194 DAYS OF DEER-STALKING. 



they are, bringing up their families in idleness and profli- 

 gacy ; proceeding from crime to crime, till at last their 

 career ends either on the gallows, or in transportation. I 

 have fined and imprisoned scores of these vagabonds, some 

 of them two or three times over, and I never yet heard of 

 one that was reclaimed. They are absolute thieves, for 

 there can be no sport in taking a hare out of a wire, or 

 shooting a pheasant on his perch by night. 



Your Gael, on the contrary, has a fine rough sort of sense 

 of honour about him peculiar enough to be sure thus, 

 " the man who refused thirty thousand pounds for betray- 

 ing his prince, was hanged at last for stealing a cow." It 

 was not long since a poacher was taken in the forest of 

 Braemar : having some good points in his character, the 

 nobleman who rents the ground very generously told him, 

 that if he would promise never topoach againjn that district, 

 his gun, which had been taken from him, should be restored, 

 and he himself should be set at liberty. He very coolly 

 replied that he wished to have an hour to consider of the 

 matter ; at the expiration of that time he stepped forward 

 and said, " Ye may tak' my gun, and me too, for I will no 

 gift the promise.'' 



Occasionally some superstitious dread will do more to 

 prevent deer-stealing than the most rigid legal enactments. 

 An instance having such a tendency occurred some years 

 ago in the forest of Atholl. 



There is a shooting lodge built at Felaar, which lying 

 between the Atholl and Braemar country, has often afforded 

 a warm night's rest to travellers overtaken by darkness in 

 that bleak and rugged country ; when left unoccupied, it 

 has frequently been taken possession of by poachers. Two 

 such characters arrived there some few years ago after a 

 pretty successful foray, and finding the door resist their 

 efforts, they broke open the window, and thus having 

 gained admittance, they kindled a fire, and began to con- 

 eider themselves quite at home. Their first object was to 

 prepare their supper, but having no water in the house, one 

 of them undertook to fetch some ; for this purpose he was 

 obliged to get out of the window. Having put forth his 

 legs first, he was resting his arms on the window-sill, with 



