HOMING INSTINCTS OF WOUNDED DEER 133 
finding him not at home, I took the rifle. I got 
to about 120 yards of the stag, but shooting 
too low, I grazed his foreleg below the heart ; 
he did not give me another chance then, but 
left the hinds and turned to the south across 
the top. When I got to the top I noticed him 
about half a mile from me ; keeping him in view 
he went for about two miles south, then turning 
south-west I kept him in view for three miles, 
then lost sight of him, but I could understand by 
the movements of some hinds the Hne he was 
taking. I made for the place where I lost sight of 
him, but having got there I could see nothing. I 
followed up the burn that rises at Cairn-an-S— — , 
and after getting half-way up the burn, I came out 
to the open to spy. I was spying for some time, 
and was putting my glass in its case when I 
noticed a black object about half a mile away, 
about the size of a blackcock. I used my glass, 
and who was this but the Royal lying in the 
centre of the Glashan, on quite level ground. 
He was lying down licking the scratch where I 
wounded him earlier in the day. With great 
difficulty and after a long crawl I got to about 
70 yards of him, and shot him through the 
neck. That was a lucky range, as the rifle was 
