REMINISCENCES OF A ROSS-SHIRE 

 FOREST. 



BY LIEUT. -COLONEL HENRY SMITH. 



[MAGA. AUG. 1883 AND FEB. 1884.] 



I. 



SOME eight or ten years ago I was asked to go up 

 to Boss-shire to stalk deer, and I refused, to my 

 everlasting shame be it spoken. I preferred shooting 

 grouse, partridges, and other vermin, in a southern 

 county. I had arrived at the conclusion, knowing 

 nothing whatever of the subject, that deer-stalking 

 was a delusion and a snare a very much overrated 

 sport. I had heard of men wading up burns for a 

 few miles, crawling on their stomachs for a few more, 

 lying behind a rock for an hour or two in a cold 

 October day, and then nearly getting a shot at a stag ; 

 and I had made up my mind such sport wouldn't 

 suit me. Next season, however, I got another chance, 

 and thinking there might be something in it after all, 

 I resolved to go. "And then you got to like it?" 



