2 AUTUMNS IN ARGYLLSHIRE 



land sport, and the study of wild nature in many 

 aspects, may be my justification for submitting my 

 rough sketches to the public in a collected form, 

 and, like my master and model, I ask indulgence 

 for their unfinished style, and for the necessarily 

 copious use of the first person singular. I have 

 jotted down from time to time these personal re- 

 miniscences of various kinds of sport as typical, 

 not of extraordinary successes, but of fairly normal 

 experiences ; and as they were generally written 

 down while the facts were fresh in my memory, 

 they may, I trust, be relied upon as accurate. 

 Perhaps they may awake pleasant recollections in 

 the minds of some who have enjoyed the same 

 healthy and restful relaxation in the great play- 

 ground of the British race. 



It is difficult for those who receive the annual 

 influx of agents' circulars offering every descrip- 

 tion of Highland sport and accommodation, to 

 realise the changes that have come over the High- 

 lands during the century now drawing to its close. 

 If Walter Scott, the pioneer of picturesque Scot- 

 land, were recalled to life, he would hardly recog- 

 nise more than the external natural landmarks of 

 many of the scenes which he described so well. 

 The open hospitality which, in his time, made 

 every casual visitor to the village inn or manse free 

 to range hill or river-side after stag, muirfowl, or 

 salmon, of course became impracticable when im- 

 proved means of communication sent a vast invad- 



