INVERNESS-SHIRE. 151 



to the wind that prevails during the stalking season, 

 and ranges from forty-five to sixty good stags, with 

 a mean weight of 14 stone 7 lbs., clean. During 

 the twenty years Colonel Hargreaves had Gaick he 

 killed just under a thousand stags, which makes an 

 average of a fraction of close upon fifty stags a season. 

 The worst winds for this forest are long spells of 

 south and south-easterly ones, while breezes that 

 continue to blow from north and north-west are the 

 best. The present lodge has been built nearly a 

 hundred years, and near it may still be seen the 

 ruins of old Gaick Lodge, which, being placed too 

 near the over-hanging brow of the steep hill on 

 the left of the illustration, was in 1800 destroyed 

 by an avalanche, by which Captain John Macpherson 

 of Balachroan, together with his four attendants and 

 some deerhounds, were all killed, for they had most 

 unfortunately sheltered in the house only that very 

 night in order to avoid the fury of a hill snow- 

 storm in which they had been overtaken when out 

 in pursuit of the hinds. The body of Captain 



