22 THE DEER FORESTS OF SCOTLAND. 



DALNESS OR ROYAL FOREST BY TAYNUILT. 



This forest, one of the most ancient of all the deer 

 forests, having been afforested as far back as the time 

 of James IV. of Scotland, belongs to Mrs. Elizabeth 

 Mary Stuart, and consists of some seven to eight 

 thousand acres of a most mountainous district, em- 

 bracing the western ridges of the Grampians. These 

 secluded and almost inaccessible fastnesses with their 

 lovely corries have ever formed a natural home for 

 the red deer, imparting also a wildness to their 

 heads which greatly enhances their beauty, and the 

 fine stout long brow antlers of the stags of Dalness, 

 that have broken out of the forest during the rutting 

 season, can still be traced in the surrounding deer 

 grounds. Stalking is not commenced before the ist 

 of September and is ended on ioth or 12th of October, 

 according to the year; the stags average 16 stone 

 quite clean, and as some twenty of these good beasts 

 may be got each season, it is certainly one of the best 

 small forests in Scotland. The highest altitude in 

 Dalness is 3,345 feet, but the whole forest is composed 



