CH. X. VALUE OF HORNS. 151 



birds' eggs, skins, etc., which they resell to visitors 

 at Inverness, or even to sportsmen who, taking the 

 stag's head to England with them, pass it off as 

 a trophy of their own skill and prowess. I have 

 known instances of this kind, although it is diffi- 

 cult to understand how a man can exhibit as his 

 own shooting, and nail up over his hall-door, a 

 stag's head which he has bought for three or 

 four pounds instead of shooting it, without being 

 ashamed to behold such a memento of his own 

 weakness and want of good faith. 



In my opinion, the general run of the old stags' 

 heads in Sutherlandshire are the handsomest of 

 any in Scotland, in the way the horns are set on 

 the head and in the shape of the horns themselves. 

 The largest and oldest heads that I have seen in 

 that county form a fine, widely-stretched circle, the 

 tops of the antlers arching inwards towards each 

 other. I never myself saw horns with so fine a 

 spread and arch in any other county, though I do 

 not pretend to say that such may not be seen else- 

 where. A nobler sight than a herd of well-an tiered 

 stags standing clearly defined on the horizon, and 

 combined with the surrounding scenery and all the 

 et ccetcras of the country which they inhabit, can 

 scarcely be imagined. On the wide grassy plains 

 between Loch Shin and Aultnaharrow, and between 



