PREFATORY MEMOIR. XXI 



the ringing cheers of the crowd. The silver cup, with its in- 

 scription, is of course an heirloom at Eossdhu." 



At the only International Boat-Kace which has ever taken 

 place between England and Scotland the race between the 

 professional watermen of the Thames and the Cardross 

 ferrymen of the Clyde which came off on the Mersey, 

 30th October 1839, and ended in a victory for the Thames, 

 Mr Colquhoun held the office of starter. 



After his marriage in 1834 with Frances Sara, fourth 

 daughter of E. Fuller Maitland of Park Place and Stansted 

 Hall, a lady of many gifts and accomplishments, Mr Col- 

 quhoun continued to reside in Scotland. From that time 

 the records of his life are written in ' The Moor and the 

 Loch.' He was not merely a mighty hunter, he was also 

 a great naturalist in the unscientific sense, it is true ; but 

 still he possessed a knowledge of the habits and charac- 

 teristics of beasts and birds that only long years of pene- 

 trating observation and kindly sympathy could have ac- 

 cumulated. He had much of the spirit of Gilbert White in 

 his character, and, unlike the great majority of sportsmen, 

 his interest was as great in studying as in killing his prey. 

 Wanton destruction of animal life always called forth his 

 strenuous opposition, and he was ever ready as the champion 

 of any animal that seemed threatened with extinction, from 

 the eagle to the badger. His tastes as a sportsman were 

 those of the older school ; he confesses his " sympathies with 

 the Scotch poacher of fifty years ago, who for sheer love of 

 sport sallied out over the well-known hills, and with his 

 quaintly broke collie-dog and rusty single-barrel enjoyed him- 

 self to the full." He was no friend to the battue or to driv- 

 ing ; but although he did not disguise his dislike for practices 

 which he regarded as derogatory to the true sportsman, he 

 accepted them as established institutions, and laid down 

 sound rules for conducting them. For himself, he ever dealt 

 with game in a fair and manly spirit, looking rather to the 



