WANDERING POACHERS. 245 



one or another. The claim can rest with the landed pro- 

 prietors only. It is a fair give and take business, accord- 

 ing to the direction of the wind ; your third man, however, 

 steps in, and, I am inclined to think, enjoys the sport 

 much more than those who are privileged to follow it. 

 In the History of Badenoch, it is mentioned that Cluny 

 Macpherson deprived a man of his arm, and of one of his 

 eyes, who killed deer afterwards in this mutilated condi- 

 tion. I do not mean to defend the lawless proceedings of 

 poachers, but I cannot help confessing that there is some- 

 thing so adventurous and so full of picturesque character 

 in these rough fellows so much skill exhibited by them, 

 and such endurance of climate and fatigue, as may, in some 

 degree, be admitted as extenuating qualities ; and I would 

 not, as Shakspeare's townclerk says, " condemn them to 

 everlasting redemption for this : " I would simply transport 

 them to the wilds of America, where they could enjoy 

 their sport without injury to any one, and we might carry 

 on a trade of furs and skins with such free trappers. 



Deer-poaching is carried on in two distinct methods. 

 In the one case, by a man who belongs more or less to the 

 spot, and who hovers about the moors, watching the 

 keepers, and seizing his opportunity; and in the other, 

 by gangs of marauders who go from forest to forest, as the 

 wind serves, and act in concert : these latter men take 

 possession of some deserted bothy, or even of the shooting 

 lodges, if they are left unoccupied. There was a bothy on 

 Tarff side so frequented by them, that it was thought 

 necessary to pull it down altogether. These poachers 

 commence their operations chiefly at the termination of 

 the regular season, so that the harts are entirely rank and 



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