WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 



"Why, we sleep at some shepherd's house or sheaHng; 

 and if there is not one convenient, we lay out somewhere 

 on the ground, going to our sleeping-place after nightfall; 

 and so we are ready to get at the deer by daylight; and 

 maybe we have killed one and carried him off before the 

 foresters have found out that we are out." 



It is not so easy, however, for the poachers to kill deer 

 undiscovered with dogs, as it is with the gun; for in the 

 event of the greyhounds getting in chace of a young stag 

 or a hind, they may be led away to a great distance, and in 

 the course of the run move half the deer in the forest; and 

 there is no surer sign of mischief being afloat than seeing 

 the deer passing over the hills in a startled manner. No 

 man, accustomed to them, can mistake this sign of an 

 enemy having disturbed them; and one can judge pretty 

 well the direction the alarm comes from by taking notice 

 of the quarter in which the wind is, and from which part 

 of the mountain the deer are moving. With a rifle, how- 

 ever, in the hand of a good shot, the business is soon over, 

 without frightening the rest of the herd a tenth part so 

 much, or making them change their quarters to such a dist- 

 ance; and even if the shot is heard by the keepers, which 

 is a great chance, it is not easy to judge exactly from which 

 direction it comes amongst the numerous corriesand glens 

 which confuse and mislead the listener. 



Ronald told me that one day his dogs brought a fine 



stag to bay, in a burn close to the house of the forester on 



the ground where he was poaching: "The forester luckily 



was no at hame, sir; but the dogs made an awful noise, 



yowling ■aX the stag; and a bit lassie came out and tried to 



72 



