CURRENTS OF AIR. 137 



warned by instinct, they are enabled to avoid an enemy 

 in front, and can go boldly forward over rugged ground 

 and high points, without being surprised by an ambush. 

 It would appear, then, at the first glance, that one's 

 manoeuvres, so far as relates to the wind, would be simple 

 and easily conducted; but this is by no means the case, 

 the currents of air change according to the disposition of 

 the ground ; there are corries so situated that the swells of 

 wind come occasionally from various quarters, and there 

 are burns whose general tendency is in a direct line, but 

 in whose various curvatures the wind comes sometimes 

 from the north, and at others from the opposite quarter : 

 for it must be noted, that it always blows up or down 

 a glen never across it. 



Thus in particular situations, you cannot ascertain the 

 exact course of the wind without consulting that of the 

 clouds, to which a hill-man always looks; but in all 

 doubtful points, when the sky is cloudless, and the air 

 tolerably still, a little tow dropped from your hand will 

 indicate its course. When a lesser glen or burn de- 

 bouches into another where the deer are on foot, and the 

 current of air is one point only against you, your wind 

 will be carried down the glen you pass, into the other at 

 right angles to it, so that you must let all the deer pass 

 the point of connection between the two glens before you 

 cross the one in question. 



It is impossible to describe the various nice points and 

 shifting of the air that may occur in the course of the day ; 

 they can only be understood by long practice and observ- 

 ation ; and observe, my good friend, that the most extreme 

 caution is indispensable as to this point; for without 



