198 British Deer and their Horns 
rattling pace before the hounds, though seldom giving a very long run. When the deer is 
bayed he is not killed, and the hounds are whipped off. 
Roe are poached a good deal in Scotland, and there are two districts in the North where 
never a good animal is killed by the tenants. A good head is marked by the poachers in 
June and July, and seldom gets a chance of living till the arrival of the shooting tenant. 
They are generally shot with a rifle at daybreak, and in two towns in the North there are 
three men I know of who do nothing else during these months. One of these, who, of 
course, lives in Inverness, was returning with a companion early one morning from 
a poacher’s trick for capturing roe by means of set hooks 
Dochfour when the latter, who had a roe on his back, and his loaded gun, in two pieces, 
inside his long coat, stumbled in crossing a brook. The gun went off and shot the 
unfortunate man dead on the spot. The other poacher was at once apprehended and, having 
to give evidence in the case, proved satisfactorily that he was not in any way responsible for 
his companion’s death. This same man had marked a buck with an exceptional head out 
Moy way ; he killed it at daybreak, threw it over a wall into the road, and was preparing 
to follow, when who should come driving along in his dog-cart but the laird himself. 
There was nothing for it but to hide behind the wall. Now the laird too had had his eye 
on that buck for some time, but had hardly expected to get it so easily. However, he said 
nothing, merely threw the roe into his trap, and proceeded on his way. 
