NOTES ON THE TEXT 529 



1892. Warned by the voice of nature that dissolution was 

 fast advancing, the shy creature had slipped away from the 

 company of her fellows to seek a quiet spot in which she 

 might await the arrival of the end with the calm resignation 

 of her race. Surely a sadder picture has been rarely seen 

 than this forlorn Hind presented, resting on her side, deep- 

 bedded in the marshy ground, helpless, and now advanced 

 beyond the reach of human succour. It was not that the germ 

 of any contagious malady had found lodgment in her frame to 

 mar her shapely outline, or to paralyse the powers of those 

 beautifully-proportioned limbs. She lay stricken by the disease 

 of poverty, a starved child of the mountain mist; but now 

 succumbing to the hardships of the winter season. Not as yet 

 had the film of death dimmed the soft lustre of those dark, 

 eloquent eyes — indeed the chest still heaved uneasily; the 

 plaintive groan which answered a caress of sympathy travelled 

 quickly to my heart. Only too sadly evident was it that her 

 small stores of strength were rapidly ebbing away. Already a 

 pair of Ravens, black as night, exchanged ominous congratula- 

 tions as they flew down from the impregnable fortress which 

 held their newly hatched young. Poised far aloft, a solitary 

 Buzzard kept lonely watch over the last throes of a prospective 

 prey. Now and again the echoes of the hills awoke from 

 peaceful slumber, starting into life at the bidding of that 

 querulous wail, which only too plainly betokened the greedy 

 appetite that longed to batten upon the waste venison of 

 Martindale. 



Order CETACEA, Fam. DELPHINIDJE. 



GRAMPUS. 



Orca gladiator (Lacep. ). 



' The only recent occurrence that I can positively vouch for ivas 

 stranded near SJcinburness in July 1876 ' (p. 49). 



This animal was one of a herd of six, which visited the 

 English Sol way in July 1874, exactly two years earlier than 

 stated in the text. It proved to be a female, and was in fine 



2 L 



