IN SCOTCH DEER-FORESTS 67 



As an instance of the advance in value of Highland 

 shootings during the past twenty years, it is worth 

 noting that our old Ribigill forest has now, I am told, 

 been divided into two separate shootings, an additional 

 lodge having been built on the shores of Loch Loyal, 

 and that each half now brings a higher rent than the 

 whole property afforded in the days of which I write. 



We easily obtained our limit of 800 brace of 

 grouse and blackgame, as well as a fair share of 

 blue hares, rabbits, woodcock, and snipe. We caught 

 plenty of trout in Loch Loyal, and an odd salmon or 

 two in the river ; and last, but very far from least, 

 we shot the twelve stags to which our bag of deer 

 was restricted. 



It is of our deer- stalking experiences that I am 

 now chiefly concerned to write. Sport with the shot- 

 gun and the trout-rod are all very well in their way. 

 No one enjoys these pursuits more than the writer. 

 But I must confess to a certain amount of sympathy 

 with the attitude of Sandy MacDonald, the whilom 

 head-stalker of Ribigill, in his regard to the relative 

 importance of the rod, the gun, and the rifle. To 

 him the pursuit of the wild red-deer of his native 

 land was the serious business of the summer and 

 autumn, in comparison with which all other forms 

 of sport sank into insignificance and were considered 

 as mere child's play. Trout-fishing amused the ladies, 

 no doubt, and whiled away the August days until the 

 deer had cleaned their horns and grown some fat on 

 their haunches. Grouse-shooting also was a pleasant, 

 and perhaps necessary, sort of picnic on the moor, 

 calculated to please the shooting tenant and to afford 

 the dogs some necessary healthful exercise and 

 excitement. But Sandy's eye was always on the hill. 



52 



