292 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XX. 



rifles, whose echoes are heard in almost every High- 

 land corrie. Even where deer are most carefully 

 preserved and most numerous, the finest antlers 

 are generally laid low every season ; so that there 

 are few left whose heads are thought worthy of 

 being kept as a trophy : yet small as they now 

 comparatively are, the value of a stag seems to 

 depend more on his horns than on his haunches. 



I am much inclined to think that the uncertainty 

 of getting a shot at deer in wood is even greater 

 than on the open mountain. The cunning of the 

 animals, and dislike to being driven in any one 

 direction, frequently render abortive the best 

 arranged plans for beating a cover. Sometimes 

 the deer are off at the first sound of a beater, at 

 another time they will lie quietly without moving 

 till all the men have passed them, and will then 

 sneak quietly back in the contrary direction. 



I was this very year particularly struck with an 

 instance of deer escaping in this manner. I was 

 placed with a friend on passes commanding the 

 extremity of a long narrow patch of cover which 

 grew on a steep brae overhanging a beautiful river 

 in Eoss-shire ; and the beaters were to commence 

 their work at the other extremity of the wood. 

 We had taken our stations at a considerable height 

 above the river, at the most likely pass for the deer 



