24 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



for bringing the wounded deer to bay. They are for the most 

 part a breed between the fox-hound and greyhound, but some 

 are between the deer-hound and fox-hound. The former are 

 reckoned the best winded. The forester is justly proud of 

 these dogs, mentioning that some of them, when chasing a 

 cold (un wounded) hart with hinds, were so knowing that, 

 should the hart give them the slip at a burn, and run down 

 it, they would stop their pursuit of the hinds, recover his 

 track, and hold him at bay all night should no one come to 

 their relief. The cunning of the old forest -rangers is also 

 remarkable. Once, when some young dogs were being entered 

 at the two-year-old harts, a stag-royal presented himself, but, 

 seeing he was not the immediate object of pursuit, he wit- 

 nessed the whole chase from the shelter of a plantation ; and 

 when the foresters returned they again started him, close to 

 where he was first put up, when he dashed into the thicket 

 of the wood. There was a tame one kept at one of the 

 shooting-lodges which attacked every one but the foresters, 

 and at last was removed to the park at Tay mouth. This 

 fellow became so savage and expert with his antlers, that he 

 killed, I have been told, two horses, and no one dared to pass 

 his haunt unless he knew them. 



The finest red-deer head I ever saw was that of a park-deer 

 killed by a stab in the flank from another in the Duke of 

 Athole's park at Blair. Of course high feeding was the cause 

 of his immense horns. Such a head is never met with in a 

 wild state. I have now a five-year-old in my brother's park 

 at Eossdhu, and mean to try whether good keep will have the 

 like effect upon his antlers. He is very savage ; no one dares 

 to go near him without a dog. The Athole deer was fourteen 

 years old. 



