238 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [CHAP. xxxi. 



over the edge of the water in the most lady-like and elegant 

 manner. Parts of the loch were edged in by old lichen-covered 

 rocks ; while farther on a magnificent scaur of re4 stone rose 

 perpendicularly from the water's edge to a very great height. 

 So clearly was every object on the opposite shore reflected in 

 the lake below, that it was difficult, nay impossible, to dis- 

 tinguish where the water ended and the land commenced the 

 shadow from the reality. The sun was already set, but its rays 

 still illuminated the sky. It is said that from the sublime 

 to the ridiculous there is but one step ; and I was just 

 then startled from my reverie by a kind of grunt close to me, 

 and the apparition of a small waddling grey animal, who was 

 busily employed in hunting about the grass and stones at the 

 edge of the loch ; presently another, and another, appeared in a 

 little grassy glade which ran down to the water's edge, till at 

 last I saw seven of them busily at work within a few yards of me, 

 all coming from one direction. It at first struck me that they 

 were some farmer's pigs taking a distant ramble, but I shortly 

 saw that they were badgers, come from their fastnesses rather 

 earlier than usual, tempted by the quiet evening, and by a heavy 

 summer shower that was just over, and which had brought out 

 an infinity of large black snails and worms, on which the badgers 

 were feeding with good appetite. As I was dressed in grey and 

 sitting on a grey rock, they did not see me, but waddled about, 

 sometimes close to me ; only now and then as they crossed my 

 track they showed a slight uneasiness, smelling the ground, and 

 grunting gently. Presently a very large one, which I took to be 

 the mother of the rest, stood motionless for a moment listening 

 with great attention, and then giving a loud grunt, which 

 seemed perfectly understood by the others, she scuttled away, 

 followed by the whole lot. 1 was soon joined by my attendant, 

 whose approach they had heard long before my less acute ears 

 gave me warning of his coming. In trapping other vermin in 

 these woods, we constantly caught badgers sometimes several 

 were found in the traps ; I always regretted this, as my keeper 

 was most unwilling to spare their lives, and I fancy seldom did so. 

 His arguments were tolerably cogent, I must confess. When I 

 tried to persuade him that they were quite harmless, he answered 

 me by asking " Then why, Sir, have they got such teeth, if they 



