214 
WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS 
CHAP. 
A dear friend, the late Sir Edward Kerrison, 
presented me with a very beautiful Purdey rifle of 
this calibre, the first Express, which burnt 4 drams 
of powder, and carried a conical solid two-grooved 
bullet weighing 200 grains. I considered that rifle 
perfection for deer-stalking in the Highlands, as it 
was point-blank for 150 yards—merely permitting 
the natural intelligence of the shooter to take the 
sight either coarse or fine, according to his estimation 
of the distance. During the season of 1868 I was 
enjoying the hills and hospitality of his Grace the 
Duke of Sutherland, and afterwards of the late Lord 
Middleton at Applecross ; I fired at fourteen stags 
with this Express solid bullet of Purdey’s. The rifle 
bagged thirteen out of fourteen ; and I felt ashamed 
of myself that the only escape was the first shot 
fired, at Dunrobin, when, never having previously 
fired the rifle, the extremely light pull of the 
trigger deceived me, and it went off by accident, 
breaking the fore leg of a hart just below the 
shoulder, to my disgust and disgrace. 
That little bullet was about the diameter of the 
modern *400, but, as its small weight denotes, it was 
exceedingly short. It may be readily imagined 
that the extreme velocity doubled up the soft lead 
upon impact with the tough muscles and bones of a 
red-deer, so that the bullet never passed through, 
but remained within the body, or generally beneath 
the skin on the side opposite to that of entrance. 
Although I have always regarded that weapon as 
perfection for deer-shooting, there was a difficulty 
