48 TOUR IN SUTHERLANDSHIRE. 



and, though many of them would be amusing enough, I do 

 not like quoting as facts incidents of this kind, the authen- 

 ticity of which I cannot vouch for, however much I may 

 believe them to be true, and I must confess to being very 

 credulous on this point. I have been assured by a person 

 not given at all to exaggerate nor easily deceived, that he 

 once witnessed the following trick. Very early one morning 

 he saw a fox eyeing most wistfully a number of wild ducks 

 feeding in the rushy end of a Highland lake. After due 

 consideration, the fox, going to windward of the ducks, put 

 afloat in the loch several bunches of dead rushes or grass, 

 which floated down amongst the ducks without causing the 

 least alarm. After watching the effects of his preliminary 

 fleet for a short time, the fox, taking a good-sized mouthful 

 of grass in his jaws, launched himself into the water as 

 quietly as possible, having nothing but the tips of his ears 

 and nose above water. In this way he drifted down amongst 

 the ducks, and made booty of a fine mallard. Though this 

 story seems extraordinary, it must be remembered that the 

 fox manages to capture wild ducks, wood-pigeons, hares, and 

 numberless other animals, sufficient too keep himself and 

 family ; and it is self-evident that in doing so he must 

 practise many a trick and manoeuvre that would seem most 

 improbable if related, and quite beyond the instinct of 

 animals. 1 have seen one in confinement lay out part of his 

 food just within reach of his chain, in order to attract the 

 tame ducks and chickens about the yard, and then, having 

 concealed himself in his kennel, wait in an attitude ready to 

 spring out till some duck or fowl came to his bait, which he 

 immediately pounced upon. Those, too, who have trapped 

 foxes can tell of the extreme cunning and sagacity displayed 

 by them in avoiding danger. In fact, altogether a fox in a 

 state of nature is as interesting an animal as he is beautiful, 

 and nothing can exceed the grace and agility of his move- 

 ments when he is hunting, or playing unobserved, as he 

 fancies, by his enemy man. It has happened to me 

 frequently to have opportunities of watching a fox, and I 

 have always been unwilling to put a stop to my amusement 

 by shooting him, which, in a country where hounds cannot 

 be kept, one feels bound to do, as a punishment for the end- 

 less mischief which he commits. 



On the east or north-east side of Loch Laighal there is a 

 very beautiful hill covered with wood to a considerable 



