POLTALLOCH 11 



Inverness. He was coming down the river to 

 fish on a very stormy and windy day, when he 

 saw something running along the bank, every 

 now and then stopping and looking as if it wanted 

 to get across the river, but was afraid to jump in 

 and tackle the stream. He threw down his rod 

 and ran after it, picking up two or three stones 

 as he went. Owing to the wind, and the noise 

 of it and of the stream combined, the animal did 

 not seem to hear him until he got within about 

 fifteen yards of it, when it stopped and looked 

 round at him, and he saw that it was a cat. In 

 an instant he "let go one of the stones at it, 

 catching it on the head, and it rolled over." Cer- 

 tainly the occurrence was a most remarkable one ; 

 but to those who remember the narrator's accu- 

 racy of aim and power of throwing, the fact of his 

 getting a chance at a wild cat will seem more 

 strange than his success in taking advantage of it. 

 The beautiful little pine marten still makes an 

 occasional appearance in Argyleshire. Two at 

 least have been trapped upon the Poltalloch 

 estate during the last ten years. One was caught 

 there about 1890, and the keeper then told me 

 that the last he had trapped before was caught 

 "the day the new church was opened," which 

 fixes the date as 1853. Another, a bitch that had 

 never had cubs, was caught in Oib Graem, in the 

 rabbit warren, in 1895. Colonel Malcolm of 

 Achnamara, a keen naturalist, greatly regretted 



