The Zoologist — Skptember, 1871. 2761 



whom he told what he had seen. He then returned to his home, 

 and advised his father of what had hajDpened. " Oh, you silly 

 fool !" cries the father, " what a prize is lost; it would make you 

 and rae right all the days of our lives." But when they went back 

 to search the robber's pockets there was not a copper left. Not 

 long after " the herd" took a farm, and became wealthy. But now 

 for the wolf (for such it was) ; the country was roused, and they 

 tracked him with dogs through the Deil's Stairs (the Devil's 

 Staircase, in Argyle, on the borders of Inverness-shire), and over 

 the " Speckled Mountains," and found and slew him, and there 

 never was a wolf in Scotland more. The narrator also gave me 

 these bits of traveller's lore. Wolves, he said, are the best of com- 

 panions (ihey don't hurt one, he meant), walking alongside, if you 

 let them alone, and are not suspicious of them ; but if you lose 

 confidence they will seize you instantly. If a pack of wolves 

 come on you, and you carry a stick, if you trail the slick behind 

 you they will all turn tail and flee. This is worth knowing— if 

 true. 



" There are two races of McDonalds in Braeriiar," says Miss 

 Taylor, " each with its own distinctive legend. One of them states 

 that a little boy of the name of McDonald was carried away by a 

 wolf from Glen Cluny, wolves being at that time very plentiful. 

 After carrying him off, the wolf did not destroy him, but treated 

 him instead as one of her own cubs. So he grew up a veritable 

 wild man of the woods, and not unfrequently joined the wolves 

 in their predatory expeditions. With such companionship and 

 designs he often visited the house of his mother, and was hounded 

 off by the dogs. By some means it was discovered who he was ; 

 and his relations, having traced him out to his lair, succeeded in 

 communicating the circumstances of his birth and abduction. 

 They prevailed on him also to leare his sylvan life, and settle 

 down in a somewhat tamer manner. He never would return to 

 his mother, however, being apparently unable to get over the fact 

 that she had hounded him off with dogs ; and he often reproached 

 her, it is said, in some Gaelic rhyme, which is a Utile too coarse 

 for translation. He married at length, and from him proceeded 

 the race known as the ' Sliochd a' Mhadaidh Alluidh,' — i. e. ' The 

 Race of the Wolf " * 



"Between Brabster and Freswick, in Caithness, at a hollow 

 • ' Tales and Traditions of the Braemar Highlands,' pp. 71, 110, 111. 



