246 IN FOREST AND ON HILL 



tracks, or dash down to the brook in the corrie, there 

 to turn savagely to bay, while he is dyeing the rippling 

 water with his life-blood what a crowning moment of 

 unadulterated triumph is that ! 



For those who shoot for the sport and not for the 

 fashion or the larder, Mr. Colquhoun makes the sug- 

 gestion that the chase of the wild goat might be an 

 excellent substitute for that of the red deer. The one 

 animal is at least as wary as the other, and frequents by 

 choice more break-neck country. Goat-shooting would 

 be within the reach of men of very moderate means, 

 who might cheaply rent the run of a grazing where it 

 is difficult to get up a head of grouse. And there is 

 this advantage besides, that, like the Cockney's famous 

 jack-snipe, a single cautious old billy-goat might amuse 

 his proprietor through many seasons, and carry his 

 silvery beard in peace to the grave after all. We can 

 speak from experience. Year after year it was our 

 privilege to sport over a most savage range of shootings 

 in Ross-shire, which we shall advert to again in speak- 

 ing of the ptarmigan. In that rocky wilderness were 

 a pair of secular goats, which were said to have haunted 

 the heights from time immemorial. No man, at least, 

 pretended a claim to them ; nor could anything be 

 learned of their origin or antecedents. Frequently of 

 a fine summer morning, lounging on the gravel before 

 the shooting-lodge, we contemplated them through a 

 telescope on the opposite slopes. Often of an evening 

 we made long practice at them, with rifles sighted to 

 fabulous elevations ; and they cast dust upon our beards 



