36 A HIGHLAND LAIRD 



the night he has lain out under the " Shelter Stone " 

 with a bundle of heather for a pillow, his plaid for 

 bed-clothes, and a sandwich and his whisky-flask for 

 sole refreshments ; although now, chiefly in deference 

 to the sybaritism of his friends, he has set up a tiny 

 lodge in the wilderness, where they can be tolerably 

 comfortable on occasion. 



Though the laird in these latter days occasionally 

 takes his family to town for a month or so in the 

 season, his habits are very different from those of the 

 gentlemen who make a dash at the moors or the forests 

 for a few weeks in the autumn. He lives on his 

 territory all the year round ; sport in its different 

 shapes is pretty much his sole avocation ; and he is 

 most hospitable in filling his house with guests who 

 take his annual invitations almost as a matter of course. 

 It is odd indeed if they cannot find plenty to do ; and 

 even if they should be kept close prisoners by the 

 weather, there are a library and an excellent billiard- 

 table and agreeable young women within doors. There 

 is capital mixed shooting on the lower ground, or what 

 may be called the lower ground by comparison. The 

 birch-woods that come feathering down to Lochlyle are 

 famous places for black-game and woodcocks ; and 

 when a flight of woodcocks arrives with the first frost, 

 the laird sends expresses forthwith to his neighbours, 

 who are looking out in keen expectation. These 

 gentlemen gather in fast with their attendant gillies, 

 and. the party sets out in line after breakfast from the 

 very door of the house. Now it is a hare that gets up, 



