278 WANDERINGS AND MEMORIES 



quite a good stock of grouse on the place, which 

 are seldom *' hard " shot, owing to the necessity of 

 keeping the forest quiet in the later part of the season, 

 whilst Ptarmigan are abundant, notably on Ben 

 Ivan and Carn-na-Righ (I saw a flock of two hundred 

 one rough day), though kept somewhat in check by 

 the Golden Eagles that constantly hunt them. In 

 the early part of the season few stags make their 

 home in Fealar, as it is essentially a " late " hind- 

 forest, but when the big harts work in from Mar early 

 in October it is swarming with deer, and attracts 

 many of the best stags from this famous forest 

 when the wind goes to the north-west. These old 

 fellows know the marches only too well, for a single 

 hind moving in Fealar is enough to set them 

 travelling for home at the slightest alarm, even 

 if in retreat they have to go down-wind. Mar 

 itself, perhaps the finest, as well as the largest, 

 forest in Scotland, is seldom " hard " shot, and 

 contains an immense number of stags. The poorer 

 quality work north to the edges of Glenfiddick, Glen- 

 f eshie, Gaickand Rothiemurchus ground, but the best 

 stags summer just over the ridge of Fealar, at the 

 heads of the numerous burns from which the main 

 Dee valley receives its waters. They work west- 

 wards, looking for hinds when the season advances, 

 remaining for about a month on Fealar; then, re- 

 crossing the ridges, they descend to the main Dee 

 valley for the winter, whilst a few cross over Fealar 

 and winter in the Athole forest. 



In the autumn of 1918 my uncle, Mr. Melville 

 Gray, with Mr. John Calder and Mr. Wedderburn, 

 rented the forest of Fealar, and invited me to spend 

 the last fortnight. Owing to the depletion of 



