170 DEER-STALKING IN THE HIGHLANDS. 



feet above the level of the sea, and the circumference of the 

 base is estimated at twenty-five Scotch miles. It contains 

 twenty-four conies, so wide apart, that a gun fired in one can- 

 not be heard in the next. In fact, it overlooks a vast territory 

 of mountains little inferior to itself, of glens, rivers, and lakes. 

 Ben Dairg. or the red mountain, so called from the red blocks 

 of granite that form its summit, is 3550 feet in height. 



The character and habits of this graceful and beautiful ani- 

 mal, the deer, we must not pass unnoticed. Of its graceful 

 motion, its stately carriage, and its picturesque appearance, we 

 need not speak, as there are few who have not had opportuni- 

 ties of seeing those qualities, though certainly in an inferior 

 degree, in the deer of our own English parks. But its courage, 

 its self-possession in danger, and its skill in so frequently out- 

 manoeuvring the enemy from whom danger is apprehended^ 

 are traits less known, because only developed when the animal 

 breathes freely the air of its native mountains. We have be- 

 fore alluded to the deer's sagacity in running up the wind when 

 pursued by the deer-stalker ; a still more remarkable circum- 

 stance is mentioned by Mr. Scrope, "that in Devonshire, when 

 hunted by dogs who are guided by the scent, they reverse their 

 usual custom, and run down the wind ! Something more than 

 unreasoning instinct must be present here. Like many other 

 animals, deer foresee changes of weather ; " sometimes," says 

 Mr. Scrope, " even two days before the change takes place." 

 At the approach of a storm they descend from the exposed hill 

 tops into the shelter of the valleys : when a thaw is about to 

 begin, they leave the lower grounds for the mountains. They 

 are excellent swimmers, and will cross from one island to an- 

 other in search of food, or of the hinds, and it is asserted that 

 on such occasions the rear animal puts his head on the hinder 

 part of the one preceding, he does the same to the one prece- 

 ding him, and so on with all the corps. 



When the rutting season comes, the harts are heard loudly 

 roaring defiance to each other throughout the forests. Each 

 endeavors to collect a number of hinds as his own, and should 

 he be disturbed by the approach of an intruder, a terrible bat- 



