11 PREFACE. 



or by the side of the moorland loch. Would not 

 the dyspeptic student feel both his mental and 

 bodily powers increased by such a substitute for 

 his customary monotonous stroll ? And need I 

 tell the indolent voluptuary or midnight opium- 

 eater what benefit he might find, would he thus 

 change his stimulus, and ensure to himself the 

 quiet slumbers which follow temperance and 

 health ? I well know, indeed, the engrossing 

 nature even of these harmless recreations, and 

 am far from intending my book to lead any one 

 to spend as much time in them as I have too 

 often done. But I rather hope it may have a 

 contrary tendency, by communicating , to the 

 novice in Highland sports such knowledge as 

 he could not acquire for himself without long 

 practice and patient investigation. 



The sports of the field, when taken as recrea- 

 tions, and not as pursuits, may surely be ranked 

 among the most innocent ; nor can I see that 

 hours passed in such scenes as those I have 

 attempted to describe, need be lost to an obser- 

 vant and well-directed mind. 



