i6 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS CHaP 



family remove, like their betters, to the seaside, passing over 

 hill and valley in a straight line, to some remembered rocks 

 and caves, where the dam has wintered before. 



Round the small hill-lake, too, are seen the tracks of the 

 fox and wild cat. Their nightly maraudings seem to lead 

 them always in the direction of water. During the heats o{ 

 August, when at a loss for grouse, I have always found it a 

 good plan to hunt round any lake that may be at hand — as 

 the old birds lead their young daily to the water's edge to 

 drink, and to pick up the small angular stones, numbers of 

 which are invariably found in the stomach of the grouse, being 

 probably necessary to grind down their dry and hard food. 

 The hen-harrier and falcon, too, seem to hunt in these places, 

 knowing that if grouse fail them, they are sure to find either 

 a duck or snipe, or perhaps a large flock of plovers huddled 

 together on the pebbles which edge the water. In fact, the 

 mountain lake seems to be always a kind of rendezvous for all 

 wild animals ; and I doCibt if any grouse-shooter or deer-stalker 

 ever passes near their clear waters without going out of his 

 way to look along the margin, or to refresh himself by gazing 

 over the cool surface. 



When you are shooting, too, there is the inducement of 

 hoping to find a brood of ducks or teal, which few hill-lakes 

 are without. I have sometimes found great numbers of these 

 birds, collected in some quiet pool on the hills, in August or 

 September, before they have descended to feed on the corn in 

 the low country. 



Many a Highland lake has a legend attached to it, and 

 however improbable the tale may seem to the incredulous 

 Sassenach, the Highlander believes firmly in the truth of it. 



Some perspn, endowed doubtless with a prominent organ 

 of destructiveqess, has within the last few years invented an 

 implement for fishing the lakes, called the otter ; and though it 

 is rather a poaching sort of affair, still I consider it quite a fair 

 way of catching trout in some of the mountain lochs, where a 

 rod could be used to no good effect, and where it would be 

 impossible to launch a boat. Its principle of motion is exactly 

 similar to that of a boy's kite. Acted upon by the resistance 

 of the water, the otter, which consists of a small thin board, 

 about fourteen inches by eight, and leaded on one edge so as 



