298 RED DEER. 



ridge of Ben-na-buird, snutfing the tainted breeze 

 as you approach, tossing his antlered head on high, 

 starting off with rapid bounds, and hastening away 

 to the distant corry, where his comrades are repos- 

 ing in fancied security. Or, having spied, whether 

 with the aid of a glass or not, a herd of Stags at 

 the distance of a mile or more, let us, passing be- 

 hind the eminences, gliding down the torrent-ruts, 

 creeping among the tufts of peat and heather, 

 cautiously come upon them against the wind, and 

 gently putting aside the coarse grass, peep out 

 upon them as they graze on the green margin of 

 the mountain rill. Not a word must now be spoken* 

 not even a whisper ; the click of your lock has 

 started that grey-throated chief; but he hears not 

 the report of the gun, for the bullet has pierced his 

 heart, and there, when you have reached the spot, 

 with the beating breast and hurried breathings of 

 eager hope, you find extended the victim of your 

 insatiable desire of slaughter. Or again, in that; 

 thicket of stinted hazel and brambles, on the slope 

 of the long heath-clad valley, is the lord of the soil, 

 with a number of his friends, skulking with their 

 rifles, and gazing anxiously on the distant ridge, on 

 which they expect ere long to see the antlered herd 

 driven by the forest-keepers and their people. 

 There, one after one, now masses, and straggling 

 parties, obscurely seen in the dim haze, appear for* 

 a moment against the sky, and plunge down the 

 slope. They have disappeared, but presently are 

 seen on the heights their pursuers, who, scattered 



