ic6 THE DEER FORESTS OF SCOTLAND. 



their men, whose heads they cut off and sent to 

 John Grant, the chief of the clan, better known by 

 the name of the " Red Bard." Slowly but surely 

 the power of the Grants won the day, and The 

 Bard taking possession of Urquhart Castle ruled the 

 whole district with a strong hand, and history states 

 that in 1502 he sold the king "sixty-nine marts with 

 skins for £jl 2s. od." Later on in 1509 the properties 

 of Urquhart and Glenmoriston were bestowed on The 

 Bard in recognition of his services by a grateful 

 monarch, and all went pretty well until 15 13, when 

 one Sir Donald Macdonald of Lochalsh, who revived 

 and claimed the title of the Lord of the Isles, being 

 at enmity with the Grants, collected his forces and 

 seized Castle Urquhart, together with a great booty, 

 while for the following three years he forcibly held 

 the lands. At the end of this period the Grants 

 once more prevailed and returned to Castle Urquhart, 

 but in 1545 their possessions were again seized by 

 John of Moidart and his friends, who committed 

 depredations so serious that it took the glen several 



