1 8 9 2 -9 3 • ] Natural History Notes. 5 g 



heavy fall of snow a fortnight previously, many of the burns 

 were drifted full, so that a horse or trap was out of the 

 question. There was consequently nothing else for it but to 

 take as little luggage as possible and carry it on my shoulder. 

 Having fully ten miles to walk from where I left the mail 

 gig, and the road being of a difficult and doubtful character, 

 darkness was setting in ere I reached the end of my journey. 

 It was with no small amount of pleasure that I beheld the 

 light burning brightly in the keeper's house, and heard the 

 barking of his dogs, whose willing ears were attracted by my 

 approaching footsteps. At this juncture Macdonald came out 

 to meet me, and relieved me of my bag. Mrs Macdonald 

 met me at the door, gave me a hearty welcome, and very soon 

 I was comfortably seated at her hospitable board. 



After an excellent repast we drew in around a peat fire, 

 while Macdonald related his season's experience among the 

 mountains. Every stag was stalked and shot over again. 

 Every salmon was again hooked and run, and the proverbial 

 " monster " which broke after an hour's play was eagerly 

 depicted. This was all interesting enough; but on his re- 

 marking that after the recent fall of snow he observed the 

 tracks of otters by almost all the burn sides, the conversation 

 for me had a special interest. Anxious to make a collection 

 of the rarer of the fauna of our country, and having already 

 procured specimens of the badger, the wild-cat, the fox, and 

 the smaller quadrupeds, I was exceedingly anxious to acquire 

 a couple of otters. This was no easy matter, as I preserve 

 those only killed by my own gun or rifle. The badgers I 

 procured in one of the Border counties by climbing a tree 

 above their " earth " and shooting them at the mouth as 

 they came out in the moonlight. The wild-cats I shot as 

 they were "bolted" from a cairn of stones by fox-terriers, 

 while assisting a keeper in Eoss-shire. It was with a feeling 

 of reluctance that I destroyed two of these, the rarest of 

 our wild animals; but the enraged keeper, whose game had 

 suffered the previous season from a couple of broods of wild- 

 cats, declared in emphatic terms that their presence could not, 

 and would not, be tolerated. 



To return to the otters. Macdonald, as already remarked, 

 stated that from the tracks he had seen after the recent fall 



