140 AUTUMNS ON THE SPEY. 



well as gamekeepers ; but in the eyes of the 

 experienced forester the former species, at any rate, 

 appears in a different light. He knows him to be a 

 valuable ally to the deer-stalker as a check upon the 

 inordinate increase of the prolific blue hare, Lcpus 

 variabilis, which indeed constitutes his favourite 

 prey. Every stalker can call to mind how many a 

 goodly stag has escaped from his rifle, just, perhaps, 

 at the very moment when success seemed almost 

 certain, through one of these animals suddenly 

 starting up in front of him, running towards the 

 nearest hinds and effectually alarming those watch- 

 ful sentinels, before the desired range was obtained. 

 During the autumn of 18G2 I passed a week or ten 

 days in the forest of Braemar, in the heart of the 

 Grampians, and besides good sport, deer-stalking, 

 I had the additional pleasure almost every day of 

 observing the golden eagle in his native haunts. 

 I well remember my first view of the noble bird 

 in this forest. He was soaring at a great height, 

 every now and then arresting his career and hover- 

 ing in the air like a kestrel, apparently watching 

 some victim in the far heather below, and attended 

 by a rabble rout of lesser birds, which, even 

 allowing for distance, I could hardly believe to 

 be larger than jackdaws. On examining them 



