THE MANAGEMENT OF DEER FORESTS 79 



charters or grants of forestry over their own estates, 

 and as the numbers of these charters increased, the 

 few remaining rights of the great barons over the 

 lands of their neighbours fell into desuetude and were 

 no longer exercised. It is a singular circumstance, 

 that while these alien rights in deer have long ago 

 been extinguished, those over salmon still exist. 

 There are now many persons enjoying the right by 

 royal charter of salmon fishing in rivers, both banks of 

 which belong to a different owner, or perhaps to two 

 different owners. The explanation probably lies in 

 the fact that in the one case the land was required for 

 other purposes besides deer and wild animals, while 

 salmon form the only valuable property to be obtained 

 from rivers. 



It seems tolerably certain that, owing to the strict 

 preservation of deer in these large tracts of country, 

 stragglers from the vast herds which roamed over 

 them made their way to other places where, though 

 not so secure of protection, they found abundance of 

 food. Indeed, it is a question whether they did not 

 fare, in summer at any rate, even better than in the 

 royal forests. At the time we are speaking of there 

 were very few sheep in the Highlands. Cattle formed 

 the almost entire stock of the country. It has been 

 calculated that not more than a tenth of the available 



