26 LONGEVITY OF DEER. 



A very large stag was known for 200 years in the Mo- 

 na-lia, a range of mountains lying between Badenoch and 

 Inverness. He was always seen alone, keeping the open 

 plains, so that he was unapproachable. He was easily dis- 

 tinguished from all others by his immense proportions. 



About the year 1777, Angus Macdonald, after stalking 

 for five hours, got within shot of Damh-mor-a-Vonalia, 

 as he was called (that is, the large stag of Mona-lia) : he 

 fired, and saw distinctly with his glass that the ball had 

 entered his left shoulder-blade. He fell to the shot, but, 

 not being severely injured, recovered, and got away. 



Macdonald soon made known that he had wounded the 

 Damh-mor, but there was some scepticism on the subject. 

 In 1807, thirty years after this occurrence, the Damh-mor 

 was shot four miles to the westward of the inn at Gar- 

 viemore, at the head of Badenoch. Thus it was : - 



John Macdonald (innkeeper there, and brother to An- 

 gus, who wounded the deer as above), having heard that 

 the hart was seen in his country, went in quest of him ; 

 and, after stalking nearly a whole day in August, got 

 within distance, and brought him down. After a minute 

 examination, the ball of 1777 was found in the left shoulder, 

 an inch under the skin, which still retained the mark of 

 an old-standing perforation. The horns were by no means 

 remarkable in point of size; but that on the left, being 

 the side on which the deer was wounded, was ill-shaped and 

 defective. 



The belief in the extraordinary longevity of the red 

 deer is not peculiar to the Highlands. I have been in- 

 formed by a gentleman, who has frequently attended the 

 Duke of Saxe Coburg's deer-hunts, that he has very lately 



