CHAPTER FIVE ON POACHERS 



stone them off the beast; so I was feared they might turn 

 on her, and I just stepped down from where I was looking 

 at them, and putting my handkerchief over my face, that 

 the lassie mighn't ken me, took the dogs away, though it 

 was a sair pity, as it was a fine beast; and one of the dogs 

 was quite young at the time, and it would have been a 

 ofrand chance for blooding- him." 



Manya deer is killed duringthe brightmoonlightnights. 

 The poacher in this case finds out some grassy burn or spot 

 of ground, where the deer are in the habit of feeding. With- 

 in shot of this, and with his gun loaded with three pistol- 

 balls, or a bullet and two slugs, he lies ensconced, taking 

 care to be well concealed before the time that the deer come 

 to feed, and keeping to leeward of the direction in which 

 they will probably arrive. Many an hour he may pass in 

 his lonely hiding-place, listening to every cry and sound of 

 the different animals that are abroad during the night time, 

 and peering out anxiously to see if he can distinguish the 

 object of his vigil approaching him. Perhaps, although he 

 may hear the deer belling or clashing their horns together 

 in the distance, none come within reach of his gun during 

 the whole night; and the call of the grouse-cock just before 

 daybreak, as he collects his family from their roosting- 

 places in the heather, warns him that it is time to leave 

 his ambuscade, and betake himself home, chilled and dis- 

 pirited. It often, however, happens that he hears the tramp 

 of the deer,as they descend from the more barren heights to 

 feed on the grass and rushes near his place of concealment. 

 Ontheycome.tillhe can actually heartheirbreathingas they 

 crop theherbage;andcanfrequently distinguish their ghost- 

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