58 FEBRUARY 



houses. At Ball, on Loch Kannoch, the hinds 

 actually took corn out of the forester's hand, and 

 at Dunalastair stags and hinds crowd down to hay 

 laid close by the public road. 



XXI 



The riverside remains the chief attraction for 

 The frozen a ^ f rms f ^ e > though very few parts 

 river re main unfrozen. Snipe rise before you, 

 flit a few yards, and alight again. This frost, if it 

 continue, means death to them, for they are already 

 so weak that they cannot make their way to more 

 genial latitudes. Wild geese, generally so plenti- 

 ful in the meadows between Halkirk and Wester- 

 dale, have departed, but mallard still linger on the 

 marshes, and a few mergansers frequent their usual 

 fishing grounds. This morning a brace of wild 

 swans were on the point of alighting on the Manse 

 pool, where I was fishing, when they caught sight 

 of me, and winged their way further up the river. 

 The gillie told me he knew exactly where they 

 would be found, and assured me I could get a fine 

 chance at them. I surprised, and perhaps dis- 

 gusted, him by saying that if I were to be offered 



