176 WILD LIFE OF SCOTLAND 



In addition to his personal picturesqueness, and 

 to the suggestions of grace, strength, and speed, he 

 has a certain literary, and national interest, which 

 must wed him for ever to the soil. The new era 

 in the life of the Highlands opened with a deer 

 chase. And, all that has changed, and brightened 

 the land since, dates from that opening. 



The hue and cry arose in the neighbourhood of 

 Comrie, swept down Glen Artney to Uam Var, 

 turned westward over the site of modern Callander, 

 echoed along the valley where lie the three mighty 

 lakes, and only died away in the cul-de-sac of the 

 far-famed Trossachs. It seems ungrateful, therefore, 

 to talk of banishing the four-footed benefactor, 

 which still lends interest and animation to the scene, 

 and whose shadowy footsteps entranced thousands 

 now trace. 



The hill-sides were not yet deforested to any 

 considerable extent; and the howl of the wolves 

 was only too familiar. 



" In the time of James v.," the Fitz-James of 

 the Lady of the Lake, " their number and ravages 

 were formidable. At that time great tracts of 

 Perth were covered with forests of pine, birch, and 

 oak. All these clouds of forests were more or less 

 frequented by wolves." 



