104 SEASON 1874-75. 



I chose the least uneven part in the bottom of the glen, cut a 

 few trees, and removed the soil down to the rock, no very 

 difficult matter, as there was merely a few inches on the surface. 



The foundation thus obtained was of rotten whinstone, which 

 after two days' quarrying yielded a level site. As the rock 

 in the foundation forbade posts being driven in the usual way, I 

 got a blown-down beech-tree cut up into four planks, two for the 

 sides of the new house, and two for the ends. The planks were 

 6 inches thick, and from 10 to 14 inches broad. They were laid on 

 the foundation, and bolted together to form a frame on which the 

 the door and corner posts were set up ; intermediate posts were 

 placed where necessary, and a wall-plate on the top, on which 

 the roof rested. In the two ends above the wall-plate two windows 

 were fitted, each as large as the angle of the roof would admit ; 

 they were provided with shutters to darken the house when I was 

 not working in it. Ventilation was made by leaving the eaves 

 open. (They had afterwards to be protected by wire- netting, as the 

 birds got in and made a mess. I am sorry to say a robin actually 

 was suspected of eating the ova in one of the trays.) The windows 

 were also covered. The house was built entirely of home wood 

 grown on the estate, sawn into 7-inch sarking at the saw-mill at 

 Milnholme, now used in connection with the hatching-house there. 

 The whole house was built clinker, that is, with the boards over- 

 lapping a little. The roof was made in the same way as the walls, 

 of sarking overlapping ; the couples were given a high pitch. The 

 door was made by the estate carpenter, who also fitted the 

 shutters to the windows ; all else was done by the foresters. See 

 plan of the house, showing dimensions (Fig. 64, page 118). 



MIDDLETHIRD DAM. 



While the hatching- house was being built, with the assistance 

 of the head keeper I made the dam above (Fig. 43). The dam 

 was built in the shape of a horse-shoe, and formed right across 

 the old course of the burn by a row of large whinstones such as 

 dry dikes are generally built of in this part of Scotland. Behind, 



