THE GRALLOCH. 63 



it makes fully a stone extra weight, and hence the 

 discrepancies one often hears of in adjoining forests, 

 where the deer are always passing to and fro, and are 

 identically the same, and yet in Mr. A's forest the 

 deer will always be a stone heavier than in Mr. B's. 



In forests where there are grouse shootings attached, 

 and a salmon river also, it is by no means a difficult 

 feat to bring off the " swagger " performance, as my 

 young friends at Eton would call it, and kill flesh, fowl, 

 and fish all in the same day. The first two the stag 

 and the grouse are nearly certainties, and it is Mr. 

 Salmon, with his capricious appetite, who usually stops 

 the way to the achievement of the treble event. 



As to the " gralloch," it is very rarely that the gentle- 

 man is called on to perform this necessary task for 

 himself. Smoke your pipe, sit well to the leeward, 

 and spy for other deer while it is in progress. Once 

 only has it happened to me to be called on to perform 

 this operation. The stalker had been sent home to 

 fetch a pony to carry back a big stag I had shot, and 

 which I was anxious to get home that night. During 

 the man's absence of some five hours I found other 

 stags, and successfully stalked and killed one; but 

 pleased as I was with myself, the gralloch yet had much 

 the same effect as a trip from Dover to Calais. I am 

 not aware whether cattle, sheep, &c. have the same 

 internal arrangements as the red deer, which has three 

 distinct stomachs : the first, the bag into which the 

 grass passes direct; a middle one, where it becomes 

 more digested ; and a third, which seems to be the fine 

 and small grinding mill. This third stomach is of a 



