2 28 Notes on Sport and Travel i 



' The death of the last wolf and her cubs in the 

 forests connected with the east coast of Sutherland 

 was attended with circumstances still more remark- 

 able. For several years before their complete 

 extirpation, the wolves were decreasing in number, 

 and at a time when it was supposed that they had 

 been all destroyed, some nocturnal ravages amongst 

 the flocks in the parish of Loth gave indication that 

 one or more wolves still survived in the neighbour- 

 hood. A great body of the inhabitants met together 

 in order to scour the hilly parts of the parish of any 

 of these ravenous animals that might be lurking in 

 the district ; but after a careful and laborious search, 

 no wolf could be found. In a few days afterwards, 

 a person of the name of Poison, who resided at 

 Wester-Helmsdale, followed up the previous more 

 general search by minutely examining one of the 

 wildest recesses in the neighbourhood of Glen Loth, 

 which he thought had not been thoroughly ransacked 

 by the former party. On this occasion he was 

 accompanied by only two young lads — one of them 

 his son, and the other an active herd-boy. Poison 

 was an expert hunter, and had much experience 

 in tracing and destroying wolves, foxes, and other 

 predatory animals ; and, being well acquainted with 

 the localities, proceeded directly to the wild 

 and rugged ground that surrounds the rocky and 

 nearly inaccessible mountain -gully through which 

 the upper part of the Burn of Sledale runs towards 

 Glen Loth. 



