ON THE MAMMALIA OF THIS DISTRICT. 205 



endeavouring to outvie the other. It lias often 

 been a question in my mind whether the lies which 

 one generally hears when a parcel of " falconers, 

 fishermen, and hunters are wont to congregate," 

 are spontaneous and hatched on the spot, or 

 whether there is a glimmering of truth at the 

 bottom. Harmless as this practice of drawing the 

 long-bow may be when confined only to a man's 

 own exploits, it is attended with this serious dis- 

 advantage, one never knows how much to believe, 

 and doubtless many a true tale is set down as 

 false. For my part, I dare scarcely ever make a 

 note of what I hear out here, and probably lose 

 much valuable information from the fact of doubt- 

 ing its truth. 



The night was chilly, and the blue faces of 

 those who had camped out (their beards and 

 whiskers powdered with the white hoar-frost) 

 looked grim enough in the grey twilight of morning. 

 However, no one complained. We had a rare 

 line of country for the day's drive, where we were 

 certain to find elk, and all were impatient to be 

 "up and at them." We had nearly six miles to 

 walk to our posts, and the drivers had to make a 

 wide circuit, commencing at the very boundary of 

 the estate, to drive the elk back into the home 

 forests. It was therefore nearly four hours before 

 we heard anything of them again. My post on 



