A STORMY WEEK IN THE FOREST 107 
golden eagles circling round and round. We saw 
no deer up to two o'clock ; but whilst taking 
lunch we suddenly saw several stags coming round 
the side of a distant hill. We hastily finished our 
lunch and set out on what proved to be a long and 
exciting stalk. From time to time we had to 
remain lying perfectly flat, not daring to move a 
muscle. Once we thought every chance of success 
was gone, for an old cock-grouse rose with his 
" Go-back," " Go-back," as we were nearing the 
rock from which we hoped to get a shot. The 
sun, of which we had seen nothing for so long, 
kept coming out and going in again. On a long 
stalk of this kind it is extraordinary what one 
sees and how ineffaceable is the memory of these 
sights — the eagle circling over the high tops not 
far distant; the blue hare leisurely making off, 
then stopping, sitting up and looking back ; the 
ptarmigan, so beautiful in its mottled plumage, 
running in front of us, stopping now and again 
and peering around; the old cock-grouse rising 
with his warning described above, which too 
often brings the stalk to an untimely end; the 
many insects, some of them so strange and weird, 
that we see as we lie flat gazing into a clump of 
grass and moss; the granite boulders sparklmg 
