ROSS-SHIRE. 223 



offspring (dropped at Christmas time) as soon as 

 they arrived at or about two years of age ; the 

 old stag is now dead, and the hind alone remains. 

 In the unenclosed part of this Chuillim wood there 

 is likewise a herd of about two hundred fallow deer, 

 free to roam where they like, and fresh blood has 

 been introduced from Windsor Park. Amongst this 

 herd there was at one time a white doe, well authenti- 

 cated to have been twenty years old, who, after 

 reaching that age, died from starvation through the 

 loss of her teeth, this being one of the few instances 

 of any beast dying of hunger on this ground, for the 

 wintering is so good as to render such distressing 

 occurrences most rare. The clearances made by 

 Mr. Bignold have had the effect of opening up to 

 deer a most extensive and continuous chain of 

 forest ground, and they can now wander from north 

 to south (or vice versa), from the southern boundary 

 on the river Bran to the northern extremity of the 

 forest of Rhidorrach, a distance of forty miles as 

 the crow flies ; again, from the western march of 



