2Q6 HUNTING ON THE HIGHER HILL SLOPES. 



slopes by precipices, a man can thus save himself 

 much fatigue in walking, as he is able to move along 

 the higher slopes with greater ease, than if he had to 

 be continually ascending and descending, to keep right 

 with the wind and to avoid obstacles, which he' would 

 probably have to do if he kept upon the lower slopes. 

 There can be little doubt also that when the wind is 

 steady, the scent of a man on a high eminence is 

 carried away into space, far above the heads of game 

 lying a considerable distance down-hill; should the 

 hunter come upon game seen to leeward of him, he 

 will see this for himself from the top of a high ridge, 

 for in general, if the wind is steady they will not catch 

 scent of him. Nevertheless it will not do to presume 

 too much upon this, especially if the wind blows in 

 gusts, as an eddy may carry scent downwards; but 

 wind as we venture to think, most commonly flows 

 along pretty evenly and floats much upon a level, seldom 

 making great ups and dOws, unless deflected by some 

 local cause. The drift of smoke through* the air shows 

 this pretty clearly ; at the same time very little is really 

 known about the phenomena of air currents. Smoke 

 tends to become dispersed as it floats along, but it is 

 only its heavier particles that sink earthwards. Were 

 this otherwise, the streets of every town would be filled 

 with smoke. What we believe is that the invisible 

 scent carried by the breeze is carried along in a very 

 similar manner to smoke. 



" But (says Mr. Macrae, a Highland forester of great ex- 

 perience with deer) the difference between a moderate breeze 

 and a strong wind cannot be well understood by people 

 having little knowledge of these things ; and it is a fact that 

 a strong wind carries scent beyond the limit to which a 



