The Deerhound. 129 



Lord Tankerville continues, that he was informed 

 of a remarkable deerhound, belonging to a poacher in 

 Badenoch, that never missed a deer. In due course 

 he obtained the hound, and called it Bran. Later 

 on it saved the life of a keeper from the furious 

 attack of one of the wild bulls of Chillingham. After 

 being delivered to his new home, Bran was placed in 

 the kennel, and it was thought that the pallisades with 

 which it was surrounded were sufficiently high to 

 prevent any dog getting over them. However, Bran 

 did succeed in scaling them, and Lord Tankerville, 

 having paid his money and lost his dog, was con- 

 siderably upset, and never thought of seeing the 

 hound again. However, in a few days the 

 " poacher" brought back the errant Bran, who 

 had, in fact, reached his old home before his master, 

 who was considerably astonished, on reaching his 

 cottage, to see his old companion rush forward 

 to meet him. The distance between Chillingham 

 and the man's cottage was about seventy miles, 

 and, to take the shortest route, which Bran no 

 doubt did or he would have caught his master on 

 the road, he must have swum Loch Ericht. 



No doubt modern dog shows have done much to 

 re-popularise the deerhound, now that he is so 

 seldom used for that purpose for which, shall I say, 

 nature first intended him. How little he is used in 



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