 
 moments, turning fiercely on the hounds, and at last came to bay 
 in a determined style, under the very rock where Donald was 
 concealed. The next moment we saw the deer stagger and fall 
 in the water, and immediately heard the report of Donald's gun. 
 Before the stag could recover, both hounds were on him, worry- 
 ing at his throat like bulldogs, and after one or two efforts to 
 rise, the poor animal's head sank into the pool, which was soon 
 red with the blood that bubbled up from his mouth and nostrils. 
 Donald had shot him just behind the heart with his single ball, 
 which had cut the large blood-vessels. 
 
 " Puir brute, puir brute, it's just a sorrow to see him," said 
 Malcolm : and, now that the excitement of the chase was over, 
 I also would have given much to have been able to bring the 
 gallant animal to life again. We got him out of the water, and 
 were soon joined by Willie Young, who sighed more than once, 
 and took a vast pinch of snuff out of Donald's box, half sorry to 
 see his old acquaintance, the white stag, as he called him, lying 
 dead and bloody on the heather. 
 
 As Oscar had got a rather awkward, though not very deep 
 cut, and Bran seemed rather the worse for his bruises, I left 
 Donald and the shepherd to attend to the removal of the deer, 
 and walked straight for home with Malcolm and the two dogs, 
 which had both of them done their duty so well. 
 
 Of the different runs which I have seen with deer, these two 
 were certainly the best, both as regards our having the game 
 almost constantly in view, and as to our being well up at the 
 conclusion of each chase. 
 
 I certainly have not had much experience in running with 
 greyhounds ; but those who have, speak with raptures of this
 
 3 io 
 
 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP, xxxiv 
 
 way of killing deer. For my own part, I prefer my rifle, with 
 a good dog. A high-bred English smooth greyhound some- 
 times kills red deer well and cleverly, having the advantage in 
 wind and speed over the rough dogs, and also possessing the 
 most dashing courage when in pursuit of game. It wants 
 weight, however, to enable it to pull down so large an ani- 
 mal as a stag ; though I have seen a small greyhound tumble 
 over a deer, and kill it very quickly, by catching the animal 
 under the shoulder, when in full speed, which at once upset him, 
 and then flying at the throat, he soon finished the business. 
 
 MALCOLM HOLDING THE DOGS
 
 YOUNG DUCKS CATCHING MOTHS 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV 
 
 Tameness of Birds when Sitting 
 
 July 1st. In walking over a field, the grass of which had been 
 cut the day before, but was not yet carried, I disturbed a land- 
 rail, who was still sitting on her eggs, notwithstanding the great 
 change that must have come over her abode, which, from being 
 covered with a most luxuriant crop of rye-grass and clover, was 
 now perfectly bare. How the eggs had escaped being broken, 
 either by the scythe or by the tramping of the mowers' feet, it 
 is difficult to understand ; but there was the poor bird sitting 
 closely on her eggs, as if nothing had happened, and on my 
 near approach she moved quietly away, looking more like a 
 weasel than a bird as she ran crouching with her head nearly 
 touching the ground. 
 
 In another part of the same field I passed a nest of landrails 
 in which the young ones were on the point of, or rather, in the
 
 312 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 very act of being hatched, some of the young having just quitted 
 the shell, while others were only half out of their fragile prison. 
 Both old birds were running around the nest while I stooped 
 to look at their little black progeny, and were uttering a low 
 kind of hissing noise, quite unlike their usual harsh croak. The 
 mowers told me that they had seen several nests in the same 
 field, but had avoided breaking the eggs whenever they per- 
 ceived them in time. Though innumerable landrails arrive 
 here during the first week in May, always coming regularly to 
 their time, the period and manner of their departure are quite 
 a mystery to me. Although in general their young are not 
 hatched till the first or second week in July, they seem to 
 have entirely vanished by the time that the corn is cut : it is 
 very rare indeed to find one when you are beating the fields in 
 September. 
 
 The partridges here are chiefly hatched about the last week 
 in June. Like the landrail, the hen bird sits very close, and 
 during that time will almost allow herself to be taken up in the 
 hand, especially when near her time of hatching. They seem 
 to be quite confident in the forbearance of my boys, who have 
 an intimate acquaintance with almost every nest in the neigh- 
 bourhood of the house, the old bird allowing them to peer 
 closely into her nest, and even to move aside the grass and 
 herbage which conceal it, when they want to see if she is on her 
 eggs. A retriever one day caught an old hen partridge on her 
 nest, but let her go again on my rating him, without doing 
 more damage to her than pulling out some feathers. Notwith- 
 standing this she returned to the nest, and hatched the whole 
 of the eggs the next day. Had she not been so near her time 
 of hatching, I do not suppose that she would have returned 
 again. All birds have the same instinctive foreknowledge of 
 the time of hatching being near at hand, and do not, when this 
 is the case, leave their nest so easily as when disturbed at an 
 earlier period of incubation. Some small birds are much -tamer 
 in this respect than others. A bullfinch will often allow her- 
 self to be taken off her nest, and replaced again, without show- 
 ing the least symptom of fear. Indeed, this bird if put into a 
 cage with her nest of young ones will continue to feed them as 
 readily as if her habitation was still in its original situation. 
 Blackbirds also are very unwilling to fly off from their eggs.
 
 xxxv BIRDS OF THE GARDEN 313 
 
 The common wren, on the contrary, immediately forsakes her 
 nest if it is at all handled and examined before she has laid 
 her eggs. She will abandon it if she merely observes people 
 looking too closely at it ; but when she has commenced to sit 
 I have known her to be caught on her nest, and replaced, and 
 still not forsake it. A small blue-headed tomtit formed her 
 nest this year in a chink in my garden wall, and allowed the 
 children to take out an egg to examine it from underneath her, 
 without leaving the nest. In fact, instead of being frightened 
 at the intrusion of their hands into her little warm, well-feathered 
 domicile, she pecked courageously at their fingers, hissing and 
 spluttering at them, and never seeming inclined to fly off. 
 When the young ones were hatched, the activity and perseve- 
 rance of the old birds in providing them with caterpillars and 
 blue-bottle flies were perfectly wonderful. They appeared to 
 fly backwards and forwards to their young family every minute 
 of the day, always bringing some insect in their bills. The 
 good done by these little birds in destroying grubs and flies 
 ought to earn them an immunity from all danger from trap or 
 gun. Gardeners are always too much inclined to wage war 
 against all small birds, forgetting that they invariably feed their 
 young, not with seeds, but with different kinds of grubs and 
 caterpillars, in this way amply repaying any little mischief 
 they may do to the early-sown seeds. For my own part, I 
 never trust a gun in my gardener's hands, but let the blackbirds 
 and thrushes take as many cherries as they like, in return for 
 which they destroy thousands of grey snails, etc., besides giving 
 me many a moment of pleasure by their song. I admit that I 
 do occasionally shoot the crows and jackdaws when they destroy 
 too many of the cherries, particularly as these active marauders 
 come from some distance in large flocks as soon as the fruit 
 becomes red on the trees. I invariably observe that at this 
 season one or two jackdaws arrive first, flying round and round 
 at a great height above the garden. After some chattering 
 between themselves, they fly away, returning some hours after- 
 wards with the rest of their family, four or five in number ; and 
 if not checked by a few charges of shot, these first intruders 
 soon invite every jackdaw in the country to the feast, their 
 numbers increasing every day, till I am obliged to take active 
 steps against them.
 
 314 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP, xxxv 
 
 About the second week in July the young wild ducks begin 
 to fly. Those hatched high up in the country usually make 
 their way down to the sea-side in that month. They follow 
 the course of some stream or river till they arrive at their desti- 
 nation. Like the fable of the ostrich hiding her head when 
 pursued, the young wild ducks when chased on the river will fre- 
 quently dip their heads under the water, and keeping them there 
 till they are nearly drowned, fancy themselves secure, although 
 their whole body is exposed. If taken up, and put into some 
 enclosed yard or garden, they will soon become tolerably tame, 
 and get very fat if well fed. The whole of my poultry-yard 
 (as far as ducks are concerned) is supplied by a breed of half- 
 wild and half-tame ducks, originating in some young drakes 
 caught, and turned out with the tame ducks the tame drakes 
 being all sent away, in order to ensure the proper cross in the 
 breed. The birds are very much improved for the table by this 
 cross, and are quite as tame as the common domestic duck, 
 only showing their wild parentage in an inclination to hide 
 their nests, and to build at a distance from home always, 
 however, if allowed so to do, bringing home their broods as 
 soon as they are hatched. At other seasons they never seem 
 inclined to wander, though they are always to be seen at the 
 very earliest dawn of the morning, before it is quite light, spread 
 out over the grass-field adjoining the house, hunting it in a 
 regular line of advance for worms and snails. As the evening 
 comes on, too, it is amusing to see them bent on the same pur- 
 suit, and displaying the greatest activity and skill in catching 
 the large evening moths, as these insects rise from the grass or 
 fly low over it.
 
 CURLEW AND GOLDEN PLOVER 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI 
 
 Variety of Game 
 
 THE list of game killed by my own gun on the 2ist of 
 October appears in my game-book to have been as follows : 
 
 Grouse . 
 Partridge 
 Woodcock 
 Pheasant 
 Wild duck 
 Snipe . 
 
 Teal . 
 Curlew . 
 Plover . 
 Jacksnipe 
 Hare . 
 Rabbit . 
 
 Though the number of animals in this list may not seem 
 jreat to many of my sporting friends in England and Scotland,
 
 316 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 a prettier variety of game could scarcely be killed by one gun 
 in any single locality, and the whole of them were shot during 
 a few hours' walk, and on a most stormy and windy day. I 
 had promised to send a hamper of game to a friend in Edin- 
 burgh, and knowing that he would prize it more if I could make 
 up a variety than if I sent him double the quantity of any one 
 kind, I determined to hunt a wild part of my shooting-ground, 
 where I should have a chance of finding ducks, snipes, etc. 
 
 I started after breakfast with a single pointer, and my ever- 
 lasting companion, an old retriever. As the steam-boat for 
 Edinburgh started the next day, I was obliged, though the wind 
 blew nearly a hurricane, to make the best of it, and face the 
 wind in the dreary and upland ground, which I had determined 
 to beat, and where I had sent an attendant to meet me. 
 
 Passing over a long tract of furze and broom, I killed a 
 couple of hares, and drove some partridges off down to wind- 
 ward ; but as they flew quite out of the direction in which I 
 meant to shoot, I did not follow them. My pointer stood 
 immediately on getting into an extensive piece of grazing- 
 ground ; his head high up showed me that the birds were at 
 some distance. He drew on for some two or three hundred 
 yards, when two large coveys of partridges rose, and, unable to 
 face the wind, drifted back over my head like leaves. Bang, 
 bang and a brace of them fell dead sixty yards behind me, 
 though shot when nearly over my head, and killed at once. I 
 marked down the rest, and got a brace more, when they went 
 straight away, as if determined to make their next resting-place 
 somewhere about Norway. But my line was to windward still, 
 in order to hunt some ground where there was a chance (though 
 a bad one) of a brace or so of grouse. 
 
 Picking up a snipe or two, and a hare, I worked up hill 
 against the wind along a tract of wild heather and pasture- 
 ground. In the midst of this was a small peat-bog, and, when 
 passing it, I flushed a brace of mallards, which, after drifting 
 about and trying to make their way to the sea, turned and 
 alighted in a swampy piece of ground, where there were some 
 small pools. By their manner I was sure that they had some 
 companions where they alighted, so, desiring the man who 
 accompanied me to hold the pointer, I tried to stalk unper- 
 ceived to the spot where they were, allowing my old retriever
 
 xxxvi A DAY'S SHOOTING 317 
 
 (who was well accustomed to duck-shooting) to accompany me. 
 I had got to within a hundred yards, when an old mallard, 
 whom I had not seen, rose at my feet out of a pool, and quacked 
 an alarm that made six more rise out of shot of me. I avenged 
 myself, however, on him, bringing him down quite dead at a 
 considerable distance. Several pairs of ducks rose at the report, 
 and all went off to the sea. 
 
 I had scarcely commenced hunting again with the pointer, 
 when he stood at something close to his nose, stopping dead 
 short in the midst of his gallop. I walked up, expecting a 
 jacksnipe ; when, out of a small hollow, or rather hole in the 
 heather, rose eight grouse. They flew wild, but I killed one 
 with my first barrel, and two with the second the wind blowing 
 them up into a heap just as I pulled the trigger : the rest flew 
 over a height not far up, right in the eye of the wind. I knew 
 the violence of the gale must stop them ; and accordingly I 
 found them again, immediately over the ridge, and killed a 
 brace more, marking down the rest close to a cottage. My 
 next two barrels killed one only. The rest went off a long 
 distance. The star of my friend's larder was still in the ascend- 
 ant, for before I turned to beat homewards I killed two jack- 
 snipes ; thus making up four partridges, six grouse, four snipes, 
 three hares, and a wild duck. Not a bad bag already. I beat 
 on towards the coast, killing some partridges, a brace of rabbits, 
 a woodcock, and a hare or two. 
 
 Near the shore I saw an immense flock of curlews and 
 other birds in a tolerably good situation for getting near them. 
 Of all shore-birds there is none, not even the wild duck, so 
 difficult of approach as a curlew. With the most acute sense 
 of hearing, their organs of smelling are so sensitive, that the 
 moment you get " betwixt the wind and their nobility " they 
 take wing, giving the alarm by their loud shrill whistle to every 
 other bird within hearing. I got, however, unperceived to 
 within forty yards of them, and having loaded one barrel with 
 a cartridge, I fired right and left at the flock. 
 
 There was a rare confusion and scuffling amongst them, 
 and my retriever brought me, one by one, three curlews and 
 four golden plovers. Some other birds dropped here and there 
 out at sea, but I could only get the above number. A brace 
 of teal rose at the shot and alighted in a ditch in the adjoining
 
 3 i8 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHAP. 
 
 field ; so, loading quickly, I walked to the place : as they rose 
 rather wild, I only bagged one, the other bird going away hard 
 struck. I then followed the course of the rushy ditch, or rather 
 rivulet, which led towards my house, having already a fair 
 quantity of game. My dog pointed, and I killed a snipe ; I 
 did not reload the barrel, as I was near home, but hunted on 
 along the rushes, expecting another snipe to present my re- 
 maining charge to. The dog presently stood, and then drew 
 slowly on till he came very near to the end of the rushes, when 
 he pointed dead at something close to him. I walked about 
 the rushes, but could find nothing, till, just as I was giving it 
 up, a magnificent old cock pheasant, which had wandered away 
 from the woods, rose in a furrow of the field adjoining the 
 rushes. He was rather far off, but I killed him dead, making 
 as pretty a climax or tail-piece to a day's wild shooting as I 
 could have wished ; and though I have very often far exceeded 
 the number which I killed that day, I do not ever remember 
 bagging a handsomer collection of animals in so short a time. 
 Every bird, too, was in beautiful plumage and condition, and 
 when laid out, ready to be packed up, made quite a picture. 
 
 An account of a day's shooting is rather a dry affair, but I 
 have given it as showing the great variety of game which is to 
 be found in this part of the country. I had, indeed, as good a 
 chance of killing a roebuck as anything else, as I passed through 
 a piece of ground w r here I have repeatedly killed roe. I saw 
 an old blackcock too, but he was in a bare place, and rose out 
 of shot. 
 
 Golden plovers and curlews collect on the low grounds in 
 immense flocks at this time of the year, previous to settling 
 down in their winter quarters. Both these birds breed generally 
 in very high situations, and though wary in the winter, and 
 difficult to approach, yet during the summer, when crossing the 
 mountains, I have been absolutely annoyed by the continued 
 clamour of curlews flying and screaming within a few yards of 
 my head, and following up their persecutions for a considerable 
 distance, when it would probably be taken up by another pair 
 with fresh lungs, whose breeding-place I might be approaching. 
 
 The golden plover has a plaintive and rather sweet note as 
 he flits rapidly round the traveller who intrudes on his domain. 
 Indeed in the spring the note of the golden plover, as he ascends
 
 xxxvi THE LAND RAIDS CRY 319 
 
 with rapid wheelings high above your head, is quite musical, 
 and approaches nearly to the note of a thrush or blackbird. 
 Not only the whistle of the plover, but even the harsh cry of 
 the landrail, and the monotonous call of the cuckoo, are always 
 grateful to my ear, because, being heard only in the spring-time, 
 they are associated in my mind with the idea of the departure 
 of winter and the return of fine weather. It is often a matter 
 of astonishment to me how the throat of a bird so tender and 
 delicately formed as the landrail can emit such hard and grating 
 cries, which sound more as if they were produced by some iron 
 or brazen instrument than from the windpipe of a bird. The 
 raven or crow look as if they ought to be the owners of a harsh 
 and croaking voice, and a shrill note comes appropriately from 
 the throat of a barn-door cock ; but a landrail appears to be a 
 bird quite unfitted to produce a sound like that of a piece of 
 iron drawn along the teeth of a rusty saw. There is a way of 
 imitating their cry so exactly as to bring the bird to your feet, 
 but I never could succeed in doing so, or indeed in making it 
 answer me at all, though I have tried the plan \vhich I was told 
 was infallible, of drawing the edges of two horse's ribs against 
 each other, one of them being smooth and the other notched 
 like a saw. Although the fields were swarming with the birds 
 at the time, I never succeeded in persuading even a single one 
 to answer me.
 
 Printed by R. & R. CLARK, Edinburgh.

 
 from which it was borrow*! 
 
 6 2001 
 -LF 
 LOA