44 ERCHLESS AND FARLEY, 1917 



not long to wait for an answer, for on our way 

 to the West Hill, where we had spied plenty of deer, 

 Davie suddenly pointed to the green flats below 

 us and in front of us, and said there was a beast 

 lying there. On looking through our glasses we 

 saw it was a stag, and dead, and when we got up 

 to it we found it was a Royal ! It had fine rough, 

 strong horns and had been dead three or four days, 

 but we could find no trace of a bullet nor any sign 

 of disease or injury upon a superficial examination. 

 The head, of course, was all right, and it now 

 hangs on the drawing-room wall at Balblair 

 without adorning it much, however, as the wall- 

 paper is white and does not make a good back- 

 ground. Davie was of opinion that the stag must 

 have been shot on Corriehallie, where the keeper 

 had orders to kill as many stags as he could get 

 for the sake of the advertisement, as the place is 

 in the market. Anyway, he must have travelled 

 some miles ere he dropped, and it was very obliging 

 of him to drop on Farley, as he had a good head 

 and it was a lucky find. Soon afterwards, just 

 this side of the West Hill, we spied a shootable 

 beast, and after a not very clever bit of work 

 found we could get no nearer than 200 yards. 

 However, thinking we were in luck, I fired and 

 brought it off, and a nice 8-pointer lay beside us 

 atjlunch, weighing 14 stone 4 pounds. After 

 lunch Fortune was again kind, as we spied a good 

 stag on Corriehagh, a mile or twoTnearer home, 



