48 DEER -STALKING. 



slipped upon other occasions. The mar-plot above alluded 

 to is an old dog, and very good for the purpose ; he 

 had winded without seeing the deer hence his mistake. 



Glenartney is a beautiful little forest, walled round by 

 fine green hills, but the deer being too numerous for its 

 extent, are rather small. It also stands high, and is not so 

 well sheltered as might be desired ; on which account the 

 deer, when the winter storm sets in severely, although fed 

 to the full, cannot remain to eat their food, and are 

 obliged to seek the shelter of the woods for many miles 

 round, far beyond their* bounds. At night they wander to 

 the turnip-fields for sustenance, where numbers are shot 

 by poachers, who watch the gates and openings into the 

 fields. One man boasted to me that he had in that manner 

 killed six during one storm, with a common fowling-piece 

 loaded with ball. The turnip-field where he performed 

 this feat was more than twelve miles from the forest. 



Perhaps as fine deer as any in the kingdom are those 

 of the Black Mount. The cup * on the top of the horns 

 of many, according to Highland phrase, would hold a gill 

 of whisky ; and yet there are heads now preserved in 

 Taymouth Castle, which show that their forefathers, though 

 fewer in number, were even greater than they. The Black 

 Mount is twenty-one miles long by twelve broad ; and the 

 Marquis of Breadalbane, notwithstanding his numerous 

 engagements in public life, has not neglected this noble 

 appanage of a Highland proprietor. No expense or 



* The three top prongs of the horn, growing out together, form a cup. 

 There is no cup at all except in the finest and oldest stags. 



