1 86 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS chap; 



about by some sudden and unaccountable inroad of the sea. 

 Indeed, the appearance of the whole of this barren district 

 would lead one to the same conclusion. At any rate, amongst 

 the numerous traditions regarding the origin of the sandhills, I 

 never heard one that quite satisfied my mind. Whatever it 

 once was, it is now a mere barren waste, or, as a friend of mine 

 named it, a kind of Arabia Infelix, inhabited only by wild 

 animals ; and it seems a wonder that even these have not long 

 ago been starved out of it. Whatever the rabbits and hares 

 feed on, they are larger there than in the more cultivated and 

 fertile parts of the country ; and the foxes are like wolves in 

 size and strength. Owing to the solitude and quietness of the 

 place, I have seen the foxes at all hours of the day prowling 

 about, or basking in the sun, or sometimes coolly seated on the 

 top of a sandhill watching my movements. I have occasionally 

 fallen in with their earth or breeding-place. The quantity of 

 remains of different animals, which they have brought to these 

 places to feed their young, proves the fox to be a most universal 

 depredator. Turkeys which have been caught at several miles' 

 distance, tame geese from the farms, and wild geese from the 

 sea-shore ; fowls, ducks, pheasants, and game of every kind, 

 including old roe that have been wounded, and young roe too 

 weak to resist their attacks, all appear to form part of this wily 

 robber's larder.^ He also takes home to his young any fish 

 that he finds on the shore, or that he can catch in the shallow 

 pools of the streams during the night-time. No animal is 

 cunning enough to escape the fox ; wild duck or wood-pigeon 

 (the most wary of all birds) fall to his share. Patient and 

 cunning, the fox finds out the pool where the mallard and his 

 mate resort to in the evenings, and lying in wait to the leeward 

 of the place, in some tuft of rushes, catches the bird before it 

 can take wing. One night, seven of my domesticated wild 

 ducks were taken from the poultry-yard, close to the house. 

 After some search, we found some of the birds concealed in 

 different places in the adjoining fields, where the fox had buried 

 them, not having time to carry them all to his earth that night. 

 He fell a victim to his greediness, however, being caught in a 

 trap a few nights afterwards. 



1 Even small birds are not disdained, yellow-hammers and hedge-sparrows, as we 

 have seen. Moles too are a favourite food. 



