1 82 The Red Deer, &c., in Glen Garry Forest. [Sess. 



in getting into close quarters with the deer when they wanted 

 to do so. 



The shooting did not begin until early in September, and, 

 notwithstanding what I had seen, the skilled shots who visited 

 our section of the forest had very poor sport, and I was sur- 

 prised to hear how difficult it was to get within range of the 

 stags when one had a rifle with him. At times the deer were 

 to be seen by us literally in hundreds. It was interesting to 

 approach them and watch how inquisitive they were, and how 

 the whole herd was surrounded with solitary stags on sentinel 

 duty. They seemed so overcome with surprise, especially 

 when ladies were with us, that they allowed us to walk within 

 a short distance of them. When we were considered to have 

 approached too near, some veteran stag, their leader, gave a 

 loud bark, not unlike that of a dog, which was the signal for 

 the herd to move on. Then there was a rush of the hinds, 

 and, as soon as they were safely off, the stags followed. It 

 was always an interesting and beautiful sight to watch these 

 wild creatures and study their ways. 



The sportsmen used our stable, and started from and re- 

 turned to our place, so we had opportunities of seeing all the 

 stags that were shot. I was surprised one evening to find 

 that one of two stags brought down from the mountain had 

 only three sound legs — one of the fore-legs having been 

 removed at the knee joint. The injury was an old one and 

 the wound quite healed. How the stag had met with it no 

 one knew, and this stag had not been observed by the foresters 

 until they saw it that day during the stalk, as it lagged behind 

 the herd a little. The sportsman did not want to shoot, but 

 the forester with him begged him to kill it, which was done. 

 With only three legs in use it must have had a struggle for 

 existence, but I was surprised to see it in such good condition 

 as it was. How it managed to feed in its crippled state was 

 the mystery. I found the muscles of its remaining fore-leg 

 greatly developed, no doubt from the continuous strain upon 

 it and to compensate for the loss of the other limb. The 

 muscles of the portion of the injured leg that remained were 

 shrivelled up, and what remained of the limb was no longer 

 of any visible use. The question naturally arises, How could 

 this maimed creature with only one fore-leg run, and even 



