58 iVILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS chap. 



beast ; and one of the dogs was quite young at the time, and it 

 would have been a grand chance for blooding him." 



Many a deer is killed during the bright moonlight nights. 

 The poacher in this case finds out some grassy burn or spot of 

 ground, where the deer are in the habit of feeding. Within 

 shot of this, and with his gun loaded with three pistol-balls, or 

 a bullet and two slugs, he lies ensconced, taking care to be well 

 concealed before the time that the deer come to feed, and keep- 

 ing to leeward of the direction in which they will probably 

 arrive. Many an hour he m^ pass in his lonely hiding-place, 

 listening to every cry and sound of the different animals that 

 are abroad during the night-time, and peering out anxiously to 

 see if he can distinguish the object of his vigil approaching him. 

 Perhaps, although he may hear the deer belling or clashing 

 their horns together in the distance, none come within reach of 

 his gun during the whole night ; and the call of the grouse- 

 cock just before daybreak, as he collects his family from their 

 roosting-places in the heather, warns him that it is time to leave 

 his ambuscade, and betake himself home, chilled and dispirited. 

 It often, however, happens that he hears the tramp of the deer 

 as they descend from the more barren heights to feed on the 

 grass and rushes near his place of concealment. On they 

 come, till he can actually hear their breathing as they crop the 

 herbage ; and can frequently distinguish their ghostlike forms 

 as they pass to and fro, sometimes grazing, and sometimes 

 butting at each other in fancied security. His own heart beats 

 so that he almost fears the deer will hear him. Often his 

 finger is on the trigger; but he still refrains, as no deer has 

 come into full view which he thinks worth killing. At last a 

 movement amongst the herd apprises him that the master stag 

 is probably approaching. And suddenly the gaunt form of the 

 animal appears in strong relief between him and the sky, stand- 

 ing on some rising bit of ground, within thirty yards of the 

 muzzle of his gun. The next instant the loud report is echoing 

 and rolling along the mountain side, till it gradually dies away 

 in the distance. The stag, on receiving the shot, utters a single 

 groan, partly of affright and partly of pain, and drops to the 

 ground, where he lies plunging and floundering, but unable to 

 rise from having received three good-sized pistol-balls in his 

 shoulder. The rest of the herd, frightened by the report and 



