Xaitoseer anfc /nMHais 623 



frequently urged him to shoot at Wimbledon, antici- 

 pating great things of him there ; but neither target 

 shooting nor public display was to his taste, so he 

 never entertained the idea. 



From Braemore he went on to Loch More, for 

 stalking and salmon-fishing, as a guest of the Duke 

 of Westminster. And here a curious thing happened, 

 as mentioned in the Life of Joseph Wolf, the animal- 

 painter. Mr. Gould, the naturalist, who was also a 

 guest of the Duke's, when out fishing one day, landed 

 a salmon which he concealed in the bracken behind a 

 small bush. When he came to look for his fish it 

 was nowhere to be found, and after a long search 

 he began to think the keepers had purloined it. They, 

 however, laid the blame on the cows, suggesting that 

 they had eaten it. The idea was scoffed at by every 

 sportsman in the house, and to prove its absurdity a 

 fresh salmon was brought from the larder and put 

 in the same field, when to the astonishment of the 

 scoffers, the cows promptly marched up and devoured 

 it. ' Credat Judceus ! ' was the reply whenever my 

 father told this story ; but nowadays most naturalists 

 are well aware that salmon or any other fish are readily 

 eaten by ruminants." 



In 1 88 1 Millais became the tenant of Murthley, 

 which he has immortalised on canvas, and which for 

 fourteen years was his Scottish home. There was fine 

 fishing in Murthley Water, and Millais killed some very 

 big fish there. Concerning one of these Lord James 

 of Hereford tells the following story. It was a 

 fish of 42 Ibs., caught towards the end of a chill 



