IN A DEER-FOREST 227 



the ptarmigan never think of going to fatter fields ; 

 they are always plump and contented. How comes 

 it that, although English plains, with all their wealth 

 of seed, produce no game-bird bigger than a part- 

 ridge (pheasants being an importation), these awful 

 wastes are peopled by fowl so much bigger V 



But life in high regions is full of interesting puzzles. 

 Wheresoever the carcase is, there the bird called 

 ' eagles ' in the text will be found gathered together; 

 but what do they when there is no carcase ? Last 

 year a stag was shot one morning on Beinn Bhreac 

 (2971 feet), a hill not very far from that on which 

 I am lying. It was gralloched, and left till the 

 afternoon, when the carcase was found to be covered 

 literary darkened with clouds of blowflies, while 

 the paunch and entrails a few yards off were swarm- 

 ing with yellow dungflies. Yet not one of these 

 had been visible till something was provided worthy 

 of their attention. 



There are several highest inhabited houses both 

 in Scotland and England, about as many, it has 

 been calculated, as, if put together, would reach 

 half the length of Pont Street ; but the lodge in this 

 forest beats them all, being 1725 feet (O.M.) above 

 sea-level ; too high for the potato, though that pro- 



