228 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



of very strong tobacco. The morning was all we could wish, 

 calm, grey, and mild. As we passed the banks of the loch, 

 roe-deer were quietly cropping the greensward which sloped 

 to the water's edge, and now and then a fine buck would raise 

 his head and look listlessly over his shoulder, as if wondering 

 what business we had to be so soon astir. The black-cock, 

 surrounded by his hens, was crooning his matins on the tops 

 of the knolls, and was answered by the red-cock with many a 

 cheery but eccentric call, from the more distant heights. A 

 male hen-harrier was flitting stealthily above the heather, 

 seeking his breakfast where it would be easily found, with 

 small chance of human company at his morning meal. Now 

 and then an Alpine hare would canter lazily away, or raise 

 herself upon her hind legs to listen, moving about her inquis- 

 itive ears. 



For some miles we walked along the road which intersects 

 the lower end of the forest, when Peter suddenly turned into 

 its gloomy depths. Small flocks of deer now crossed us fre- 

 quently, and sometimes a large herd would saunter past at a 

 slow walk. Occasionally we saw their profiles on the crests 

 of the mountains, or at feed, dotted along some distant corrie, 

 in appearance no bigger than roes. 



Peter had been entertaining me with many a hunting anec- 

 dote, or with the natural history of some of the wild denizens 

 of the forest, when the first streak of the rising sun struck the 

 gaunt head of a bald cliff in the centre of the mountains of 

 Corrach-Bah. " Now, sir," suiting the action to the word, " in 

 that craig is your eagle." A threatening crag it was ; from 

 the view I got, it seemed as steep as the side of a house from 

 top to bottom. For the first time I felt a slight misgiving, 

 lest the shot might be crank and difficult when the bird flew 

 out of such a rugged mass. What if I should miss ! How- 

 ever, I banished these craven thoughts, and marched on 

 merrily as before. 



We were still a long mile from our rocks, when a dark bird 



