250 THE DEER FORESTS OF SCOTLAND. 



been sixty stags a season, all of which are got by 

 fair stalking, and though a greater number could 

 be obtained, yet as sixty is considered the proper 

 quantity, it is never exceeded, except perhaps by 

 one or two, while the average weight, in which all 

 small beasts are included, works out at 14 stone clean. 

 In 1868, Major Holmes had the good fortune to 

 secure a very fine royal head with most perfect 

 symmetrical equality of both horns, and when 

 Mackay, the Inverness taxidermist, returned it to 

 Braemore, he volunteered the information that " it 

 was the finest head of many thousands which have 

 passed through my hands in modern times." This 

 head had a span of $7 2 inches outside measurement, 

 with a circumference of 6$ inches round the coronet, 

 the horns measuring 26 inches in height, taking a 

 straight line from the centre of the forehead. 



Mr. Robert Fowler, Sir John's brother, met with 

 a remarkable adventure when stalking in Braemore, 

 the like of which I have never heard of. He and 

 McHardy, the head forester, who has been there 



