XVi RECOLLECTIONS OF THE AUTHOR. 



in getting extra holidays, and this rather too 

 frequently for our progress up the ladder of 

 learning. In one way these holidays were not 

 wasted ; they were almost always spent with him 

 on some long wild ramble, or shooting excursion, 

 which he made valuable and instructive by his 

 conversation, teaching us to observe carefully all 

 we saw in nature. In the winter evenings he 

 taught us drawing and chess, so graphically 

 described by Mr. Innes in his memoir of my father. 

 A first-rate sportsman, an excellent shot, and fond 

 of making a good bag for home use or for friends, 

 yet he had no delight in killing, and thoroughly 

 disliked battue-shooting. His chief pleasure was 

 in watching and noting the habits of all creatures 

 ferce natural — as his books show. 



I shall never forget those happy young days, 

 when trotting in my kilt by his side, or left in 

 the path or track by which the roe-deer would 

 leave the wood, while he went round with the 

 dogs to drive them to where he had placed me. 

 In this way I killed my first deer — a feat my 

 father was as proud of as I was. 



The love of natural history fostered in us has 

 always been of good service to my brothers and 



