HISTORY OF THE LINLITHGOW 



wire had begun to show itself in places. Not- 

 withstanding these disadvantages, a great deal of 

 good hunting country remained uninjured, and 

 there was little to prevent hounds running both 

 far and fast with a good scent. For some years 

 prior to Mr Charles Ramsay's death, Stirlingshire 

 had been hunted much less frequently and ex- 

 tensively than in former times, but now that the 

 control came to rest with Colonel Gillon, who had 

 always been averse to any relaxation regarding 

 the hunting of that part of the Hunt's territory, 

 the resumption of it to a great extent was almost 

 assured. Indeed, Colonel Gillon undertook to 

 hunt a tract of country ranging from the borders 

 of Dumbartonshire and Perthshire to Corstorphine 

 in Mid-Lothian, including the Carse of Stirling and 

 Linlithgowshire,^ and through the expanse of this 

 area it was hoped that there would be both 

 spring and autumn hunting, of which latter there 

 had been but little for some time past. "Now 

 [1865] there is no cub-hunting, except they have 

 a turn or two at the Corstorphine hills, which 

 are all rocks and braes and brambles. They 

 generally begin there, and the gardeners and 

 keepers light fires and net the rocks in some 

 places, and even then the foxes will not be forced 

 away, but make wild dashes at the nets." ^ Nor 

 as a matter of fact did Colonel Gillon depart from 

 the spirit of his undertaking, since, during his 



1 'Edinburgh Evening Courant,' 16th February 1866. 



2 ' Field and Fern ' (South), 1865, p. 56. 



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