34 DAYS OF DEER-STALKING. 



October, the harts swell in their necks, have a ruff of long- 

 wiry hair about them, and are drawn up in their bodies 

 like greyhounds. They now roll restlessly in the peat 

 pools till they become almost black with mire, and feed 

 chiefly on a light coloured moss, that grows on the round 

 tops of the hills, so that they do not differ so entirely 

 from the rein-deer in their food as some naturalists have 

 imagined. 



In this state of rutting they are rank, and wholly unfit 

 for the table. Such deer a good sportsman never fires at ; 

 but many may be found at this time, not so forward, but 

 perfectly good; and they are, of course, easily distinguished. 

 This is a very wild and picturesque season. The harts are 

 heard roaring all over the forest, and are engaged in savage 

 conflicts with each other, which sometimes terminate fatally. 

 When a master hart has collected a number of hinds, an- 

 other will endeavour to take them from him : they fight, 

 till one of them, feeling himself worsted, will run in circles 

 round the hinds, being unwilling to leave them : the other 

 pursues ; and when he touches the fugitive with the points 

 of his horns, the animal, thus gored, either bounds suddenly 

 on one side, and then turns and faces him, or will dash off 

 to the right or the left, and at once give up the contest. 

 The conflict, however, generally continues a considerable 

 time, and nothing can be more entertaining than to witness, 

 as I have often done, the varied success and address of 

 the combatants. It is a sort of wild just, in the presence 

 of the dames who, as of old, bestowed their favours on the 

 most valiant. Sometimes it is a combat d I'outrance, but 

 it often terminates with the effect of the horn of Astolfo. 



In solitary encounters, there being no hinds to take the 

 alarm, the harts are so occupied, and possessed with such 

 fury, that they may be occasionally approached in a man- 

 ner that it would be vain to attempt at any other time. 

 From the summit of a mountain in Atholl forest, I once 

 saw two harts in fierce contention, in a mossy part lower 

 down the hill. I came into sight at once, not expecting to 

 see deer in the situation in which these happened to be. I 

 could neither advance straight forward, nor retreat, with- 

 out danger of giving the alarm. One possibility alone was 



