SEPT. RED-DEER. 291 



book of his master. Very different would be the 

 description given of our Scotch fishing by one who 

 thus practised the gentle craft of angling on the 

 level grassy banks of the lower pools of the Find- 

 horn, to that of the sportsman who followed up the 

 pursuit of the salmon over the rugged, and often 

 dangerous, passes of the rocks which overhang the 

 deep black pools and rushing torrents of the same 

 river between Dulsie Bridge and the Heronry. 



Most of the roebucks have, by the end of Sep- 

 tember, put on their winter covering of rich 

 mouse-coloured hair; so different from the thin 

 red coat they wear during the summer. Until 

 they have quite changed colour the roe are not 

 in sufficiently good condition to make them a fit 

 object of pursuit for the sportsman. The stag is, 

 however, in perfection both as to condition and 

 beauty, during this month. 



The size of the horns of the red-deer depends to 

 a certain degree on the feeding which the animal 

 gets in the spring and end of winter. If his food 

 has been poor, and if he is much reduced, the horns 

 do not acquire their full development and size. 

 Fine heads of horns are now much rarer than they 

 were a few years ago. The reason of this probably 

 is, that the stag before it attains a mature age gene- 

 rally falls a victim to one of the numerous English 



