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TOUR m SUTHERLANDSHIRE,
EXTRACTS FROM THE FIELD-BOOKS
A SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST.
By CHARLES ST. JOHN, Esq,
DTHOR OF 'WILD SPORTS AND NATURAL HISTORY OF THE niCHLANDS.
WITH WOODCUTS.
IN TWO VOLUMES. — VOL. IL
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1849.
London ; Printed by Wh,liam Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street.
CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR CONTINUED.
CHAPTER XXI.
OCTOBER.— PAET I.
Migration of Birds — Quails — Arrival of Wild Geese — White-
fronted Goose — Arrival of Wild Swans j decrease of — Feast-
ings of our Ancestors — Food of Ducks, &c. — Field-mice —
Eoe feeding — Hawks — Peregrine and Wild Duck — Train-
ing of Hawks — Migration of Eagles . . • Page 1
CHAPTER XXII.
OCTOBER.— PAET II.
A SEA-SIDE -WALK IN OCTOBER.
Beauty of a fine October morning — Departure and arrival of
Birds — A walk along the Coast — The Goosander — Golden
Eye and Morillon — Plovers — Widgeon ; habits of in Feed-
ing ; occasionally breed in Scotland — Sands of the Bay —
Flounders — Herons — Curlews, Peewits, &c. — Oyster-birds
— INIussel Scarps — Sea View — Long-tail Duck — Mallards
— Velvet Ducks ; mode of Feeding — Eabbits and Foxes —
Formation of the Sand Hills ; remains of Antiquity
found in them — Seals — Salmon-fishers — Old Man catch-
ing Flounders — Swans — Unauthorized Fox-chace — Black
Game — Roe . . . . . . • . 17
VOL. II. a 2
IV CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
CHAPTER XXIII.
NOVEMBER.
The Snow Bunting — Regularity of appearance — Tomtit and
Thrushes ; worthy of protection — The Water Ousel — Trout
— Otters ; their defence of their young — Otter-hunting —
Habits of Otters — Seals ; power of remaining under water ;
habits of; decrease of — Wild Swans — Plovers, &c. — Dun
Divers — Hares ...... Page 42
CHAPTER XXIV.
DECEMBER.
Owls ; destruction of Mice by them — Frogs — Snakes — Roe-
bucks — Fondness of Birds for Sunshine — Loch of Spynie —
Habits of Wild Fowl ; rapidity of their flight — Retrievers —
The Otter ; shooting of, by night — Eley's Cartridges — Wild
Swans — Accidents in Shooting — Variety of Country in
Moray — Forres ; public Walks of — Rabbits — Foxes — Im-
migration of Birds — Conclusion .... 56
DEER-STALiaNG.
CHAPTER XXV.
Deer-stalking ; enjoyment of — Fine Stag ; ill-luck in stalking ;
escapes of Stag ; start in pursuit of him — View of Country
— Roebucks — Hare and Marten — Tracks of Deer ; find the
Stag ; death of — Meet the Shepherd — Cottage . 77
CHAPTER XXVI.
Sleeping in Shepherd's House — Start in the Morning — Eagle —
Wild Geese — Find Deer ; unsuccessful shot — Rocky Ground
— Wounded Stag — Keeper and Dog — Walk Home . 96
CONTENTS OF VOL. II
EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS.
NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY AND ON SHOOTING.
CHAPTER XXVII.
Length of Life of Birds — The Eagle — Swan — Geese —
Falcons — Fowls — Pigeons — Small Birds — Great age of
Eagles and Foxes — Red Deer — Destruction of Old Stags —
Eoe — Sheep — Rifles ; size of their bore — Double-barrelled
Rifles — Size of Small Shot — Cartridges — Impossibility of
laying down general rules — Necessity of discretion in all
writers on Natural History .... Page 117
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Disease amongst Grouse ; difficulty of assigning its cause • —
Supply of Grouse to Poulterers — Netting game, legal and
illegal — Disguised Poachers — Game- Laws — Preserves —
Criminality of Poachers — Epidemics amongst Hares, &c. —
Black Game — Hybrids — Woodpigeons — Geese — Sen-
tinels 128
CHAPTER XXIX.
The Landrail; Arrival and Habits of — Cuckoo — Swift —
Associations connected with Birds — Enjoyment of Life by
Birds — Falcons — Water-Fowl ; their different modes of
Swimming — Wild-fowl shooting — Wounded Ducks — Re-
trievers ; care which should be taken of them — Plumage of
Water-Fowl ; its imperviousness to wet ; the cause and limits
of this 142
VI CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
CHAPTER XXX.
Taming and Education of Wild Animals — The Eagle ; his
■want of docility — Courage and Intelligence of the Noble
Falcons — The Hound — Keturn of Cats to their home —
Maternal Instinct of Cats — The Carrier-Pigeon — Wood-
Pigeons — Dovecot-Pigeons — Sight of Pigeons — Blue-rock
Pigeons — Crested Titmouse — The Eobin ; pugnacious dis-
position of — Sparrows ; impudence of . . Page 153
CHAPTER XXXI.
Instinct of Birds — The Woodcock carrying her young — Herons
— Water-Ousel — Nest of Golden-Eye Duck — Habits of Birds
— Talons of Falcons and Hawks — Stuffed Birds — Plumage,
&c. of Owls — The Osprey and Sea Swallow — Manner of
Fishing — Carrion-feeding Birds — Manner of finding their
Food — The Eagle — Seuse of Smell in Birds — in Ducks
and Geese — Power of communicating with each other —
Notes of Alarm — A few words respecting destroying Hawks,
&c. — Colour of Birds adapted to concealment — Instinct of
Birds finding Food— Red Deer — Tame Koebuck . 164
SCOTCH STREAMS AND LAKES.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Kivers, Streams, and Lakes in Scotland — The Tweed — The
Lakes and Streams of Argyleshire — Loch Awe — A Contest
with a Salmo ferox — Inverness-shire, Ross-shire, and Suther-
land — Pike not an injurious destroyer of Trout — Char —
The River Shin — Pertinacity of Salmon in ascending Streams
— The Beauly — The Findhorn — The Spey — The Dee —
Decrease in the number of Salmon ; its causes and its cure —
Extent of the trade of Fly-making .... 184
CONTENTS OF VOL, II.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Learned Dog and Show-woman — Education of Sporting Dogs
— Hereditary Instinct of Dogs — Their thievish propensities
descend to their offspring — Bad-tempered Dogs — Breaking
of Dogs — Their jealousies — Their Hunting alliances —
Attachment of a Dog to his Master - - Dog-eating reprobated
— Bloodhounds — Skye Terriers — Dogs combining against
a common enemy — Old Dogs — Singular instance of sagacity
in one Page 197
AVINTER SKETCHES.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Grouse ; Hardiness of — Difference of Climate in Morayshire
— Migratory habits of Partridges — Grubs, &c. destroyed by
Pheasants — Ptarmigan — Ptarmigan Shooting during winter
— An Expedition to the Mountains — Early start — Tracks of
Otters — Otter-hunting — Stags — Herons — Golden-eyes —
Wild Cat — Mallards — Tracks of Deer — Grey Crows —
Eagle — Shepherd's hut — Braxy mutton — Ascent of the
Mountain — Ptarmigan — Change in the weather — Dan-
gerous situation — Violent Snow-storm — Return home —
Wild-duck shooting — Flapper-shooting . . . 216
HIGHLAND SHEEP.
CHAPTER XXXV.
Introduction of Sheep into the Highlands — Aversion of High-
landers to Sheep; disliked by Deer also — Prophecy — Activity
of black-faced Sheep ; instincts of — Mountain Sheep in enclosures
— The Plaid; uses of; various ways of wearing; manufactures
of; invisible colours — Shepherds — Burning of heather — Natu-
ral enemies of sheep — Shepherds' Dogs — Origin of Dogs 241
VIU CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
GAME-DEALERS.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Poulterers' Shops — Supply of Game — Red Deer — Deer killed
in the Fields — Roe — Grouse and Black Game ; calling of —
Shooting Hares by night — Pheasants — Advantages attending
the sale of Game by the fair Sportsaaan and the Landed Pro-
prietor — American Game — Wild Fowl in Shops — Bird
Dealers in Leadenhall Market — Norway Game — Manner of
collecting — Hybrids — Introduction of new species of Game
into Britain — Prolific Birds — Sea-fowl ; their breeding places
— Solan Geese — Migration of Fish . . Page 257
FISHERIES.
CHAPTER XXXYII.
Supply of Fish in Scotland — Herring fishery — Highlanders
coming to Herring-fishing — Fishermen of east coast — Dif-
ference of Language in Nairn — Departure of Herring-boats ;
dangers to which they are exposed — Loss of Boats and lives
— Fishing in good weather — Loch fishing — Fishing Sta-
tions on west coast — Fishing for Haddocks, &c. — State of
British Sea-fisheries 272
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
VOLUME IL
Searching for Wild Fowl Eggs
. Frontispiece.
Entrance to Bay of Cromarty .
. To face page 1 7
Dead Stag and Eagles
,, 77
Roebuck
117
Return from Shooting
,, 185
A
SHORT TOUR n SUTHERLAND.
FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR CONTINUED.
CHAPTER XXI.
OCTOBER.— PART I.
Migration of Birds — Quails — Arrival ofWild Geese — White-
fronted Goose — Arrival of Wild Swans ; decrease of — Feast-
ings of our Ancestors — Food of Ducks, &c. — Field-mice —
Roe feeding — Hawks — Peregrine and Wild Duck — Train-
ing of Hawks — Migration of Eagles.
October is, in this country, one of the finest months
of the whole year. The cold cutting winds of
November are frequently preceded by bright, clear,
sunshiny weather, most enjoyable and invigorating
to all whose avocations and amusements keep them
much in the open air. The birds, both migratory
and stationary, begin now to establish themselves
in their winter quarters ; and scarcely a day passes
which is not marked by the arrival or departure, or
the winter preparations of some of the feathered
races in this country.
• VOL. II. B
2, FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXI.
On the 4th of October, during the mild season of
1847, I found a pair of young woodpigeons in a
nest near the house. A few days afterwards they
were both dead, either from the old birds having
been killed, or from the coldness of one or two of
the succeeding days. The latest landrail that I
killed was on the 6th, and a fatter bird of any de-
scription I never saw.
Three or four quails were killed at the beginning
(jf October, in the eastern part of the county.
During the month of May I constantly heard the
call of the old birds close to my house ; and we saw
them several times basking in the sun on one of the
gravel walks.
On the 11th and 12th large flocks of wild geese
passed to the south. There was at the time a con-
siderable sprinkling of snow on the Ross-shire and
Sutherlandshire mountains. None of the grey or
bean-geese seemed to alight anywhere in this neigh-
bourhood during the autumn 3 but a flock of that very
beautiful species the white-fronted goose took up their
quarters about the fresh-water lakes. Being anxious
to procure one of these birds, I went the following day
to look for them. It is a long, tedious walk through
the wild, desolate country which bounds the sand-hills
to the westward, and separates them from the lochs
and swamps which the swans and geese frequent
OCT. WHITE-FRONTED GEESE. 6
when in this region. After a long search for the
birds a sudden gleam of sunshine showed us their
yellow bills and white foreheads conspicuously above
the rough grass and herbage of the swamp in which
they were feeding. They did not appear to have
taken any alarm at us ; so putting myself under
the guidance of my old keeper, who seemed to have
a perfect knowledge of every ditch and hollow
of the ground by which an approach could be
made, I crawled and wormed myself along to within
sixty or seventy yards of five of the birds. To get
any nearer, unseen, was impossible ; raising my
head, and trusting to Eley's cartridges and No. 3
shot, I fired and killed a brace of these very beau-
tiful birds ; a third fell, but rose again, and reco-
vered himself.
The white-fronted geese remained in or near the
same district, with only occasional absences, during
the whole winter, and until the month of April ;
their habits in this respect being very unlike those
of the bean-geese, who in this region are never
stationary for above a few days. The white-fronted
goose is the handsomest species, both as to form
and plumage, that we ever see in Scotland. The
full-grown birds are distinctly and beautifully
marked with black bands on the breast, and have a
pure white spot on the front of their head. They
b2
4 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXI.
are of a compact, firm shape, and walk with great
activity and lightness while feeding. Unlike the
bean-goose, they frequently feed in pools and
swamps where some favourite plant grows ; and in
situations which the sportsman can easily approach,
sometimes close to furze or other cover. The other
kinds of geese never by any chance commit them-
selves in the same manner, but always feed and
rest in the most open situations, where it is almost
impossible to approach tliem unseen. The white-
fronted goose has much more the form and appear-
ance of the common tame goose than the bean-
goose. In this respect, as well as in the peculiar
shape of the head and bill, it exactly resembles the
grey lag.
A single very large wild swan appeared on the
lakes on the 18th of October, and on the 20th he
was joined by two more. The wild swans, on their
first arrival, almost always fly into the bay from the
south, coming in flocks of one hundred to two hun-
dred together. The only way I can account for this,
knowing that they must of necessity have wended
their way from the north, is, by supposing that they
first alight on some of the mountain lakes between
Findhorn and Strathspey. A large flight of these
noble birds, as they circle round the fresh- water lakes
on their first arrival, is one of the most beautiful
OCT. WILD SWANS. 5
sights imaginable. There is, too, a wild harmony in
their bugle-like cry, as they wheel round and round,
now separating into small companies, as each family
of five or six seems inclined to alight, and now all
joining again in a long undulating line, waiting for
the word of command from some old leader, whose
long acquaintance with the country and its dangers
constitutes him a swan of note among the common
herd. At last this leader makes up his mind to
alight, and in a few moments the whole flock are
gradually sinking down on the calm loch. After a
brief moment or two spent in looking round them,
with straight and erect necks, they commence sip-
ping the water, and turning their flexible necks into
a thousand graceful curves and attitudes. They
then break off into small companies, each apparently
a separate family, and set to work, with seemingly
a most excellent appetite, on the water-grasses and
plants. I regret to say that the number of wild
swans seems to decrease every year. Fewer and
fewer visit this country, scared away, probably, by
the yearly alteration made in their favourite haunts
and feeding-grounds by draining and other im-
provements, which substitute oats for rushes, and
sheep for wild fowl, an alteration by no means
gladdening to the eyes of my old garde-chasse. The
diminution in their numbers does not result from
6 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXI.
the quantity killed, whichj comparatively speaking,
is inconsiderable.
On their first arrival the swans are much less shy
and wary than they are after a few weeks' expe-
rience and knowledge of the dangers which sur-
round them. On these lochs, which are tolerably
quiet, a flock generally remains during the whole
winter. The feeding is good, and when anything
disturbs them, the sands of the bay oflfer them a
sure refuge. I seldom interfere with them, unless
I happen to want one for any purpose ; and in
reward for this forbearance I have the pleasure of
seeing them every day in nearly the same part of
the water, either feeding on the plants or pluming
themselves on the small banks and islands. Their
favourite loch is, of course, the one least accessible
to any enemy.
The flesh of the wild swan, at least of those who
feed inland, is perfectly free from all strong and
unpleasant flavour, their food consisting almost
wholly of a kind of water-grass which has a
bulbous root. In these lochs there is a good
supply of this plant, and the swans become very fat,
so much so as to make it exceedingly difficult to
preserve the skins, the only part of them which I put
to any use. When the feathers are picked out, there
remains on the skin a great thickness of very beau-
WILD SWANS.
tiful snow-white down, which, when properly dressed
by a London furrier, makes boas and other articles
of ladies' dress of unrivalled beauty.
Our omnivorous ancestors appear to have been
great eaters of swans. Amongst other dishes at a
feast in the reign of Edward IV., mention is made
of '•'•four hundred swans.*' Those said ancestors
must have had marvellous capacious stomachs ; for
at the same feast there was the like number of
herons, besides endless other little delicacies, such
as " two thousand pigs ;" the last entrees men-
tioned being " twelve porpoises and seals," these
probably being reserved to the last as a honne-
houche. Truly, the tables must have groaned, lite-
rally, not figuratively, under the burden of the good
things laid upon them.
The wild swans, on their first arrival, as I before
remarked, are not nearly so wild as subsequent ill-
treatment renders them, and I never found much
difficulty in procuring a brace, or more, early in the
season. Awaiting their arrival at a feeding-place
is generally the surest way of getting a shot, or by
waylaying them in their passage fi-om one loch to
another. On a windy day I have got at them,
where the situation has been favourable, by dint of
creeping up through bog and ditch. In rough
weather they are not so ready to take wing, and
8 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXI.
with good management may be driven from one
end of a loch to the other without quitting the
water.
October is the month when the greatest number
of widgeon arrive in the bay ; and the mallards,
also, keep up a constant quacking and calling or
the sands. Every evening at sunset, or soon after-
wards, the latter birds fly to the stubble fields, pre-
ferring those where there is the least quantity of
grass to cover the scattered grains. The water-
ousels now come down to the burns near the sea ;
and these merry little birds resort to the very same
stones year after year. They appear to be regular
attendants on the small streams and burns where
the trout spawn.
Immediately on the retiring of a flood in the
river, great numbers of snipes are seen on the mud
and refuse left by the water, feeding busily. Where
they come from is difiicult to say, as at this season,
except on these occasions, we have no great abund-
ance of these birds. Redshanks, in considerable
flocks, follow their example. On the 16th I see
redwings in the hedges ; fieldfares do not appear
until ten days afterwards. The woodpigeons now
fly considerable distances to feed on acorns. In the
south of England I have killed wild ducks with their
crops nearly bursting with the quantity of acorns
OCT. FIELD-MICE. y
they had swallowed. They collect them from the
single oak trees standing in grass fields.
From the variety of food found in the crops of
wild ducks it is evident that these birds must
wander far and near, during the night, and often
into places where no one would expect to find them.
Though the peewits generally leave us early in
October, a flock is sometimes seen at the end of the
month. The golden plovers collect in great crowds
on the banks of the river to enjoy the morning sun.
They are now in excellent condition.
The proceedings of the common long-tailed field-
mouse are amusing, and indicate the care with
which these little animals provide against the cold
and scarcity of the winter. They dig deep holes in
the stubble-fields, in which they collect large stores
of food, such as grain, acorns, nuts, and even
cherry-stones. On the approach of cold winds or
rain they shut themselves up in their underground
habitations, closing the aperture completely. The
quantity of earth which they dig out and leave
at the mouth of their hole in a single night is quite
astonishing. At the instigation of the gardener my
boys wage war against these little animals. By
pouring water into the holes the poor mouse is
obliged, nolens volens, to bolt like a rabbit driven
out by a ferret.
b3
10 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXI.
Late in the afternoon I constantly see the roe
feeding on those clover fields where there is sufficient
second growth to attract them. Nothing can be
more graceful than the light and agile movements
of this animal while nibbling the tender shoots of
the bushes or trees on which it feeds. The wild
rose and the bramble are amongst its favourite
morsels : from the long twigs of these plants it
nibbles off leaf by leaf in the most graceful manner
imaginable. As the leaves fall from the birch and
oak woods the roe quit them, and take to the fir
plantations, where they have more quiet and shelter.
The foresters accuse these animals of being very
destructive to their young oak trees ; and fond as I
am of them, I am afraid that I must admit the
accusation is just, as they undoubtedly prefer the
topmost shoot of a young oak-tree to almost any
other food. Nevertheless, the mischief done to the
woods by roe is but trifling when compared to that
done by rabbits. Many an acre is obliged to be
replanted owing to their destructive nibbling ; and
in some of the beautiful woods of Brodie I saw the
fine holly-trees of many years' growth, with stems
of six inches in diameter, perfectly killed by being
barked by rabbits.
Most of the hill-bred hawks, such as hen-harriers,
merlins, peregrines, &c., come down now to hunt
OCT. PEREGRINE CHASING A MALLARD, 11
the fields, which are clear of corn, and also to feed
on the plovers, &c., which frequent the shore. I
sometimes see the peregrine in pm-siiit of wild
ducks ; and one day I observed a hawk of this kind
give chase to an old mallard. The pursuit was
rather curious, reversing the usual order of things,
as the falcon's great object was to keep below the
mallard instead of above him ; the latter endeavour-
ing all he could to get to the water, in which case he
knew, as the hawk did also, that his chance of
escape would be the greatest. Once in the water,
his own element, by diving and swimming he would
soon have baffled his pursuer. I don't know what
was the end of the chace 5 the last I saw of them
they were winging their rapid flight straight across
the sea for the opposite coast of Ross-shire. Either
the hawk was not willing to strike his prey while
over the water, or the mallard had a vigour of wing
which enabled him to keep ahead of his murderous
enemy.
My tame peregrine, after some years spent In
perfect friendship and alliance with our pet owl,
ended in killing and eating her ; a piece of un-
generous barbarism which I should not have sus-
pected so fine a bird would have committed. They
seemed to have quarrelled over the remains of some
bird that was given them. At any rate all that
12 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXI.
remained of the poor owl was a leg or two and
some of the longer feathers.
The country in its present enclosed state is not
so well adapted to the sport of hawking as formerly ;
but, as far as relates to the training of the birds,
the process is much more simple and easy than is
generally supposed. Of course the trainer must
take in hand a bird of the proper kind, such as a
peregrine, a merlin, or an Iceland or ger falcon.
A goshawk is tractable enough ; but has not the
same dash and rapid flight as any of the true long-
winged falcons.
The first step is to accustom your bird to the
hood, without which you can do nothing ; but most
hawks allow themselves to be hooded quietly enough,
and are then to a great degree under your com-
mand, as when hooded you can carry her when and
where you like on your hand, and familiarise her to
your voice and to being handled.
The next step is to accustom the hawk to feed on
the lure, and only on the lure, so as to fly directly
to it whenever she sees it : indeed, the lure ought
only to be shown when the bird is to feed.
These two points gained, you must proceed to
flying the hawk in an open field, substituting a long
silken string, or " creance," for the short leathern
strap, the "leash," by which you always hold.
OCT. TRAINING OF FALCONS. 13
her. By taking her out hungry, and by showing
her, when mounted in the air, the lure with food
attached to it, you will find that she will swoop
at once down to her usual feeding-place, which, as
I have said, should be the " lure " only.
After doing this two or three days, if the hawk
appears tractable, and not at all shy or wild, take
her out when very hungry and let her mount
without any " creance ;" and when she is well
up in the air, toss down the lure, which until
then should be concealed, and ten to one but the
hawk will immediately come down upon it with the
rapidity of an arrow ; and a more beautiful sight
than the swoop of a hawk from a great height I do
not know.
To make her kill her game, you must at first let
her fly at a pigeon, or other bird, with its wings
partially cut, so as to ensure the hawk against
failure at the commencement. After she has killed
two or three birds in this way, she will probably
kill any bird you may fly her at in a favourable
country. But in this fine old sport the mere killing
the game is almost a minor consideration. The
flight, the soaring, and the rapid detection of, and
descent upon, the lure, are in themselves most
interesting and beautiful.
I am not sufficiently skilled in the science, even
14 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CII. XXI.
if I had time and space, to attempt technically to
descrihe or make others understand all that is
required to constitute an accomplished falconer.
The moulting of the falcons, their keeping, feeding,
and training, must all be perfectly understood and
carefully attended to ; and although almost any
person who has his time at his command may
manage to keep a single hawk in good training and
obedience, yet to carry out the amusement to any
degi'ee of perfection, a professed and skilful falconer
must be engaged, whose sole and entire employ-
ment should be to attend to the health and educa-
tion of the birds.
The training of falcons is much facilitated by
the natural disposition of the bird, which is bold,
confiding, and fearless ; and these qualifications,
assisted by the keen sense of hunger felt by all
animals of prey, render their taming and education
far more easy than would at first be supposed.
Next to the peregrine the merlin is the best hawk
to train, being equally bold and fearless ; and,
although of so small a size, has courage enough to
dash fearlessly when launched from the hand at
whatever bird it may see on wing. A merlin be-
longing to a friend of mine would fiercely assail a
blackcock. This hawk, too, is so beautiful and so
finely formed, that a prettier pet cannot be found ;
OCT. GOSHAWKS. 15
and when once a hawk is accustomed to the hood,
the trouble of keepmg her is very little.
The goshawk, although a fine handsome bird,
has not the speed of any of the long- winged hawks,
but she flies well at rabbits. I am told that the
instantaneous manner in which this hawk kills a
rabbit, by breaking its skull at a single blow, can
only be understood by those who have seen it.
But I am wandering into a subject of which I
know too little from personal experience to render
my remarks of any value ; and will only recommend
those of my readers who possess time and energy
to procure a peregrine falcon in good health and
perfect plumage (the latter point is most important),
and then, with some treatise on hawking in one
hand, try if he cannot soon train the hawk which
sits hooded on his other. With a fair share of
temper, patience, and careful observation, he will
be sure to succeed.
The goshawk is the most rare kind in this
country. The only place where I know of its
breeding regularly is the forest of Darnaway ; but
I am told that they also breed in the large fir woods
near the Spey. The bright piercing eye of the
goshawk has a peculiarly savage and cruel expres-
sion, without the fine bold open look of the pere-
grine. At this season that singular hawk, the osprey,
16 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH, XXf.
is sometimes seen soaring, with its kestrel-like fliglit,
along the course of the river. I occasionally see
one hovering over the lower pools ; but, in general,
this bird is seen only in transitu from one side
of the country to the other. The golden eagle,
too, passes on his way at this season from north to
south, frequently attended by a rabble rout of grey
crows, who, when they have pursued the kingly bird
for a certain distance, give up the chace, which is
immediately taken up by a fresh band, who in their
turn pass him over to new assailants. It would
appear that each set follows him as long as he is
within what seems their own especial district, like
country constables passing on a sturdy vagrant
from one parish to another.
w.^'^"
OCT, A FINE OCTOBER MORNING. 17
CHAPTER XXII.
OCTOBER.— PART II.
A SEA-SIDE WALK IN OCTOBER.
Beauty of a fine October morning — Departure and arrival of
Birds — A walk along the Coast — The Goosander — Golden
Eye and Morillon — Plovers — Widgeon ; habits of in Feed-
ing ; occasionally breed in Scotland — Sands of the Bay —
Flounders — Herons — Curlews, Peewits, &c. — Oyster-birds
— Mussel Scarps — Sea View — Longtails — Mallards —
Velvet Ducks ; mode of Feeding — Rabbits and Foxes — For-
mation of the Sand Hills ; remains of Antiquity found in them
— Seals — Salmon-fishers — Old Man catching Flounders —
Swans — Unauthorized Fox-chace — Black Game — Roe.
Charming to every sense is the first return of
Spring : but quite as enjoyable is a fine dry Au-
tumn day, and far more invigorating is the first
frosty morning than the breath of the most balmy
spring breeze that ever gave life to bird or butterfly.
In this part of the island, too. Spring is at best but
a capricious and uncertain beauty, and in the course
of four-and-twenty hours one is burnt by an almost
tropical sun, and cut in twain by an east wind which
seems to have been born and bred in the heart of an
iceberg.
Not so in Autumn, or at any rate during the
18 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXII.
early part of it. In October, the equinox being
tolerably well over, and the more severe frosts of
winter not yet set in, nothing can exceed the ex-
hilarating feeling which comes with every breeze.
How beautiful is the rising of the sun ! — bright and
red, it casts a splendour of colour, in every grada-
tion of light and shade, on the rugged mountains
of the west, whose summits already capped with
snow have the hue and refulgence of enormous
opals : the sun too rises at a proper gentlemanlike
hour, so as to give every one a chance of admiring
him on his first appearance, instead of hurrying
into existence too early for most of the world to
witness his young beauties.
From my earliest days I rejoiced more in Au-
tumn than in any other season. " Pomifer Autum-
nus" calls forth in the schoolboy's mind a remem-
brance of apples and fruit, ripe and ruddy. In
later years Autumn (and October is undoubtedly
the prime month of that season) fills us with thank-
fulness for the abundance and variety of the pro-
ductions of the earth. As I wander now in the
wilds and woods, by river and glade, on every side
the changing foliage of the different trees displays an
endless variety of beautiful colours. Every thicket
and grove has its rich mixture of emerald green,
bright brown, and different shades of gold and red.
OCT. A WALK ALONG THE COAST, 19
Every day too has its interest in the eyes of the
dweller on this coast, for the arrivals and departures
of different birds are unintermitting. An infinite
variety of wild fowl come over from the north and
north-east, while our summer visitants, such as the
landrail, cuckoo, swallow, and most of the insect-
eating birds, disappear. One of my most favourite
walks is along the coast, beginning at the mouth of
the river and following the shores of the bay till I
reach the open firth ; then after continuing along
the beach for three or four miles, I return through
the wild uncultivated ground which divides the
sea-shore from the arable lands. At this season
the variety of birds which are to be seen in the
course of this walk is astonishing. Starting from
home soon after sunrise, with a biscuit in my pocket,
my gun or rifle on my arm, and my constant canine
companion with me, I am independent for the day.
Bright and bracing is the autumn morning ; the robin
sings joyously and fearlessly from the topmost twig
of some rosebush, as I pass through the garden,
whilst the thrushes and blackbirds are busily em-
ployed in turning up the leaves which already begin
to strew the walks as they search in conscious secu-
rity for the grey snails, repaying in kind for the
strawberries and cherries they have robbed us of;
20 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXII.
and welcome are they to their share of fruit in the
season of plenty.
The partridges as I pass through the field seem
aware that I am not bent on slaughter, but on a
quiet walk of observation ; and instead of rising
and flying oflp as I pass them, simply lower their
heads till I am beyond them, and then begin feed-
ing again on the stubbles.
From the pools at the end of the river a brace or
two of teal and snipes, or perhaps of mallards rise,
and probably one or two are bagged, as I make no
scruple of shooting these birds of passage when they
give me an opportunity.
Looking quietly over the bank of the river, I see a
couple of goosanders fishing busily at the tail of a
pool. They are not worth eating, and I do not just
now want a specimen ; so after watching them for a
short time, as they fish for small trout, I walk on,
leaving them unmolested. If however I show any
portion of my figure above the bank their quick eye
detects me, and after gazing for half a minute with
erect neck, they fly ofi"; at first flapping the surface
of the water, or almost running along it ; and then
gradually rising, wend their way to a few pools
higher up the river, where alighting they re-com-
mence their fishing.
OCT, PEEWITS — PLOVER — WIDGEON. 21
The golden-eye duck and the morillon also are
frequently seen diving for shell-fish and weed in the
deep quiet pools, but never fishing in the shallow
parts of the river like the goosander.
The peewits do not leave us till quite the end of
October, and during most of the month are in im-
mense numbers on the sands near the mouth of the
river. In the dusk of the evening they as well as
the golden plover leave the sands, and take to the
fields in search of worms and snails, generally fre-
quenting the ploughed land or the grass-fields. As
I pass along the shore of the bay, large flocks of
widgeon fly to and fro as the ebb-tide leaves un-
covered the small grassy island and banks. Unlike
the mallard and teal, both which are night-feeding
birds, the widgeon feeds at any hour of the day or
night indiscriminately, not waiting for the dusk to
commence their search for food, but grazing like
geese on the grass whenever they can get at it.
Although towards the end of winter the shyest of
all waterfowl, the widgeon, at this season, owino-
to their not having been persecuted and fired at,
may be easily approached, and with a little care
may be closely watched as they swim to and fro
from bank to bank ; sometimes landing, and at other
times cntpping the grass as they swim along the
edge. If a pair of mallards is amongst the flock,
22 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXII.
the drake's green head is soon seen to rise up above
the rest, as his watchfulness is seldom long deceived ;
with low quacking he warns his mate, and the two
then rise, giving an alarm to the widgeon. The
latter, after one or two rapid wheels in the air, re-
turn to their feeding-ground, but the mallards fly
off to a considerable distance before they stop. 'Tis
as well to make the widgeon pay tribute, so creeping
to the nearest part of the bank I wait till a flock
has approached within shot and in close rank, and
giving them both barrels four or five drop. If any
are winged my dog has a tolerably hard chace ; for
no bird dives more quickly than the widgeon : and
they invariably make directly for the deep water,
taking long dives, and only showing the top of their
head when they are obliged to come up to breathe.
Both male and female have the same sober plumage
at this season ; nor are the drakes in full beauty
till January. I shot a brace of widgeon on the 8th
of September this year, which is a month before
their usual time of arrival. A flock of eight passed
over my head, nearly a quarter of a mile from the
sea, and I killed two of them — one apparently a
young, and the other an old bird. I am inclined to
think that they had been hatched in this part of the
country. Although they leave us regularly in the
spring, I have been told by an old poacher that he
OCT. WIDGEON BREED IN SCOTLAND. 23
lias no doubt a pair or two, probably wounded birds,
remain about some of the unfrequented lochs and
breed, as he says that he has occasionally seen
widgeon in summer in one or two places in the
neighbourhood ; but that this is rare. As my
informant has a very accurate acquaintance with
most birds, I believe his account to be correct. The
widgeon that I saw on the 8th of September had
very much the appearance of a brood which had
been hatched near at hand ; one of the birds not
having arrived at that fulness and hardness of plu-
mage that would enable it to have made a long
aerial voyage. In Sutherland they breed every year.
I have a long walk before me, and bright as an
October day is, the sun does not give us many hours
of his company, but seems to be in a great hurry
to hide his glorious head behind the snowy peaks of
Inverness-shire.
In crossing the sands of the bay in order to arrive
at the neck of sandy ground that divides it from the
main sea, there are many runs of water to be waded,
some caused by the river itself, which branches out
into numerous small streams which intersect the
sands, and some made by two good-sized brooks
which empty themselves into the bay. In all these
streams there are innumerable flounders, large and
small, which dart as quick as Hghtning from under
24 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXII.
your feet. Their chief motive power seems to lie in
their broad tails, with which they propel themselves
along at a wonderful rate ; then suddenly stopping,
they in an instant bury themselves in the sand ; and
it is only a very sharp eye that can detect the exact
spot where they are by observing their outline faintly
marked on the sand in which they are ensconced :
sometimes also their two prominent eyes may be
discovered in addition to their outline.
It is a favourite amusement with my boys in the
summer to hunt and spear the flounders which re-
main at low water in the pools and runs of water in
the bay. On a calm day, by wading to where the
water is a foot or two in depth, they kill, with the
assistance of a long light spear, a basketful of
good-sized fish.
When a flounder is taken out of the water and
laid on the moist sands, by a peculiar lateral motion
of his fins he buries himself as quickly as if still in
his own element.
The large gulls keep up a system of surveillance
over all the calm pools at low water, hovering over
them, and pouncing down like hawks on any fish
which may be left in them. As the tide ebbs, num-
bers of herons, also, come down to the water's edge,
and keeping up step by step with the receding tide,
watch for any fish or marine animal that may suit
OCT. GOOD CONDITION OF WILD BIRDS. 25
their appetite. It is amusing to observe these birds
as they stride slowly and deliberately in knee-deep
water, with necks outstretched, intent on their prey,
their grey shadowy figures looking more like
withered sticks than living creatures.
As for curlews, peewits, sand-pipers, et id genus
omne, their numbers in the bay are countless. Re-
gularly as the tide begins to ebb do thousands of
these birds leave the higher banks of sand and
shingle on which they have been resting, and betake
themselves to the wet sands in search of their food ;
and immense must be the supply which every tide
throws up, or leaves exposed, to afford provision to
them all. Small shell-fish, shrimps, sea- worms, and
other insects form this wondrous abundance. Every
bird too out of those countless flocks is not only in
good order, but is covered with fat, showing how
well the supply is proportioned to the demand : in-
deed, in the case of all wild birds it is observable
that they are invariably plump and well-conditioned,
unless prevented by some wound or injury from
foraging for themselves.
On the mussel scarps are immense flocks of
oyster-catchers, brilliant with their black and white
plumage, and bright red bill, and a truly formidable
weapon must that bill be to mussel or cockle ; it is
long and powerful, with a sharp point as hard as
VOL. II. c
26 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXII.
ivory, which driven in by the full strength of the bird's
head and neck, must penetrate like a wedge into the
shell of the strongest shell-fish found on these shores.
Beautiful, surpassingly beautiful, is the view
before me, as I rest myself on a height of the sand-
hills facing towards the north. The bright and
calm sea close at hand, and the variously-shaped
and variously-coloured cliffs and rocks of Cromarty
and Ross-shire, at a distance in reality of twelve or
fifteen miles, but which, as the sun shines full upon
them, appear to be very much nearer, and all these
are backed by mountains of every form and outline,
but of a uniform deep blue tipped with white
peaks. The sea as smooth as a mirror except where
some sea-fowl suddenly splashes down into the
water, making a few silvery circles, which soon
disappear. Every here and there is a small flock of
the long-tailed duck, diving and sporting in the sea,
and uttering their strange but musical cry as they
chase each other, swimming rapidly in small circles
or taking short flights close above the surface ; the
whole flock dropping all at once into the water as if
shot, not alighting gradually like the mallard and
other ducks.
The heavy but handsome velvet ducks ride
quietly on the sea in small companies, at the dis-
tance of about two hundred yards from the shore,
OCT. VELVET DUCKS — RABBITS — FOXES. 27
apparently keeping over some ridge of sand or other
feeding-ground, down to which they are continually
diving. These birds drift along with the tide till it
has carried them beyond the place where they feed ;
then they rise, and fly back for some distance, look-
ing more like blackcocks than ducks, and dropping
again into the water, they continue their diving till
the tide has drifted them beyond the end of the
feeding-ground ; and this they do again and again.
The rabbits which inhabit these sand-hills are
certainly larger and heavier than those living in the
more cultivated country, though their food must
consist almost entirely of dry bent, with the variety
of a little sea-weed and the furze bushes, which
they eat into numerous shapes, like footstools, otto-
mans, &c.
Foxes almost as tall and powerful as greyhounds
frequent this desert region ; and their fresh tracks
are seen after every tide close to the sea-shore,
whither they have been in search of cast-up fish,
wounded wild fowl, and such like.
I never pass over these sand-hills without en-
deavouring to suggest to myself some new theory
respecting their origin, and what was the state of
the country which they now cover over. That
beneath the accumulation of sand there has once
been a range of fertile fields cannot be doubted, as
c2
28 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXII.
in different places are seen furrows and other well-
defined traces of cultivated land ; yet no account
exists of the destruction of these fields by the inroad
of the sand ; evidently the change was accomplished
suddenly. In many parts of this sandy region
there are distinct marks of rushing waters ; ridges
of both sand and shingle are cast up in a manner
v/hich could only have been eflfected by some tre-
mendous rush of water ; and strange pyramids of
stones also are heaped up in several places, to all
appearance by the same agency.
Few remains of antiquity have ever been found
here ; indeed, it is rarely these sands are trodden
by any foot save that of some poacher in search of
rabbits. I have, however, seen a most curious
bracelet-like ornament which was found here. It
is made of fine bronze, in the shape of a snake,
which, it has been supposed, had a head at each
extremity, formed of some precious stone ; these,
however, are lost, the fastenings having corroded.
In shape this relic appeared to me to resemble one of
the bands which bound together the fasces carried
by a Roman lictor. On further examination it has, I
believe, been ascertained that the bronze must have
encircled some ornament or weapon of wood, which
has rotted away, leaving nothing but the more
durable metal.
OCT. HUMAN SKELETONS — ELF- ARROWS — SEALS. 29
It has twice happened to me to find human ske-
letons, or rather the remains of skeletons, lying on
the sand, laid bare by some drifting wind, or half
disinterred by the subterraneous proceedings of the
rabbits. In both cases the remains were evidently
of great antiquity, but had been preserved by the
dry sand.
Those curiously carved pieces of flint called elf-
arrows are not uncommon in some parts of the
sand-hills.
On one part of the sands, which forms a peninsula
at low water, but an island when it is high, I perhaps
discover two or three seals lying. Clumsy looking
as they are, at the slightest alarm they scuffle off
with great rapidity into the water. Once there they
feel secure, and rising at a short distance from the
shore, they take a good look at the intruder on
their domain. Ugly and misshapen as a seal
appears on land, he is when in the water by no
means an unsightly -looking animal ; and he floats
and dives with a quiet rapidity which appears mar-
vellous to the looker-on. You see a seal's head
appear above the water; and you sit down half
concealed, with ready rifle, to wait his reappearance.
In a minute or two you are suddenly startled by its
rising quietly in quite a different direction ; and
after gazing intently at you for a few moments with
30 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXII.
its dark, mild -looking eyes, the sleek, shining head
disappears again below the surface without making
a ripple on the water, just as you have screwed
yourself round, and are about to touch the trigger
of your rifle, leaving you almost in doubt as to
whether it is a seal or a mermaid. The High-
landers, however, are by no means prepossessed in
favour of the good looks of a seal, or " sealgh," as
they pronounce the word. " You are nothing but a
sealgh " is a term of reproach which, when given by
one fishwoman to another, is considered the direct
insult, and a climax to every known term of abuse.
It is curious to observe the seals resting on some
shallow, with only their heads above the water, and
their noses elongated into a proboscis-like shape.
They will frequently lie in this manner for hours
together, until the return of the tide either floats
them off" their resting-place, or some other cause in-
duces them to shift their quarters. The greatest
drawback in most localities to shooting seals is the
difficulty of getting the animal when killed. Te-
nacious of life to a surprising degree, a seal, unless
shot through the head, escapes to the water, how-
ever severely wounded he may be, and, sinking to
the bottom, is lost to the sportsman. AVhen shot
through the head, he struggles for perhaps a minute
on the surface, and then sinks like a stone to the
OCT. SEALS. 31
bottom. A strong courageous retriever sometimes
succeeds in towing a dead seal ashore, if he can
reach him before he sinks, and has the good luck or
judgment to take hold of one of the animal's feet,
or " flippers," the only part which the dog can get
into his mouth.
A seal has a very acute scent, and can never be
approached from the windward. I conceive that
their eyesight is less perfect ; at any rate they are
endowed with a certain dangerous curiosity which
makes them anxious to approach and reconnoitre
any object which they may have seen at a little dis-
tance, and do not quite understand. I have seen a
seal swim up to within twenty yards of a dog on the
shore, for the purpose apparently of examining him,
as some unknown animal. Music, too, or any un-
common or loud noise attracts them ; and they will
follow for a considerable distance the course of a
boat in which any loud musical instrument is played,
putting up their heads, and listening with great
eagerness to the unknown strains. I have even seen
them approach boldly to the shore, where a bagpiper
was playing, and continue to swim off and on at a
hundred yards' distance.
Notwithstanding their wariness and the difl3culty
of capturing them, seals are gradually diminishing
in number, and will soon disappear from our coasts.
32 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXII.
This is owing chiefly to the constant warfare carried
on against them by the salmon fishers, who either
destroy them or frighten them away as far as they
can from their fishing stations.
On the neck of land at which we have now arrived
there is a hut inhabited during the season by a
couple of salmon fishers, whose business it is to
attend to the stake-net, which stretches out from
near their hut into the sea. A lonely hfe these men
must lead, from March to September, varied only
by visits fi-om or to their comrades, who are stationed
at the depot of ice at Findhorn, where all the fish
caught are sent to be kept till a sufficient quantity
is ready to load one of their quick-sailing vessels for
London. But if their Hfe is lonely it is not idle, as
the exposed situation of their nets renders them
liable to constant injury from wind and sea. At
every low tide the men scramble and wade to the
end or trap part of the net to take out the fish
which have been caught, and to scrape off" the net
the quantity of sea-weed that has adhered to it
during the last tide. Although they do not always
find salmon, they are seldom so unlucky as not to
catch a number of goodly-sized flounders, which
fall to the share of the fishermen themselves ; and
perhaps once or twice in the season a young seal
gets entangled and puzzled in the windings of the
OCT. FIELD-MICE GEESE — WADERS. 33
net, and is drowned in it. More frequently, how-
ever, the twine is damaged and torn by the larger
seals, who are too strong and cunning to be so
easily caught.
Frequently on this barren peninsula I have fallen
in with a small colony of field-mice. They are in
shape like the common large-headed and short-tailed
mouse, which is so destructive in gardens, but of a
brighter and lighter colour. These little animals
must live on the seeds of the bent and on such dead
fish as they may fall in with.
The brent goose is not a constant visitor here in
the winter. This bird, though very numerous in
the Cromarty Firth, does not find in this part of the
coast the particular kind of sea-grass on which it
feeds. There are generally, however, a small com-
pany of these geese about the basin. A few white-
fronted geese are constantly here from October to
April or May, living either in the lonely mosses
near the sea, or about the sands. Of other wild
geese we have no large flocks, except during the
time of sowing the oats, when bean-geese arrive in
great numbers.
This bay, like that of Findhorn, is always swarm-
ing with loaders of every description, from the cur-
lew to the redshank, and from the smallest kind of
sandpiper to the old man we see yonder, who is
c3
34 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXII,
wading mid-leg deep in the tide, keeping even pace
with the water as it flows in to fill the basin. His
occupation was for some time a mystery to me, till
approaching him, I saw that he had a singular kind
of creel slung to his neck, and a long, clumsy-
looking kind of trident in his hand. Walking
slowly backwards, but still keeping in two-foot
water, with poised weapon and steady eye, he
watches for the flounders which come in with every
tide. When he sees one, down goes his spear ; and
the unlucky fish is hoisted into the air, and then
deposited in the creel.
I waited until, having either filled his basket or
being driven to land by the increased depth of the
tide, the old man quitted the water. He either had
not noticed me or did not choose to do so before he
landed. When I accosted him by asking him what
luck he had had, I got at first rather a grunt than
an answer, as he seemed in no very communicative
mood ; but having refreshed himself by a spoonful
of snufi", which he crammed into his nose with a
little wooden kind of ladle, he told me that he
" had na got muckle vennison the morn," adding
that he " did na ken what had driven the beasts out
of the bay of late ;" venison, or, as he pronounced
it, " ven-ni-son," meaning in this country any eat-
able creature, fish, flesh, or fowl. The old fellow
OCT. OLD FLOUNDER FISHER. 35
seemed of a most bilious and irritable temperament ;
and I believe had I not won him over by dint of
whisky and fair words, he would have laid his bad
success in flounder catching to my shooting wild
fowl in the bay. As it was, he gradually became
tolerably gracious, and told me many marvellous
stories of the good old time, when salmon fishers
were fewer and seals more plentiful ; so much so,
that, according to his account, every tide left num-
bers of these now rare animals in the pools of water
in the bay ; and a " puir man wha wanted a drop
oil or bit seal-skin had only to go dow^n at low
water to the pools, and he could get a sealgh as
sune as I can get a fluke in these days." Since this
colloquy I and the old flounder fisher have always
been on tolerable terms.
The sea in this bay, as well as in other similar
ones on the coast, runs in so rapidly that without
keeping a good look-out, there is a chance of
being surrounded by the water, and detained till an
horn- or two after the tide begins to ebb again,
which in these short autumn days would be incon-
venient, as I am now at least six miles from home ;
a great part of which distance is over the roughest
piece of moss and heather that I know ; full, too,
of concealed holes, treacherously covered over with
vegetation.
36 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXII.
The first flock of swans which I have seen this
season are just arriving in a long, undulating line.
As they come over the sands where they will pro-
bahly rest for the night, the whole company sets up
a simultaneous concert of trumpet-like cries ; and
after one or two wheels round the place, light down
on the sand, and immediately commence pluming
themselves and putting their feathers in order, after
their long and weary flight from the wild morasses
of the north. After a short dressing of feathers
and resting a few minutes, the whole beautiful flock
stretch their wings again, and rise gradually into
the air, but to no great height, their pinions sound-
ing loud as they flap along the shallow water before
getting well on wing. They then fly off*, led by
instinct or the experience of former years, to where
a small stream runs into the bay, and where its
waters have not yet mingled with the salt sea.
Here they alight, and drink and splash about to
their hearts' content. This done, they waddle out
of the stream, and after a little stretching of wings
and arranging of plumage, standing in a long row,
dispose themselves to rest, every bird with her head
and long neck laid on her back, with the excep-
tion of one unfortunate individual, who by a well-
understood arrangement stands with erect neck and
watchful eye to guard his sleeping companions.
OCT. VIGILANCE OF WILD SWANS. 37
They have, however, a proper sense of justice, and
relieve guard regularly, like a well-disciplined gar-
rison. I would willingly disturb their rest with a
charge of swan-shot, could I get within range, but
not being able so to do, I must needs leave the
noble-looking birds to rest in peace. When I get
up from the place where I was sitting to watch them,
the sentinel gives a low cry of alarm, which makes
the whole rank lift their heads for a moment ; but
seeing that they are out of danger, and that instead
of approaching them, I am walking in the contrary
direction, they all dispose themselves again to rest,
with the exception of their watchful sentry. In the
morning, at daybreak, they will all be feeding in
the shallow lakes in the neighbourhood, led there
by some old bird who has made more than one
journey to this country before now. Wistfully my
dog watches the snow-white flock ; but the evening
is coming on, and we must leave them.
A desert of moss, heather, and stunted fir-trees,
which takes an hour to walk through, affords little
worthy of note, with the exception of that fine
fellow of a fox who, as we pass on, surveys us from
a hillock well out of reach. The grey crows flying
and croaking over his head first called my attention
to him. Nothing is to be seen now but the top of
his head and the tips of his ears, as he lowers him-
38 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CU. XXII.
self clown gradually and quietly the moment he sees
me look in his direction. But my dog has got the
scent ; and off he goes in a vain pursuit. Tractable
and well broken as he is with regard to game, no
sooner does he perceive the inciting odour of a fox
or otter, than, heedless of call or threat, he is off in
pursuit. Look now ! away goes the fox at a quick
but easy gallop, through the swamp, with his tail
{Anglice brush) well up in the air. A fox is always
a great dandy about his brush ; and keeps it free
from wet and dirt as long as he possibly can : a sure
sign of poor Reynard beginning to feel distressed
is his brush appearing soiled and blackened. Ah !
the dog has got on his scent again, and begins to
press hard on his hated foe ; but as I well know
he has not the slightest chance against the light-
heeled fox, who is always in racing condition,
whereas the retriever, with his curly coat and good
living, will be blown before he has run a mile, I
continue my walk. Presently the dog returns
panting like a porpoise ; and conscious of his irre-
gular conduct, before he takes his usual place at
my side, stops behind a little while, wagging his
tail, and grinning in the most coaxing manner
imaginable, till he has examined my face with that
skill in physiognomy which all dogs possess ;
then seeing that I cannot help smiling at him,
OCT. BLACKCOCK — ROEBUCK. 39
he jumps boldly up to me, knowing that he is
forgiven.
Occasionally a blackcock flies past us. These
birds, a considerable number of which frequent this
wild region, sleep every night in the highest and
roughest heather they can find, in order to guard
against the attacks of the fox, who in his hunting
excursions seldom walks over that kind of ground,
preferring beaten tracks, or the edges of pools or
marshes, along which he can walk unheard and
easily, till his acute nose warns him of the vicinity
of some prey ; whereas the strong and large heather
in which blackcocks roost cannot be walked over
quietly and comfortably by an animal whose legs are
so short is those of a fox. The grey hens stand a
much w^orse chance. Led by their maternal instinct
to build their nests near the edges of the smoother
grounds, where their young, when hatched, can run
about, they are so much exposed to the attack of
the foxes, that scarcely one is left, and before long
the breed in this part of the country will be quite
worn out.
Up to his knees in a swamp stands a beautiful
roebuck, feeding quickly and hungrily on the coarse
grasses which grow there ; whilst half way up the
brae, a doe and her fawn are nibbling the faded
leaves off a wild-rose bush. By a little manage-
40 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXII.
ment I could easily get within tliirty yards of them,
but I prefer watching them a little while with my
glass. The buck has got the wind of me now, and
starting up, looks quickly round, ^nd then bounds
up the steep brae to where the doe and fawn are
standing, and after the whole party have halted on
the top for a minute to reconnoitre me, they all
bound off again into the densest part of the thicket.
As I approach home, and the evening comes on
different small flocks of wild ducks pass with
whistling pinion over my head, on their way to some
well-known stubble. The barley fields appear to
be their favourite feeding ground at this season,
probably because there is always more barley left
on the ground than any other kind of grain.
The ferryman at the river where I pass tells me
that he " is thinking that I have had a long travel,
but that I have not got much ven-id-son^'' In both
surmises he is not far wrong, but I have enjoyed
my long and rough walk as much — ay, and much
more — than I should have done the best battue in
Norfolk, or the best day's grouse shooting in Perth-
shire. But it is time I should finish my chapter :
we all become prosy when talking of our favourite
pursuits.
" Navita de ventis, de tauris narrat arator,
Enumerat miles vuinera, pastor oves :"
OCT. SPORTING ENTHUSIAS^I. 41
And when I once get fairly launched on the subject
of wild ducks and roebucks, mountains and floods,
the honest truth is that I know not when to stop,
and must, I fear, frequently exhaust the patience of
the most indulgent reader.
42 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
NOVEMBER.
The Snow Bunting — Regularity of appearance — Tomtit and
Thrushes ; worthy of protection — The Water Ousel — Trout
— Otters ; their defence of their young — Otter-hunting —
Habits of Otters — Seals ; power of remaining under water ;
habits of; decrease of — Wild Swans — Plovers, &c. — Dun
Divers — Hares.
NovE3iBER, month though it be of cold winds and
sleet, is generally ushered in by flocks of that beau-
tiful little bird the snow bunting. For three suc-
cessive years I have first seen this winter visitor on
the 1st of November, which is another instance of
the regularity of birds in their migi-ations. Scarcely
any two of the snow buntings are quite alike. In
the first flocks that come there are only a few which
are light-coloured, but as the snow and frost in-
crease the white birds become more numerous. I
do not know whether they arrive during the night,
but I have constantly heard their note after it has
been quite dark, the birds being at the time on
wing ; and this sometimes occurs several hours after
nightfall.
A beautiful little blue tomtit has taken up his
NOV. TOMTITS — THRUSHES — BLACKBIRDS. 43
abode voluntarily in the drawing-room. It would
seem that at first he was attracted by the few house
flies who at this season crawl slowly about the win-
dows. These he was most active in searching for and
catching, inserting his little bill into every corner
and crevice, and detecting every fly which had
escaped the brush of the housemaid. He soon,
however, with increased boldness, came down to
pick up crumbs, which the children placed for him
close to me on the table. From his activity and
perseverance in exterminating flies, this bird appears
well worthy of protection.
The thrushes, and blackbirds too, earn the favour of
the gardener by their constant destruction of snails, in
search of which, at this season, they are all day busily
employed in turning over the dead leaves under
the garden walls, and at the bottom of the hedges.
My experience convinces me that there are few of
the common birds whose perseverance in destroying
grubs, caterpillars, &c., for at least nine months of
the year, does not amply repay the miscliief done
by them in eating cherries and seeds during the re-
maining three. It is difficult, however, to persuade
the farmer to look on rooks and wood-pigeons as his
friends, when he sees them in flocks on the nearly
ripe wheat-field, on the produce of which he mainly
depends for paying his rent. Nevertheless, were he
44 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXIII.
to examine the crops of any of these wild birds, and
see what they were filled with during three fourths
of the year, he would find that they fully recompense
him for all the gi\iin they devour. Undoubtedly a
considerable quantity of newly-sown wheat is eaten
by different birds. Sea-gulls, amongst others, seem
to swallow the grain indiscriminately with the grubs
and worms turned up by the harrows ; and large
flocks of greenfinches and buntings are busily
occupied in searching for whatever corn is not well
covered over. The wild ducks, too, come at night
to shovel up what remains in the furrows.
This is the season at which partridges migrate
from the high grounds to the cultivated fields.
Fresh unbroken coveys frequently appear near the
lower part of the river: sometimes they come in
flocks of twenty or thirty. In damp weather these
birds seek the dry and warm ground on the sandy
places about the lower inlands, and appear entirely
to desert the fields excepting at feeding time.
The water-ousel enlivens the burn now by its low
but sweet note, uttered either while perched on its
accustomed stone in the midst of a rapid, or whilst
fioating with open wings on the surface of a quiet
pool — a method of proceeding quite peculiar to this
interesting little bird. The salmon fishers wage
war to the knife with the water-ousel ; and, indeed,,
NOV. TROUT OTTERS. 45
I have no doubt that it is not a little destructive to
the spawning beds, although I am inclined to think
that it attacks the trout spawn more frequently
than that of the salmon. If so, this bird also does
fully as much good as harm ; the most deadly
enemy to salmon being the larger burn trout,
whose favourite food is, undoubtedly, the ova of the
salmon.
The trout now betake themselves to every running
stream, working their way up the narrowest rills, in
order to place their spawn.
At this time of year the otters are constant
visitors at the lower parts of the river, searching
for flounders, eels, &c. There are certain small
hillocks which every otter as he passes appears to
examine in order to find the trace of any chance
stranger of his own species. There are now two
old ones and two young ones hunting the lower
part of the Findhorn ; their presence is always easily
detected by their tracks on the sandy banks, as they
constantly leave the water on their return up the
stream to the quiet hiding-places where they pass
the day.
When accompanied by her young the female
otter throws aside her usual shyness, and is ready
to do stout battle in their behalf. A Highlander
of my acquaintance happened to find a couple of
4:Q FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXIII.
young otters In a hollow bank, and having made
prisoners of them was carrying them home in tri-
umph in his plaid. The old otter, however, attracted
by their cries, left the river, and so determinedly
opposed his carrying them away, by placing herself
directly in his path, and blowing and hissing like a
cat at him, with tail and bristles erect, that the man,
although as stout a fellow as ever trod on heather,
was glad to give up one of the young ones, and
make his escape with the other while the mother
was occupied in assuring herself of the safe condition
of the one she had rescued.
When caught young no animal is more easily
tamed than the otter ; and it will soon learn to fish for
its master. In educating all wild animals, how-
ever, it is absolutely necessary that the pupil should
live almost constantly with its teacher, so as to
become perfectly familiarised with his voice and
presence.
Even when young the otter is a most powerful
and severe biter, closing its jaws with the strength
of a vice on whatever it seizes. Every courageous
dog who has once battled with an otter, retains ever
afterwards the most eager and violent animosity
-against the animal. The scent of an otter renders
my otherwise most tractable retriever quite uncon-
trollable. The remembrance of former bites and
NOV. OTTER-HUNTING. 47
wounds seems to drive him frantic, and no sooner
does he come across the fresh track of one than he
immediately throws aside all control, and is off
ventre a terre in pursuit.
It is not often that an otter commits himself so
far as to be found during the daytime in any situ-
ation where he can be approached ; but one day in
this month I was out for a quiet walk with my
retriever, looking at some wide drains and small
pools for wild ducks, when suddenly the dog went
off, nose to the ground, in so eager a manner that
I knew nothing but a fox or an otter could have
been the cause of his excitement ; and I soon
found in a nearly dry open drain the quite recent
track of a very large otter. For a long time he
would not show himself, till suddenly the dog rushed
into a thick juniper bush, and the next moment
dog and otter were tumbling over each other into
a deep black pool. The otter escaped from the
dog in the water ; but the hole being only about
six feet square, though deep, I took my retriever
out by main force, and waited for the water to
become clear again. When it did so, I looked for
the otter for some time in vain, till at last, having
stooped down close to the pool, I was startled by
seeing his face within a few inches of my own, his
body being almost entirely concealed by the over-
48 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXIII.
hanging bank. I tried to make him leave his
cover, but in vain ; so I sent the clog in again,
who soon found him, and after a short scuffle, the
otter left the pool, and went off along a wide but
shallow drain, and there the battle began again.
The dog, although unable to master the otter, who
was one of the largest size, managed to prevent his
escape, and at last I contrived to end the contest by
a well-applied blow fi-om a piece of railing which I
had picked up.
Otter skins, when well dressed by a skilful furrier,
make a valuable addition to a lady's winter ward-
robe, the under fur being peculiarly soft, silky, and
of a rich brown colour.
I am daily more and more convinced that the
otter is by no means so great an enemy to salmon
as he is supposed to be ; his general food being
trout, eels, and flounders ; although of course when
a salmon comes in his way, he is sufficiently an
epicure not to refuse taking it. An otter seldom
kills a salmon without leaving enough of the fish to
betray him, as most people who live near salmon
rivers know fiill well ; but the remains of the trout
and eels which he kills are not so conspicuous. I
am borne out in this opinion by Mr. Young, the
manager of the Duke of Sutherland's salmon fish-
ings, whose opportunities of observation, and acute-
NOV. SEALS. 49
ness in judging on all points connected with subjects
of this kind, ought to make his favourable opinion
of otters equivalent to a verdict of acquittal when-
ever they are accused of being great salmon de-
stroyers.
The seal, on the contrary, is a constant and
most annoying enemy to the salmon fisher, breaking
the stake-nets, and enabling the fish who are already
enclosed to escape. Besides which a seal, hunting
along the shore near the nets, drives the salmon
out into the deeper water, beyond the reach of the
fisherman. The seal is also a much more rapid
swimmer than the otter, and I have no doubt that
he can take a salmon by actual speed in the open
sea, although he cunningly prefers catching his . ,
prey with the assistance of the stake-nets, when he [',',
has comparatively little trouble.
I have frequently been told that the seal cannot
remain under water for more than a quarter of an ' ■
hour without coming to the surface to breathe. ■ ',
I am, however, confident that this is not the case, , , ]
and that he can continue for hours under the water ; - >
when lying undisturbed and at rest. If caught ' ; ;
and entangled in a net he is soon exhausted and ''''
drowned.
I was assured by a man who was constantly in ; ,
pursuit of seals that one day, having found a very ', ',
50 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXIII.
young one left by its mother on the rocks, near Lossie
mouth, he put it into a deep round hole full of
water left by the receding tide. For two hours,
during which he waited, expecting to see the old
female come in with the flow of the tide, the little
animal remained, as he expressed it, " like a stone "
at the bottom of the water, without moving or
coming to the surface to breathe. He then took it
out, and found it as well and lively as ever ; and
on turning it loose into the sea it at once began
swimming about with some other young ones.
In a creek of the sea where I sometimes watch
for seals, I have seen two or three come in with the
flow of the tide. After playing about for a short
time, they have disappeared under the water, and
have not shown themselves again till the receding
tide has warned them that it was time to leave the
place. From the situation they were in, and the
calmness of the water, the seals could scarcely have
put up their noses to breathe without my having
seen them. Apparently they sunk to the bottom
in a certain part of the bay, in order to be at rest,
and remained there till the ebb was pretty far
advanced, when they reappeared in the same place
where I had lost sight of them, perhaps, some hours
before. It was a curious and amusing sight to see
these great creatures swim up within a few yards
NOV. DECREASE OF SEALS, 51
of the ambuscade which I had erected close to the
narrow entrance where the tide came in to fill the
bay. At thirty or forty yards distance I found it
impossible to shoot a seal swimming, if he had seen
me and was watching my movements : my best
chance always was when the animal, having turned
away, presented the broad back of his head as a
mark to my rifle. If I an'ived at the place in time
to do so, I put up some small object at a distance
off on the side of the inlet opposite to where I was
concealed. This had the effect of distracting the
attention of the animal from his real danger.
A flock of seals playing and fighting on a sand-
bank is one of the drollest sights which I know in
this country. Their uncouth cries and movements
are unlike anything else. In the Dornoch Firth and
near Tain there are still great numbers of them,
and every fine day they are in large flocks on the
sandbanks ; but near this part of the country they
have been very much thinned off, and scarcely any
are killed excepting by myself My keeper tells
me, that when he was a boy, their number w^as very
great, and that the inhabitants of the place could
always kill as many as they wanted for oil, and for
their skins, picking out the largest of the herds,
and sparing the smaller ones ; but, alas ! cheap
guns and salmon fisheries have combined to make
d2
52 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXIII.
them scarce. Formerly, also, in the pools left by
the sea within the old bar of Findhorn, numbers of
seals were left at every ebb of the tide, and the
farmers occasionally went down and killed a few to
supply themselves with oil for the winter.
Any unusual number of wild fowl in the
bay at this season generally prognosticates stormy
weather or snow. On the 27th I saw nearly
fifty wild swans swimming and flying between this
place and the town of Findhorn ; and some large
flocks of geese were passing over to the south.
The next day the groun I was covered with snow,
an unusual occurrence at this season. Of these
swans one flock of six located themselves in the
fresh-water lakes between this and Nairn, and the
rest wended their way to the south. The Ice-
landers hail the appearance of the wild swan in the
same manner as we do that of the cuckoo or
swallow ; it being with them the foreteller of
spring and genial weather ; whilst here they are
connected in our minds with storms and snow-clad
fields.
The Loch of Spynie is another established winter-
ing place of the wild swan. A few years ago great
numbers remained both in that loch and in Loch
Lee during the whole winter. I know of no other
fresh-water lakes in this country where they now
NOV. GOLDEN PLOVER MALLARDS. 53
appear regularly. Near Invergordon numbers of
swans feed with other wild fowl on the sea-grass.
Late in the evening the golden plovers come in
considerable numbers to the bare grass fields to
feed during the night ; but when the ground is
hardened by frost, they resort to the sands at the
ebb-tide, both by night and day. Whilst the tide
is high, these birds fly up to the hills, resting on
those places where the heather is short ; and their
instinct teaches them exactly when to leave the
hills for the sands as soon as the sea has receded
sufficiently ; and yet their principal resting-place is
fully five miles inland.
I have observed the same instinct in the female
sheldrakes when sitting on theii- eggs. Although
several feet underground they know to a moment
when the tide has sufficiently ebbed, and then, and
only then, do they leave their nest to snatch a hasty
meal on the cockles, &c., which they find on the
sands.
The frost and snow send all the mallards down
from the hill lakes to the bay. I shot a bird exactly
answering to Bewick's description of the dun diver,
excepting that it was much smaller. Bewick
describes his bird as twenty-seven inches in length.
This was only twenty inches. It was apparently
quite full grown. I shot it whilst it was fishing in
54 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH, XXIII.
a small stream, and the bird had already swallowed
twenty-five sticklebacks and one small eel. Its
bright red bill is well adapted to hold any fish,
however slippery, being supplied with the sharp
teeth sloping inwards which are peculiar to birds of
this class.
Hares have a particular fancy for sitting near
houses, undeterred by the noise of the men and
dogs who may inhabit them. When found sitting,
a hare sometimes seems fascinated in an extra-
ordinary manner by the eye of a person looking at
her. As long as you keep your eye fixed on that
of the hare, and approach her from the front, she
appears afraid to move, and, indeed, will sometimes
allow herself to be taken up by the hand. A hare,
when dogs are near her, is particularly unwilling to
start from her form. In cover shooting many of
the old and experienced hares steal off" quietly the
moment they hear the sound of dogs or beaters at
one end of the wood ; and thus their quick senses
of hearing and smelling enable them to escape the
guns, however numerous and however well placed.
Shooters in wood pay too little attention to the
direction of the wind. All small game, like deer,
are most unwilling to face an enemy standing
to windward of them ; but keepers either expect, or
pretend to expect, that game will always go exactly
NOV. SHOOTING IN WOOD. 55
ahead of the beaters, though the least observation
ought to have taught them the contrary ; for when
once running game have discovered the scent of an
enemy, they will never go in that direction, but
will make their way back in spite of all the noise
and exertions of the beaters.
56 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXIV.
CHAPTER XXIV.
DECEMBER.
Owls ; destruction of Mice by them — Frogs — Snakes -7- Roe-
bucks — Fondness of Birds for Sunshine — Loch of Spynie —
Habits of Wild Fowl ; rapidity of their flight — Retrievers —
The Otter ; shooting of, by night — Eley's Cartridges — Wild
Swans — Accidents in Shooting — Variety of Country in
Moray — Forres ; public Walks of — Rabbits — Foxes — Im-
migration of Birds — Conclusion.
During the clear frosty nights of this month we
hear the owls hooting for hours together in the old
ash trees around the house. Occasionally they used
to be caught in the pole-traps set for hawks, but the
poor fellows looked so pitiable as they sat upright,
held by the legs, that I took down all these traps,
which were set near the house. And the owl is far
more a friend than an enemy to man : the mischief
he does to game is very trifling ; but the service he
is of to the gardener, the farmer, and even to the
planter of forest trees, by destroying rats and mice,
is incalculable, I have a great liking, too, for the
quaint, old-fashioned looking bird, and by no means
believe him to be the
" Ignavus bubo, dirum mortalibus omen."
DEC. OWLS — FROGS. 57
My kitchen-garden was overrun with mice, who not
only ate up peas and other seeds, but also nibbled
and destroyed great numbers of peaches ; but since
I have had a tame owl in the garden, the mice have
disappeared entirely, having been destroyed by him
and his relations and fi'iends who visit him at night.
Sometimes an owl, either the common brown one
or else one of the long-eared kind, posts himself all
day long bolt upright in one of the evergreens near
the house. The small birds first point out his
whereabouts, by their clamour and fluttering round
him ; but the owl sits quite unconcerned in the
midst of the uproar, blinking his eyes and nodding
his head as quietly as if in his accustomed seques-
tered thicket or hollow tree.
The long-eared owl, with his bright yellow eyes
and hooked bill, has a most imp-like appearance
when seen sitting motionless on the low branch of
a tree or ivy -covered wall.
The chief food of owls are mice and birds, but
they are also very fond of frogs. When an owl catches
one of these animals, instead of swallowing it whole,
as he does a mouse, he tears it to pieces, while still
alive, in the most cruel manner, regardless of its
shrill cries.
I have no doubt that were it not for their nume-
rous enemies, such as birds of prey, crows, ravens,
d3
58 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXIV.
rats, &c., frogs would increase to such a degree as
to become a serious nuisance. The snake is another
of the frog's devourers. It is a curious, although I
cannot venture to say a pleasant sight, to see one of
these reptiles attack and swallow a living frog, of a
diameter four times as large as its own. After a
frog has been pursued for a short time by a snake,
it suddenly seems to be fascinated by the bright,
sparkling eye of its enemy, and gives up all attempt
at escape ; then the snake, with a motion so rapid
that the eye cannot keep pace with it, darts on its
unhappy prey, generally seizing it by the hind-leg.
There now commences a struggle for life and death,
the frog clinging pertinaciously to any branch or
projection which it can reach with its fore-legs ; but
all in vain ; for the snake quietly but surely, by a
kind of muscular contraction, or suction, gradually
drav.s the frog into its mouth, its jaws expanding
and stretching in the most extraordinary and incon-
ceivable manner, in order to admit of the dispro-
portioned mouthful.
I have little doubt that many birds and other
animals are in reality fascinated by the fixed gaze of
a snake, when they once come under the immediate
influence of his eye. Their presence of mind and
power of escape, or even of moving, seems entirely
to desert them when their enemy is near them, and
DEC. ROEBUCKS— BLACKCOCKS. 59
they become so paralyzed with fear, that the snake
has nothing to do but to seize them. Any person
who has seen one of our common snakes swallow a
large frog will readily believe all accounts of deer
being swallowed by the giant-serpent of the East.
Early in December the roebucks lose their horns.
I have shot them during the first week of this month
with the horns so loose that they have fallen off as
the animal was carried home. They are, however,
in as good or perhaps even better order for the
table in December than at any other time.
The roe being very much disturbed by wood-
cutters in most of our woods, keep to the wild,
rough extent of cover, too young for the axe, which
lies between the upper country and the shore ; there
they live in tolerable security, in company with the
foxes, black game, and wild fowl which tenant the
woods and swamps of that district. Occasionally,
whilst I am woodcock shooting, a roe affords a
pleasant variety and weighty addition to the game
bag. All my dogs, whether pointers, spaniels, ter-
riers, or retrievers, become very eager w^hen on the
scent of roe.
The blackcocks, like other birds, are very fond of
catching the last evening rays of a winter's sun, and
are always to be found in the afternoon on banks
facing the west, or swinging, if there is no wind, on
60 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXIV.
the topmost branch of the small fir trees. On the
mountains, too, all birds, as the sun gets low, take
to the slopes which face the west ; whilst in the
morning they betake themselves to the eastern
banks and slopes to meet his rays. No bird or
animal is to be found in the shade during the
winter, unless it has flown there for shelter from
some imminent danger.
This is very remarkable in the case of the golden
plovers, who in the evening ascend from slope to
slope as each becomes shaded by intervening heights,
until they all are collected on the very last ridge
which the sun shines upon. When this is no longer
illuminated, and the sun is quite below the horizon,
they betake themselves to their feeding-places near the
seashore or elsewhere. Goats have the same habit.
There is no fresh-water lake which has so large a
quantity of wild fowl on it as the Loch of Spynie ;
and I do not know a more amusing sight than the
movements and proceedings of the thousands of
birds collected there during this season. All wild
fowl, from the swan to the teal, swarm on this lake ;
and it is most interesting to see the habits and
manners of feeding and of passing their time of the
different kinds, some feeding only by night and
others moving about at all hours. On the approach
of night, however, the whole community becomes
DEC. HABITS OF WILD FOWL. 61
restless and on the move, and the place is alive with
the flocks flying to and fro, all uttering their peculiar
notes, and calling to each other, as they pass from one
part of the loch to another. The mallards for the
most part take to the fields in search of food, flying
either in pairs or in small flocks of five or six. The
widgeon keep in companies of ten or twelve, whist-
ling constantly to each other as they fly to feed on
the grassy edges of the lochs. The teal and some
other birds feed chiefly on the mud-banks and shal-
lows which abound in parts of this half-drained
lake ; and amongst the loose stones of the old castle
of Spynie, which overlooks it, and where formerly
proud ecclesiastics trod, the badger has now taken
up his solitary dwelling.
The flight of wild fowl in the evening is more
rapid in reality than it appears to be ; and I have
seen many a good shot fairly puzzled by it, and
unable to kill these birds at this period of the day
with any certainty until practice had taught them
the necessity of aiming well aiiead. Another great
requisite to success in wild-fowl shooting is a first-
rate retriever, quick and sagacious in finding and
bringing the killed and wounded birds from the
swampy and grassy places in which they fall. Long
shots ought never to be taken in the evening, as,
independently of the time lost in loading (during
62 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXIV.
M'hich operation, by the bye, the birds always contrive
to come over your head) you are sure to lose many
which fly away wounded, to drop several hundred
yards off, serving only to feed the foxes and crows,
which always seem to be on the look-out for food
near lakes and marshes.
Some retrievers have a most wonderful instinct
in discovering whether a wounded bird is likely to
fall ; invariably marking down and finding them,
without wasting their time and strength in vain pur-
suit of those which are able to escape.
Nothing is more trying to the constitution of a
dog than this kind of shooting in the winter ; when
the poor animal spends his time either in paddling
or swimming about in half-frozen water, or in
shivering at his master's feet whilst waiting for a
fresh shot. The master perhaps has water-proof
boots and a warm jacket on, a pipe in his mouth,
and a mouthful of brandy to keep him warm ; while
his poor dog has none of these accompanying com-
forts, and is made 1» sit motionless on the wet or
frozen ground with the water freezing on his coat.
For my own part I administer as much as I can to
the comfort of my canine companion, by always
carrying him some biscuits, and by giving him either
my plaid or a game-bag to lie upon. It is amusing
enough to see the retriever wrapped in the plaid,
DEC. RETRIEVERS — WILD-FOWL SHOOTING. 63
with only his head out of it, watching eagerly for
the appearance of a flock of widgeon or ducks, which
he often sees before I do myself.
The best and most sagacious dog of this kind that
I ever saw, and whose cunning and skill were un-
equalled, I sold to make room for a stronger re-
triever, who however never equalled his predecessor
in sagacity and usefulness. I the less repented
having parted with the dog, as he fell into the
hands of a friend of mine, Captain Gumming, a most
excellent shot and persevering wild-fowl shooter,
who fully appreciated the good qualities of the
animal. The Loch of Spynie belonging principally
to this gentleman's family, he preserves the place
strictly ; and I do not know so successful a wild-
fowl shooter — successful I mean in a gentlemanly
and sportsmanlike manner — and with what I term
fair- shooting. With due deference to the followers
of this sport, I cannot include under that denomina-
tion the punt and swivel-gun system. Amongst
other objections to this kind of sport is the vast
number of birds maimed, wounded, and left to
perish miserably, or to feed crows and other vermin.
Not even Colonel Hawker's amusing work on the
subject reconciles me to this (proh pudor !) his
favourite branch of sport.
In the snow I constantly see the tracks of weasels
64 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXIV.
and stoats going for considerable distances along
the edges of open ditches and streams, where they
search not only for any birds which may be roosting
on the grassy banks of the ditches, l)ut also for eels
and whatever fish they can make prey of.
The otters, too, puzzled by the accumulation of
ice and frozen snow on the shallows, and about the
mouth of the river, go for miles up any open ditch
they can find ; turning up the unfrozen mud in
search of eels, and then rolling on the snow to clean
themselves.
There are few animals whose scent is so attractive
to dogs of all kinds as the otter ; but it requires that
they should have great experience in order to be
sure of finding an otter, or of following with any
certainty when started ; so strange and well con-
cealed are the nooks and corners of broken banks
and roots under which it lies, or takes refuge when
hunted.
My old keeper has great delight in the pursuit of
otters, and continually neglects his more legitimate
duties for the sake of getting a midnight shot at one
of these animals. Having carefully determined on
the way from which the wind blows, and made him-
self sure that no eddy of air can carry his own scent
towards the stream, the old man sits well concealed
under a projecting bank near some shallow ford.
DEC. eley's cartridges. 65
where he expects the otter will appear on his way
up or down the burn. This plan seldom fails, and
he not unfrequently makes his appearance in the
morning with a dead otter in his hand, the result of
many hours of patient watching in a winter's night,
of which the disordered and somewhat bemudded
appearance of his habiliments bears further witness.
I cannot plead guilty of ever sending him on these
expeditions. In the first place I have no very
deadly feud with the otters ; and, in the next, I
think that the old fellow would be better in his bed
than squatting under a broken bank through a long
winter's night.
Though not an advocate for Eley's cartridges for
game shooting, I use a great number of them
against stronger animals, such as otters, foxes, and
roe, and also for wild-fowl shooting of all kinds.
In steady hands these cartridges undoubtedly do
great execution amongst ducks and geese ; but they
are very apt to induce the sportsman to take shots
which are too long and random, conceiving that no
distance is too great for this kind of charge. That
they very frequently do not open at all, or at any
rate sufficiently soon, I have clearly ascertained ;
and I have often found in shooting roe and hares
that the cartridge has passed through the animal
like a single ball. Every sportsman knows that
66 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CII. XXIV.
this will not answer his purpose in general shooting ;
and, therefore, that Eley's cartridges should only be
used in the most open places, and at strong birds
and animals.
The wild swans still remain feeding in the lakes,
and seem to have completely made themselves at
home ; going lazily off to the bay when disturbed,
but seldom taking the trouble to do so unless the
particular loch which they frequent, and in which
they feed, comes within the line of my beat for wild
ducks. When their territory is invaded, they first
collect in a close body, and after a short conference,
flap along the water for some distance, and gradu-
ally rising fly across the sand-hills with loud cries
to the sea. Hundreds of ducks of all kinds con-
stantly attend on the swans when feeding, to snatch
at the water-grasses and weeds pulled up by the
long-necked birds from the bottom of the shallow
water — a proceeding the swans seem by no means to
approve of, as they evidently have no wish to labour
for the good of these active little pirates.
It has often occurred to me, how perfectly help-
less a man would be were he to lame himself during
the distant and lonely wanderings on the mountain,
which the pursuit of deer and wild game sometimes
leads him into ; and I was forcibly reminded of
this by a curious accident which happened to myself
DEC. ACCIDENT IN ROE-SHOOTING. 67
in the woods of Altyre while roe-shooting this
month.
The hounds were in pursuit of a roe ; and I was
partly occupied in listening to their joyous cry, and
partly in admiring the beautiful light thrown by
the low rays of the winter sun on the bright trunks
of the fir trees, contrasted as it was with the gloomy
darkness of their foliage, when I heard the foot of a
roe as it catne towards me, ventre a terre. Taking
a cool aim I sent a cartridge through the poor ani-
mal's head, who, of course, fell rolling over like a
rabbit, I went up in order to bleed her, according
to rule, when just as I was knife in hand, I heard
the hounds coming up in chace of another roe. I
dropped the knife on the heather, and at that instant
the dying roe gave an expiring plunge, as animals
almost always do when shot in the head. Her hind
foot struck the hilt of the couteau de chasse, driving
it straight into my foot. Having, not without some
little difficulty, drawn it out, I had next to cut off
my shoe, when the blood came out like a jet d'eau.
Making a tourniquet of my handkerchief and a bit
of stick, I managed to stop the bleeding, not how-
ever before I began to feel a little faint. Then not
waiting for my companions, who were at a distant
part of the woods, I hobbled off to a forester's
house, where I rebound the cut, and having directed
68 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CII. XXIV.
the man where to find the roe, and to tell the other
shooters that I had left the woods, I made my way
homewards as well as I could, and luckily meet-
ing on the road one of my servants exercising a
pony, I got home without more inconvenience, but
I had to pass many a long day upon a sofa. Had
a similar accident happened on some of the wild and
distant mountains of the country where I often
shoot, I should probably not have been seen again,
till the ravens and the storms of winter had left
nothing but my bones. From such slight and
trivial causes do accidents sometimes happen to
remind us how helpless we all are.
In the low parts of Morayshire the snow seldom
lies long, and consequently after every lengthened
snow-storm there is a constant migration not only
of wild-fowl of all kinds, but also of partridges and
other game, who come down to the bay and shore
from the higher parts of the district, where the
ground is more completely covered with snow, the
depth of which decreases gradually as one recedes
from the shore.
A more strikingly varied drive of twenty miles
can scarcely be taken than from the Spey at Gran-
town Down to Forres on the sea-side near the
mouth of the Findhorn river. After emerging
from the woods of Castle Grant, in the immediate
DEC. GRANTOWN TO FORRES. 69
vicinity of the Spey, and that curiously-built place
Grantown, with its wide street of houses, almost
wholly inhabited by Grants, which appellation with
every variety of Christian name is written at least
on nine houses out of every ten, the traveller comes
out on the extended flats and moors of the district
round Brae Moray, where there is scarcely a sign
of life, animal or human ; excepting when a grouse
rises from the edge of the road, or runs with comb
and head erect a few yards into the heather, and
then crouches till the intruder has passed by. There
is, I admit, a turnpike-house here, but it is a
wretched-looking aflPair, and its tenant must live a
life as solitary as a lighthouse keeper. After several
miles of this most dreary though not very elevated
range, the road enters the woods and for a long
distance passes through a succession or rather one
continued tract of fine fir-trees. It goes through
the beautiful grounds of Altyre, and along the
banks of the most picturesque part of the Findhorn ;
and gradually descending it opens upon the rich
fields and firth of Moray, with the mountains of
Ross, Caithness, and Sutherland — a glorious range —
in the background : a great and most pleasing change
from the dreary brown muirland near Brae Moray.
Having passed through this long and varied tract
of woodland, the road suddenly emerges into the
70 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXIV.
rich open corn-land of the most fertile district in
Scotland, near the bay of Findhorn, where the river,
as if tired by its long and rapid course, gradually
and slowly mixes itself with the salt water of the
Moray Firth. By crossing the river near this spot,
another very different kind of country is reached —
the strange sand-hills of Findhorn or Culbin. Thus,
in a very few hours' drive as great a variety of
country is passed through as could be found in any
part of the island, each portion of which is charac-
teristic and interesting.
Forres itself is one of the prettiest and cleanest
little towns in the kingdom. The entrance from
the river Findhorn is extremely picturesque ; and
the bright sparkling burn, with the public bleaching-
green close to the town, always gives it a gay and
lively appearance. The town magistrates, too, with
public-spirited zeal, have laid out pleasure-grounds
and walks on the wooded hill above the town, which,
as regards the views which they command of rich
cultivated land, are probably not surpassed by any
in the kingdom.
During the time that the snow remained on the
ground, the rabbits in a wood near my house took
to barking the fine old hollies, thus destroying trees
of a very great age, and of from eight to ten inches
in diameter. Oaks also of twenty years' growth
DEC. FOXES AND RABBITS, 71
are frequently destroyed by these animals. In fact,
wherever they once establish themselves they over-
run the country and become a nuisance. In the
sand-hills of Culbin I admit that they can do but
small mischief, there being in that region little else
but bent, sea-weed, and furze-bushes. They thrive
however on this food, and in spite of foxes and
guns keep up their numbers sufficiently to afford
plenty of sport. The foxes are numerous in the
rough wild district which lies to the west of the
sand-hills, and hunt regularly for rabbits wherever
they abound. From their tracks it is evident that
two foxes constantly hunt together ; and they take
different sides of every hillock.
If a fox finds a rabbit at a sufficient distance
from the cover, he catches it by fair running ; but
most of his prey he obtains by dint of the number-
less stratagems which have earned for him a famous,
or rather an infamous, reputation from time imme-
morial. From what I have myself seen of the cun-
ning of the fox, I can believe almost any story of
his power of deceiving and inveigling animals into
his clutches. Nor does his countenance belie him ;
for handsome animal as he certainly is, his face is
the very type and personification of cunning.
The cottagers who live near the woods are con-
stantly complaining of the foxes, who steal their
72 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXIV.
fowls frequently in broad daylight ; carrying them
off before the faces of the women, but never com-
mitting themselves in this way when the men are at
home. From the quantity of debris of fowls, ducks,
&c. which are strewed here and there near the
abodes of these animals, the mischief they do in this
way must be very great.
Cunning, however, as they are, I not unfrequently
put them up while walking through the swamps.
They lie, in fancied security, on some dry tuft of
heather in the midst of the pools ; and not expect-
ing or being accustomed to be disturbed, they re-
main there until my retriever raises them close to
my feet. One fine day in the beginning of this
month, when the sun was bright and warm, a setter
who was with me made a very singular kind of
point in the long heather, looking round at me with
an air most expressive of " Come and see what I
have here." As soon as I got near, the dog made a
rush into the rough heather, putting out a large
dog fox, who had been napping or basking. The
fox made a bolt almost between my legs to get at
a hole near the place ; but I stopped him with a
charge of duck shot : the dog, though as steady as
possible at all game, pursued the fox full cry, and
when he rolled over, worried and shook him, as a
bull-dog would a cat.
DEC. END OF SOJOURN IN MORAY. 73
December, in this part of the island, is seldom a
very cold or boisterous month ; our principal storms
of snow and wind come with the new year. Fre-
quently indeed there is no covering of snow on that
part of the county which hes within the influence of
the sea-air till February.
During the first days of snow and storm a con-
stant immigration of larks takes place ; these birds
continuing to arrive from seaward during the whole
day, and frequently they may be heard flying in
after it is dark. They come flitting over in a con-
stant straggling stream, not in compact flocks ; and
pitching on the first piece of ground which they find
uncovered with snow, immediately begin searching
for food ; feeding indiscriminately on insects, small
seeds, and even on turnip leaves, when nothing else
can be found.
The wagtails frequent the sheepfolds near the
shore, and keep up an active search for the insects
which are found about these animals.
And now having brought my readers (if the
patience of any of them has enabled them to follow
me so far) to the end of the year, and of my so-
journ in Moray, I must say — Farewell.
I have aimed neither at book-making, nor at
VOL. II. E
74 FIELD-NOTES FOR THE YEAR. CH. XXIV.
giving a scientific description or arrangement of
birds and other animals. All I wish is that my
rough and irregularly put together notes may afford
a few moments of amusement to the old ; and to
the young not amusement only, but perhaps an in-
citement to them to increase their knowledge of
natural history, the study of which in all its branches
renders interesting and full of enjoyment many a
ramble and many an hour in the country which
might otherwise be passed tediously and unprofit-
ably. We all know that there is scarcely a foot of
ground that is not tenanted by some living creature,
which, though it may offer itself to our observation
in the lowly shape of an insect or even a minute
shell, is as perfect in all its features and parts, in
its habits and instincts, and as demonstrative of the
surpassing wisdom and power and goodness of the
Creator, as the most gigantic quadruped which walks
the earth.
Again, kind readers, Farewell !
DEER-STAIKING.
15 2
Dead Stag and Eagles
DEER-STALKINO.
CHAPTER XXV.
Deer-stalking; enjoyment of— Fine Stag; ill-luck in stalking;
escapes of Stag ; start in pursuit of him — View of Country
— Roebucks — Hare and Marten — Tracks of Deer ; find the
Stag ; death of — Meet the Shepherd — Cottage.
Though we are all naturally gregarious animals,
much pleasure is often derived from a lonely walk
over mountain and moor, when, independent of
the wishes or movements of any one else, we can
go hither and thither as the objects or the fancy
of the moment may lead us. In following up my
sporting excursions I frequently prefer being alone,
and independent of either friend or keeper ; not
from any disinclination to the society of my fellow-
men — far from it — but from a liking to watch and
observe the habits and proceedings of many of the
living animals of the country. Now one's friend
may become bored by being carried off from his
shooting, and being hampered by the movements
of another person whose attention for the time being
78 DEER-STALKING. CH. XXV.
is taken up in following some bird or beast not
included in tlie game-book, and therefore not
deemed worthy of notice during the shooting season.
If my own larder or that of my friend is in want
of replenishing, I can fill it as well and quickly as
most people ; but at other times I like to take my
shooting quietly. In deer-stalking the solitary sports-
man has often great advantages, though his enjoy-
ment of the sport is much enhanced by the thought
that he has some friend, some " fidus Achates,"
to whom he can relate the incidents of the day, and
who, following the same pursuits, will enjoy and
appreciate the account of the pains and fatigues
he has undergone before bringing down the noble
animal whose horns he exhibits in triumph. Much
of my deer-stalking time was spent alone, or at
most with no companionship save that of an ancient
and experienced Highlander, or a chance visitor —
some travelling laird or sportsman — who was as
glad to receive as I was to give provend and rest
for himself and horses. From these circumstances I
got into the habit of sketching off an account of
my day's wanderings, when they had been of that
kind that I felt I might say to myself " forsan et
hgec olim meminisse juvabit."
I had more than once seen in a particular corrie,
or not far from it, a remarkably fine stag : his horns.
CH. XXV. FINE STAG. 79
though not peculiarly long, were heavy and large,
with ten points well and evenly set on, of a dark
colour, and the points as white as ivory. The
animal himself was evidently of very great size
and age, and in fine condition. He lived quite
alone, and did not seem to associate with any
of the other deer who frequented that district,
although I once saw him rise and trot off, warned
by the movement of a herd of hinds; and at
another time he rose unexpectedly on my firing at
two stags in a corrie : still on neither of these
occasions, nor at any other time, did he appear to
be lying in company with the other deer, although
not above half a mile from them, nor did he join
them in their fiight when moved. Instead of this
he invariably trotted off* sulkily ; and if I chanced
to fall in with his track again, it was still solitary,
and speeding in a direct course over bog and hill
to some far off" mountain glen or corrie. The
shepherds, who generally gave me notice of any
particularly fine stag they might see in their rounds,
distinguished this one by a Gaelic name signifying
the big red stag, as, besides his other attributes, his
colour was of a peculiarly bright red. Donald
and I had made an unsuccessful raid or two into
the red stag's country, some unforeseen or un-
guarded against circumstance always warning hira
80 DEER-STALKING. CH. XXV.
of our neighbourhood too soon ; besides which he
had a troublesome habit of suddenly rising in the
most unaccountable manner from some unexpected
corner or hollow. We might examine long and
carefully the whole face of a hill, and having made
ourselves perfectly sure that nothing larger than a
mountain hare could be concealed on its surface,
up would rise the red stag from some trifling
hollow, or from behind some small hillock, and,
without looking to the right or left, off he would go
at his usual trot, till we lost him in the distance.
At another time, after we had beat, as we ima-
gined, a whole wood, so that we were convinced that
neither deer nor roe could have been passed over, up
would get the stag out of some clump of larch or
birch apparently scarcely big enough to hold a hare.
Or else he would rise at the very feet of one of the
beaters, and though not above a hundred yards
from the corner where I was posted he always
managed to tui'n back, perhaps almost running
over some man who had no gun : but he invariably
escaped being shot at, excepting on one occasion,
when I placed a friend who was with me near a
pass by which the stag sometimes left a favourite
wood. I had stationed the shooter at the distance of
half a mile from the wood, as the deer was always
most careful of himself, and most suspicious of
CU. XXV. START IN PURSUIT. 81
danger, when he first left the cover. On this occasion,
according to my friend's account, the great beast
had trotted quickly and suddenly past him at eighty
yards distance, and took no notice of the barrels
discharged at his broadside, though fired by a very
good shot, and out of a first-rate Manton gun that
carried ball like a rifle. My friend could not account
for missing him ; but missed he evidently was.
I determined one day to start off" alone in pur-
suit of this stag, and to pay no attention to any
other deer I might see during my excursion.
Donald's orders were to meet me at a particular
rock, about eight miles from home, the next day
at two o'clock ; my intention being, in the event of
my not returning the same night, to work my way
to a distant shepherd's house, and there to sleep.
Donald had directions as to the line by which he
was to come, that he might not disturb one or two
favourite corries ; and he was also to bring a
setter and my shooting apparatus, as I took with
me only a single-barrel rifle and a few bullets.
I did not take Bran, as, being alone, I could not
be quite sure that he would not be in my way
when getting up to the deer, in case I found him ;
but I took a dog of a very different kind — a
powerful bulldog, who was well accustomed to
deer-stalking, and who would lie down for an hour
e3
82 DEER-STALKING. CH. XXV.
together if desired to do so, without moving an
inch.
On leaving the house at daybreak, or at least be-
fore the sun was risen, I struck oiF in a straight line
through the woods, till, having got through the whole
cover, I sat myself down on the top of what was called
the Eagle's Craig, and turned, for the first time that
raornhig, to the east to look at the sun, which was
now rising in its utmost glory and brightness, — a
glorious sight, and one that loses not its interest
though seen each returning day, particularly when
viewed from the lonely places either of land or sea :
below me lay a great extent of pine-wood, con-
cealing the house and the cultivated land around it,
with the exception of a glimpse caught here and there
of the bright green meadow which formed the banks
of the river. The river itself was visible through
many openings, and where the outline of the trees
was lower than in other places : beyond the river
rose a black-looking moorland, which, growing
gradually higher and higher, terminated in moun-
tains with a most varied and fantastic outline
of peaks and precipices, the stony sides of which
were lighted up by the rising sun, and exhibited
a strong contrast to the deep colour of the hills
below them, covered with dark heather, and not yet
reached by the sun's rays.
CH. XXV. VIEW OF COUNTRY — ROEBUCKS. 83
On the other side the ground was of quite a
different character : immediately on leaving the
wood, the country for some distance had a dreary, cold
look, being covered not with heather, but with a kind
of grey grass, called there deer's grass, which grows
only in cold swampy ground. Here and there this
was varied by ranges of greystone and rock, and
dotted with numerous lochs. In the distance to the
west I could see the upper part of a favourite rocky
corrie, the sun shining brightly on its grey rocks :
a little to my right the fir-woods terminated, but
on that side, between me and the river, of which
every bend and reach was there in full view, were
numerous little hillocks with birch trees, old and
rugged, growing on them : here and there, too,
amongst these hillocks, was a great round grey
rock, and the whole of this rough ground was inter-
sected with bright green glades. Some three miles
up the river a blue line of smoke ascended per-
pendicularly in the still morning, the chimney
it came from being concealed by a group of birch-
trees.
I looked carefully with my glass at all the nooks
and grassy places to see if any deer were feeding
about them, but could see nothing but two or three
old roe. A moment after a pair of young roe walked
quietly out of some concealed hollow, and after
84 DEER-STALKING. CII. XXV.
gazing about a short time and having a game of
romps on the top of a hillock, were joined by their
mother, and then all three came into the woods at
the foot of the craig where I was sitting. The
grouse were calling to each other in all directions,
and every now and then an old cock-bird would
take a shoi't fly, crowing, to some stone or hillock,
where he' stood and sunned himself. I was struck
just then by the curious proceedings of a mountain-
hare, who had been feeding about two hundred
yards from me ; she suddenly began to show symp-
toms of uneasiness and fear, taking short runs and
then stopping, and turning her ears towards the hill-
side behind her. I soon saw the cause of her alarm in
a beautiful marten cat : the latter, however, having
probably already made her morning meal, took
little notice of the hare, but came with quiet
leaps straight towards me. As I was well con-
cealed amongst the grey fragments of rock which
covered the top of the craig, and which were
exactly the same colour as the clothes I was
dressed in, the little animal did not see me.
When about thirty yards off she suddenly stopped
and looked in my direction, having evidently be-
come aware, through some of her fine senses, of the
vicinity of an enemy. She offered me a fair shot,
and, well aware of the quantity of game killed by
CH. XXV. TRACKS OF DEER. 85
these animals, I sent a rifle-ball right into her
yellow chest as she sat upright with her head turned
towards me.
But time advanced, so I delayed no longer, and
started off in a westerly direction. Many a weary
mile did I tramp that day without seeing anything
but grouse, and an occasional hare. Nevertheless
I saw many fresh tracks of red deer : particularly
crossing one mossy piece of ground, where there
appeared to have been at least twenty or thirty deer,
and amongst them one or two large fine stags. In
one place I saw a solitary track of a noble stag, but
it was two or three days old. I judged that the herd
whose tracks I saw had a good chance of being in
or about a corrie, a good view of which I should get
from the next height ; but after a long and tiresome
survey of the ground I could see no living creature,
excepting a heron, who was standing in his usual
disconsolate attitude on a stone in the burn that ran
out of the corrie, adding by his very presence to the
solitude of the scene. " I don't understand where
these deer can be," was my internal ejaculation,
" but here they are not ; so come on, good dog."
Another and another height did I pass over, and
many a glen did I scan inch by inch till my eyes
ached with straining through the glass : nothing
could I see, and I began to think to myself that as
86 DEER-STALKING. CH. XXV.
it was past two and the shepherd's house was some
three hours' walk, I had better turn off in that
direction ; so slanting my course a little to the
north, I pulled my plaid tight round me and
walked on. In deer-stalking, as much as in the
every -day pursuits of life, the old adage holds
good —
Credula vifam
Spes fovet.
And this said hope carries the weary stalker over
many a long mile. I came in half an hour to a
large extent of heather-covered ground, interspersed
with a great number of tumulus-shaped hillocks. I
looked carelessly over these, when my eye was sud-
denly attracted by a red -coloured spot on one of the
mounds. I turned the glass in that direction, and
at once saw that it was a large bright-coloured
stag with fine antlers, and altogether an animal
worth some trouble. He was in a very difficult
situation to approach. He conmianded a complete
view of the face of the hill opposite to him, and over
the summit of which I was looking, and I was asto-
nished he had not observed me, notwithstanding all
my care. As the wind blew, I could not approach
him from the opposite direction, even if I had time
to get round there before he rose ; and I knew that
once on foot to feed, his direction would be so un-
CH. XXV. APPROACH THE STAG. 87
certain amongst the mounds where he was, that my
chance would be small.
After a short survey I started off at my best
pace to the right, thinking that from the nature
of the ground I might succeed in getting into the
valley unobserved ; and once there, by taking advan-
tage of some hillock, I should have a tolerable chance
of approaching him. After what appeared to rae
a long tramp I came to a slight rise of the shoulder
of the hill : beyond this was a hollow, by keeping
in which I hoped to get down unobserved. It was
already past three, but the stag had not yet moved ;
so, keeping the tops of his horns in view, I began to
crawl over the intervening height. At two or three
places which I tried, I saw that I could not succeed.
At last I came to a more favourable spot ; but I
saw that it still would not do, however well the
dog behaved, and a capital stalker he was, imitating
and following every movement of mine, crouching
when I crouched, and crawling when I crawled.
I did not wish to leave him quite so far from
the deer, so I made another cast, and this time
found a place over which we both wriggled our-
selves quite unseen. Thank God ! was my excla-
mation, as I found myself in a situation again where
I could stand upright. Few people excepting deer-
stalkers know the luxury of occasionally standing
00 DEEU-STALKIKG. CH. XXV.
upright, after having wormed oneself horizontally
along the ground for some time. There were the
horns with their white tips still motionless, excepting
when he turned back his head to scratch his hide,
or knock off a fly. I now walked easily without
stooping till I was within three or four hundred
yards of him, when I was suddenly pulled up by
finding that there was no visible manner of ap-
proaching a yard nearer. The last sheltering mound
was come to ; and although these mounds from a
distance looked scattered closely, when I got
amongst them I found they were two or three rifle-
shots apart at the nearest. There was one chance
that occurred to me : a rock or rather stone lay
about eighty yards from the stag, and it seemed
that I might make use of this as a screen, so as, if
my luck was great, to get at the animal. I took off
my plaid, laid it on the ground, and ordered the
dog to lie still on it ; then buttoning my jacket
tightly, and putting a piece of cork, which I carried
for the purpose, into the muzzle of my rifle to prevent
the dirt getting into it, I started in the most snake-
like attitude that the human frame would admit of.
1 found that by keeping perfectly flat, and not even
looking up once, I could still get on unobserved.
Inch by inch I crawled : as I neared the stone my
task was easier, as the ground sank a little and the
CH. XXV. DEATH OF THE STAG. 89
heather was longer. At last I reached the place,
and saw the tips of his horns not above eighty yards
from me. I had no fear of losing him now ; so,
taking out the cork from my rifle, I stretched my
limbs one by one, and prepared to rise to an atti-
tude in which I could shoot ; then, pushing my rifle
slowly forward, I got the barrel over the stone un-
perceived, and rose very gradually on one knee.
The stag seemed to be intent in watching the face
of the opposite hill, and, though I was partially
exposed, did not see me : his attitude was very
favourable, which is seldom the case when a stag
is lying down ; so, taking a deliberate aim at his
shoulder, I was on the point of firing, when he sud-
denly saw me, and, jumping up, made off as hard
as he could. He went in a slanting direction, and
before he had gone twenty yards I fired. I was
sure that I was steady on him, but the shot only
seemed to hurry his pace ; on he went like an
arrow out of a bow, having showed no symptom of
behig hurt beyond dropping his head for a single
moment.
I remained motionless in despair : a more mag-
nificent stag I had never seen, and his bright red
colour and white-tipped horns showed me that he
was the very animal I had so often seen and wished
to get. He ran on without slackening his pace for
90 DEER-STALKING. CH. XXV.
at least a hundred yards, then suddenly fell with a
crash to the ground, his horns rattling against the
stones. I knew he was perfectly dead, so, calling
the dog, ran up to him. The stag was quite motion-
less, and lay stretched out where he fell, without a
single struggle. I found on opening him that the
ball had passed through the lower part of his heart —
a wound I should have imagined sufficient to have
deprived any animal of life and motion instantane-
ously. But I have shot several deer through the
heart, and have observed that when hit low they
frequently ran from twenty to eighty yards. If,
however, the ball has passed through the upper part
of the heart, or has cut the large blood-vessels im-
mediately above it, death has been instantaneous,
the animal dropping without a struggle.
Having duly admired and examined the poor
stag, not, I must own, without feeling compunction
at having put an end to his life, I set to work bleed-
ing and otherwise preparing him for being left on
the hill till the next day, secure from attacks of
ravens and eagles ; then, having taken my land-
marks so as to be sure of finding him again, I
started on my march to the shepherd's house, look-
ing rather anxiously round at the increasing length
of my shadow and the diminished height of the sun ;
the more so as I had to pass some very boggy
CH. XXV. MEET THE SHEPHERD. 91
ground with which I was not very well acquainted.
I had not gone a quarter of a mile, however, when
I saw the shepherd himself making his way home-
wards. I gave a loud whistle to catch his attention,
and, having joined him, I took him back to show
the exact place where the stag was lying, in order
to save myself the trouble of returning the next
day. Malcolm was rather an ally of mine, and his
delight was great at seeing the stag.
" 'Deed, aye. Sir ; it 's just the muckle red stag
himsel' ; mony a time I 've seen the bonny beast.
Save us ! how red his pile is !"
" Yes, he is a fine beast, Malcolm ; and you must
bring your grey pony for him to-morrow. I must
have the head and one haunch down to the house :
take the rest to your mother ; I dare say she can
salt it."
I knew pretty well that this good lady must
have had some experience in making red deer hams,
unless Malcolm was very much slandered by his
neighbours ; nevertheless he had promised me not
to poach on my ground, and knowing that I trusted
quite to his honour, I believe that he neither did so
himself nor allowed any one else to do so.
" You are ower good, your Honour; and the
mither will be glad of a bit venison ; it 's a long
time now since I killed a deer."
92 DEER-STALKING. CH. XXV.
" When was the last, Malcolm ?" I asked.
" Why, raony a day, Sir ; but, to tell the truth,
it is only yesterday since I shot at one."
" And where was that, Malcolm ?"
" AVhy, if your Honour wishes to know, and I
am sure you will do no ill turn to a lad for taking
a shoot, I '11 just tell you."
I could not help smiling at Malcolm's describing
himself as a lad. He was six feet three inches with-
out his shoes, and a perfect giant in every propor-
tion, but strong and active withal, and a capital
stalker, being able to wind his great body about
through moss and heather in a manner that was
quite marvellous. Malcolm's account, then, was,
that a shepherd on an adjoining property, or rather
on one divided from where we were by a long lake,
had asked him to come up some evening with his
gun to " fleg " some deer that had been destroying
his little crop of oats. Well, Malcolm had gone ;
and the evening before I met him he had fired in
the dusk at a stag with a handful of large slugs ;
the deer was hit and crippled, but had thrown
out the colley dogs, which had pursued him, by
taking to the water and apparently swimming the
loch. If he had managed to cross he would be on
my side of it, and I might by chance fall in with
him on my return home the next day in some of the
CH. XXV. SHEPHERD S COTTAGE. Ud
burns and glens through which I should have to
walk. I did not blame Malcolm much, knowing the
mischief done by deer to the shepherds' little crops ;
besides which the ground where he had shot this
stag was not preserved or used as a forest by the
owner.
We had a weary walk, though enlivened by
Malcolm's quaint remarks. Without his company
and guidance I saw plainly that I should have had
some difficulty in finding my way through the rough
ground over which we had to pass. The night, too,
had come on quite dark before we reached the
shealing.
On entering I was much struck by the group
which we saw by the light of several splinters of
bog-fir laid on a stone. Malcolm's old father, a
man whose years numbered at least fourscore, was
reading a chapter of the Bible in Gaelic to the rest
of his family, which consisted of his wife, a woman
of nearly equal age to himself, but hale, neat, and
vigorous, and of a sister and brother of Malcolm's ;
the former a peculiarly pretty, though somewhat
extensive damsel ; and the latter a giant like Mal-
colm himself, equally good-looking, and equally
respected in his own rank of life. The old man
having looked off his book for a moment, without
pausing in his reading, continued his chapter. Fol-
94 DEER-STALKING. CH. XXV.
lowing Malcolm's example, I took off my cap, and
sat down on a chest in the room, and though of
course not understanding a word of what was read,
instead of being inchned to smile at the peculiar
twang and bagpipe-like drawl with which the old
man read, I was struck by the appearance of real
devotion and reverence of the whole group, and
looked on with feelings of interest and respect till he
came to the end of a somewhat lengthy chapter. This
finished, the old man, resting his head on his hands,
which his long grey hair entirely covered, uttered
a short prayer in the same language. The moment
this was done he handed the Bible to his daughter,
who, wiping it with her apron, deposited it in a
chest. I was then received with great kindness,
and preparations were made for Malcolm's and
my supper, which consisted of tea, oatcake, eggs,
and some kippered trout, caught in a stream run-
ning out of the large loch, and which when alive
must have weighed at least twelve pounds: such
cream and milk, too, as is met with, or at any
rate enjoyed, only in the Highlands. With great
discretion the old people talked to me but little
during the meal, seeing that I was tired and
hungry ; but over the glass of capital toddy which
succeeded the tea I had many a question to answer
respecting the killing of the stag, &c. The old lady
CH. XXV. OLD SHEPHERD. 95
spoke very little English, but understood it well
enough. The old shepherd listened with great
interest, the more so from having been a somewhat
famous stalker in his own time, and now a great
lamenter of the good old time when deer and black
cattle were more plentiful, and sheep comparatively
few to what they are in the present day.
96 DEER-STALKING. CII. XXVI.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Sleeping in Shepherd's House — Start in the Morning — Eagle ■ —
Wild Geese — Find Deer ; unsuccessful shot — Rocky Ground
— Wounded Stag — Keeper and Dog — Walk Home.
Before the earliest grouse-cock had shaken his
plumage, and called his mate from her heather
couch, I had left my sleeping-place in the building
that did duty for a barn, where deep in the straw
and wrapped in my plaid I had slept sound as a
deerstalker, and I fancy no person sleeps more
soundly. I had preferred going to roost in the
clean straw to passing the night within the house,
knowing by former experience that Malcolm's sheal-
ing was tenanted by myriads of nocturnal insects,
which, like the ancient Britons, " feri hospitibus,"
would have left me but little quiet during the night.
The last time I had slept there, all the fleas in the
shealing, " novitatis avidi," had issued out, and
falling on the body of the unlucky stranger, had
attacked me in such numbers, that unanimity only
was wanting in their proceedings to have enabled
them to carry me off bodily. Tempted by the clean
CH. XXVI. START IN THE MORNING. 97
and fresh appearance of the good lady's sheets, I
had trusted my tired limbs to their snowy whiteness,
when, sallying forth from every crevice and every
corner, thousands of these obnoxious insects had
hopped on to me, to enjoy the treat of a supper of
English blood. The natives of these places seem
quite callous to everytliing of the kind.
To continue, however. After making good use
of the burn that rippled along within fifty yards
of the house, and having eaten a most alarming
quantity of the composition called porridge, I
sallied forth alone. Malcolm and his brother
would fain have accompanied me, but the latter
had to attend some gathering of sheep in a dif-
ferent direction, and Malcolm was obliged to go
for the stag killed yesterday. He therefore only
walked a few hundred yards up the first hill with
me, in order to impress well on my recollection the
different glens and burns he wished me to look at
on my way to the place of rendezvous with old
Donald. The sun was but a little distance above
the horizon when I gained the summit of a tole-
rably long and steep ascent immediately behind
Malcolm's house. A blackcock or two rose wild
from some cairn of stones or hillock, where they
had been enjoying the earliest rays of the sun,
and flew back over my head to take shelter in the
VOL. II. F
98 DEER-STALKING. CH. XXVI.
scattered birch thickets near the shealing ; and here
and there a pack of grouse rose, alighting again
before they h:i I flown a hundred yards, as if fully
understanding that grouse shooting was not the
order of the day, and, strutting along with their
necks stretched up, seemed to care little for my
presence. The ring-ousel flitted from rock to rock,
uttering its wild and sweet note. Truly there is
gi*eat enjoyment gained by the early riser ; every-
thing in nature has a pleasant aspect, and seems
happy and thankful to see the light of another sun.
The great mountain to the west looked magnificent
as its grey corries and cliffs were lighted up by the
morning rays. A noble pile of rock and heather is
that mountain, and well named Ben Mhor, or the
Big Mountain — not a triton amongst minnows, but
a triton amongst ti'itons. The golden eagle, to
add gi-andeur to the scene, was sweeping through
the sky high above me, and apparently eyeing my
canine companion with mingled curiosity and appe-
tite. Once or twice in his circles he came so near
that I was half inclined to send a rifle-ball at him,
but as often as I stopped my walk with tliis inten-
tion, the noble bird wheeled off" again, and at last,
remembering his breakfast hour was past, flew off"
in a straight line at a great height towards the loch
to the north of us, where he probably recollected
CH. XXVI. WILD GEESE, 99
having seen some dead or sickly sheep during his
flight homewards the evening before.
I had several hours to spare before the time of
meeting Donald, so I diverged here and there,
wherever I thought it likely I should find deer, and
then kept a northerly course in order to look at
some burns and grassy ground near the loch, ac-
cording to Malcolm's advice. The loch itself was
bright and beautiful, and the small islands on it
looked like emeralds set in silver. With my glass
I could distinguish eight or nine wild geese, as they
ruffled the water in their morning gambols, having
probably just returned from gi-azing on the short
green grass that grew on different spots near the
water's edge. These grassy places were the sites
of former habitations, and were still marked by the
line of crumbled walls, now the constant resort of
the few wild geese that breed every year on the
lonely and unvisited islands of the loch.
Below me there was a capital flat for deer, a long
sloping valley with a winding burn flowing through
the middle, along the banks of which were grassy
spots where they constantly fed. I searched this
long and carefully with my glass, but saw nothing
excepting a few small companies of sheep which
were feeding in different flocks about the valley. So
famous, however, was this place as the resort of deer,
F 2
100 DEER-STALKING. CH. XXVI.
that 1 took good care not to show myself, and
crawled carefully into a hollow way, which, leading
to the edge of the burn, would enable me to walk
almost unseen for a long distance, and I thought
that there might still be deer feeding in some
bend of the watercourse, where they had escaped
my search. Before I had walked many hundred
yards down the course of the burn, I saw such traces
as convinced me they had been feeding there within
a few hours ; so arranging my plaid and rifle
I walked stealthily and slowly onwards, expecting
to see them every moment. The nature of the
ground was such that I might come on them
quite unperceived ; the dog too showed symptoms
of scenting something, putting his nose to the
tracks and then looking wistfully in my face, watch-
ing every movement of my rifle. The inquiring
expression of his face was perfect : whenever I
stopped to look over or around some projecting angle
of rock, he kept his eyes fixed on my face, as if to
read in it whether my search was successful or not.
A deer-stalker in the situation I was in would make
a good subject for a painter. I wound my way
silently and slowly through the broken rock and
stone which formed the bed of the burn, showing in
their piled up confusion that the water must at some
times rage and rush with the fury and power of an
OH. XXVI. FIND DEER, 101
Alpine torrent, though now it danced merrily along,
rippling through the stones and forming tiny pools
here and there, where it had not strength enough to
break through the accumulated sand and gravel
which dammed up its feeble stream. Dressed in
grey, and surrounded with grey stone on every side,
I was as little conspicuous as it was possible to be,
and there was just enough ripple in the stream and
its thousand miniature cascades to drown the sound
of my footsteps, whenever I inadvertently put my
foot on any stone that grated or slipped below me.
The only thing that annoyed me was an occasional
sheep that would see me from the bank above, and
by running off in a startled manner was likely to
warn the deer, if there were any ahead of me, of the
vicinity of an enemy. I had continued this course
for some distance, when just as I began to propose
to myself turning off in order to cross the valley
to look over the next height, and had made up
my mind that the deer whose recent traces I had
seen must have slipped away unobserved, — just
then, on turning a corner, I caught a momentary
glimpse of the hind-quarters of one of the wished
for animals walking slowly round a turn in the
burn. I stopped, fearing they had seen or heard me,
and I expected to see them leap out of the hollow
and make away across the valley ; but not seeing
102 DEER-STALKING. CH. XXVI.
this happen, I walked carefully on, and came in view
of nine deer, hinds and calves, who were feeding
quietly on a little piece of table-land close to the
burn. I also saw the long ears of another appearing
beyond and above the rest, evidently being on the
look-out. They seemed to have no suspicion of an
enemy, and when they stopped to gaze about them
their heads were turned more towards the plain
around than to the course of the burn. The
sentry too was seemingly occupied with looking
out in every direction excepting where I was.
They were not more than two hundred yards off,
and I judged that by advancing quickly the moment
that they turned the next corner, I should be able to
get unperceived within forty or fifty yards. The
single hind had disappeared too, having gone over
a small rise. I put on a new copper cap, and felt
sure of an easy shot : the dog, though he did not
see the deer, perfectly understood what was going
on, and seemed afraid to breathe lest he should
be heard. Amongst the herd were two fine barren
hinds, both in capital condition. I did not care
which of the two I might kill, but determined to
have one, and was already beginning to reckon on
Donald's delight at my luck in getting a fine hind
as well as the stag I had killed yesterday. All
the hinds had now gone out of sight, and I moved
CH. XXVI. UNSUCCESSFUL SHOT. 103
on. At that very moment the sentry hind, a long-
legged, ragged, donkey-like beast, came back to the
mound where she had been before, and her sharp
eyes instantly detected me. Never did unlucky
wight, caught in the very act of doing what he least
wished should be known, feel, or, I dare say, look so
taken aback as I was. I stood motionless for a
moment, hoping that even her eyesight might be
deceived by my grey dress, but it was too late ;
giving a snort of alarm, she was instantly out of
sight. I ran forwards, trusting to be in time for a
running shot at some straggler, and came in view of
the whole troop galloping away, a tolerably long shot
off, but still within range, and affording a fair broad-
side mark as they went along in single file to gain
the more level ground. I of course pulled up, and
took a deliberate aim at one of the fat hinds. She
afforded me a fair enough chance, but I saw, the
moment I pulled the trigger, that I had missed her.
The ball struck and splintered a rock, and must
have passed within a very few inches of the top of
her shoulder. I saw my error, which was that, mis-
calculating the distance, 1 had fired a little too high.
However, it was too late to remedy it ; so I stood
quietly watching with a kind of vague hope that
my ball might have passed through her shoulder,
though in reality I was sure this was not the case.
104 DEER-STALKING. CH. XXVI.
They never stopped till they reached the very sum-
mit of one of the heights that inclosed the valley,
and then they all halted in a group for two or three
minutes, standing in clear and strong relief between
me and the sky. After looking back for a short
time towards the point of alarm, they disappeared
over the top of the hill, and I reloaded my rifle, and
then went to examine the exact spot where my ball
had struck. Judging from the height it was from
the ground, I saw the hind had had a very narrow
escape, and muttered to myself " Not a bad shot
after all, though unlucky ; well, I'm glad it was not
a fine stag — never mind the hinds." It 's pleasant
to find consolation — " rebus in adversis ;" my dog
in the mean time scented about a good deal, and
seemed to wonder that I had missed.
I now turned off out of my stony path, and
walked across a long tract of easy ground. There
were several likely spots in my way, but no deer
were to be found ; and an hour before my time I
arrived at the trysting-place, which was a pecu-
liarly shaped large rock, standing in the midst of a
great extent of ground covered with grey stones,
and rocks of a similar description, but all much
smaller. The rock itself rejoiced in a Gaelic name
signifying the " Devil's Stone." It was a curious
spot, — a wide and gentle slope of a hill perfectly
CH. XXVI. ROCKY GROUND. 105
covered with these grey stones, looking as if they
had dropped in a shower from the clouds. They
ended abruptly near the foot of the hill, and formed
almost a straight line, as if some giant workman
had done his best to clear the remainder of the
slope, and had picked all the stones off that part, as
children do off a grass field. Upwards, towards the
top of the hill, they increased, if possible, in number,
and the summit appeared like one mass of rock.
Through all this desolation of stone there were
several strips of heather, or withered-looking grass,
not much wider, however, than footpaths. They
served as passes for any sheep and deer which
might fancy journeying through them.
I reached my point of rendezvous, and sat down
to wait patiently for Donald, with my face turned
in the direction whence he was to arrive. I knew
that, unless detained by any quite unforeseen ac-
cident, he would arrive rather before than after
his time, as he was to bring me something in the
shape of luncheon ; the liquid part of which I was
confident he would not forget.
I waited some time in this solitude, without
hearing or seeing any living creature to enliven the
dreary landscape before me, with the exception of
a pair of ravens who passed at no great height
above me, uttering their harsh croaks of ill omen as
f3
106 DEER-STALKING. CH. XXVI.
they winged their way in a direct course, to feast
probably on the remains of some dead sheep or
deer.
My attention was suddenly roused, however, by
hearing a couple of shots in quick succession, the
sound coming from the direction in which I expected
Donald. As the reports did not appear to be at
any great distance, I rose with the intention of going
to meet him ; though I could not understand what
he was shooting at, it being quite against both his
and my ideas of propriety that he should hunt the
very ground over which I intended to beat home-
wards. On second thoughts, I fancied that he had
fired off his gun to warn me of his approach ; but,
just as I was passing these things over in my head, I
saw a stag of good size come in view from the direc-
tion in which I had heard the shots. Down I dropped
instantly behind a rock, as the deer was coming
straight towards me. As he approached, I saw that
the poor beast was hard hit. One of his forelegs
was broken, and swinging about in a miserable
manner, and he had also one of his horns broken off
a few inches above his head ; altogether he seemed
in a most pitiable state. Before he came within
two hundred yards of me he turned off, and I
watched him as he scrambled along on three legs
painfully and slowly, stopping frequently to look
CH. XXVI. WOUNDED STAG. 107
back, or to smell at the blood that was trickling
down his sides. I could plainly see that he was
also struck somewhere about the middle of his body,
as well as on the horn and leg, and was now bleeding
fast. It then occurred to me that Donald had fallen
in with a lame stag, and had thought it best to do
what he could towards killing him with my gun.
Bullets he always took with him by my orders.
The stag continued his painful march, and I would
have given much to have been within reach to put
an end to the poor brute's misery. He twice lay
down on a grassy spot amongst the rocks, having
first looked anxiously and fearfully round him ; but
seemingly the attitude of lying was more painful to
him than moving slowly on. I remembered then a
theory of Donald's, that a deer never lies down
when shot through the liver, but continues moving,
or at any rate standing, till he dies. How far this
opinion was correct I never had a good opportunity
of proving. The deer before me, having found that
lying down gave him no relief, continued moving,
but still slowly and with evident difficulty. Once
he stopped and stood in a pitiful attitude, trembling
all over, and moving his head up and down as if
oppressed with deadly sickness. After this he
seemed to recover slightly, and, standing erect,
with care and anxiety in every direction ;
108 DEER-STALKING. CH. XXVr.
then, as if determined to make one more effort for
his life, set off in a broken trot. He had been
winding about amongst the rocks all the time I had
been watching him, seldom more than two hundred
yards from me, and sometimes so near that I was
half tempted to try a shot at him ; but I was always
in hopes of getting within surer range, and did not
fire. He now trotted off about three hundred yards,
where there was a small black pool of water. Into
this he went ; it did not at first reach higher than
his knees. Just then Donald appeared in view,
coming slowly and cautiously over the hill, and
leading a pointer in a string. I saw that the dog
was tracking the deer. It was a large powerful dog,
of great size and strength — one of the finest, if not
quite the finest built dog of the kind that I had ever
possessed or seen. Having been at the death of one
or two deer, he had taken a mighty fancy to the
scent of a bleeding stag, and tracked true and keenly.
I sat quiet to watch him and the old Highlander,
as they came slowly but surely on the track, with
both their noses to the ground ; Donald hunting low,
in order to be sure that the dog was still right,
which he could tell pretty well by the occasional
spots of blood on the grey stones, though the ground
was too hard most of the way to show the mark of
the foot. Now and then they seemed quite thrown
CH. XXVI. KEEPER AND DOG. 109
out for a minute or so ; this I saw was generally
occasioned by Donald's want of judgment : the dog,
though he strained on the string, kept the track
wonderfully well in every turn. The poor object of
their chase, when he first saw his enemies appear,
gave a sudden start, and seemed inclined to make
off; but on second thoughts he stopped short again,
and, lowering his head and neck, crouched in the
water, as if trusting to the surrounding rocks for
concealment ; and there the poor animal remained,
with stooping horns, perfectly motionless, but evi-
dently with every nerve and sense on the alert,
listening for the nearer approach of his enemies.
For my own part, I became quite interested in
watching Donald and the dog ; I knew that the
stag was safely ours, as he could not leave the pool
without coming into full view, and having to depend
on his speed for safety, which in his enfeebled state
was the last thing he would like to do. Donald
looked anxiously round him sometimes, as if he
hoped to see me, and as if he expected to hear my
rifle every moment, since he was well aware that
our time of meeting was past, and that I was pretty
sure not to be far off". When he came near the
" Devil's Stone " he checked the dog, and came to
a determined halt, hesitating whether to continue
tracking the stag, or to wait for my appearance and
110 DEER-STALKING. CH. XXVI.
assistance ; he took a long look too at the country
far beyond where the animal really was. It was
amusing to see the old fellow, as he sat within eighty
yards of me, perfectly unconscious that the stag was
so near him, and that I was still nearer. The whole
thing, too, showed the great necessity of always having
a good tracking dog out when deer-stalking ; for here
was a mortally-struck stag lying concealed, where
a dozen men might have passed within a few yards
without seeing him. I thought it time to finish the
business, and gave a low whistle to warn Donald of
my neighbourhood before I stirred, as I thought
it not at all unlikely that he would fire blindly at
the first moving thing he saw amongst the rocks in
his present excited state. He started and stared
round him. I saw that the deer only crouched the
lower, and would not move ; so, whistling again, I
stood up. " The Lord keep us, Sir, but you flegged
me just awful V said Donald. " But did your Honour
see a stag come this way ?" I told him that I had,
and that he had passed on ; but I did not say how
far he had gone. The old man was annoyed in
no slight degree at the information ; and on my
questioning him how he had got at the deer, &c.,
he told me that, as he came to meet me, he had
seen a crippled stag coming slowly over the ground
exactly towards him ; and that having stooped down
CH. XXVI. WOUNDED STAG. 1]1
and loaded the gun he carried as quickly as he could,
he had waited till the stag passed within twenty yards
of him ; that he then fired both barrels, one at his
head and neck ; that one ball had broken off a
portion of the animal's horn, while the other had
passed through his body, tumbling him over for a
moment ; but that he had quickly recovered and
made off in my direction, and was probably now
in the burn over the next hill. " But you are aye
smiling. Sir ; and I ken weel that you've seen more
of the brute than you tell me." I told the old man
exactly where he was ; and having made him quite
understand the very rock he was behind, I gave him
the rifle to finish the work he had commenced, while
I sat down with the two dogs in full view of the
pool, in order to keep the attention of the stag
occupied.
" Now then, Donald,*' take care; don't be in a
hurry, and hit him in the heart or the head."
" No fear, no fear ; if I put out," said Donald,
" ye needna mind, the beast is as gude as killed
already."
Then taking a prodigious spoonful of snuff to
clear his brain, and divesting himself of his game-
bag and other encumbrances, he set off. He reached
a mound within thirty yards of the stag, and lying
flat on his stomach, with his rifle resting on the bank,
112 DEER-STALKING. CH. XXVI.
he aimed long and steadily ; then, with sundry kicks
and contortions, screwing himself into an attitude
that pleased him more, he took another aim, and
then a good strong pull at the trigger — but in vain,
as he had not cocked the rifle. Without taking it
off the rest over the bank, he pulled back the ham-
mer and fired instantly, missing the stag entirely.
Donald was too astonished to move ; but not so the
stag, who jumped up and made off — going, however,
so stiffly and lamely, that I saw the dogs must bring
him to immediately. So I let them go, and in a
very short time they had the poor beast on the
ground, and were both fixed on him like leeches,
the bull-dog on his throat, and the pointer worrying
at his shoulder.
" Bravo, Donald ! — well missed !" I could not
help calling out as I passed him, running as hard
as I could to help the dogs. The old man was not
long in joining me ; and the dogs were soon got off.
The stag was bled, and then examined all over to see
where he had been struck,
" 'Deed, Sir," said Donald, pointing to the rifle,
'' she is as gleg and kittle to handle as "
Here he paused as if at a dead loss for a simile ;
which I was obliged to help him to at last by sug-
gesting, " As your own wife, Donald." At which
he indulged in a low inward chuckle and a pinch of
CH. XXVI. WALK HOME. 113
snufF, without, however, denying the " soft im-
peachment."
On looking at the stag, we found that he had
evidently been very lately shot at, and that one of
his forelegs was broken above the knee — the bone
smashed entirely, and the leg hanging on by the
skin, which would have soon worn through ; the
animal, having lost the incumbrance of the broken
limb, would soon, if left in quiet, have entirely re-
covered. We prepared our game for being " left
till called for," and sat down to our luncheon. My
account to Donald of the death of my other stag
was interrupted by a most desperate battle be-
tween the dogs, who had fallen out over the dead
body ; and being pretty well matched in size and
courage, we had great difficulty in reducing them
to order, and compelling them to keep the peace.
I had a pleasant though not very bloody after-
noon's shooting going home, killing seven brace of
wild-flying grouse, a mallard, and two blackcocks.
The night had set in before we were half way
through the woods in which the last two or three
miles of our road lay ; we could hear numberless
owls hooting and calling on the tops of old larch-
trees. Everything else was as still as death.
" 'Deed, Sir, that's no canny !" exclaimed my
companion, as an owl with peculiar vigour of lungs
114 DEER-STALKING. ClI. XXVI.
uttered his wild cry close to us, and then flitting
past our faces, alighted on the opposite side of
the avenue we were walking along, and recom-
menced his song of bad omen, " If it wasn't
so dark, I'd empty the gun into his ugly craig."
However, as it ivas so dark, the owl escaped being
sacrificed to Donald's dislike this time ; and we soon
reached the house, where the comforts of my own
dressing-room were by no means unacceptable after
so long an absence from razor, brushes, &c.
EXTRACTS FHOM NOTE-BOOKS,
( 117 )
NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY
AND ON SHOOTING.
CHAPTER XXVII.
Length of Life of Birds — The Eagle — Swan — Geese —
Falcons — Fowls — Pigeons — Small Birds — Great age of
Eagles and Foxes — Red-Deer — Destruction of Old Stags —
Roe — Sheep — Rifles ; size of their bore — Double-barrelled
Rifles — Size of Small Shot — Cartridges — Impossibility of
laying down general rules — Necessity of discretion in all
writers on Natural History.
It is not easy to determine the length of years
bestowed on any of the wild animals. There are
no specific and well-ascertained data on which to
form a valid opinion. On all such subjects the
most positive assertions are often so ill supported
hy facts, that the naturalist should be most careful
and guarded as to the evidence on which he founds
his opinion. It seems, however, reasonable to sup-
pose that the age attained by all animals bears a
certain proportion to the time which they take in
coming to their maturity in size and strength.
118 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXVII.
Judging by this criterion, the eagle may be set
down as one of the longest lived of our British
birds ; as he certainly does not arrive at the full
maturity of his plumage for some years. On the
other hand, the swan puts on her white feathers at
her first moulting, yet is said to live to a very great
age ; and there are well-authenticated instances
that this is the fact. Geese, too, live to a most
patriarchal age. The period of life of tame falcons
does not exceed eight to ten years — at least so I am
assured by some of my acquaintances who have
kept these birds. A wild hawk, barring accidents
from shot or trap, has, probably, a better chance of
longevity than a domesticated bird, however care-
fully the latter may be tended, as it is almost
impossible to hit upon the exact quantity, quality,
and variety of food which best conduces to their
health, or to give tame birds as large a share of
exercise and bodily exertion as in their wild state
they would be constrained to take in pursuit of
their daily prey. Common fowls live to the age
of ten or twelve years, but become useless and
rheumatic after six or eight. Such, also, is the
case with pigeons. I knew of a pair who lived for
fifteen years, but they were barren for some years
before their death.
The length of life of small birds is probably less :
CH. XXVII. AGE OF WILD BIRDS. 119
but it is difficult to form an accurate opinion on
this point ; inasmuch as any deductions founded on
canaries or goldfinches in a state of confinement
must be fallacious, as all caged birds are subject to
numerous diseases, from over eating, from improper
and too little varied food, and a thousand other
causes, which do not affect those who live in a state
of natural and healthful liberty.
It is a curious fact, that one scarcely ever finds
the dead body of a wild bird or animal whose
death appears to have been caused by old age or
any other natural cause.* Nor can this result from
the fact of their being consumed immediately by
animals of prey, as we constantly meet with the
bodies of birds who have been killed by wounds
from shot, &c. Either (as donkeys and postboys
are said to do) the wild animals on the approach of
death creep into hidden corners of the earth, or
nearly all of them, before they reach extreme old
age, are cut off by their common enemy, mankind,
or serve as food to birds and beasts of prey.
I have, however, killed both eagles and foxes
who bore unmistakeable marks of extreme old age ;
the plumage of the former being light coloured,
thin, and worn ; so worn, indeed, as to lead one to
suppose that the bird could not have moulted for
several seasons, and the faces of the latter being
120 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXVII.
grey and their jaws nearly toothless : yet they were
still in good, and even fat condition. In animals,
age and cunning supply the place of strength and
activity ; so that the eagle and fox are still able to
live well, even when they have arrived at the most
advanced age assigned to them.
Very old deer become light-coloured and greyish,
especially about the head and neck, and have a
bleached and worn-looking appearance over their
whole body. Their horns, also, lose much of their
rich appearance both as to colour and size, becom-
ing not only smaller, but* also decreasing in the
number of their points. The Highlanders assign
a great age to the red deer ; indeed they seem to
suppose that it has no limit, save a rifle ball ; and
they tell wonderful stories of famous stags, who
have been seen and known for a long series of
years in certain districts. Though these accounts
are doubtless much exaggerated^ it is tolerably cer-
tain that their life extends to from twenty to thirty
years. I do not imagine that in these days stags
have much chance of reaching that term. At the
age of seven or eight years, the animal having ar-
rived at full perfection as to size and beauty of
antler, they are marked down for destruction by
the numerous sportsmen who wage war against
them in every part of the north of the island. Their
CH. XXVII. DESTRUCTION OF OLD STAGS, 121
numbers in certain preserved districts have, no
doubt, increased to a great extent ; but very few of
the fine, rugged, and far-stretching antlers, which
adorn the halls of many of the old houses in the
Highlands, are now to be met with on living deer.
Where not brought down by the licensed sportsman, a
fine-headed stag has now so high a premium offered
on his life in the price given for horns, that he is
sure to fall by the gun of some poacher or shepherd.
I have known as large a sum as five guineas given
for a stag's head : and when this is the case, nothing
else can be expected but that every stag whose
horns are peculiarly fine, will be killed. I have
occasionally shot roebucks, and still oftener does,
showing by their size, colour, length of hoofs,
&c., that they had reached a tolerable old age :
but, like all persecuted animals, the chance of
their attaining their full extent of days is so
slight as scarcely to give us the means of ascer-
taining how long they would live if secure from
danger.
Sheep after seven or eight years lose their teeth,
more or less, and show symptoms of theu- best days
being past. But these, like all other domesticated
animals, do not afford a good criterion to judge by,
as they are all under an artificial system as to food
and manner of living, which makes them, like man,
VOL. II. G
122 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXVII.
subject to many diseases and causes of decay, which
would not affect them if they were in a state of
nature.
In populous countries such as Britain, it may
fairly be supposed that extremely few wild animals
or birds reach their full period of life. Although
some kinds are carefully preserved here and there,
they are only preserved, like sheep or fowls, to be
the more conveniently killed when required ; and
where there is no restriction to shooting and destroy-
ing the ferae naturae of the country, the extensive
trade carried on throughout the kingdom in all the
shops where guns and powder and shot are sold,
proves what numbers must be destroyed. Added to
this, guns and rifles are now so well made as to be
much more destructive weapons than formerly. No
reasonable person would wish to be able to kill a
bird at a greater distance than his fowling-piece
now enables him to do ; and a modern rifle carries
correctly quite as far as a man can see clearly
enough to aim wdth nicety at a small object.
In shooting with the rifle at large animals, such
as deer, a good-sized ball is, for several reasons, a
very great desideratum. In the first place, the
larger the ball the greater is its force. A ball
of 11 bore smashes through a substance which
would stop the ball of a pea-rifle, unless the
CH. XXVII. DOUBLE-BARRELLED RIFLES. 123
latter is aimed at and strikes some vital part.
The animal struck carries it away, and either
pines wounded for a long time, or dies in some
concealed place, where it is lost to the shooter.
Also, the wound made by a small ball will fre-
quently close up again immediately, enabling the
deer to escape ; or the ball, instead of breaking a
bone, is stopped by it : and it should be remem-
bered, that when you shoot at an animal, the most
merciful way of doing so is with a weapon which
kills instead of merely loounding it. Good single-
barrelled rifles can easily be procured ; but to get
a trust-worthy double rifle the sportsman must go
to one of the first-rate gunmakers, and pay a first-
rate price. By altering the sights of a single-bar-
relled rifle any person, knowing the commonest
elements of shooting, can make it carry correctly a
hundred yards or more ; but a double rifle, if the
axes of the two barrels are not exactly parallel, can
only be adjusted by taking it to pieces again and
again, until the barrels shall lie so evenly together,
that at a hundred yards the two balls strike within
an inch of each other. As it is almost impossible
for the most skilful gunsmith to join the two barrels
together so correctly a^^rs^ as to attain this result,
he has to try them repeatedly, taking his work to
pieces again and again, until he is quite satisfied
g2
124 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXVII.
with his performance. All this must, of course,
add to the expense ; but it is money well expended
if, after all, a double-barrelled rifle does shoot per-
fectly true. Another important point which should
be borne in mind with regard to rifles is, that those
of very small bore do not carry so true for long
shots as larger ones.
It is difficult to lay down any specific rule as to
the most effective size of small shot for shooting
game and wild fowl. Some sportsmen strenuously
assert that one particular number is the only right
kind, or indeed the only kind that ought to be
used ; others tell you quite a different story. For
my own part I consider that for all flying game
the shooter should rather be inclined to small sizes
than large. No. 7, for instance, kills partridges
and even grouse more effectively than a larger size.
For wild-duck shooting too, where you shoot at
single birds. No. 5, or even No. 6, appear to me
to kill oftener than the larger sizes more generally
used. I am, indeed, convinced that small shot
works its way better than large through the down
and feathers ; the latter, notwithstanding its superior
force, getting rolled up in the down, while the
former cuts through it, and kills the bird. For
flocks of ducks larger shot may be used ; but even
then too large sizes do less execution than smaller
CH. XXVII. CARTRIDGES, 125
ones. Swans and geese require No. 1 or No. 2, as
smaller shot seldom breaks a wing of these birds ;
but cartridges are the most effective, and then you
may use No. 3 at single geese, with tolerable cer-
tainty. Eley's cartridges, with large shot, such as
B.B. or S.S.G., in them, sometimes kill at prodigious
distances, but are very apt to " balV^ completely, and
deceive the shooter. Indeed, all the green cartridges
have this defect ; owing to which the bird is either
missed entirely or blown to pieces. Several good
shots of my acquaintance can never succeed well
with wire-cartridges : they certainly require a dif-
ferent style of shooting from loose shot, as they not
only shoot slower, but also are very much inclined
to throw the shot low ; and in order to use car-
tridges with success these two facts should be con-
stantly borne in mind.
I find that the " yellow cartridge^'' which is
made without any wire, answers extremely well for
grouse shooting, or when common game is wild, as
they keep the shot close together, but without
balling to any great extent. They are very
excellent too for rabbits, who generally require all
the shot which the sportsman can give them. Late
in the season, hares certainly ought not to be shot
at with a size under No. 4 : smaller shot will not
break their bones sufficiently to stop them at once,
12G EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CII. XXVII.
excepting when the animal is crossing you.
Different guns, however, carry effectively different
sized shot ; and therefore the same rules do not
apply to all. Some guns also shoot cartridges in a
very different manner from others ; and I should wish
it to be clearly understood that I do not lay down
these suggestions as infallible rules, but merely a s
the results of my own experience, hoping that some
of my readers may profit by them. In all matters
of this sort I consider that much more information
is gained by the reader, if an author is content
simply to mark down ascertained facts. If too
much decision is assumed, and mere hearsay asser-
tions are put down as ^^ facts" — if he lays down
as general rules what may be applicable only to
particular cases — perhaps solely to his own,
an author will on this subject, as on most others, do
more harm than good. " Quot homines, tot sen-
tenticc f^ and although half of what I write may
probably not meet the ideas of many of my readers,
I offer it all, leaving it to every one to extract what
is applicable to his own pursuits, and hoping that
there may be few who will not find some hint or
other, or some chance bit of information which
may aid them in their amusements.
Amongst the mass of books written on subjects
of natural history, it is curious to see the number-
CH. XXVII. BOOKS ON NATURAL HISTORY. 127
less errors committed, and the false inferences
drawn, by superficial observers, or by persons who
set down as facts not merely what they actually
see, but what they fancy must, or ought to be ; and
who describe as ascertained facts things of which
they know nothing more than that they seem to be
possible, and may be probable. This is a system
of writing which cannot be sufficiently reprobated
as tending to establish most erroneous and mis-
taken ideas. Every student of nature and of the
habits and manners of living creatures, even of
those which are apparently the most insignificant
and uninteresting, must know that the truest facts
concerning them are often much more marvellous
than anything he would dare to invent ; and that a
writer on such subjects, who wishes to embellish his
book with startling and surprising anecdotes, will
best attain his object by sticking closely to the plain
reality.
It is an old, and oft-repeated, saying, that
" Truth is stranger than fiction ;" and it is espe-
cially so in treating of Nature and her productions,
whether we direct our attention to animals of the
largest size, and highest order of intelligence and
instinct, or to the equally astonishing habits and
means of living displayed by the smallest insects
and reptiles.
128 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXVIII.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Disease amongst Grouse; diflSculty of assigning its cause —
Supply of Grouse to Poulterers — Netting game, legal and
illegal — Disguised Poachers — Game-Laws — Preserves —
Criminality of Poachers — Epidemics amongst Hares, &c. —
Black Game — Hybrids — Woodpigeons — Geese — Sen-
tinels.
It is difficult, I ought perhaps to say impossible,
to understand the cause and origin of what the
Highland keepers call " the disease " amongst
grouse. For the last few years it has in several
districts almost swept away these birds ; so much
so that scarcely a young bird is to be found, and
very few old ones. Some persons assign one thing
as the cause of this and some another, all plausible,
but all on investigation equally unsatisfactory.
One keeper will tell you that the heather " is too
short;" another, that "it is too long;" one, that the
hills have been too wet during the spring ; and
another, that the weather was too dry : in fact,
the most experienced persons are all at fault. For
my own part I conceive that it is some epidemic
which cuts off the birds indiscriminately in wet and
dry, cold and hot weather, without reference to
CH. XXVIII. MARKET SUPPLY OF GROUSE. 129
state of ground or climate. The worst feature of
the case is, that as yet nothing approaching to a
cure or preventive has been discovered. I should
be very much inclined in a diseased district to
shoot hard for a season, instead of sparing the sur-
vivors ; and then to give the grouse a year or two
of entire rest and immunity from dog and gun.
If the hills are let to strangers from a distance
during a scarcity of this kind, it is natural to expect
that, having no interest in them beyond the season,
and paying a considerable rent, they will shoot as
many birds as they can, without thinking of the
future ; and as in general the grounds are each
year let to new tenants, the same thing will occur
again and again until the birds are nearly extinct.
Luckily in favourable seasons and on good
ground grouse seem to grow and increase almost
like the heather among which they dwell, and the
hills soon get stocked again. The number of
grouse sent to the markets in London, and in all
the large towns in England, from the beginning of
August to the end of the season, is perfectly
astonishing ; and indeed until March any quantity
of grouse can be procured from the poulterers and
game dealers. Immense must be the slaughter to
afford this supply : the greatest portion are shot ;
but in some districts considerable numbers are
a3
130 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXVIII.
caught with horse-hair snares set upon the sheaves
of corn. Netting does not seem to succeed to any
great extent, although it has frequently been tried
by poachers. I confess that I do not see why
netting game should be considered a more destruc-
tive and poaching-like system than shooting it — I
mean of course if it is carried on legitimately and
as an amusement. I admit that the whole covey
or pack is caught at once, but that they should all
of them have their necks wrung is by no means a
necessary sequitur. There is, also, a great degree
of skill and perfect training required in the "setting
dog," which gives much interest to this way of
sporting. It should be borne in mind also, that
when a covey of partridges is caught they are not
injured, and the sportsman can set at liberty all
that he does not require ; M^hereas in shooting, very
many birds are, of necessity, uselessly wounded and
left to perish.
The system of netting partridges at night time,
as it is carried on by the poachers in some parts of
England, is most destructive ; and unless checked
is certain to clear the country of all its birds. The
only way to prevent this silent and wholesale
robbery is to stake and bush the grass-fields.
Partridges when undisturbed roost, or rather sleep,
regularly in the smoothest grass or barest stubble.
CH. XXVIII. DISGUISED POACHERS. 131
They seem to feel more security with an open
expanse around them than in any kind of conceal-
ment. The whole covey sits crouched in a space
that might almost be covered with a hat, so closely
are they huddled together. After having made
their evening meal in the stubbles, which they
always do, in the autumn and winter, between the
hours of three and five, the old birds call their
brood and collect them together ; they then fly off
to some grass field or other very bare ground, and
having run about, apparently in play, for a little
while, as soon as the light begins to fail, they
fly ofi* to some favourite spot in the field, and
huddling up together in a furrow, take up their
quarters for the night. Unluckily all this is done
with a great deal of noise ; the birds constantly
calling to, and answering each other, and running
to and fro with their heads most conspicuously erect,
thus plainly showing the netting-poacher, who is
sure to be on the look-out, where he may expect the
best luck during the night. While this work is being
carried on, you may see some fellow, often dressed
more like a schoolmaster than a poacher, lounging
listlessly about the lanes, leaning against the gates
and smoking his pipe. You never suspect that any
sporting propensities can be concealed under the
high- crowned beaver and swallow-tailed coat of
132 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXVIII.
this classical-looking gentleman, who seems to be
merely enjopng the beauty of the evening, although
all the while he is watching with the eyes of a lynx
the unsuspecting partridges as they run about
calling to each other preparatory to going to roost.
The fellow is thus able to form a pretty good guess
as to where half-a-dozen coveys may be netted ;
and he returns to his confederate, who in the mean
time has been equally usefully employed at some
alehouse or elsewhere in preparing and mending
the nets. " Dressing " for the occasion, as it is
termed, is now become by no means an uncommon
practice near large towns in England, and many a
pheasant preserve is laid waste by Methodist
parson-like fellows, whose black coat-pockets and
clerical-looking hats contain, instead of sermons,
neatly coiled piles of horsehair nooses ready tied
on a line long enough to be rim across a large
extent of cover, at the favourable moment when the
keeper, of whom they have just asked the way to
the rectory, has gone about his business in some
other direction.
By such means as these a great part of the game
is obtained which we see hung up in such immense
quantities in all the poulterers' shops. A game-
keeper cannot be too curious and inquisitive as to
the business and movements of all strangers about
CH. XXVIII. PRESERVING GAME. 133
his ground, whether dressed in a fustian jacket and
leather leggings, in a rusty suit of black, or in a
blue swallow-tail with gilt buttons. By watching
unseen an idler of this sort, a keeper may fre-
quently find out some projected manoeuvre against
his pheasants and partridges.
There has been of late a great cry out against
game and game-laws, gamekeepers and game
preservers. In fact, the mere word " game " is
sufficient to excite the bilious indignation of half
the newspapers in the United Kingdom, and more
especially of those whose claims to popularity are
founded on the loudness and virulence of their
abuse of what they term " the aristocracy of the
kingdom."
I am very far from being an advocate for carry-
ing out the system of preserving game to the extent
which is frequently done, where woods as full of
pheasants as a poultry-yard is of chickens afford no
real sport, and where, instead of the amusement of
hunting for and finding your game, your only em-
ployment is the mere act of shooting them, the
birds and hares being as tame and as easy to kill
as so many domestic fowls. At the same time, if
proprietors like to go to the expense and trouble
of keeping innumerable pheasants and hares, I
cannot see why they should not be allowed to
134 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CII. XXVIH.
indulge their taste, without being held up to public
censure by those whose tcaste happens to be different,
as is so frequently the case.
It is not the farmers who complain of the game :
they have a fair and I believe a legal right to com-
pensation for all the mischief it does them ; and I
do not think that this claim is often, if ever, refused
to be acknowledged by the game preserver. In
fact, it is his interest to keep on good terras with
the occupier of the land, even if his sense of justice
did not induce him to do so, as the farmer and
tenant are able to destroy more game, in the shape
of eggs and young birds, during the breeding
season than the proprietor and all his friends could
shoot in a twelvemonth. They can do this, too,
without exposing themselves to any risk of paying
penalty for infraction of the game-laws. As far as
my own experience extends, I have never found
tenants looking upon the preservation of game as
so great a nuisance and source of loss as they are
represented to do by many writers on the subject,
who for the most part advance as facts statements
which are either utterly untrue, or at the best are
twisted and exaggerated to serve their own pur-
poses. Leases are always entered into by farmers
with their eyes well open to every chance of loss
which they are likely to sustain from the game, and
CH. XXVIII. CRIMINALITY OF POACHERS. 135
stipulations are made accordingly. In fact, the
proprietor of the game is almost invariably the
person who, directly or indirectly, pays for its keep :
this price it is right that he should pay for his
amusement, and the cases I believe are very rare
in which any objection is made to doing so.
In considering this subject, it should also be
borne in mind that in these days game is a source
of profit and income to so many persons, that it
ought to be under legal protection, as much so as
any other kind of property. The trespasser in pur-
suit of game renders himself liable to certain
penalties with as perfect a knowledge of the risk he
runs as the man who steals from the hen-roost. It
is often argued that poaching is the first step to
many worse crimes ; so is picking pockets. Phea-
sants are great temptations, and so are pocket-
handkerchiefs ; and a man has as much right to
breed pheasants in his woods, as to walk down
the Strand with a silk pocket-handkerchief in his
pocket. It is very true that the pheasant stealer
may become a highwayman, and in like manner the
picker of pockets may become a burglar ; but in
neither case should the minor crime be permitted to
go unpunished in a vain hope of decreasing the
frequency of the greater. Men are very seldom
impelled by actual want to take up poaching as a
136 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXVIII.
trade ; they are almost always led to it by a
natural lawlessness of disposition and a disin-
clination to labour, or else by a wish to earn the
means of indulging in drinking and low profligacy,
in the same manner as the young Levi or Moses
who picks your pocket spends the proceeds of his
booty in some den of infamy in town. I allude, of
course, in all I have said, not to the illegal follower
of game who is led to do wrong by sportsman-like
feelings, but to the desperate and systematic poacher
who acts from mere love of gain and an utter con-
tempt of right and law, and who too frequently
would as soon maltreat or kill a gamekeeper who
performs his honest duty, as he would shoot a hare.
The savage encounters that occasionally occur are
invariably commenced by the most lawless and
dissolute class of poachers, whose sole object is
plunder, and who have not a particle of that love of
sport in their composition which so frequently leads
the comparatively blameless trespasser into the
hands of the law.
I have entered perhaps too far into a worn-out
and unpleasant subject, but I have been led to do
so by the honest conviction that, in property of this
sort at least, every man has a right to "do what he
likes with his own," provided his neighbour does
not suffer thereby.
CH, XXVIII. INCREASE OF MOUNTAIN-HARES. 137
Rabbits and hares are, like winged game, subject
to epidemics, which frequently carry off great
numbers. Their diseases can generally be traced
to the wet weather or other obvious causes, though
sometimes, indeed, these animals disappear almost
entirely from a district without any ostensible
cause : whether they migrate or perish by disease
is a mystery.
Of late years the mountain-hares in Scotland
have increased in some places to an almost incre-
dible degree, and hare-shooting in the mountains
has occasionally taken the place of grouse-shooting,
the birds having died off, while the hares have
flourished. Grouse and the mountain-hare feed
on very nearly the same food. This circumstance
tends to corroborate the supposition that the epi-
demic amongst grouse is by no means occasioned
by any failure in the growth of the heather.
In many parts of Scotland an old blackcock is
almost uneatable, his flesh having so strong a
flavour of juniper : where, however, this plant does
not abound, the black game, feeding on grain and
other seeds, are as good for the table as any other
kind of game. Although the blackcock and caper-
cailzie frequently breed together, and mules be-
tween the pheasant and black grouse are, though
rare, occasionally seen, I have very rarely found
138 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXVIII.
a well-authenticated case of a mule bird bred be-
tween the grouse and blackcock being killed. In
most instances in which birds supposed to be
hybrids between these two species have fallen under
my observation, they appeared to me to be merely
greyhens, whose plumage had become like that of
the cock. I have seen birds of this kind in the
Edinburgh Museum and elsewhere, and I saw one
killed this autumn (1848), which had very much
the appearance of a hybrid, but on closer exami-
nation I came to the conclusion that it was merely
an old greyhen, who had changed her appearance
as the hen-pheasant does. This latter bird we all
know is very frequently killed in different stages
of change towards the male plumage. The same
is the case with the common domestic fowl and the
peahen. It is difficult to account for the cause of this
transformation. We know that it does not arise
from any disease or ill-health, as the birds in their
borrowed plumage are always in as good condition
as any others.
It is very rare indeed to find any wild animal
subject to illness, with the exception of the
epidemics before alluded to. Unless they are
wounded and unable to hunt for their own food,
all wild birds and animals keep themselves plump
and healthy. The woodpigeon is indeed frequently
CH. XXVIII. WOODPIGEONS. 139
subject to a kind of cancer and growth on their
bills and about the eyes, which eventually destroys
them ; but I attribute this disease to feeding on
the beech-mast, which is probably too heating a
food for the young birds. The old woodpigeons
are seldom if ever attacked by this disease, notwith-
standing their great fondness for beech-mast and
acorns.
Woodpigeons are not so much valued for the
larder as they deserve to be. They are excellent
eating at all seasons, excepting when driven by
snow to feed on the turnip leaves. Since the de-
struction of vermin and the increase of fir planta-
tions, they have grown very numerous in many parts
of the country, where, a few years ago, they were
comparatively rare. It is, however, difficult to kill
many of them during the winter and autumn, when
they are collected in flocks, their safety resulting
rather from their timidity than from any excess of
cunning.
Most birds, while feeding in flocks, appoint sen-
tinels, whose duties appear to be perfectly under-
stood, as well by the guards as by the guarded :
red-deer, too, whilst resting, usually place a young
stag as sentinel, and do not allow him to lie down
or leave off* his vigilant watching, which often lasts
a considerable time. Those at rest appear to be
140 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXVIII.
perfectly unconcerned and at their ease, and to
depend entirely on the watchful eyes and ears of
their sentry.
In the same way wild geese, while feeding on the
open fields, invariably leave one bird to keep watch,
and most faithfully does she perform this duty.
Keeping on some high spot of the field, she stands
with neck perfectly erect, watching on all sides, and
listening to every sound far or near. Nor does she
attempt to snatch at a single grain, however hungry
she may be, till one of her comrades thinks fit to
relieve her guard ; and then the former sentinel sets
to work at her feeding with an eagerness which shows
that her abstinence while on duty was the result not
of want of appetite, but of a proper sense of the
important trust imposed on her. If any enemy or
the slightest cause of suspicion appears, the sentry
utters a low croak, when the whole flock imme-
diately run up to her, and, after a short consulta-
tion, fly off, leaving the unfortunate sportsman to
lament having shown the button of his cap or the
muzzle of his gun above the bank of the ditch,
along which he had perhaps been creeping, " sua-
dente diabolo," for the last half-hour up to his knees
m water, well iced to the temperature of a Scotch
morning in February. Thus also wild ducks, cur-
lews, crows, and almost all birds when feeding in
CH. XXVIII. VIGILANCE OF WILD FOWL. 141
flocks, leave sentries, on whose vigilance the rest
entirely depend, taking no heed of anything around
them, but feeding in conscious safety. Nor is it
necessary for a cry of alarm to be given, as the flock
perfectly understand what is going on by the actions
or looks of the one who is watching, distinguishing
at once whether the sentry is intent on some sound
or object at a distance, or whether the danger is
imminent and pressing. It is not only by the voice
and action of birds of their own kind that flocks of
wild fowl guide their actions : the startled move-
ment or cry of a redshank or peewit is sufficient to
put on wing a whole flock of geese or ducks instant-
aneously, and also to tell exactly from what point
the danger is to be apprehended.
142 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXIX.
CHAPTER XXIX.
The Landrail ; Arrival and Habits of — Cuckoo — Swift —
Associations connected with Birds — Enjoyment of Life by-
Birds — Falcons — Water-Fowl ; their different modes of
Swimming — Wild-fowl shooting — Wounded Ducks — Re-
trievers ; care which should be taken of them — Plumage of
Water-Fowl ; its imperviousness to wet ; the cause and limits
of this.
The landrail is one of the most numerous and most
regular of our birds of passage. For several sea-
sons the 1st of May has been the earliest day on
which I have noticed them. At first I hear a single
bird or two croaking in some small patch of early
wheat or long clover : their numbers then increase
rapidly every day. In the early morning I see
them along the sides of the paths, and more par-
ticularly near grassy ditches. The rapidity with
which this bird threads its way through thickly-
growing clover is astonishing. With head crouched
to the ground it glides, in a horizontal position,
almost vdth the quickness of an arrow, scarcely
moving the grass as it passes through it. One
moment he is at your feet, and the next he is
standing far off, with erect head and neck, and
CH. XXIX. CUCKOOS. 143
croaking with a voice of brass. By the end of May
or the beginning of June every field is full of them ;
and the noise they make during the night time, or
after a shower of rain, is incessant. By the
middle of August they become quiet ; and the corn
being high, they are then seldom seen. Before the
crops are carried they have almost entirely dis-
appeared, having left the country quietly and unseen.
Sometimes during the shooting season a landrail
rises in some very unexpected place, and they are
then as fat as it is possible for a bird to be. On
their first arrival also they are in good condition,
till the business of breeding commences, when they
become comparatively lean.
Though the voice of the landrail is per se so pe-
culiarly harsh and grating, there are few birds whose
note falls more pleasantly on my ear — associated as
it is with the glad season of spring and summer.
The monotonous cry of the cuckoo has nothing
delightful in it beyond recalling to the mind pleas-
ing ideas of spring and woody glades ; yet I beheve
every one listens to this bird with pleasure. From
seeing and hearing so many of them about the wild
rocks and glens of Scowrie and Assynt, the cuckoo
now always brings that rugged district before my
eyes, instead of the tranquil groves where I formerly
had seen it. The nest, which of all others the
144 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXIX.
knavish cuckoo prefers to lay her eggs in, is that of
the titlark ; and in Scowrie and Assynt those hirds
abound.
Another bird, whose cry is invariably associated
by me with one kind of locaUty, is the swift. I
never hear the loud scream of this bird without
having some well-remembered steeple or other lofty
building brought vividly before my mind's eye :
thus, also, the martin and swallow recall the recol-
lection of some favourite stream, whose waters
abound in trout, and whose banks swarm with the
May-fly and grey drake.
The crow of the grouse is as inseparable in my
mind from the mountains of Scotland, as the song
of the ring-ousel is from its birch-covered glens,
or' the spring call of the peewit from the marshy
meadows.
There is, I think, great pleasure in thus recol-
lecting by the sounds and notes of living animals
scenes which the eye has dwelt upon with dehght,
and so constant is every bird to its own locality,
that the associations thus called forth are invariably
correct.
In preserving game, quiet and food are the two
things to be attended to. No animals will remain in
places where they are frequently disturbed ; vici-
nity to favourable feeding-ground is also a sine qua
145
non. In large and extensive tracts of wood where
there are miles of unbroken forest, birds are always
rare, excepting indeed some of the far wandering
hawks, whose strong wings enable them to pass over
miles of country with little exertion. Even birds
of prey are more inclined to take up their abode
near the outskirts of a wood than in its densest
solitudes.
In winter large flocks of the long-tailed titmouse,
the golden-crested wren, and other birds of similar
insect-searching habits, flit from tree to tree, passing
in an unbroken multitude for hours together, hang-
ing in every possible attitude from the branches
while searching for their minute prey, and enliven-
ing the solitude with their bright wings, and with
their merry chirp, so expressive of pleasure, as
they flutter from tree to tree. I believe that all
wild birds live in a state of constant enjoyment when
unmolested by animals of prey, biped or quadruped,
and even then their terror or pain is but of short
duration, having no anticipation of the coming evil,
or much remembrance of it if fortunately they
escape. The snows of winter sometimes indeed
shut up their sources of food, but it is rare, at least
in this country, that plenty of open ground is not
left for the wants of all the wild animals.
The falcon at earliest daybreak, after enjoying
VOL. II. H
146 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXIX.
for a short time the morning sun, shakes her
feathers once or twice, plumes her wings, and then
launching herself into the air, passes with straight
and direct flight to the most favourable hunting-
ground. Some unfortunate grouse or plover is soon
struck down. The first act of a falcon on striking
and catching a bird is, if any life remains, to dislo-
cate its neck ; and thus its pain is immediately over.
Oftener, however, the falcon strikes her chace while
in the air, killing it perfectly dead instantaneously.
Indeed all the long-winged hawks prefer striking
their prey in the air, seldom dashing, with the same
confidence, at a bird on the ground. Having well
tilled her crop, the falcon flies back to some
favourite stone, or projection of rock on the cliflTs,
and there sits in a state of quiet satisfaction for the
rest of the day, perched in a situation where no
danger can approach her unperceived.
There must be great enjoyment too in the flight
of the eagle and buzzard, as they soar and float for
hours together at a height that makes them appear
no bigger than a lark. The latter bird too seems
the very personification of happiness, as, uttering its
merry and sweet song, it mounts higher and higher
till lost to sight.
But no birds seem to enjoy life more than water-
fowl ; floating without exertion in perfect security
CH. XXIX. MODES OF SWIMMING OF WILD FOWL. 147
in the midst of a calm lake, or riding, as buoyant as
a cork, on the waves of the sea.
When looking at wild fowl on the water, it is
generally easy to distinguish what kind they are,
even from a great distance. Scarcely any two spe-
cies swim or float in the same manner, and at the
same elevation above the surface of the water.
Coots and sea-gulls float like bladders, with scarcely
any of their body immersed : so much so that it is
almost impossible to mistake one of the former at
any distance at which a bird can be distinguished.
The divers, such as the cormorant, the black -throated
diver and others of the same kind, swim very flat in
the water, showing scarcely any part except the top
of their back, and their head and neck, which all
these birds carry straight and erect, seldom or never
bending and arching their throat like ducks or geese.
In consequence of their swimming so low in the
water it is difficult to kill any of these diving birds,
unless you can get at them from a rock or height
above them. Widgeon swim rather flat and low in
the water. Mallards and teal keep more of their
bodies above it, and are in consequence easier to kill
while swimming. Pochards, scaup ducks, and
others of that kind swim higher still, but are very
strong swimmers and difficult to catch when only
winged, diving incessantly, and going out to the
h2
148 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXIX.
middle of the lake or pond, unlike the teal or mal-
lard, who invariably, when winged or otherwise
wounded, make for the land, if the S})ortsman keeps
out of sight, and endeavour to hide themselves in
the grass at the water's edge. Geese when winged
dive with far greater quickness and facility than
would be expected, and I have had very great
trouble in catching a wild goose on a lake, after I
had knocked her down, although I was rowing in a
light and easily-managed boat. Careful observa-
tion of the different manner of swimming adopted
by the several kinds of wild fowl when wounded is
of the greatest use to the sportsman, saving him
and his retriever many a weary and often useless
wetting. Even with the best water-dog it is fre-
quently of no avail to attempt to catch winged
ducks of any kind. In cold weather, when the
water is rough and the birds get a good start in an
open lake, it is not only loss of time but is cruel to
urge your dog to follow them too long. I have
often succeeded in bagging winged ducks, widgeon,
and teal by walking round the edge of the lochs an
hour or two after I had shot them, as the birds
when left to themselves, the rest of the flock having
gone away, either leave the water and hide in the
grass or else come close to the edge.
It occasionally happens in a small pool that a
CH. XXIX. WILD FOWL SHOOTING. 149
winged wild duck goes under and never appears
again, having become entangled in the weeds, &c.,
at the bottom.
Wild fowl seldom live any length of time after
they are winged, as they generally fall a prey to
foxes and other vermin, all of whom have a habit of
hunting round lakes and swamps during the night,
when the wounded birds quit the deep water to feed
in the shallows or marshy places.
That beautiful bird the pintail is also a very
quick diver and strong swimmer when wounded.
It is a good rule in wild fowl shooting always to
endeavour to get shots at the birds either when
they are on dry land or when it is probable that
they will fall upon it. In the first place, no bird is
so easy to kill whilst swimming as whilst standing
or walking, as then all the body is exposed ; and in
the second place so much time is lost, and so much
disturbance caused by pursuing the wounded birds,
and even by getting the dead ones out of the water.
Besides it is almost a matter of certainty that when
they are shot over the water some of the killed
birds will be lost ; and however good a water-dog
your retriever may be, and however hardy, the less
swimming and wetting he gets the better. Nothing
is so ill-judged and useless as sending a dog into
the water without good reason for it ; doing so is
150 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CU. XXIX.
always taking something, more or less, from his
strength and injuring his constitution. When
standing waiting for ducks in cold weather the
poor animal has no means of drying or warming
himself, and lies shivering at your feet, and laying
up the foundation of rheumatism and other maladies.
A dog who has much water-work to do should
always be kept in good condition, and, if possible,
even fat. It is a mistake to suppose that allowing
him to come into the house and warm himself
before the fire makes him less hardy ; on the con-
trary, I consider that getting warm and comfortable
before the kitchen fire on coming home gives the
retriever a better chance of keeping up his strength,
health, and energy when much exposed to cold and
wet during the day ; a far better chance, indeed,
than if, on returning, he is put into a cold kennel,
where, however well supphed with straw, hours
must elapse before he is thoroughly warm and
dry. Most rough dogs stand cold well enough as
long as they are tolerably dry, but frequent wet-
ting is certain to cause disease and rheumatism.
I am sure too, with regard to water dogs, that a
good covering of fat is a far more eflBcacious
means of keeping them warm than the roughest
coat of hair that dog ever wore. In wild animals,
such as otters, seals, &c., which are much exposed
CH. XXIX. PLUMAGE IMPERVIOUS TO WET. ]5l
to wet in cold countries, we always find that their
chief defence against the cold consists in a thick
coating of fat, and that their hair is short and close.
In like manner dogs who are in good condition
can better sustain the intense cold of the water
than those whose only defence consists in a shaggy
hide. Short-coated dogs are also the most active
and powerful swimmers, and get dry sooner than
those who are too rough-coated.
The imperviousness to wet of the plumage of
wild fowl is evidently not caused by any power
which the birds have of supplying grease or oil to
their feathers. The feathers have a certain degree
of oiliness no doubt, but from frequent observation
I am convinced that it is the manner in which the
feathers are placed which is the cause of the water
running off them as it does.
As long as a wild duck of any kind is alive, his
skin remains perfectly dry whilst he is in the water,
although from the situation in which he may be
placed — being pursued, for instance — it is quite
impossible for him to find time to " oil his plumage,"
as some authors assert he does, " in order to keep
out. the wet ;" but the moment a duck or water
fowl is dead the water penetrates through the
feathers, wetting the animal completely. If one
wing is broken, the feathers of that wing imme-
152 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXIX.
diately become soaked with wet, the bird not having
the power of keeping the feathers of the broken
part in the proper position to resist the entry of the
water. We all know that birds are able to elevate,
depress, and in fact to move their feathers in any
direction by a muscular contraction of the skin.
When this power ceases they hang loosely in every
direction, and the wet enters to the skin.
The otter's skin never appears to be wet, how-
ever long the animal may remain in the water ; but,
like the plumage of birds, soon becomes soaked
through when the animal is dead. Whilst he is
alive the water runs off his hair exactly as it does
from the back of a bird during a shower. When
we find any bird or animal with its feathers or hair
wet and clinging together, it is a sure sign that the
poor creature is either diseased or is suffering from
some wound or accident.
CH. XXX. TRAINING OF WILD ANIMALS. 153
CHAPTER XXX.
Taming and Education of Wild Animals — The Eagle; his
want of docility — Courage and Intelligence of the Noble
Falcons — The Hound — Eeturn of Cats to their home —
Maternal Instinct of Cats — The Carrier-Pigeon — Wood-
Pigeons ■ — Dovecot-Pigeons — Sight of Pigeons — Blue-rock
Pigeons — Crested Titmouse — The Robin ; pugnacious dis-
position of — Sparrows ; impudence of.
Almost every wild animal is more or less capable
of being reclaimed, and rendered, if not of actual
use to us, at least an object of interest and amuse-
ment. In all attempts to educate them, patience
and temper on the part of the teacher is the first
requisite. If fortunately he be endowed with this
important qualification, he will scarcely find any bird
or beast so wild or so obstinate " ut non mitescere
possit.'" But some, it must be admitted, scarcely
repay the labour bestowed upon them. The eagle
can be tamed, but to no great extent. Naturally
of a greedy and craving disposition, he is not to be
depended upon at all times ; and though he may
show a certain degree of affection for his keeper, he
can seldom be safely approached by strangers.
An eagle, although he may have been trained for
h3
154 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE- BOOKS. CH, XXX,
a long time and with great care for the purpose of
hunting, is just as likely to swoop at and kill his
master's dogs, or even to attack a man himself, as to
fly at any game. In this he differs from the falcons,
that is those of the hawk tribe, who are called
" noble falcons," in contradistinction to those termed
" ignoble." The Iceland, the Greenland, the pere-
grine, and the merlin also, are all " noble falcons."
The lanner, formerly in high repute for the chace,
is now so seldom seen in this country, either
alive or dead, that little is known as to his merits ;
but the other noble hawks whom I have enume-
rated are all of a most kindly and tractable dispo-
sition, and possess that great courage which gives
them the full confidence in man which is necessary
for their education. These birds have also great
aptitude to receive instruction ; their habits are
social, and before they have been long in confine-
ment they become perfectly contented with their
lot. When out in the field, a trained hawk is
in no way fliu"ried or alarmed by the movement of
men or dogs, but sits looking, when unhooded, with
calm confidence on all that is going on around him ;
and although his fine dark eye evinces neither fear
nor disquietude, not the smallest bird can pass
without his immediately descrying it, and intently
watching it until it is lost in the distance — and great
CH, XXX. COURAGE OF FALCONS. 155
must that distance be which conceals any bird from
the falcon's eye. I have often fired my gun off" at a
bird, with a hooded hawk sitting on one arm,
without his evincing the least fear or uneasiness, —
as great a proof of his courage as need be required.
In fact, a hawk, like a dog, soon learns to look upon
her master as her best friend.
When a well-trained hawk has pursued a bird to
any distance out of sight of her master, and misses
catching it, she invariably flies straight back to the
place whence she was first started. I scarcely know
a more pleasing sight than to see the falcon return-
ing with direct and rapid flight, searching for her
master in the exact spot, although in a strange and
new country, where she had last seen him. If,
however, she has killed a prey, this quick return
does not take place, and the falconer must follow
as straight as he can in the line of her flight ; by
doing so he will seldom fail to find her. A hound,
in the same way, after a chace of many hours' dura-
tion, if he loses the huntsman, will always return to
the spot where he started from.
The instinctive power possessed by so many ani-
mals of finding their way back again, either to their
accustomed home or to the place from which they
had started, appears almost inexplicable, as in many
instances it is certain that they cannot be guided
156 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXX.
by any sense analogous to those which we possess.
Well-authenticated instances of dogs and cats, and
horses also, finding their way back from great dis-
tances to their home, although the mode in which
they have been conveyed from it has deprived them
of all assistance from their organs of sight, are so
frequent as scarcely to excite attention ; and yet
how wonderful must be the intelligence which guides
the animal !
One of the most unquestionable instances of a
cat's displaying this faculty which has come under
my own immediate observation was that of a kitten
about three parts grown, who certainly had never
been in the habit of going ten yards from the house-
door. Wishing to get rid of her, I sent her in a
bag to a person who lived more than two miles from
my own residence. Although the cat travelled over
a road perfectly unknown to her, and in a bag,
which entirely prevented her seeing anything, she
was the next morning purring about as usual, and
claiming attention in the kitchen, as if she had never
left it.
Another curious instance of a cat's travelling
capabilities fell under my notice. By some means
she discovered the place to which her kitten had
been taken, more than a mile off; and every night
the poor mother went to suckle her young one,
CH. XXX. CATS CARRIER-PIGEONS. 157
returning, when the process was over, to perform the
same service to another kitten left at home. In
this instance the cat lived in a large town ; through
some of the streets of which, as well as a good mile
of the outskirts, she had to take her nightly walk.
Many a danger from boy and dog the poor animal
must have gone through during her peregrinations ;
nothing, however, stopped her as long as the kitten
required her maternal attention. Notwithstanding
these amiable traits in the feline character, I must
condemn the cat as an animal who in general repays
all the care and kindness of her master with but
little strength of affection. Indeed her instincts
seem to attach her only to the fireplace or loft in
which she has been accustomed to live, and not to
the kind hand which feeds her. Some instances of
love for their owners I have known ; but, in com-
parison with that shown by dogs, they are rare and
slight, although the domestic bringing up of, and
kindness shown to, cats is often greater, and less
mixed with the severe correction often inflicted
upon dogs.
The sense which leads the carrier-pigeon hun-
dreds of miles in so short a time, and in so direct a
course, is inexplicable. After circling for a few
moments, the bird decides unhesitatingly on its
exact line of flight, though it may never have seen
158 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE- BOOKS. CH. XXX.
the country before, and has not the assistance of the
example and guidance of any more experienced
companions, as is always the case with migrating
birds.
The carrier-pigeon is very beautifully shaped,
with broad chest and most powerfully jointed wingis.
Except as to the head and feet, this kind of pigeon
has very much the form of a falcon, and is pecu-
liarly well titted for long-continued and rapid flight.
The woodpigeons in this country are to a certain
degree migratory, imitating, longo intervallo, the
American passenger-pigeons, in shifting their quar-
ters from one part of the kingdom to another, being
influenced in their migrations by the abundance or
scarcity of food.
The common dove-cot or blue pigeon generally
flies several miles, morning and evening, to favourite
feeding-places, seldom seeking for food in the imme-
diate neighbourhood of the pigeon-house. In the
months of May and June the house-pigeons have
most difficulty in procuring food, the crops being
all unripe, and none of the seed-corn remaining on
the surface of the ground. At this season, too, few
weeds have ripened ; and the pigeons have therefore
to depend in a great measure for their own sub-
sistence and that of their young on the minute seed
of the turnip, which is sown at this period. It must
CH. XXX. PIGEONS — DOVES. 159
require no little labour to enable them to fill their
crops with this small seed. As in this country the
turnip fields are for the most part drilled and rolled,
the poor birds have the greater diflSculty in satisfying
the hunger of their young ones ; and no young bird
requires so much food as an unfledged pigeon, in
proportion to its size and weight.
The power of the pigeon to alter the focal length
of its eye must be very great, as it is able to see
equally well an object at a distance of many miles
and a minute seed not more than half an inch from
the end of its bill.
The turtle-dove is sometimes, but only rarely
met with as far north as Morayshire, but the
stockdove is never seen in that part of the
country : if once introduced, I should imagine
that it would thrive perfectly well, as both the
climate and the natural productions of the district
are suited to it.
The hardy little blue-rock pigeon abounds on
all the sea-coast of Scotland, where the rocks are
steep and broken into fissures and caverns — one
moment dashing into its breeding-place, and rapidly
flying out the next ; then, skimming the very surface
of the breakers, this little bird gives animation and
interest to many a desolate and rugged range of
cliffs as far north as Cape Wrath and Whiten
160 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXX.
Head. It abounds also in most of the islands.
Frequently living where there is little cultivated
ground, the blue-rock pigeon feeds on many green
plants, and I have also found its crop nearly full of
small shells. Whatever its principal food may be,
it is a particularly well-flavoured and delicate bird,,
and much superior in this respect to either the
dovecot pigeon or the woodpigeon.
A very beautiful little bird, and one not generally
known to breed in Britain, is the crested titmouse.
From the number of specimens which have been
procured by Mr. Dunbar from the woods of
Strathspey it is evident that this bird must be there
in great abundance, although it does not appear to
extend its visits to other parts of the country, with
the exception of the woods about Dulsie on the
Findhorn. In these picturesque and beautiful
woods the crested titmouse is found, but not in such
numbers as in Strathspey. Its habits are the same
as those of the other species of tomtits, searching
actively among the fir-trees for insects and hanging
from the branches in every possible attitude, probing
every crevice with its tiny but strong bill. All the
kinds of titmice are very carnivorously inclined,
feeding greedily on any dead bird or other animal
which they may meet with. Our favourite, the
robin, is not much behind them in this respect,
CH. XXX. PUGNACITY OF ROBINS. 161
having a very great partiality for raw meat and
dead animals.
Although so much protected, and in fact enjoying
an almost entire immunity from all human perse-
cutors, the robins do not appear to increase in
numbers ; this is, in all probability, occasioned by
the bird generally breeding on the ground, and
being thereby exposed to the attacks of weasels,
rats, &c. Were it not for this, the almost sacred
character the robin has always held amongst bird-
nesting schoolboys and juvenile sportsmen must
have caused its numbers to increase ; but we still
see the same dead branch or the same railing head
occupied by a single robin year after year ; no
rivals spring up to dispute the favourite perch.
Of all pugnacious birds the robin is the most
determined fighter. When snow and frost cover
the ground, and we feed the birds at the windows
and on the gravel walks, thrushes, blackbirds,
sparrows, and many other birds come to share the
crumbs, but none dare eat if any robin is there,
until the fiery little fellow permits him. Thrushes
and all are beaten and driven away, and even after
he has crammed himself to repletion, the robin will
sit at the window and drive away with the most
furious attacks every bird whose hunger prompts
him to try to snatch a morsel of his leavings.
162 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXX.
Perched amidst the crumbs, he looks the very per-
sonification of ill temper and pugnacity. The
thrush, on the contrary, allows every bird to feed
with him, and puts on a complaining but not an
angry look when an impudent sparrow or tomtit
snatches the morsel of bread from his bill.
In large towns it is curious to see how accustomed
sparrows become to all the noises and sights by
which they are surrounded. You see a flock of
sparrows feeding in the middle of a paved street,
an omnibus comes rattling along, shaking the very
houses and making din and noise enough to deafen
a miller, yet the sparrows merely hop out of reach
of the wheels and do not take the trouble to go a
yard farther. Knowing either from instinct or long
experience that they are safe from gun or trap,
where every passer by is too intent on his own more
important matters to waste a thought iipon them,
they become most impudently confident of their own
safety.
Like all other birds, sparrows adapt themselves
without difficulty to whatever place they happen to
live in. In towns they make their nests in curious
holes and corners under the tiles and roofs of the
houses, or about the projections and carvings on
churches and old buildings. In country villages
they delight in holes in thatched roofs or in corn
CH, XXX. SPARROWS. 163
stacks, while in less populous localities they build
almost wholly "n trees, and even in hedges not
many feet from the ground, keeping, however, a
watchful and knowing eye to the security of the
place they fix upon for their loosely made and con-
spicuous nest. There seems to be one sine qua
non in the choice of their abode, and that is the
vicinity of man. Sparrows never wander very far
from houses and towns ; in fact this bird appears to
be more at home on the roof of a house in the
midst of a populous city than in any other situation.
Basking in the sun on a lofty wall or house-top, a
flock of sparrows look down upon the crowded
streets with a pert, impudent air, chattering and
chirping to each other as if making their remarks
on the busy throng below them, and seem as per-
fectly at their ease in the midst of the noise, bustle,
and smoke as the impudent set of schoolboys who
look up at them with a longing eye.
164 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXI.
CHAPTP]R XXXI.
Instinct of Birds — The Woodcock carrying her young — Herons
— \\ater-Ousel — Nest of Golden-Eye Duck — Habits of Birds
— Talons of Falcons and Hawks — Stuffed Birds — Plumage,
&c. of Owls — The Osprey and Sea Swallow — Manner of
Fishing — Carrion-feeding Birds — Manner of finding their
Food — The Eagle — Sense of Smell in Birds — In Ducks
and Geese — Power of communicating with each other —
Notes of alarm — A few words respecting destroying Hawks,
&c. — Colour of Birds adapted to concealment — Instinct of
Birds finding Food — Red Deer — Tame lioebuck.
Many people doubt the fact of the woodcock car-
rying her young, from the wood to the swamp, in
her feet, and certainly the claws of a woodcock
appear to be little adapted to grasping and carrying
a heavy substance ; yet such is most undoubtedly
the case. Regularly as the evening comes on,
many woodcocks carry their young ones down to
the soft feeding-grounds, and bring them back again
to the shelter of the woods before daylight, where
they remain during the whole day. I myself have
never happened to see the woodcocks in the act of
returning, but I have often seen them going down
to the swamps in the evening, carrying their young
with them. Indeed it is quite evident that they
CH. XXXr. WOODCOCKS — SNIPES. 165
must in most instances transport the newly-hatched
birds in this manner, as their nests are gene-
rally placed in dry heathery woods, where the young
would inevitably perish unless the old ones managed
to carry them to some more favourable feeding-
ground. Both young woodcocks and snipes are
peculiarly helpless birds, as indeed are all the
waders, until their bills have hardened, and they
have acquired some strength of wing and leg. Un-
like the young of partridges and some other birds
who run actively as soon as hatched, and are
able to fly well in a very short time, woodcocks,
snipes, and waders while young are very help-
less, moving about with a most uncertain and tot-
tering gait, and unable to take wing until they are
full grown. Their growth is, however, extremely
rapid.
Snipes, redshanks, and several other birds of this
genus are hatched and brought up on the same kind
of ground on which they feed ; but woodcocks, in
this country at least, are generally hatched far from
the marshes, and therefore the old birds must, of
necessity, carry their helpless young to these places,
or leave them to starve in the dry heather : nor is
the food of the woodcock of such a nature that it
could be taken to the young from the swamps in
any sufficient quantity. Neither could the old birds
166 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXI.
bring with it the moisture which is necessary for the
subsistence of all birds of this kind. In fact they
have no means of feeding their young except by
carrying them to their food, for they cannot carry
their food to them.
The foot of the heron, as well as its general
figure, seems but little adapted for perching on
trees, and yet whoever visits a heronry will see
numbers of these birds perched in every kind of
attitude, on the very topmost branches of the trees.
The water-ousel manages to run on the ground at
the bottom of the water, in search of its food. All
these actions of birds seem not only difficult, but
would almost appear to be impossible. Neverthe-
less the birds perform them with ease, as well as
many others equally curious and apparently equally
difficult.
The feet of ducks are peculiarly ill adapted for
perching on trees ; nevertheless the golden-eye
duck generally breeds in hollow trees, not only in
broken recesses of the trunk, easy of access, but
even in situations where, after having entered at a
narrow round aperture, she has to descend for nearly
an arm's length, almost perpendicularly to reach
the nest. Through this same entrance also has she
to take her young ones when hatched, before they
can be launched on their natural element — water.
OH. XXXI. TALONS OP HAWKS. 167
I could give numberless instances of birds and
other animals performing actions and adopting
habits which to all appearance must be most difficult
and most unsuited ta them ; all these prove that we
are not to judge of nature by any fixed and arbi-
trary rules, and still less should we attempt to bring
all the countless anomalies of animal life into any
system of probabilities of our own devising. The
more we investigate the capabilities of living animals
of every description, the more our powers of belief
extend. For my own part indeed, having devoted
many happy years to wandering in the woods and
fields, at all hours and at all seasons, I have seen so
many strange and unaccountable things connected
with animal life, that now nothing appears to me
too wonderful to be believed.
The feet and claws of different kinds of hawks
vary very much, being beautifully adapted to the
manner in which each bird strikes its prey. If we
examine the claws and feet of the peregrine falcon,
the merlin, or any of the other long-winged hawks,
including the varieties of those noble birds, all of
whom I believe were called in the age of falconry
" The Ger Falcon," such as the Iceland, the Green-
land, and the Norwegian falcon, we find that their
power consists rather in their strength of talon and
foot than in the sharp needle-like claws of the hen
168 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXI.
harrier, the sparrowhawk, the goshawk, &c. The
rationale of this difference seems to be that the fal-
cons strike their prey by main force to the ground
in the midst of their flight ; whilst the other hawks
usually pounce on the animals on which they feed,
and take them unawares on the ground instead of
by fair pursuit and swiftness of wing. The sparrow-
hawk and hen-harrier seldom chase a bird to any
distance on the wing.
I have spoken of the peregrine, the Iceland, the
Greenland falcon, and also the falcon of Norway
as being distinct species. This, however, is a point
to be decided by naturalists more skilful in the
anatomy and osteology of birds than I am myself.
Scnbimiis indocti ! My remarks are merely the
result of my own unscientific observations, aided by
the inspection of the numerous and beautifully-pre-
pared specimens of ray friend Mr. Hancock, who, I
believe, I may safely assert is the best stuffer of
birds in the kingdom. The examination of his col-
lection has been a source of great pleasure to me,
but it has also had the effect of making me dissatis-
fied with the performances of all other preservers of
birds. A bird, when it is stuffed and " set up," as
they term it, ought to be " aut Caesar aut nihil."
A bird stuffed in a second-rate manner is a very
valueless and unsatisfactory affair ; and it would be
CH. XXXI. PLUMAGE, ETC., OF OWLS. 169
far better, for the furtlierance of natural history, if
people, instead of having a rare bird badly stuffed
and put into a distorted shape and attitude, with
projections where no projections should be, and hol-
lows where there should be none, would be content
to keep merely the skin just sufficiently filled with
cotton or tow to prevent its shrinking.
The owls have all extremely hard and needle-like
claws, and in every respect the bird is singularly
well adapted for its manner of feeding, which it
does almost wholly at night. Its immensely large
ears must enable it to hear the slightest movement
of the field-mouse, upon which it chiefly feeds ; and
its sharply-pointed talons contract with a tenacity
and closeness unequalled by those of any of the
hawk tribe, excepting perhaps the hen-harrier.
Again, the soft downy feathers and rounded wings
of the owl enable it to flit as noiselessly as a shadow
to and fro, as it searches for the quick-eared mouse,
whom the least sound would at once startle and
drive into its hole, out of reach of its deadly enemy.
As it is, the mouse feeds on in heedless security,
with eyes and nose busily occupied in searching
for grains of corn or seeds, and depending on its
quickly sensitive ear to warn it of the approach
of any danger. The foot of man, or even the tread
of dog or cat, it is sure to hear ; but the owl glides
VOL. II. I
170 EXTIIACTS FR03I NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXI.
quickly and silently round the corner of the hedge
or stack (like Death, tacito clam venit ilia pede),
and the first intimation which the mouse has of its
danger is being clasped in the talons of its devourer .
The owls of this country are far more serviceable
to us than we imagine, destroying countless mice
and rats. It must be admitted, however, that both
the long-eared owl and the common brown owl
will, during the time that they have young ones to
feed, destroy and carry oft' pigeons, young game,
and other birds with a determined savageness equal
to that evinced by any of the hawk tribe.
The rough and strong feet of the osprey are
perfectly adapted to the use which they are put to,
that is, catching and holding the slippery and strong
sea-trout or grilse. The fact of a bird darting
down from a height in the air, and securing a fish
in deep water, seems almost incredible, especially
when we consider the rapidity with which a fish, and
particularly a sea-trout, darts away at the slightest
shadow of danger, and also when we consider that
the bird who catches it is not even able to swim, but
must secure its prey by one single dash made from
a height of perhaps fifty feet.
The swiftest little creature in the whole sea is
the sand-eel ; and yet the terns catch thousands of
these fish in the same way as the osprey catches the
CH. XXXI. CARRION-FEEDING BIRDS. 171
trout ; excepting that the tern uses its sharp-pointed
bill instead of its feet. I have often taken up the
sand-eels which the terns have dropped on being
alarmed, and have invariably found that the little
fish had but one small wound, immediately behind
the head. That a bird should catch such a little
slippery, active fish as a sand-eel, in the manner in
which a tern catches it, seems almost inconceivable ;
and yet every dweller on the sea-coast sees it done
every hour during the period that these birds fre-
quent our shores. In nature nothing is impossible ;
and when we are talking of habits and instincts, no
such word as impossibility should be used.
I never could quite understand the instinct which
leads carrion-feeding birds to their food. We fre-
quently see ravens, buzzards, and other birds of simi-
lar habits congregating round the dead body of an
animal almost immediately after it has ceased to live ;
and therefore I cannot agree with those naturalists
who assert that it is the sense of smelling which
leads these birds to their feast. From my own ob-
servation I am convinced that this is not the case,
as I have known half a dozen buzzards collect round
a dead cat, on the afternoon of the same day on
which it had been killed, and this, too, during the
winter season, when the dead animal could have
emitted no odour strong enough to attract its de-
i2
172 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH, XXXI.
vourers. I am far more inclined to attribute their
facility in finding out their food to a quick sense of
sight. For the sake of catching these birds and the
grey crows also, I was accustomed to have the dead
vermin thrown out into a field near the house where
traps were placed round them. When the cats
were skinned, and therefore were the more con-
spicuous, the carrion birds usually found them out
the same afternoon. Now buzzards, ravens, and
other birds who feed on dead bodies are in the
habit of frequently soaring for liours together, at an
immense height in the air, wheeling round and
round in wide circles. I have no doubt that at
these times they are searching with their keen and
far-seeing eye for carcases and other substances
fit for food. The eagle, -who also feeds on dead
bodies, wheels and circles in a similar manner, at
such a height in the air that he frequently looks like
a mere speck in the sky. There can be no doubt
that it is upon his eye only that he depends. When,
even at this vast height, his quick eye catches sight
of a grouse in the heather, down drops the bird
of prey as if shot, till within some thirty yards of
the ground, when sufldenly stopping his downward
course, he again hovers stationary over the grouse,
till a fair opportunity offers itself for a swoop. I
have frequently seen the eagle do this ; and he has
CH. XXXI. SENSE OF SMELL IN BIRDS. 173
sometimes discovered the grouse from a height and
distance so great as to make it appear impossible
that he should have distinguished so small an object.
It is certain, however, that birds have a tolerably
acute sense of smelling, although I know that it has
been positively denied that ducks are guided by
their scenting powers in taking alarm, and that it is
by their qviick sense of hearing only that they are
warned of the approach of danger. But this I
utterly deny ; for I have constantly seen wild fowl,
when I have been sitting perfectly motionless in an
ambuscade, swim quietly towards me without the
slightest warning of my vicinity, till coming to that
point where my place of concealment was directly
to windward of them, they immediately caught the
scent, took wing, and flew off in as great alarm as
if I had stood up in full view. I'he same thing
has occurred very frequently when I have been in
pursuit of gees(i ; the birds invariably taking alarm
as soon as they came in a line with me and the
wind, and just as much so when I was motionless
and not making the slightest noise, as when I was
creeping towards them. The same sense of smell-
ing doubtless guides birds, in many cases, to their
food, but it is certainly not the sole or even the
principal guide of the ravens or the eagles.
When one of the carrion-birds has found a booty,
174 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CII. XXXI.
others of the same species who may be wheeling
about at a greater distance at once see by his man-
ner of flight and other signs that he has made some
discovery, and immediately follow in the same
direction, in order that they may come in for their
share.
In like manner, when one wild duck has found
out a quantity of corn, laid down in any particular
place, he soon brings others to the spot, and these
again give information to others, until at length
large flocks collect to feed on what was originally
discovered by a single bird. I do not mean to
infer that they can communicate to each other by
any bird-language the existence and locality of the
prize found ; but they all go to the spot attracted
by the manner of flight of the first discoverers, which
doubtless tells their companions most plainly that
they are winging their way directly towards a depot
of food, and not going forth on a vague and uncer-
tain search.
The clamour and noise of crows when they find
a prize tell the tale at once to all within hearing ,
and not to those of their own kind only, but to all
ravens or rooks in the neighbourhood.
In the same manner birds communicate alarm
and warning, not only to those of their own species,
but also to others. Often has the cry of a crow.
CH. XXXI. NOTES OF ALARM. 175
who has suddenly while passing over my head dis-
covered my hiding-place, caused a flock of geese or
other wild-fowl to take wing instantaneously, as if
they themselves had seen me ; and many a shot
have I lost by the cries of peewits and other birds.
I have often been led to think that, when different
kinds of wild-fowl were feeding in a quiet place, the
mallards and widgeon have taken no heed to their
own security as long as there were either curlews
or redshanks feeding near them ; being apparently
quite satisfied that these vigilant and noisy birds?
were sufficiently watchful sentinels to warn them
on the first approach of danger.
A stag takes warning from the alarm-note of the
grouse or plover as quickly as if he had himself
seen an enemy, and from the manner of the bird's
flight he knows pretty accurately where the danger
lies.
In getting up to deer it has more than once hap-
pened that I have had either to lie motionless for a
long time, or to make a considerable circuit, in
order to avoid putting up a cock-grouse, who, eye-
ing my serpentine movements with suspicion, has
been ready to rise with his loud cry of alarm had I
approached a yard nearer to him. In fact there is
a language of signs and observation carried on be-
tween animals of different kinds, which is as per-
176 EXTRACTS FUOM KOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXI .
fectly understood by tliem as if they could commu-
nicate by words.
It is difficult to determine how far we are right
iu endeavouring utterly to destroy one kind of ani-
mal or bird in order to increase another species.
Nature, if left to herself, keeps up a fair equilibrium
and proportion amongst all her productions ; and,
without doubt, if the world were left to itself with-
out the interference of mankind, there would never
be an luidue jiroportion of any one kind of living
creature : the birds of prey would keep down the
granivorous birds from increasing till they devoured
all the fruits of the earth ; and the carnivorous
birds and beasts would never entirely extirpate any
other species, as their own numbers would be les-
sened by want of food before this could happen ;,
besides which, we see that unless artificial means
are resorted to, the number of living animals always
bears proportion to, and is regulated by the supply
of food which oiFers itself ; and, as these supplies
fail, there is a natural tendency for the consumers
to cease increasing, or to betake themselves to other
regions. But when man comes in as an active agent,
he gradually extirpates all beasts and birds of prey
for the purpose of protecting and causing to increase
the weaker but more useful animals and birds. In
this country, for instance, we can no more afford to
en. XXXI. DESTRUCTION OF VERMIN. 177
allow hawks and crows, foxes and weasels, to flourish
and increase, however picturesque and beautiful they
may be, than we could afford to allow poppies or
other useless but ornamental wild flowers to over-
run our corn-fields.
A pair of peregrine falcons take possession of a
rock — they will issue out as regularly as the morn-
ing appears to search for grouse, partridges, or
other birds, which form the food of man. It is the
same with other hawks ; and we well know that
crows destroy more game than all the shooters in
the kingdom. It is, therefore, absolutely necessary
to keep down the numbers of these marauders as
much as possible.
I cannot say that I am at all anxious to see our
island entirely clear of what all game-preservers
call " vermin." There is more beauty and more to
interest one in the flight and habits of a pair of fal-
cons than in a whole pack of grouse ; and I regret
constantly to see how rare these birds, and eagles,
and many others, are daily becoming, under the in-
fluence of traps, poison, and guns. The edict which
has gone forth against them is far too comprehen-
sive and sweeping, and many perfectly innocent
birds go to swell the gamekeeper's list of " vermin."
But I have gone fully into this subject before.
One advantage certainly results from birds of
i3
178 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE- BOOKS. CH. XXXI.
prey being killed off: blackbirds, thrushes, and nu-
merous other beautiful little birds, increase in pro-
portion as their enemies are destroyed. In several
districts where a few years ago these birds were very
rare they are now abundant.
The ring-ousel, too, is one of the birds who
has benefited by this destruction of its enemies
There are some other birds, such as the wheat-ear
and tit-lark, who are seldom killed by a hawk, but
whose nests and young are the constant prey of
weasels and other ground-vermin. These also have
good reason to thank the trapper. AVood-pigeons,
whose eggs were formerly taken by the crows and
magpies in great numbers, and whose young served
to feed many kinds of hawks, now increase daily,
and begin to be a subject of great complaint amongst
farmers ; and yet the wood-pigeon during a great
part of the year feeds on the seeds of many \> eeds
and plants which are useless to mankind. The
eggs of birds are in general more or less concealed
from their enemies, either by the nest being similar
in colour to the surrounding substances, or by its
situation ; but the eggs of the wood-pigeon are par-
ticularly exposed to the attacks of crows, magpies,
&c. Their young, too, are constantly stolen out of
the nest by hawks and owls. It is a singular cir-
cumstance connected with the " table arrangements^
CH. XXXI. COLOURS OF BIRDS. 171)
of these birds of prey, that they never carry off the
young wood-pigeons till they are nearly fledged and
ready to fly.
The ptarmigan's chance of escape from birds of
prey is much better : they are exactly the colour of
the stones in summer, and of the snow in winter,
and change their colour as that of their abiding
place is altered. The grouse is as nearly the
colour of the brown heather as it is possible for a
bird to be ; his bright eye and red comb are the
only discoverable points about him when he is
crouched in it. The blackcock's usual haunt is in
lower situations, and he delights in the peat-moss,
where the ground is nearly as black as his own
plumage. The partridge and quail are exactly
similar in colour to the dried grass or stubble, and
the quickest eye can seldom see them on the ground
when crouched, and not erect or moving about to
feed. The pheasant's colour very nearly resembles
the dead leaves of the wood and coppice, which are
his favourite haunts.
The owl sits securely close to the trunk of a
forest-tree, her mottled-brown plumage being in
colour exactly like the bark of the trunk close to
which she is perched. The peregrine-falcon, with
her blue-grey feathers, can scarcely be distinguished
from the lichen-covered crag, where she sits for
180 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXI.
hours together as motionless as the rock itself. The
eagle sits upright on some cliff of the same colour
as himself, huddled up into a shape which only the
experienced eye detects to he that of a hird. The
attitudes and figures of the whole trihe of hawks are
very striking and characteristic, and as unlike as
possihle to the stuffed caricatures which one usually
meets with, and in which the natural character of
the hird is entirely lost. From want of time, and
still more from not having frequent opportunities of
studying living subjects, bird-stuffers in general
make less advancement towards excellence in their
avocation than almost any other class of artists, nor
has the present leaning towards ornithological pur-
suits produced much improvement amongst them.
In addition to the protection which similarity of
colour affords to animals, they have a natural in-
stinct which leads them to choose such places of
concealment as, fi-om the nature of the surrounding
objects, are the best fitted to conceal them. The
hare, for instance, constantly makes her form
amongst grey stones much of her own size and
colour; and birds which are much persecuted do
the same. The larger size of red-deer obliges
them to depend rather on the inaccessibility of their
resting-places than on any attempt at concealment ;
CH. XXXI. INSTINCT OF BIRDS. 181
and the roebuck's safety is in the denseness and
roughness of the wood in which it lies.
There is some powerful instinct, also, which
assists animals in finding their food ; and many go
direct from great distances to places where they are
sure of finding it. Pigeons find out newly-sown
peas and other favourite grains almost immediately
after they have been put into the ground ; and will
frequently fly several miles to a field the very first
morning after it is sown. Wild ducks, also, whose
researches can only be made by night, are equally
quick in finding places where there is plenty of any
favourite food. The small gulls, particularly the
black headed gull, discover the ploughman before
he has finished his first furrow, and collect in great
flocks to pick up every grub or worm which he turns
up. The rapid instinct of birds who feed on carrion
has been alluded to already. In fact all birds,
whatever their food may be, have an instinctive
power of discovering it immediately, and that from
such great distances as to baffle all attempt at ex-
planation. In the mountainous districts of Suther-
landshire and others of the northern counties, the
red-deer invariably knows the exact time when the
shepherd's patch of corn and potatoes is fit for his
food, and will sometimes come down in such num-
182 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CII. XXXI.
bers as to eat up and destroy the entire crop in a
single night ; or if the cultivated ground be exten-
sive, they will repeat their visit in spite of all
attempts to drive them away ; and the cleverness
they display in taking advantage of every un-
guarded moment is quite astonishing. In Suther-
landshire little loss accrues to the tenant from this,
as a fair allowance for such damage is always
readily granted. It is a curious sight to see these
animals depending entirely on their own resources
and cunning in avoiding danger, and, in spite of
their natural timidity, coming fearlessly down to
the very door of a cottage to feed on their favourite
food, and frequently from very considerable dis-
tances ; and even after the oats are cut and piled
up in sheaves, I have seen red-deer with astonishing
boldness manage to appropriate to themselves no in-
considerable share of the ripe corn.
All the deer tribe soon find out when danger
ceases. In a domesticated state no animal becomes
more fearless and bold than a stag ; and in propor-
tion as they become so, they are dangerous to
strangers, whom they attack with great fierceness.
They have, however, discrimination enough to
assault women more frequently than men, being
evidently aware that they are the more helpless of
the two, and less able to resist. Even a roebuck,
CH. XXXI. TAME ROEBUCK. 183
when tamed, will do this ; and their activity and
strength render them no contemptible antagonists.
I remember a roebuck, belonging to a clergyman
of the Established Church in Scotland, which one
day attacked and hurt a woman who was a zealous
supporter of the Free Church. The good lady
uttered the most bitter maledictions against the
clerical owner of the roe, vowing that he kept his
Satanic majesty " in the shape of a horned beast,"
for the sole purpose of attacking and destroying
Free Church people.
A roe, though so beautiful an animal, is a most
unsatisfactory pet ; as they invariably either become
dangerous as they become tame, or else take to the
woods and are killed, their instinctive knowledge of
danger having apparently deserted them.
1 84 EXTRACTS FR03I NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXII,
SCOTCH STREAMS AND LAKES.
CHAPTER XXXII.
■Rivers, Streams, and Lakes in Scotland — The Tweed — The
Lakes and Streams of Argyleshire — Loch Awe — A Contest
with a Salmo ferox — Inverness-shire, Ross-shire, and Suther-
land — Pike not an injurious destroyer of Trout — Char —
The River Shin — Pertinacity of Salmon in ascending Streams
— The Beauly — The Findhorn — The Spey — The Dee —
Decrease in the number of Salmon ; its causes and its cure —
Extent of the trade of Fly-making.
Many and varied are the streams and lakes of
Scotland, and scarcely any two of them contain
trout of exactly similar appearance. Although of
the same species, and alike in all the essential
parts of their anatomy, &c., in outward appearance,
shape, and colour, trout vary more than any other
fish. As I have before observed, these fish have
the power of either voluntarily or involuntarily
taking, to a remarkable degree, the colour of the
water in which they live. In the same way do
they derive their brown and yellow hue from the
CH. XXXII. TROUT AND SALMON. 185
stones on which they are accustomed to lie. Few
Highland streams contain very large trout : the
feeding is not abundant enough, the cold waters
not being sufficiently productive of animalcula and
small insects. Fish are as dependent on the
nature of the soil through which a stream runs,
as oxen are on the richness of the meadows on
which they pasture. The reason is obvious : a
river which runs through a fertile country always
abounds in flies, worms, snails, &c., on which its
inhabitants feed ; whilst a mountain stream, which
flows rapidly through a barren and rocky country,
has not the same supply.
I will not pretend to give a descriptive list of all
the rivers, streams, and lakes in Scotland, where the
angler may find employment for rod and line : they
are too numerous for me to do so ; nor is my know-
ledge of them sufficiently complete.
There are few districts, from Ayrshire to Caith-
ness, where trout and salmon are not to be found in
tolerable abundance. Many streams run into the
Solway Firth which are plentifully supplied with
good trout, fed on the insect population of the
fertile fields of Ayrshire, Kirkcudbright, &c. Many
fine lakes, abounding in trout, char, and pike, are
also to be found in that district. But mines, and
other similar works, are already beginning to fill
186 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXII.
that part of the country with a population peculiarly
destructive to fish and game.
The Tweed and its tributaries are known to all
as the angler's classic ground, and have been so
often described by abler pens than mine, that I will
say nothing about them.
Loch Leven trout are famous throughout Scot-
land.
Then come the lakes and streams of Argyleshire,
beautifully situated in a wild and rugged countr^
but overrun of late years by cockney and summer
tourists. Loch Awe will, however, always maintain
its high repute for its large lake trout, which rival
the pike in size and voracity, but are stronger, and
far more wary and difficult to catch. A " Salmo
ferox " of fifteen or twenty pounds weight is no mean
adversary. His first rush, when he finds himself
firmly hooked, is nearly strong enough to tow the
fishing coble after him. And then comes the tug
of war. The monster, held only by a slight line and
tapering rod, is one moment deep down boring his
head to the bottom of the lake, with every yard of
the line run out, and the rod bent into the water ;
the next he takes a new freak, and goes off" near the
surface like a steamboat, and before you can wind
in, he is right under your boat and close to the
bottom of it, your line being you know not where.
CH. XXXII. CONTEST WITH A SALMO FEROX. 187
Again the reel is whirring round so rapidly, that
you feel your line must break in spite of all your
fancied skill. But no — he stops suddenly, and
again seems inclined to wind your line round and
round the boat ; or, by Jove ! to upset you, if he
can, by running against its keel. If there is a pro-
jecting nail, or a notch in the wood, he manages to
get the line fixed in it. After you have cleared your
tackle from this danger, off he darts again. Your
Highland boatman swears in Gaelic ; you perhaps
follow his example in English — at least, to a cer-
tainty you blame him for rowing too fast or too slow,
and begin to think that you would give a guinea to
be honourably rid of the fish, without discredit to
your skill as an angler. At last your enemy appears
exhausted — you have been long exhausted yourself
— and floats quietly near the surface. But, at the
critical moment of placing the gaff in a position to
secure him, he flaps his tail, and darts off again as
strong as ever, taking good care to go right under
the boat again. At last, however, patience and good
tackle and skill begin to tell ; and, after two or three
more feeble efforts to escape, your noble-looking
fellow of a trout is safely lodged in the bottom of
the landing-net.
Inverness-shire and the west of Ross-shire and
Sutherland are intersected by numerous excellent
188 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. Cll. XXXII.
salmon rivers and beautiful lakes, full to over-
flowing of trout and pike. It is a fallacy to suppose
that pike are at all detrimental to the sport of the
fly-fisher — at least, in a Highland lake, where there
is depth and space enough for both trout and pike to
live and flourish in. Of course, pike kill thousands
and tens of thousands of small trout. But the prin-
cipal thing to be regretted in almost all Highland
lakes is that there are far too many trout in them,
and that the fly-fisher may work for a month without
killing a trout of two pounds weight. Pike keep
down this overstock, and yet still leave plenty of trout,
which are of a better size and quality than where they
are not thinned. I have invariably found that this
is the case, and that I could kill a greater iceight of
trout in a loch where there are pike, than where
they had not these their natural enemies to keep
down the undue increase in their numbers. Pike,
too, are by no means exclusively piscivorous ; they
are as omnivorous as a pig or an alderman. A great
part of the food of a pike consists of frogs, leeches,
weeds, &c. &c. Young wild ducks, water-hens,
coots, and even young rats, do not come amiss to
him. Like a shark, when hungry, the pike swallows
anything and everything which comes within reach
of his murderous jaws.
If the fact could be ascertained, I would back a
CII. XXXII. SALMO FEROX — PIKE. 189
" Salmo ferox " of ten pounds weight to kill more
trout in a week than a pike of the same size would
do in a month. I never killed a tolerably large
trout without finding within him the remains of other
trout, sometimes too of a size that must have cost
him some trouble to swallow. In fact, I am strongly
of opinion that pike deserve encouragement in all
larse Hi(:?hland lakes where the trout are numerous
and small. There is also no doubt that trout follow
up the lex talionis, and feeil on the young pike as
freely as pike feed on young trout.
There are numberless fine lakes in the interior
of the northern counties, situated in wild and seques-
tered spots remote from roads and tracks, the waters
of which are seldom or never troubled by the line
of the angler. During my search for the breeding
places of the osprey and other rare birds in the
north of Sutherland, I have come upon lakes situated
in those rugged wildernesses, and frequently high
upon the mountains, where I am confident no human
being ever practised the " gentle craft." The only
enemies that the trout have in these lonely lochs
are the otters who live on their banks, or the osprey
who builds her nest on some rocky islet, safely
encircled by the cold depths of the surrounding
waters.
There is also in many of these lakes plenty or
190 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXII.
char, a fish of mysterious habits, never or seldom
taking the fly or any other bait, but at a certain season
(about the middle of October, as far as my experience
goes) migrating in great shoals from the deepest
recesses of the lake, where they spend the rest of
the year, to the shallows near the shore. During
this short migration they are caught in nets, and
frequently in great numbers.
On the east of Sutherlandshire there are several
excellent salmon rivers : amongst the best, if not
quite the best, of these is the " Shin/' which flows
out of an extensive lake of the same nsime, which is
full of most excellent trout. In some parts of this
county the propensity of salmon to ascend streams
is most strikingly exemplified ; nothing can exceed
the determination with which they work their way
from river to lake, from lake to burn, and so gra-
dually ascendmg every running stream until at last
they reach rivulets so small and shallow that you
wonder how two salmons can pass each other in
them. Taking advantage of every flood which
swells the burns, they work themselves up shallows
and narrow places where apparently there is scarcely
sufficient water for the smallest trout to swim.
When they have fulfilled their spawning duties they
drop back during the winter floods to the larger
streams and thence to the sea, where they become
CH. XXXII. THE BEAULY AND THE FINDHORN. 191
reinvigorated and increase in size with a rapidity
which would be incredible had it not been fully
ascertained by frequent and specific experiment.
On the east coast of Ross-shire, between Suther-
land and Inverness-shire, there are few streams of
any size or value.
The Beauly is a noble stream as well for the
angler as for the lover of natural beauty, being sur-
rounded with most magnificent scenery.
But above all rivers, ^'- ante omnes" the Find-
horn holds with me the highest place, not only for
the abundance of its fish, but for the varied country
and beautiful scenery through which it passes,
from the dreary brown and grey heights of the
Monaghleahd mountains, at its source, to the flat
and fertile plains of Morayshire, where it empties
itself into the salt waters ; and, beyond a doubt,
the beauty of the scenery and banks of the Find-
horn, for several miles, is not to be equalled in
Scotland. Most interesting, too, and varied are
the wild animals and birds which frequent its rocks
and banks, from the stag and eagle, which add to
the wild grandeur of its source, to the wild swan
and grey goose, which feed at its junction with the
bay.
I do not know that the Findhorn can be called a
first-rate angling river ; for, although frequently
192 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS CH. XXXII.
almost full of fish, it is so subject to floods and
sudden changes that the fish in it do not generally
rise well, being constantly kept on the move.
Although these violent and often most unex-
pected risings of the river add much to its interest
in the eyes of the artist or spectator, they militate
sadly against the success of the angler, who has
frequently to gather up his tackle as he best can,
and run for his life ; or, after having made up his
mind to a week's good fishing, finds the river either
of a deep black colour, or of the hue and almost of
the consistence of pea-soup, overflowing bank and
brae, owing to some sudden rain-storm in the dis-
tant mountains of the Monaghleahd.
The Spey is another glorious river — a finer river
for salmon than even the Findhorn : indeed the
rent paid for the salmon-fishing at the mouth of this
river proves it to be the best supplied water in
Scotland. Everything in this matter-of-fact age
brings its real and marketable value ; and, from
the amount of rent paid, the number of fish which
inhabit- each river may be very nearly ascertained
by a simple arithmetical process, as all fishing-rents
are proportioned correctly and carefully to the
number and value of salmon which can be caught.
The Spey is a fine wide stream, with a great volume
of water ; and although, like all Highland rivers.
CH. XXXII. DESTRUCTION OF SALMON. 193
subject to floods, is not liable to such sudden and
dangerous risings as its neighbour, the Findhorn.
The Dee, and many other rivers and streams, all
gladdening to the eye of the fly-fisher, pour their
waters into the German Ocean : with none of these,
however, have I a sufficient personal acquaintance
to enable me to describe their merits or demerits.
It is a matter quite beyond doubt that salmon
are decreasing every year in most of the Scottish
rivers. With short-sighted cupidity, these valuable
fish are hunted down, trapped, and caught in every
possible manner ; and in consequence of this reck-
less destruction the proprietors of some salmon
rivers will, before many years have elapsed, lose
the high rents which they now obtain from sports-
men and speculators. Prolific as they are, fish,
like all other animals, must of necessity decrease,
unless allowed fair play and time to breed.
It is not the angler who injuriously thins their
number. The salmon is too capricious in rising at
the fly to make this possible. Nor, indeed, do I
think that any extent of fair river-fisbing can exter-
minate them. It is the system of stake-net and
bag-net fishing which requires to be better regulated
and placed under more stringent local laws. As
the fishing is now carried on, the salmon are almost
precluded from reaching their breeding-grounds.
VOL. II. K
194 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXII.
The mouth of every river is flanked and hemmed
in by stake -nets and similar obstructions, against
which the poor salmon have not the least chance.
Coasting along the shore in search of fresh waters,
they find a fence which they cannot get through,
and which leads them directly into an ingenious
but most iniquitous puzzle of a trap. In fact, if
the object of proprietors and renters of rivers was
to exterminate salmon, they could not devise better
means to do so than those now practised. On the
other hand, the rents are so high — and they still go
on increasing — that the lessees are obliged of ne-
cessity to use every means in their power to pay all
their heavy expenses and to obtain even a moderate
profit.
The individual who hires a salmon river as a
matter of trade and speculation cannot be expected
to be influenced by any other motive than wishing
to make the best of his bargain. His outgoings are
great ; he pays a large rent for the privilege of
dragging a net through the water ; he pays a rent
for the right of putting up stake-nets, bag-nets,
cruives, &c., all of which are exposed to injury and
destruction by flood and storm ; he pays numerous
servants and watchers, and has also the great ex-
pense of making and renewing his boats, nets, and
other valuable tackles — and yet he is the person
CH. XXXII. DESTRUCTION OF SALMON, 195
usually blamed as the destroyer of the salmon,
whereas, in fact, he is actually compelled, in self-
defence, to take every fish he can catch, in every
possible manner, as the only chance he has of
meeting all these heavy expenses. At the same
time it must be remembered that no one sino-le
o
proprietor can do anything towards putting down
this ruinous system, unless the neighbouring owners
on the same line of coast co-operate with him. A
pause for a few years in this wholesale destruction
would bring the salmon back to something like
their former numbers, and enable proprietors of
rivers to ask and obtain the same rents as they now
do, from English and other sportsmen who come
northwards for angling. At present, fly-fishing,
in many rivers which were formerly abundantly
supphed, is not worth the trouble — a mere umbra
norninis — excepting during the run of grilse ; and
this can only be remedied by a system of unanimous
and general preservation of the fish.
There is no necessity for restricting the sport of
the fly-fisher. Salmon will never be injured to any
great extent by this mode of taking them ; and were
the net-fishing better regulated, and diminished,
higher rents would not be grudged by the sports-
man.
Excepting amongst anglers, the extent of the
k2
196 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXII.
trade of fly-making is little known. The number
of hands employed, men, women, and even children,
whose small fingers are the best adapted for imitating
the delicate wings of the midge or ant, and the
variety of materials used, would astonish the unini-
tiated. If any person will examine the wings and
body of a single Irish salmon-fly, he will perceive
how many substances are used, and how many birds
from every quarter of the globe are laid under con-
tribution, to form this tiny but powerfully attractive
bait, which, were it less carefully and skilfully con-
structed, would never entice the wary salmon out of
his resting-place, under some stone or rock, where,
like a gourmand in the snug comer of his club-room,
he patiently but anxiously awaits the arrival of some
delicate morsel.
( 197 )
DOGS.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Learned Dog and Show-woman — Education of Sporting Dogs
— Hereditary Instinct of Dogs — Their thievish propensities
descend to their offspring — Bad-tempered Dogs — Breaking
of Dogs — Their jealousies — Their Hunting alliances —
Attachment of a Dog to his Master — Dog-eating reprobated
— Bloodhounds — Skye Terriers — Dogs combining against
a common enemy — Old Dogs — Singular instance of sagacity
in one.
Although I am perfectly content with witnessing
the sagacity and instinct displayed by my own dogs
in their every-day employments and proceedings,
and am, generally speaking, unwilling to comite-
nance the trickery of what are called " learned
dogs," yet the other day, to please my children, 1
allowed a woman, who sent up a most dirty-faced
card, announcing herself as the possessor of " The
MOST ASTONISHING LeARNED DoG EVER KNOWN,"
to exhibit the animal in our front hall.
The woman herself was a small, sharp-looking
personage, with the sodden and hard expression of
198 EXTRACTS FllOM NOTE- BOOKS, CH. XXXIII.
feature peculiar to that class who travel in cara-
vans, and exhibit dwarfs, giants, and such like
vamped up wonders. The dog was a well-fed,
comfortable-looking kind of bull-terrier, slightly
rough about the muzzle ; but notwithstanding his
quiet and sedate look, there was a certain expres-
sion of low cunning and blackguardism about his
face which would have stamped him anywhere as
the associate of vile and dissolute company ; and
although he wagged his stumpy tail, and pretended
to look amiable at his equally cunning-looking
mistress, his attempts at amiability seemed to be
rather the effects of kicks and blows than of genuine
attachment. He received her caresses, too, with a
kind of uncertain appearance of pleasure, as if he
did not much value them, but of the two rather
preferred them to her kicks.
On entering the hall he cast a kind of hasty look
round him, much as you would expect a rogue to
do on entering a shop from which he intended to
purloin something : however, on the woman pro-
ducing certain dirty cards, with their corners all
worn round by constant use, and marked with
numbers, letters, &c., the dog prepared himself for
action, with a preparatory lick at his lips and a
suspicious look at his mistress. The tricks con-
sisted of the usual routine of adding up figures.
CH. XXXIII. A LEARNED DOG. 199
spelling short words, and finding the first letter of
any town named by one of the company. This last
trick was very cleverly done, and puzzled us very
much, as we— z. e. the grown up part of his au-
dience— were most intently watching, not him, but
his mistress, in order to discover what signs she
made to guide him in his choice of the cards ; but
we could not perceive that she moved hand or foot,
or made any signal whatever. Indeed, the dog
seemed to pay little regard to her, but to receive
his orders direct from any one who gave them.
In fact, his teaching must have been perfect, and
bis intellect wonderful.
Now, I dare say I shall be laughed at for intro-
ducing an anecdote of a learned dog, and told that
it was " all trick." No doubt it was " all trick ;"'
but it was a very clever one, and showed how
capable of education dogs are — far more so than we
imagine. For here was a dog performing tricks so
cleverly, that not one out of four or five persons
who were most attentively watching him could find
out how he was assisted by his mistress. The dog,
too, as the woman said, was by no means of the
kind easiest to teach. She told us that a poodle or
spaniel would be far quicker in learning than a
terrier : but I strongly suspect that neither of these
kinds would have courage sufiicient to stand the
200 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXIII.
corrections necessary to complete their education,
without becoming too shy to perform their part
well.
The woman, though clever enough in her way
and well spoken, was a melancholy specimen of a
peculiar class. Sold by her parents, if she ever
had any decided relatives of that kind, at an early
age to the leader of some itinerant party of rope-
dancers, or walkers on stilts — when she had mas-
tered these respectable sciences, she acted in the
capacity of rope-dancer, or fifth-rate figurante, in
some fifth-rate theatre. Disabled by an accident —
a broken ankle — from following these employments,
she was reduced at last to travelling to country
fairs and markets in a painted caravan, the ill-used
companion of some whiskered ruffian, arrayed in a
fur cap, red plush waistcoat, corduroy breeches,
white stockings, and ankle boots — the invariable
dress of all masters of show-caravans. And now
the poor woman, ruined in health and mhid by
hardship and dissipation, earns a precarious living
by wandering through the country, and exhibiting
her learned dogs, and her unlearned children, who,
by dint of beating and starving, had been initiated
into the mysteries of their respective callings. She
assured me with great professional energy, that one
of my dogs, a large poodle, would make a first-rate
CH. XXXIII. HEREDITARY INSTINCT OF DOGS. 201
pupil, and I saw her more than once looking at him
with a longing eye.
Dogs, indeed, will learn almost anything ; but
in teaching sporting dogs, much attention should
be paid to the qualities and education of their
forefathers. I am no advocate at all for cross-
ing pointers with foxhounds, &c., to increase the
strength and endurance of the animal ; all dogs so
bred will invariably give great trouble in their
education from an hereditary inclination to act the
hound instead of the pointer. There is quite
variety enough in the present breed of pointers to
improve your kennel, if you want any addition of
bone, speed, or courage.
I have seen a young pointer, who was only just
able to run out alone, point, and indeed back, as
steadily, and with as much certainty, as an old dog ;
but this undoubtedly would not be the case had
there been any cross whatsoever in his breeding.
The late Mr. Andrew Knight, than whom a more
practical and acute naturalist did not exist, paid
much attention to what he termed " the hereditary
instinct'''' of dogs. His woodcock spaniels were
chosen fi'om puppies whose ancestors had been most
famous for woodcock hunting ; and his rabbit dogs
from those whose parents had shown most skill in
rabbit hunting. Some years ago I spent many a
k3
202 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXI II-
pleasant half-hour in listening to his amusing and
enthusiastic descriptions of the "hereditary in-
stincts " of his favourite dogs.
There is certainly no class of dog in which this
faculty is more decidedly shown than in retrievers.
Although a retriever is frequently of a cross-breed,
yet if his ancestors for one or two generations back
have been well educated, and have had much prac-
tice in retrieving, he invariably requires little if
any teaching, and appears to understand the whole
of his business instinctively. I am convinced that
I have seen this inherited skill exemplified in one
of my retrievers, a curious kind of rough animal,
who resembles a Russian poodle more than any
other dog. I bought him of a man who lived by
poaching, and other similar arts, when the dog was
six months old, and before he could have acquired
any very bad habits. The dog invariably showed,
and still shows, the most determined propensity to
steal meat and other eatables. Neither flogging
nor good feeding prevents him, and he carries on
his operations in so cunning and systematic a man-
ner, that I dread taking him to any friend's house
without instantly fastening him up. As long as
any person is looking at him, he remains in a state
of apparently the most innocent quietude ; but the
moment no eye is on him, ahiit, evasit ; and to a
CH. XXXIII. THIEVISH PROPENSITIES OF DOGS. 203
certainty some joint of meat has vanished with him,
but whither, or how, no one knows.
Sometimes he manages not even to be suspected.
On one occasion five pounds of beefsteak suddenly
disappears. Every dog about the place is sus-
pected excepting Gripp, and he, " poor brute !" the
cook affirms, "cannot be the thief; for he never
moved from the fire, where he was drying himself,
and he is the quietest dog in the world :" so says
my friend's cook, at the very time that the poor
good dog is suffering the most painful indigestion
from having swallowed so much raw meat in addi-
tion to his regular meals, and the extra scraps that
he has inveigled out of the cook by his unsophisti-
cated innocence. The next day half a haunch of
roebuck is gone : but Gripp still keeps his place in
the good graces of everybody. "It couldn't be
Gripp," is the universal cry ; " he wouldn't do such
a thing!" At last Mr. Gripp is caught in the
very act of swallowing the remains of a pound of
butter, struggling in vain to bolt it at once ; but
the slippery lump will not go down. Then comes
a long train of circumstantial evidence, and a dozen
recent robberies are brought home to him.
Now the beast was always well fed, and was only
impelled to steal by an hereditary irresistible im-
pulse, handed down to him from his grandfather
204 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXIII.
and father, who both belonged to a race of poachers
in a country town, and had been taught to find
their own living. Beyond a question, Gripp inhe-
rited his system of morality from his respectable
ancestors, to whom also he bore the strongest per-
sonal resemblance.
By the same rule, never keep the puppies of a
notorious sheep-killing dog, nor of a bad-tempered
dog : they are sure to have the same inclinations
and tempers as their parents ; and you will find it
most difficult, if not impossible, to cure them of
these faults. The breeders and teachers of dogs
would much facilitate their own labours did they
pay more attention to the dispositions and habits of
the parents of the puppies whom they take in
hand.
Dogs have quite as different dispositions and
tempers as their masters. For my own part, I
would never take the trouble to bring up and edu-
cate puppies who showed either a sulky or a very
timid disposition. Neither of these faults can be
so completely got rid of as to make them satisfac-
tory assistants or companions. I say companions,
for I have so much regard for these animals, that I
like them as companions, and care little for dogs
who have only been taught to obey and hunt for
the gamekeeper. I am very far from intending to
CH. XXXIII. BREAKING OF DOGS. 205
disparage a kennel of well-broken pointers or set-
ters, and I delight to see them do their work cor-
rectly, and with all their beautiful display of
instinct, although under the command of the game-
keeper only, and scarcely knowing their own mas-
ter's voice or whistle. Three or four brace of
perfectly-broken dogs pointing and backing without
fault is a sight that must interest and amuse every
person, whether sportsman or not : yet I far prefer
hunting my own brace of dogs, and seeing them
look to myself wholly for direction and approbation
instead of to my servant. Every dog, with an
average share of good sense and good temper, is so
eager for his master's approbation, that he will
exert himself to the utmost to obtain it ; and if this
fact were constantly kept in mind, the breaker-in of
dogs need seldom have recourse to flogging. In-
deed, I have no hesitation in saying that five dogs
out of six may be completely broken in without a
blow, and that, generally speaking, quiet, patient
reasoning with a dog is all that is requisite to
secure his obedience and attention. I know that
this is quite contrary to the opinion of most dog-
breakers, who think that nothing can be done with-
out a heavy whip and loud rating. But one thing
at least is certain, that when you do flog a dog, you
should do it soundly, and only when you catch him
206 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXIII.
" red hand " — in flagrante delicto. He cannot then
mistake why you flog him. Intelligent as this
animal is, still it cannot be expected that he should
know why he is flogged, if any time has elapsed
since the fault was committed.
Dogs have, also, a great deal of jealousy in their
dispositions ; and even this may be made to assist
in their education, as it makes them strive to outdo
each other. Every clever dog is especially unwilling
that any of his companions should possess a greater
share of his master's favour than himself. One of
my dogs could not be induced to hunt in company
with another, of whose advances in my good graces
he was peculiarly jealous. There was no other
groinid of quarrel between them. When Rover
saw that a certain young dog was to accompany
me, he invariably refused to go out ; and, although
at other times one of the most eager dogs for sport
that I ever possessed, nothing would induce him to
go out with his young rival. He also showed his
jealousy by flying at him and biting him on every
possible occasion where he could do so unobserved.
At last, however, when the young dog had grown
older, and discovered that his own strength was
superior to that of his tyrant, he flew upon poor
Rover, and amply revenged all the ill treatment
which he had received at his hands. From that
CH. XXXIII. ATTACHMENT OF DOGS TO MAN. 207
day he was constantly on the look-out to renew his
attacks ; but having soon established his superiority,
he thenceforth contented himself with striking down
the old dog, and after standing over him for a
minute or two, with teeth bared ready for action, he
suffered him to sneak quietly away, for Rover was
too old a soldier to resist when he found himself
overmatched. At last the poor old fellow got so
bullied by this dog, and by two or three others
whom I am afraid he had tyrannized over when
they were puppies, that he never left the front-door
steps, or went round the corner of the house, before
he had well reconnoitred the ground, and was sure
that none of his enemies were near him ; and yet,
in his battles with vermin or with strange dogs, he
was one of the most courageous animals I ever
had.
Although dogs form such strong attachments to
man, they seldom appear to feel any great degree
of friendship for each other. Occasionally, how-
ever, a couple of dogs will enter into a kind of com-
pact to assist each other in hunting. For instance,
I have known an old terrier who formed an alliance
of this sort with a greyhound, and they used con-
stantly to go out poaching together. The terrier
would hunt the bushes, whilst the greyhound sta-
tioned herself quietly outside, ready to spring on
208 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXIH.
any rabbit or hare that was started ; and she always
took the side of the bush opposite to that by which
the terrier had entered it. On losing his com-
panion, the terrier, who was becoming old in years
and cunning, entered into confederacy with a
younger terrier. In all their hunting excursions
the old dog laid himself quietly down at some
likely-looking meuse or run, and, sending his
younger companion to hunt the bushes, he waited
patiently and silently for any rabbit that might
come in his way. Their proceedings showed a de-
gree of instinct which almost amounted to reason.
So many stories have been told of the strong
attachment of dogs to their masters, that to enlarge
upon the subject would be superfluous. I must,
however, relate one anecdote which was told me
lately. A minister of a parish in this neighbour-
hood having died, his favourite dog followed his
body to the grave, and no inducement could per-
suade the faithful animal to leave the place. Night
and day, bad weather and good, did the dog re-
main stretched on the grave. The people of the
neighbourhood, finding all their endeavours to en-
tice him away fruitless, and respecting his fidelity,
fed and protected him. This continued for several
weeks— indeed until some time after the manse was
tenanted by a new minister, whose wife, from some
CH. XXXIII. DOG-EATING REPROBATED. 209
wretched feeling of superstition, caused the dog to
be killed. May the mourners over her own grave
be better treated ! The source from which I re-
ceived this anecdote leaves no doubt upon my mind
as to its truth. I must own, indeed, that I am
greatly inclined to believe all stories which ex-
emplify the reasoning powers or the fidelity of dogs.
However marvellous they may be, my own experi-
ence leads me to think that, although they may not
he probable, Sit least they are possible.
The dog is peculiarly the friend and companion
of man. In every country this is the case, and it
has been so in every age. There is one use, how-
ever, to which they are put, the propriety of which
I cannot admit, namely, that of being eaten. Being
decidedly a carnivorous animal, the dog can never
have been intended for our food ; and those nations
who eat dog's flesh, as the Chinese and certain of
the American Indian tribes, appear to me to be
guilty of a sort of cannibalism almost as bad as if
they ate each other. Yet we read accounts of their
being occasionally eaten in those countries by our
own countrymen, and actually relished. Hunger,
we all know, is a good sauce ; and perhaps a
young puppy may not be bad, though in all pro-
bability those travellers would have found an
infant still more relishing. I confess that I have
210 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXIII.
as little inclination to try the one experiment as the
other.
There are two kinds of dogs which have been
bred in much greater numbers since the rage for
Highland shooting and deer-forests has become so
strong — I mean the Highland deer-hound and the
old bloodhound. The former is immortalised in
so many of Landseer's pictures that, although deer-
stalking may be given up, the dog will for centuries
be i-emembered ; but the bloodhound is not so
generally used for this sport as it might be. If
greater trouble was taken in training bloodhounds
to the tracking of wounded deer, this species of dog
would be invaluable to the sportsman. But to
effect this, it is absolutely necessary that they should
be taught to track quietly whilst led. Almost
every bloodhound pulls and strains on the collar,
panting and struggling to get forward on the scent,
until at last he becomes as blown and distressed as if
he had run full speed all the time : and, indeed,
more so. Besides which, as perfect silence is a
sine qua non in following up a wounded stag, your
object will very probably be defeated. Train the
bloodhound to keep pace with his leader, and to
track silently and slowly, ^^ pari passu,^' whatever
scent he is put on, and he is then invaluable.
Many instances of the extraordinary powers of
CH. XXXIII. BLOODHOUNDS. ^ 211
scent displayed by this dog in following wounded
animals have come under my observation, some of
which would appear incredible.
A bloodhound is easily taught to follow the track
of any stranger whose path he may come across on
the mountain or elsewhere. This faculty alone
makes this dog worthy of far more pains than are
ever bestowed on him. Keepers seem to think that
because he is called a bloodhound, and because
bloodhounds, in former days, were used for tracking
robbers and fugitives, that he requires no teaching
to enable him to follow any track which he is set
upon ; and masters generally leave these things to
their keepers, trusting implicitly to their verdict as
to the capabilities of the dog. But this opinion is
altogether erroneous. The bloodhound, to perform
his duty perfectly, requires education, like every
other dog. With a due degree of care, and fre-
quent practice when young, a well-bred blood-
hound will soon learn to track a man with unerring
correctness.
An extraordinary instance of this faculty in a
young bloodhound occurred some fifteen or sixteen
years back in Worcestershire, for the truth of which
I can vouch. At the house of a lady in the country,
where a young, full-grown bloodhound was kept,
the harness-room was robbed during the night.
212 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXIII.
Some of the grooms, who found out the robbery at
an early hour in the morning, having heard that
bloodhounds would hunt men, took the dog out,
and put him on the footsteps, which at that hour
were plainly visible on the dewy grass. The dog
immediately took up the scent, the servants fol-
lowed, and, after a run of twelve miles, came to a
cottage, where both the thieves and the harness
were discovered. It appeared that the thieves had
waded through a tolerably broad but shallow stream :
the dog scarcely came to a check here, the scent
appearing to remain in the morning mists, which
were still hanging on the surface of the water. He
went straight across, and at once took up the scent
on the opposite side of the river.
One of the most singular uses to which dogs are
put is truffle hunting. I well remember, in my
younger days, a curious old fellow in Sussex who
gained his living, ostensibly^ by this pursuit. Ac-
companied by four or five quaint-looking, currish
poodles of a small size, he used to follow his trade,
and generally hunted out a considerable number of
these mysterious but excellent roots.
The Skye terrier, though so much prized by our
English visitors, has by no means the determined,
blind courage of the English bull-terrier. Never-
theless there is much quiet intelligence and character
CH. XXXIII. SKYE TERRIERS. 213
in this dog, and if well entered at vermin when
young they are useful enough. Like all terriers,
though eager hunters, they do not appear to hunt
so much to find as to kill; and when in company
with spaniels they are apt to leave the latter to
search for the game, while they wait about the runs
and outside the bushes, ready to spring upon what-
ever is started by the spaniels. I have always
found this to be the case vnth my own Skye terriers,
and have observed it in others. These dogs gene-
rally take the water freely and well, though I
have had smooth bull-terriers better swimmers and
divers than any rough dog I ever possessed.
Though dogs often disagree, and are jealous of
each other at home, they generally make common
cause against a stranger. Two of my dogs, who
were such enemies and fought so constantly that I
could not keep them in the same kennel, seemed to
have compared notes, and to have found out that
they had both of them been bullied by a large,
powerful watch-dog belonging to a farmer in the
neighbourhood. They suspended their own hos-
tilities, and formed an alliance, and then they toge-
ther assaulted the common enemy ; and so well
assisted each other, that although he was far
stronger than both my dogs put together, he was
go fairly beaten and bullied, that he never again
214 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXIH.
annoyed them or me by rushing out upon them as
we passed by the place, as he had always been in
the habit of doing before he received his drubbing.
Unluckily, dogs, like men, will grow old and
deaf, and become a burthen to themselves and
others. Life is then no longer a matter of enjoy-
ment to them ; and the most merciful thing to do
is to have the poor animal shot. But we do not
always practise what we preach ; and although I
am quite convinced that having a dog killed when
old, infirm, and rheumatic is doing him a kindness,
I could never bring myself to order the execution
of any of my old canine friends.
Hanging a dog is barbarous ; but when shot he
can feel but little pain, and he will be in the para-
dise — the " happy hunting-grounds " — of dogs
before lie hears the report of the gun which sends
him there, and he can have no anticipation, or only
for a moment, of what is about to be done to him.
I must admit, however, that I was once told, and
by a credible person, an anecdote which went to
impugn this theory. His dog having been con-
victed of sheep killing, he told a man to shoot him
the following morning. The dog was lying in the
room at the time, and apparently listening to the
conversation. Whether he understood it or not,
I will not pretend to determine ; but the very first
CH. XXXIII. CANINE SAGACITY. 215
time the door was open he bolted out, and never
again came within reach of his old master. This
seems rather a stretch of canine intelligence, but it
was told me as a true story ; and I am convinced
that the relater, who was the master of the dog,
believed it himself.
But I must close my chapter on this subject, or I
shall become insufferably prolix.
( 216 )
WINTE R SKETCHES.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Grouse; Hardiness of — Difference of Climate in Morayshire
— Migratory habits of Partridges — Grubs, &c. destroyed by
Pheasants — Ptarmigan — Ptarmigan Shooting during winter
— An Expedition to the Mountains — Early start — Tracks of
Otters — Otter-hunting — Stags — Herons — Golden-eyes —
Wild Cat — Mallards — Tracks of Deer — Grey Crows —
Eagle — Shepherd's hut — Braxy mutton — Ascent of the
Mountain — Ptarmigan — Change in the weather — Dan-
gerous situation — Violent Snow-storm — Return home —
Wild-duck shooting — Flapper-shooting.
Grouse, although frequenting high and exposed
situations, are perhaps less affected by a moderate
fall of snow than partridges or any other gan:ie. A
hardy and a mountain-bred bird, the grouse cares
little for cold ; and although the hill-side may be
covered with snow, by digging and burrowing he
soon arrives at the heather, and thus obtains both
food and shelter ; and in weather which makes the
partridge cower and mope most disconsolately under
any shelter it can find, the grouse-cock, with his
well-clothed legs and feet, struts and crows on the
CH. XXXIV. PARTRIDGES MIGRATORY. 217
cold snow apparently in full enjoyment of life and
health. In this county of Moray the difference of
chmate between the hill-side and the flat lands
near the salt-water bays is very great — greater, in-
deed, than would be supposed. Long after every
trace of snow has disappeared from the fields near
the Bay of Findhorn, the country four or five miles
to the southward, inland, is still deeply covered with
it. The large fir plantations certainly create a
mildness in the air which melts the snow in their
immediate vicinity ; but beyond the extent of their
influence the ground becomes colder and colder,
and the snow deeper and deeper, every mile that
we recede from the sea.
In October the summits of the higher mountains
are generally clothed in snow, and frequently hills
of a very moderate height are partially covered with
it. As soon as this occurs, a great many partridges,
black-game, and wild-fowl of all descriptions migrate
to their winter quarters.
Partridges are far more migratory in their habits
than is generally supposed. Every winter several
large unbroken coveys betake themselves on the first
approach of storm and cold to the quiet and warm
fields in the lower part of the country ; and when
spring returns, pairs of partridges appear here and
there, on every little patch of cultivated ground on
218 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXIV,
tlie moors. These birds being almost entirely
granivorous, always select cultivated districts — and
indeed they only thrive where corn grows ; but their
actual consumption of corn is not great, for a par-
tridge is a moderate eater, and in part feeds on the
seeds of grasses and many weeds as well as on
corn. I am confident, as I have before stated, that
most, if not all, gi-anivorous birds amply repay the
farmer for their food by the quantity of weeds they
destroy during a great part of the year. The
pheasant is in a gi'eat degree an insectivorous
bird, and feeds more on grubs, caterpillars, and
other insects, than on corn ; thereby relieving the
farmer from a whole host of enemies whom he could
in no other way get rid of.
During storms the ptarmigan burrow deep under
the snow in search of shelter and food. These
birds seldom descend far down the mountains, even
in the severest weather. When only the summits
are covered, they descend to the edge of the snow ;
but when the whole mountain is white, they do not
leave it for the lower hills, but find what shelter
they can by burrowing. Ptarmigan-shooting dur-
ing winter is a most laborious sport, and is fre-
quently attended with no small risk, owing to the
snow concealing the numerous clefts and dangerous
places which intersect the heights where these birds
CH. XXXIV. START FOR THE MOUNTAINS. 219
abound. The days, too, being short, and the changes
of weather frequent, the ptarmigan-shooter must
work carefully and quickly.
Some few years back, when living in the north of
Scotland, I was anxious to get a few ptarmigan in
their beautiful winter plumage, which is as pure a
white as the snow itself. It was late in the season,
and the ground was covered with snow ; but as
there had been a few days' frost, the walking was by
no means bad ; so I determined to start in spite of
the cold and snow, and the grumblings of old Do-
nald, who had but little inclination for the pursuit.
Our plan was to reach a shepherd's house, situated
about ten or twelve miles — that is to say, about four
hours' easy walking — up the course of the river ;
there we were to sleep, and to attack the ptarmigan
on the following day — the mountain where I ex-
pected to find them being situated near the shep-
herd's house. At the first break of day Donald
and I left the house, accompanied by one quiet dog,
whose personal inclinations tended rather to otter-
hunting and such like pursuits than to grouse-
shooting ; but his nose was so good and his intelli-
gence so great that in cover-shooting and rough
work he was invaluable. Pointers would have been
useless for ptarmigan in the then state of the
ground ; and I also thought it not unlikely that we
l2
220 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXIV.
might fall in with the track of an otter or wild cat
during our walk up the river side.
As soon as we emerged from the woods a beau-
tiful sight opened to us ; the morning sun, although
not yet visible, tinged the mountain tops to the
west, their snow-covered summits shining with
all the varied colours of the rainbow : soon, how-
ever, the bright sun of a frosty winter's day rose
behind us, making the old birch-trees which grew
on the slopes above the river throw out their dark
shadows on the snow. Here and there a roe-
buck or two ^^ stotted^' (to use Donald's favourite
expression) over the turf wall into the shelter
of the fir woods, out of which we had just come ;
the grouse-cocks were crowing on the juniper-
covered hillocks, which showed their lively green
above the surrounding snow ; and the black-cocks
launched themselves off the birch-trees, where they
seemed to have been awaiting the first rays of the
morning sun. Everything around us was full of
beauty ; and dreary as a mountainous country is
when covered with snow, still it is magnificent,
varied too as it now was by wood and water and
numerous living creatures, all appearing to be in as
full enjoyment of life as if it had been a genial
morning in May instead of a most orthodox Christ-
mas-like day. The grey crows were just going
CH. XXXIV. OTTER-HUNTING. 2^1
forth in pairs from the woods, calling to each other
with loud ringing cries, and all bending their way
straight to one point, where, as we afterwards found,
two drowned sheep had been cast ashore in a bend
of the river.
We walked on, and soon came across the tracks
of two or three otters, where they had been going in
and out of the water on their way up stream, after
fishing in the deep pools where the two waters met
near the house. These pools are favourite resting-
places for salmon and sea-trout, and therefore are
sure to be frequented by the otters.
Opposite to a strip of birch-trees one of the
largest otters seemed to have left the river, and
to have made for a well-known cairn of stones,
where I had before found both marten-cat and
otter. Half way up the brae he had entered a kind
of cleft or hole, made by a small stream of water,
which at this spot worked itself out of the depth of
the earth. " He'll no stop in this," said Donald ;
" there 's a vent twenty yards above, and I ken
weel that he '11 no stop till he is in the dry cairn
forty yards higher up the brae." Nor was the old
man far wrong, for we found where the otter had.
squeezed himself up to the surface of the ground
again, leaving a small round hole in the snow. We
carefully stopped up both entrances to this covered
222 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXIV.
way, and then Donald went on with the dog to
dislodge him from the cairn, having first given me
the strongest injunctions to " stand quite privately "
{i. e. quietly) a few yards from the hole which we
had just stopped up. The dog at first seemed little
inclined to leave me, but presently understanding
the service upon which he was to be employed, he
went off with Donald with right good will, putting
his nose every now and then into the tracks of the
otter in the snow, as if to ascertain how long it was
since the animal had been there.
They soon arrived at the cairn, which was of no
great extent, and not composed of very heavy
stones. After walking round it carefully, to see
whether there were any tracks farther on, Donald
sent on the dog, who almost immediately began to
bark, and scratch at a part of the cairn. Donald
was soon with him, and employed in moving the
stones, having laid down his gun for that purpose,
knowing that the otter was quite sure to make
straight for the place where I was standing, if he
could dislodge him. Presently the dog made a
headlong dive into the snow and stones, but drew
back as quickly with a sharp cry. In he went
again, however, his blood now well up ; but the
otter's black head appeared at a different aperture,
and now dog and man were dancing and tumbling
CH. XXXIV. OTTER-HUNTING. 223
about amongst the snow and stones like lunatics, —
the otter darting from place to place, and showing
his face first in one corner and then in another.
Donald found this would not do ; so he again
commenced moving the stones. Presently he called
out to me, " Keep private. Sir ! keep private ! the
brute is coming your gate!" Private I had kept
rom the moment he had stationed me, till my fingers
and feet were nearly frozen. Donald seized the
dog and held him to prevent his running in the way.
All this passed in a moment, and I saw the snow
heaving up above the otter, who was working
through it like a mole ; assisted, probably, by the
heather, which prevented it from being caked down
in a solid mass, as would have been the case on a
smooth field. I knew that he would appear at the
hole which we had stopped ; and therefore I did not
risk a shot at him.
He worked on until he was close to the hole ;
when he emerged quietly and silently, and crept
towards the well-known place of refuge. On find-
ing it completely stopped up, the countenance of
the poor animal assumed a most bewildered expres-
sion of astonishment and fear ; and lifting himself
up on his hind legs, he looked round to ascertain
what had happened. On seeing me he made off"
towards the river, with as long leaps as the snow
224 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXIV.
would allow him ; and as it was tolerably hard, he
got on pretty quickly till my charge of shot put an
end to his journey.
The report of the gun started two fine stags, who
had been feeding along the course of a small open
rill which ran into the river just above where we
were ; and I was astonished to see the power with
which these two great animals galloped up the hill,
although they sank deep at every stride. When
half way up, they halted to look at us, and stood
beautifully defined on the white snow ; they then
trotted quietly oflf till we lost sight of them over the
summit of the hill. Donald in the mean time had
carefully concealed the otter under the snow (mark-
ing the place by a small pyramid of stones), as I
intended to have him skinned on our return home.
The lakes and the still pools being frozen, we
saw several herons standing in their usual and cha-
racteristic attitude, waiting patiently in some shallow
running water for any unwary trout that might pass
within reach of their unerring bills ; and here and
there a heron who appeared to have made his morning
meal was standing, as quietly and as unsubstantial-
looking as his own shadow, perched on one foot on
a stone in the middle of the stream. A golden-eye
or two were diving earnestly and quickly in the
quieter parts of the river, taking wing only on my
CH. XXXIV. WILD CAT.
225
near approach, and after flying some distance up
the stream, coming back again over my head, making
with their rapid pinions the peculiar clanging noise
which distinguishes their flight from that of any
other duck. They passed me unmolested, for had
we killed them they would have been useless. In-
deed no diving duck is fit to eat, with the exception
perhaps of the pochard and scaup ; and even these,
although I have heard them much praised, are far
inferior to mallard, widgeon, or teal, which are,
in my opinion, the only British ducks worth killing
for the larder.
On leaving the birch woods the country became
wild and dreary, and frequently we had no small
difficulty in making our way along the trackless
snow. The otters had turned off here and there
from the river, and we saw no more of their foot-
steps. A wild cat had been hunting at one part of
the banks, but had crossed where some stones raised
above the water had enabled her to do so tolerably
dry footed. Although not so unwilling to get wet
as the domestic cat, this animal appears to avoid the
water as much as possible ; though I have known
instances of their swimming rivers.
" We must try to get a brace of grouse or some-
thing to take up to the shepherd's," said my com-
panion, " as you're no that fond of braxy. Sir, and I
l3
226 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXIV.
doubt if we shall get any other ' ven-ni-son' there the
night." " Indeed I am not fond of braxy," was my
answer ; " and a grouse or two we must get." But
we had first to eat our luncheon, having breakfasted
hastily at a very early hour, and we determined to
perform this ceremony at a spring about a mile
ahead of us ; and as I remembered having fre-
quently seen a pair or two of ducks about it in
frosty weather, when we drew near the place we
advanced with great care, keeping ourselves well
concealed till within twenty yards of the spot.
" Now, then, Donald, you look over the bank, and
see if any ducks are feeding on the grass about the
well. If there are, you shoot at them on the ground,
and I will take them flying." Donald wormed
himself on a little, regardless of filling his pockets
with snow, and having looked cautiously over,
beckoned to me to come nearer, which I did.
" There are six bonny grey dukes feeding about
the well. Sir ; three drakes and three dukes."
" Take care then, Donald, and get two or three of
them in a line before you fire." After waiting a
little with his gun pointed towards the place, Donald
fired one barrel, and then as they rose the other.
The latter killed none — " ut mos fuit." However,
as only four rose (two of which, both mallards, fell
to my two barrels), I presumed that he had done
CH. XXXIV. TRACKS OF DEER. 227
some execution with his first shot ; and sure enougli
he had riddled two most effectually.
The place where the ducks had been feeding was
a bright green spot in the midst of the snow, caused
by the spreading of the waters of a fine unfreezing
spring. Around it, also, were the tracks of several
deer who had been cropping the green herbage, and
had evidently sunk to their knees at every step
which they made in the soft ground. Two snipes
also rose while we were picking up our ducks.
As we ascended higher the river grew more
rapid, and was the only object in our view which was
not perfectly white. Having finished our frugal
luncheon, and swallowed a modicum of whisky, we
again " took the road," as Donald was pleased to
express it, although road there was none.
The grouse had entirely disappeared, and we saw
no living creature excepting a pair of grey crows,
who alighted under the bank of the river. " There
will be more of those fellows there,'' said I. " Deed
ay, sir ! do you mind those that we saw at first
starting ? they all came up this gate, and we've seen
none of them. I'd like weel to get a good shot at
them." We therefore went quietly on to the place,
the crows being quite- concealed from us by the
bank. On looking over it cautiously, there they
were, indeed, a whole flock of those most mischiev-
228 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXIV.
ous of all vermin. " Now then, Donald, take care,
and kill all you can," said I. " Deed ay," was
his answer, with a quiet chuckle. The next mo-
ment our four charges of shot were driving through
the midst of the crows, and such n family shot at
these cunning hirds was not often made, as we
killed or maimed no less than seven. But the next
instant, to our mortification, a magnificent white-
tailed eagle rose not twenty yards from us, out of
the bed of the river, where he had been feeding on
another drowned sheep which had grounded there.
He was so gorged that he could scarcely get clear
of the banks. After a few wheels, however, he got
well launched, and was soon wending his way towards
the cliffs of the mountain ahead of us. Donald
almost wept with vexation, but for my own part I
did not regret the escape of the noble bird so much.
Turning round a bend of the river, we came
within sight of our resting-place for the night, but
it was still a long distance off. On the left, rising
with a clear outline in the bright sky, was the lofty
mountain where we intended to try for ptarmigan.
The snow however looked so deep on it that we
began to think we might as well have stopped at
home. But I was very anxious to get a few birds
in their pure winter plumage, and determined not
to give in, if any chance of success offered itself.
CH. XXXIV. BRAXY MUTTON. 229
As we approached nearer to the shepherd's hut, the
hill-sides, which were covered with fine old weeping-
birch, presented a most beautiful appearance ; and
here we saw a great many blackcocks, either perched
on the leafless branches of the birch, or trying to
make a scanty meal of the juniper-berries, which
they contrived to get at here and there, where the
snow was not so deep. I shot a couple of fine
old birds as they flew over our heads fi-om one
side of the river to the other ; and Donald missed
several more, as shooting flying is decidedly not
his forte.
Our approach had been observed from a distance,
and the shepherd was ready to receive us. His
wife, " on hospitable cares intent," hurried to and
fro, piling peats and fir-roots on the fire. I had got
wet at the spring where we killed the ducks, and my
trousers, higher than my knees, were as hard as
boards with the intense frost that had come on as
the evening set in. However, " Igne levatur
hyems" — I was soon thawed to a proper consistency,
and immediately began to superintend the cooking
of some of our game. In as short a time as pos-
sible a stew worthy of Meg Merrilics herself was
prepared ; but with true Highland taste Donald
preferred, or pretended to prefer, some " braxy "
mutton which the shepherd's wife set before him ;
230 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXIV,
the odour of which was enough to breed the plague
or the cholera anywhere hut in a Highland hut.
"Deed, your honour," said the shepherd, "it's
no that bad, considering M^e did not find the sheep
for some days after it died, and the corbies had
pulled it about a bit. The weather was gay an'
wet at the time, or.it would not have had such a
high flavour ; but we steeped it a day or so, to get
rid of the greenness of the meat." I thought to
myself that, " considering " all this, together with
the additional fact that the sheep had died of a
kind of inward mortification, the bowels of Donald
and the shepherd must be stronger even than the
" Dura illia messorum " which we read of at school.
Our host was tolerably confident that we should
manage to get a few ptarmigan if we started early,
so as to make the most of the day, and if the snow
continued hard. " But for a' that, it will be no
easy travelling," was his final remark.
Before daylight I was up, and making my toilette
by the light of a splinter of bog fir. The operation
did not take long, nor did it extend beyond the
most simple and necessary acts. The " gude wife"
had prepared me rather an elaborate breakfast of
porridge, tea, and certain undeniably good barley
and oat cakes, flanked by the remains of my supper,
eggs, &c. As Donald seemed not to like the expe-
CH. XXXIV. ASCENT OF THE MOUNTAIN. 231
dition, I left him at the hut, with strict injunctions
to procure enough black game or grouse to form
our supper and next day's breakfast. The shepherd
took down a single-barrel gun, of prodigious length
and calibre, tied together here and there with pieces
of string ; and having twisted his plaid round him,
and lit his pipe, was ready to accompany me. So,
having put up some luncheon in case we were out
late, we started.
The sun was not up as we crossed the river on
the stepping-stones which the shepherd had placed
for that purpose, but very soon the mountain-tops
were gilded by its rays, and before long it was
shining brightly on our backs as we toiled up the
steep hill-side. My companion, who knew exactly
which was the easiest line to take, led the way ;
deeply covered with snow as the ground was, I should
without his guidance have found it impossible to
make my way up to the heights to which we were
bound. " I'm no just liking the look of the day
either. Sir," was his remark, " but still I think it
will hold up till near nicht ; we should be in a
bonny pass if it came on to drift while we were up
yonder." " A bonny pass, indeed !" was my inward
ejaculation. However, depending on his skill in
the weather, and not expecting myself that any
change would take place till nightfall, although
232 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CII. XXXIV.
an ominous-looking cloud concealed the upper part
of the mountain, I went on with all confidence.
Our object was to reach a certain shoulder of the
hill, not far from the summit, from which the snow
had drifted when it first fell, leaving a tolerably-
sized tract of bare stones, where we expected to find
the ptarmigan basking in the bright winter sun. It
was certainly hard work, and we felt little of the
cold, as we laboured up the steep hill. Persever-
ance meets with its reward ; and we did at last
reach the desired spot, and almost immediately
found a considerable pack of ptarmigan, of which we
managed to kill four brace before they finally took
their flight round a distant shoulder of the hill where
it was impossible to follow them. An eagle dashed
down at the flock of birds as they were just going
out of our sight, but, as we saw him rise upwards
again empty handed, he must have missed his aim.
By this time it was near mid-day, and the
clouds were gathering on the mountain-top, and
gradually approaching us. We had taken little
note of the weather during our pursuit of the birds,
but it was now forced on our attention by a keen
blast of wind which suddenly swept along the
shoulder of the mountain, here and there lifting up
the dry snow in clouds. " We must make our way
homewards at once," said . " Deed, ay ! it will
CH, XXXIV. DANGEROUS SITUATION. 233
no be a canny night," was the shepherd's answer.
Just as we were leaving the bare stones a brace of
ptarmigan rose, one of which I knocked down :
the bird fell on a part of the snow which sloped
downwards towards a nearly perpendicular cliff of
great height : the slope of the snow was not very
great, so I ran to secure the bird, which was flutter-
ing towards the precipice : the shepherd was some
little distance behind me, lighting his everlasting
pipe ; but when he saw me in pursuit of the ptarmi-
gan he shouted at me to stop : not exactly under-
standing him, I still ran after the bird, when
suddenly I found the snow giving way with me,
and sliding "en masse" towards the precipice.
There was no time to hesitate, so, springing back
with a power that only the emergency of the case
could have given me, I struggled upwards again
towards my companion. How I managed to escape
I cannot tell, but in less time than it takes to write
the words I had retraced my steps several yards,
making use of my gun as a stick to keep myself
fi'om sliding back again towards the edge of the
cliff. The shepherd was too much alarmed to
move, but stood for a moment speechless ; then,
recollecting himself, he rushed forward to help me,
holding out his long gun for me to take hold of.
For my own part, I had no time to be afraid, and in
234 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CIT. XXXIV.
a few moments was on terra firma, while a vast
mass of snow which I had set in motion rolled like
an avalanche over the precipice, carrying with it
the unfortunate ptarmigan.
I cannot describe my sensations on seeing the
danger which I had so narrowly escaped : however,
no time was to be lost, and we descended the moun-
tain at a far quicker rate than we had gone up it.
The wind rose rapidly, moaning mournfully through
the passes of the mountain, and frequently carrying
with it dense showers of snow. The thickest of
these showers, however, fell above where we were,
and the wind still came from behind us, though
gradually veering round in a manner which plainly
showed us that it would be right ahead before we
reached home. Every moment brought us lower,
and we went merrily on, though with certain anxious
glances occasionally to windward. Nor was our
alarm unfounded, for just as we turned an angle of
the mountain, which brought us within view of the
shepherd's house perched on the opposite hill-side,
with a good hour's walk and the river between
us and it, we were met by a blast of wind and a
shower of snow, half drifting and half falling from
the clouds, which took away our breath, and nearly
blew us both backwards, shutting out the view of
everything ten yards from our faces.
CH. XXXIV. SNOW-STORM. 235
We stopped and looked at each other. " This is
geyan sharp," said the shepherd, " but we must n't
lose a moment's time, or we shall be smothered in the
drift ; so come on, Sir :" and on we went. Bad as
it was, we did not dare to stop for its abating, and
having fortunately seen the cottage for a moment, we
knew that our course for the present lay straight
down the mountain. After struggling on for some
time we came to a part of the ground which rather
puzzled us, as instead of being a steep slope it
was perfectly flat ; a break, however, in the storm
allowed us to see for a moment some of the birch
trees on the opposite side of the river, which we
judged were not far from our destination. The
river itself we could not see, but the glimpse we
had caught of the trees guided us for another start,
and we went onwards as rapidly as we could until
the storm again closed round us, with such violence
that we could scarcely stand upright against it.
We began now at times to hear the river, and we
made straight for the sound, knowing that it must
be crossed before we could reach home, and hoping
to recognize some bend or rock in it which would
guide us on our way.
At last we came to the flat valley through which
the stream ran, but here the drift was tremendous,
and it was with the utmost diflBculty that we got to
236 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CII. XXXIV.
the water's edge. When there, we were fairly
puzzled by the changed aspect of everything ; but
suddenly the evening became lighter and the drift-
ing snow not quite so dense. We saw that we should
soon be able to ascertain where we were, so we
halted for a minute or two, stamping about to keep
ourselves from freezing. My poor dog immediately
crouched at our feet, and curling himself up laid
down ; in a few moments he was nearly covered
with the snow : but the storm was evidently ceasing,
at any rate for a short time, and very soon a small
bit of blue sky appeared overhead, but in a moment
it was again concealed by the flying shower. The
next time, however, that the blue sky appeared, it was
for a longer period, and the snow entirely ceased,
allowing us to see our exact position ; indeed we
were very nearly opposite the house, and within
half a mile of it. The river had to be crossed, and
it was impossible to find the stepping-stones : but
no time was to be lost, as a fresh drift began to
appear to windward ; so in we went, and dashed
through the stream, which was not much above
knee-deep, excepting in certain spots, which we
contrived to avoid. The poor dog was most un-
willing at first to rise from his resting-place, but
followed us well when once up.
We soon made our way to the house, and got
CH. XXXIV. SNOW-STORM. 237
there just as another storm caine on, which lasted
till after dark, and through which, in our tired state,
we never could have made our way. Donald and
the shepherd's family were in a state of great anxiety
about us, knowing that there would have been no
possible means of affording us assistance, had we
been bewildered or wearied out upon the moun-
tain. The shepherd himself was fairly knocked
up, and could scarcely be prevailed upon to take
either food or drink, or even to put off his frozen
clothes, before flinging himself on his bed. For
my own part I soon became as comfortable as pos-
sible, and slept as soundly and dreamlessly as such
exercise only can make one do. I must candidly
confess, however, that I made an inward vow
against ptarmigan shooting again upon snow-
covered mountains.
No person who has not been out in a snow-storm
on lofty and exposed ground can form an idea of
its force, and the difficulty there is in ploughing
through the drifts and deep places ; I certainly had
no conception of what it was until that day. A
change of weather came on during the night, and
by noon the next day all was again bright and
clear, and we reached home with little difficulty.
The wind and drift had been much less severe
near the house, and the tops of the trees were still
238 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXIV.
covered with masses of snow, which the wind had
not been powerful enough to dislodge.
Before the ice and snow break up on the higher
grounds of the river, there is generally plenty ot
wild-fowl shooting about the open pools near the
sea. At the commencement of snow the birds are
usually tame enough to make the sport good, and
with the assistance of my retriever I often bring
home a heavy bagfull of ducks, &c. ; but without a
retriever, and a good one too, wild-duck shooting is
utterly useless anywhere.
In wild-fowl shooting more than in any other
kind of sporting, a perfect knowledge of the ground
and of the different haunts of the birds is indispens-
able. The sportsman must make himself acquainted
with their feeding-places, their drinking-places, their
resting-places, and in fact with all their habits, at
all hours and seasons, and during all changes of the
weather : without this knowledge, which can only
be acquired by experience and careful observation,
the wild-duck shooter will brave the winter's cold
and wind in vain.
A good sportsman, as regards other game, may
live for many a long month in a country abound-
ing with ducks without ever seeing one within
shot. Continually when I ask people about the wild
ducks in any particular neighbourhood, the answer
CH. XXXIV. FLAPPER-SHOOTING. 239
I get is, " Oh, yes ! there are plenty of ducks, but
they always keep out at sea, and never come within
reach." Now if there are plenty of ducks out at sea,
it is a matter beyond all doubt that at certain hours
there are plenty of ducks feeding inland ; and
about the time when my informant is dressing for
his dinner, the wild ducks are flying to and fro in
search of theirs in the stubble-fields, which they
invariably do as soon as the sun sets, and the fields
are deserted by the workmen and others.
As no bird is so easily scared from its usual
haunts as the wild duck, all long and random shots
ought to be avoided, as tending to frighten away
the birds and to spoil all chance for some time to
come in that spot. Ducks, too, are capricious, and
changes of wind and weather induce them to fly
in different directions and to feed in different fields ;
and, as I have already said, nothing but experience
and observation can teach the sportsman how to be
tolerably sure of filling his bag with these wary but
excellent birds.
There is one kind of wild-duck shooting which
appears to me to be the very lowest of all kinds of
sporting, namely, that which is usually called " flap-
per shooting," which means murdering large num-
bers of young ducks by dint of dogs, guns, sticks,
&c., at a time of the year when nine out of ten of these
240 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXIV.
birds cannot fly, and are utterly helpless and unable
to escape. A vast number of half-fledged birds
may be slaughtered in this manner, but they are
useless when obtained. For my own part I would
quite as soon go out to kill young grouse in June
or July before they could fly ; nor do I see that
killing " flappers " is at all less murderous or more
excusable. In fact no wild ducks ought to be killed
till they are strong enough on the wing to fly easily
and quickly ; nor are they worth killing for the
larder until they have fed for some time in the
stubble-fields, for till then their flesh is as muddy
and soft as that of a coot or moorhen.
( 241 )
HIGHLAND SHEEP.
CHAPTER XXXV.
Introduction of Sheep into the Highlands — Aversion of High-
landers to Sheep ; disliked by Deer also — Prophecy — Activity
of black-faced Sheep ; instincts of — Mountain Sheep in enclo-
sures — The Plaid ; uses of; various ways of wearing ; manu-
factures of; invisible colours — Shepherds — Burning of
Heather — Natural enemies of Sheep — Shepherds' Dogs —
Origin of Dogs.
Until within the last few years the Highlanders
had a strong prejudice against the introduction of
sheep on their mountains. Their dislike to this
useful animal was founded on several causes. In
the first place the Celt dislikes any innovation or
change in his old customs ; in the next he had a
dread of clearances, i. e., of small holdings being
done away with, and merged in large farms ; and
he feared also that the black cattle, the former staple
produce of the Scotch mountains, would be again
forced to give way before these intruders ; and I
firmly believe that one of his greatest objections
to the sheep was that the red deer have a strong
VOL. II. M
242 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXV
dislike to the company and smell of the woolly
strangers. I do not, however, conceive that this
antipathy on the part of the deer arises from any
aversion to the sheep themselves, but from a dread
of their accompaniments — the shepherds, shepherds'
dogs, and the tar, the odour of which appears to he
most distasteful to all wild animals.
I remember, too, being gravely told by an
ancient white-headed Celt that there was an old
and undoubted prophecy to the purport, that the
Highlands would be overrun and ruined by a race
of " white dwarfs," and that this had now been
fulfilled by the introduction of sheep.
When the Cheviot sheep first came into the
North, the sheep-farmers brought with them for the
most part their own shepherds from the lowlands,
or rather from the borders ; a fine stalwart race of
men, Armstrongs, Elliots, Scotts, and others,
whose names have long been famous among the
wild and dreary hills which rise between Scotland
and England : formerly reevers and harriers of
other men's cattle and chattels, they now follow
the more peaceful occupation of shepherds and
drovers ; and only occasionally show the fiery spirit
of their hardy ancestors by breaking each other's
heads at some border fair or market. But the
genuine Highlander has not, I think, yet sobered
en. XXXV, BLACK-FACED SHEEP. 243
down into a good shepherd ; and the border men
still form the most persevering and careful guar-
dians of the large flocks which now fill all the
northern mountains.
In most parts the border sheep, the Cheviot at
least, have taken the place of the old black-faced
breed, being more profitable in wool, and growing
more quickly to a profitable size for the butcher.
I must own to having a strong prejudice in favour
of the picturesque little black-faced sheep, with
their long wool and horns. Nothing, too, can be
more adapted to our scenery than these animals ;
wild and active as goats, they scramble with the
sure foot of a chamois over the most impracticable-
looking rocks in search of some sheltered nook or
shelf where the grass is early and green, or for
refuge from any fancied danger. On the most
impassable-looking and perpendicular face of a
corrie, where there does not appear to be standing
room for a raven, the black-faced little fellows
wind their way in single file in search of favourite
spots of pasture.
A sheep, though correctly enough designated an
animal " patiens injurise," is by no means without
abundance of instinct and sense. Watchful to a
degree, they are a constant annoyance to the deer-
stalker, who loses many a shot by the object of his
m2
244 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXV.
long and weary crawl and scramble being suddenly
warned of its danger by the cry of the sheep, a
loud sound between a hiss and a whistle. No
sooner does the red-deer hear a sheep utter this
warning cry than he starts to his feet as if he had
heard a rifle shot, and is off in an instant. Nor
does the red-deer ever mistake the direction from
which the danger is to be feared. Guided by the
appearance of the sheep, he sees at once which way
to go in order to avoid his unseen enemy.
Mountain sheep have a great foreknowledge of
alterations in the weather ; and I have frequently
seen them changing their ground in a body before
the commencement of a storm, which as yet was
not foreseen by myself. Nevertheless the sheep-
farmer occasionally suffers great loss by drifting
storms of snow towards the end of winter, when the
sheep are weak and in poor condition. The length
of time that sheep will exist under snow is asto-
nishing, particularly when a number are buried
together ; the warmth of their breath and bodies
keeping an open space round them sufficient for
breathing room. Floods occasionally carry them
off" from the low lands near the mountain streams ;
and yet they are by no means bad swimmers. I
have seen black-faced sheep actually swim into a
creek of the sea to escape the pursuit of a dog ;
CH, XXXV. MOUNTAIN-SHEEP IN ENCLOSURES. 245
but in rapid currents they soon get subdued and
drowned.
Amongst other instances of sagacity in sheep, I
have often been amused by the perfect knowledge
which they have of the boundaries of the farm to
which they belong. From being fi-equently driven
back when found wandering, they soon learn the
exact boundary lines within which they are left in
peace both by the shepherd and his dog.
It is a mistake to suppose that the black-faced
sheep taken from the mountains are so very
difficult to keep in enclosed fields. In the case of
ray own small flock, which I keep for the use of my
family, I find that if brought from the open moun-
tain the sheep never attempt to get over the fences,
and content with their improved keep, and unused
to walls or palings, they do not seem to think it
possible to get out of the field. If, however, they
come from an enclosed farm, they generally have
already found out that fences can be surmounted :
and then nothing will keep them in; once out,
they go straight off, wandering to considerable
distances, sometimes, indeed, making direct for
their former home. Broken walls and ill-kept
palings have taught them the use of their legs, and,
this once learned, they are active enough to get
over anything.
246 EXTllACTS FROM NOTE- BOOKS. CH. XXXV,
However wild the black-faced sheep may be
when first brought down from the mountains, those
which I have had very soon become quite tame,
and not only crowd round their daily barrows of
turnips in the winter, snatching them out of the
hand of the old man who feeds them, but soon,
after a little shy coquetry, will eat biscuits and
apples from the hands of the children, will follow
them into the house, and sometimes become such
pets, that their destined fate at the hands of the
butcher is often deferred sine die.
Though Highlanders are scarcely yet reconciled
to sheep as inhabitants of their mountains, they
know full well how to benefit by that most useful
product of their fleece — the plaid. Summer or
winter, the Highlander will scarcely ever stir out
without his plaid, and numberless are the different
modes in which he folds and wears it, so as best to
suit all changes of temperature and weather, I
have seen in a London paper an advertisement
offering to teach young ladies the use of the " fan "
in six lessons, for the moderate consideration of five
guineas. Although it seems incredible that the fair
advertiser can meet with pupils, yet it is clear she
does, or she would never incur the expense of long
and repeated advertisements. Now if some well-
skilled wearer of the plaid were to commence busi-
CH. XXXV. THE PLAID. 247
ness as teacher of the various ways and shapes in
which its folds may be arranged both for picturesque
effect and for utility, he would be far more
deserving of encouragement than the five guinea
teacher of the " use of the fan." The great advan-
tage of a plaid over every other garment for the
pedestrian, traveller, or sportsman, on the moun-
tain side, is, that in sunshine and dry weather,
folded in a rope-like twist round the body, it is no
encumbrance, and can be so disposed as to be
entirely out of the wearer's way, however much he
may have occasion to use his arms. Should, how-
ever, a cutting blast or a cold rain come on, the
plaid can be made to perform well all the offices of
a cloak, either short or long, and one that will
completely keep out a shower of any moderate
duration. Very little rain is absorbed by a plaid
if of good materials, tolerably new, and well put on.
The drops run off the long wool ; it takes a long
time before it begins to soak through, and an hour's
breeze dries it again.
I have shot through many a long day with a
plaid round me, without feeling in the slightest
degree encumbered by it, and knowing at the same
time that it was always at hand, like a friend in
need, to shelter myself and gun from the sudden
squalls of wind or rain which are so frequent on the
248 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXV.
mountains during the autumn. When you are
seated in a pass, waiting for roe, the trusty plaid is
a most valuable friend ; or when waiting for wild
duck or swan, it covers you and your dog from the
shower of sleet or snow, which would otherwise fre-
quently oblige you to wend your way homewards,
perhaps at the very moment when your chance for
shots was the best.
The shepherd makes use of his plaid not only as
a protection against cold and wet, but also as a
pocket or bag in which to carry anything or every-
thing he may wish to take with him : one end being
sown up, although it does not take away from the
general utility of the garment, forms a pocket of
wondrous capacity, in which, without inconvenience
to the wearer, no small amount of weight and bulk
may be carried. The weakly lamb often is taken
home in this warm receptacle, while the anxious ewe
follows, bleating incessantly, but apparently with
perfect confidence in the good intentions of her
master. In fact, its uses are endless ; and those,
and those only, know its real value who have
thoroughly learnt how to put it on, so as to suit all
weathers, all states of the atmosphere, and, above
all, the direction and the power of the wind.
A good plaid is not, however, always to be
bought at a shop ; and unless the wool be new and
CH. XXXV. THE PLAID. 249
well spun, and the fabric tight and regular, it will
disappoint the wearer. AVhen I speak of new wool,
I mean that the wool of which the plaid is made
should be new. But in these days, when all manu-
facturing processes are cheap, and the demand for
woollen goods enormous, great quantities of old
and worn-out clothes are ground, or rather teased
up again, with machinery invented for the purpose,
and are rewove into new cloth and plaiding. The
worthlessness of all goods in which this renovated
trash forms a considerable portion may easily be
imagined.
I am inclined to think that in the smaller woollen
manufactories such tricks are less easily and less
frequently played. At the bonny and pleasant little
town of Forres T have for many years had most
excellent and trustworthy pieces of plaiding made
for me of all degrees of fineness and coarseness ;
not only rough, coarse fabrics made of black-
faced wool, for a winter dreadnought shooting coat,
impervious to cold or wet, but also the finest and
softest plaiding for ladies' dresses. Nor did I ever
put any of my Forres-made stuff" into the hands of
a tailor, Scotch or English, without its being pro-
nounced superlative of its kind.
Nothing is so invisible on the hill-side as the
common shepherd's check of a small pattern. It
M 3
250 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE- BOOKS. CII. XXXV.
forms a tout ensemble of an indistinct grey colour,
which is most difficult to distinguish from a grey-
stone or rock ; indeed, at a certain distance this
kind of grey becomes almost invisible. I have tried
many shades of colour, but never found anything so
suited to purposes of concealment as the common
small-sized black and white check.
Dressed in this kind of stuff, and sitting motion-
less against a rock, I have seen a roebuck, or even
a red deer, approach within a few yards of rae
without the least suspicion, although I was other-
wise entirely unconcealed.
I am inclined to think that wild animals and
birds judge by the outline far more than by the
colour of any object, and immediately detect any
change in the shape of an accustomed rock or bush ;
and hence it is so difficult to look over your place
of ambush without being immediately discovered.
Variations of colour alarm them much less, because
all objects are perpetually changing their colour
according as they are wet or dry, in sunshine or in
shade. In wild-fowl shooting I have often observed
that when placed even in front of a bush, I am not
seen by the birds in the evening, but that, however
dark it may be, they take alarm if I show the
smallest part of my cap above the bush.
A Highland shepherd leads, or ought to lead, a
CH. XXXV. MOUNTAIN SHEEP.
251
most active life. If he perform his duty zealously,
he has little time for idleness, for on a mountain
sheep farm every season of the year demands con-
stant attention and activity. Sheep have sometimes
an obstinate preference for those parts of their
pasturing ground which the shepherd particularly
wishes to reserve for another part of the year. The
fresh green grass which ought to be their food for
the winter is equally attractive in the earher part
of the year; and they require to be constantly
driven away from the tempting spots. Mountain
sheep, when they have once found out a favourite
piece of feeding ground, be it grass or even the
shepherd's own bit of oats, are most determined
marauders. Although they are always ready, con-
scious of their guilt, to fly at the first distant appear-
ance of the shepherd or his dog, they are equally
eager to return the moment that the coast is clear.
A skilful shepherd will always endeavour to make
such arrangements as shall secure good feeding for
his flock at all seasons. On the green banks of
many mountain streams these animals can find food
when the higher grounds are white with snow.
There are long green stretches of this kind on the
upper part of the Findhorn, enlivening with their
brightness the dreary brown mountains of the
Monaghleahd, through which the river flows. A
252 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE- BOOKS. CH. XXXV.
certain portion of the heather should be burnt
every season, so as to produce a fresh supply of
young and tender shoots. On these fresh patches
all animals delight to feed. The red deer comes
from the far off corries, where he has lain in quiet,
rest, and solitude, to gi-aze on the short, sweet
plants of the young heather which spring up the
first season after the hill has been burnt, and
nothing so perfectly suits the grouse as these
patches. Short as the heather is, it is a region of
abundance to these birds ; and in rainy weather
they take to the bare spots to escape the wet drop-
ping off the higher and older plants.
Sheep, if allowed to do so, will feed so constantly
on the newly burnt heather as entirely to prevent
its growing ; and it is therefore necessary to keep
them off for a certain time to prevent this evil. It
happens frequently that by burning the heather
when it is too dry, or owing to some carelessness on
the part of the shepherd, the fire gets such power
that it cannot be checked when required, and thus
much damage is done, miles of hill are laid bare at
once, and the advantage of having a constant suc-
cession of food coming on is lost. When once the
fire becomes thus powerful, nothing stops it ex-
cepting heavy rain, or the accident of its burning in
the direction of some stream wide enough to form a
CH. XXXV. BURNING OF HEATHER. 253
check to the devouring element. Plantations of
considerable extent are sometimes burnt. In
Strathspey this year (1848) a great loss occurred
from this cause. Heather for miles in extent was
burnt, and nearly a hundred acres of fine plantation
were destroyed before the fire could be checked —
a miniature imitation, in short, of the prairie
burnings of the far West. A large heather burning
on a hill-side has a most picturesque appearance in
a dark night, as the flames dance rapidly along the
slopes, making the surrounding darkness appear
still more deep. AVhen the burnings occur too late
in the season, and during the time that the grouse
and black game have eggs, great destruction takes
place, not of the eggs only, but of the parent birds ;
whereas judicious burning is advantageous equally
to the sheep farmer and the grouse shooter, the
same succession of heather of diflFerent ages being
requisite for the well-being of both sheep and
game.
The wild enemies of sheep in Scotland are daily
and rapidly decreasing. A very few years ago the
sheep farmer sustained great loss from foxes, eagles,
ravens, &c. : even the common grey crow will take
to killing the new-born lambs, pecking out their
eyes as soon as the little animals are dropped, and,
if not killing them on the spot, leaving them to
254 EXTHACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CU. XXXV
perish miserably. The foxes on some of the more
inaccessible mountains still keej3 their ground, and
in the lambing season do an immensity of damage,
for this animal has the destructive inclination to
kill not only as many as she requires for the food
of her young cubs, but every lamb which she can
manage to get hold of, leaving the bodies on the
ground, or slightly concealing them.
I imagine that all animals who, like foxes, hide a
part of their prey, only return to this reserve of
food in the case of their not being successful in
their hunting for fresh game. All hiding birds and
animals prefer feeding on a newly killed prey, the
blood of which is still warm. Sometimes, if driven
by hunger or unsuccessful hunting, they return
immediately and dig up what they had laid by :
sometimes several days elapse before they return,
and often the hidden bodies are never re-visited
at all.
Eagles kill a considerable number of lambs,
carrying them up to their eyrie without difficulty ;
indeed a good shepherd, if he does his duty by his
master, has constant employment in watching and
guarding his charge. Without the aid of his dogs
the best shepherd would be perfectly helpless on
our extensive mountain ranges ; in fact, without
sheep-dogs the sheep would, in spite of all the shep-
CH. XXXV. SHEEP-DOGS. 255
herd's exertions, be everywhere, anywhere, nowhere :
we should have to give up eating mutton, or to
stalk and shoot the sheep like red deer. This is
not a fanciful assertion, but would absolutely be the
case. The very great sagacity of these dogs in
their own line of business is perfectly astonishing ;
and I have frequently given up an hour or two of
my grouse shooting to watch the manoeuvres of a
shepherd and his dogs, and have thought the time
well bestowed.
Some of the breeds of the Scotch sheep-dog have
a very strong resemblance to the wolf, so much so
as to lead one to adopt the theory that the domestic
dog, notwithstanding all its varieties of size, shape,
and disposition, is derived originally from this
animal. The wild dogs of Africa and India, who
in packs hunt down the larger wild animals, and
are said to worry to death even the lion and tiger,
are adduced as disproving this supposition. But
these wild dogs do not appear to be the indigenous
and native denizens of the wilderness, but to have
originated from domestic dogs who, having become
ownerless, had turned wild. Although we all know-
that the wolf can seldom be tamed, some few well-
authenticated instances prove that this animal some-
times entirely throws aside its natural bloodthirsty
disposition. In the Edinburgh Zoological Gardens
256 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CII, XXXV.
there is a fine large wolf who shows as unmistake-
able signs of gratitude and pleasure at being
caressed as any spaniel could do.
The wolf and dog of the Arctic regions resemble
each other so much in appearance as to induce
casual observers to suppose that they are very
nearly the same animal ; but, notwithstanding this
likeness, there seems to be the most deadly and
relentless warfare carried on between the two
animals.
The fox has in my opinion far less right than the
wolf to claim affinity to the dog ; at least the rela-
tionship must be much more remote.
( 257 )
GAME-DEALERS
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Poulterers' Shops — Supply of Game — Red Deer • — Deer killed
in the Fields — Eoe — Grouse and Black Game; calling; of —
Shooting Hares by night — Pheasants — Advantages attending
the sale of Game by the fair Sportsman and the Landed Pro-
prietor — American Game — Wild Fowl in Shops — Bird
Dealers in Leadenhall Market — Norway Game — Manner of
collecting — Hybrids — Introduction of new species of Game
into Britain — Prolific Birds — Sea-fowl ; their breeding places
— Solan Geese — ■ Migration of Fish.
In these railroad-days, when carriage is so cheap
and expeditious, the poulterers' and garaedealers'
shops in most of the large towns of England and
Scotland are supplied with game of every descrip-
tion in quantities that are quite astonishing. Red
deer and roebucks are to be bought everywhere,
and, I am sorry to say, at nearly all seasons.
Having easy communication and constant dealings
and interchanges with each other, the poulterers
are able to supply to their customers almost any
kind of game which may be asked for.
258 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CU. XXXVI.
A red deer killed in Perthshire or Argyleshire,
by the assistance of railway or steamboat is in
Liverpool or Manchester long before he has been
sufficiently kept to suit the palate of a civic epicure ;
and the poacher has such facilities in getting rid of
his killed game that half the risk of his occupation
is gone. The stag is scarcely cold before it is
whisked off two counties away.
Considerable numbers of red deer are killed in
the neighbourhood of preserved places and forests
during the winter season. ^\nien his natural
grazing becomes scarce, a stag, if there be a
turnip field within half a dozen miles of his haunts,
is sure to find it out, and pay it nightly visits ; at
first, coming alone, but soon accompanied by a herd
of followers, who do great damage to the farmer by
trampling down and eating the turnips. The
owner of the field, if he has so little of a High-
lander about him as to be able to resist having a
shot at the deer himself, is sure to have some
hanger-on or acquaintance who will take the trouble
off" his hands : accordingly, w^hen the moon is of a
good age, a hole is dug in the middle of the field
during the day-time, while the nightly marauders
are miles away. Towards twilight the poacher
conceals himself in this rough hiding-place ; if
there is snow on the ground he puts on a white cap
CH. XXXVI. DEEIl KILLED IN THE FIELDS. 259
and shirt over his other dress, and waits patiently
till he hears the tread of the deer. Having fed
with impunity more than once in the place, they
come boldly and without hesitation into the midst
of the field, scooping out the turnips with their
teeth and breaking them to pieces with their sharp
hoofs as they pass to and fro through the crop,
playing and frequently fighting with each other.
If the wind — that bugbear to deer-stalkers and
deer-poachers — does not betray the presence of
their enemy, it is more than probable that before
many minutes are over some unfortunate stag
comes close to the place of ambuscade, when he
receives either a couple of bullets or a handful of
slugs in his shoulder. Startled by the report, and
not at the first moment knowing whence it comes,
the rest of the deer are likely enough before they
make off to collect in a group in the middle of the
field, perhaps within a few yards of their hidden
enemy. If so, another of the herd is probably
killed, and the remainder rush off and do not return
to the same tempting spot for some little time.
Before daylight the hole is refilled, the dead game
is taken away, and no traces remain of what has
happened. Roe are constantly killed in the same
manner, and are even caught in snares made of
strong small rope.
260 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXVI,
Black game and gi'ouso arc obtained by the
poachers in great niinibers late in the season, by
means, not only of tame call-birds of both sexes,
but also by a call-pipe. However wild they may
be and inaccessible to the fair sportsman, these
birds can always be brought within shot by some
means. A cock grouse on hearing the well-imitated
call of the female immediately answers it, and,
approaching by repeated short flights, stopping
every now and then to crow as if in defiance of
any rivals, or to give warning of his coming, is
soon killed. The female grouse is attracted in the
same manner by an imitation of the call of the
male.
So pugnacious a bird as a black-cock is \ery
easy to call till he comes within shot of the con-
cealed shooter : and indeed partridges and all
other birds are attracted by those experienced in
imitating their different notes in a manner and with
a facility which is quite surprising to the unini-
tiated.
I am told that some poachers can even allure a
hare within shot during a moonlight night by imi-
tating the cry of one of its own species : this, how-
ever, is a fact for which I cannot vouch ; but many
poachers, from constant watching and following in
silence these animals, acquire such a perfect know-
CH, XXXVI. SALE OF GAME. 261
ledge of their habits, manner of calhng to each
other, &c., that I by no means deem it impossible.
Hares, like deer, travel considerable distances to
obtain their favourite food, and are therefore easily
killed by the nightly poacher, either by being
snared or shot en route. Practice and natural
keenness enable some of these fellows to get the
animal to the summit of some rising ground, so that
the clear sky shall be behind it, and they can thus
shoot a hare on nights when there is no moonlight,
and when an unpractised pair of eyes would be
scarcely able to distinguish a house from a tree.
Pheasants are killed by snare and gun as easily
as barn-door fowls would be : so that the unprin-
cipled dealer in game has not the slightest difficulty
in keeping his shop full enough to supply the de-
mands of all customers at all seasons.
I can imagine no better system for sportsmen to
adopt than that of underselling the poacher as much
as they possibly can. In Scotland in particular,
where the right to shoot game is bought, and very
often at a high rate, I can see no reason whatever
why the purchaser should not sell again what he
has paid for. In recommending this to the renter
of shooting-grounds, I only advocate his selling in a
fair and liberal manner his overplus of game ; not,
of course, his hiring ground for the mere sake of
262 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CU. XXXVI.
traffic and gain : but even when this is the case the
landlord has seldom mnch cause of complaint. In
the first place he, the landlord, makes a traffic of
his game by letting it ; and in the second place the
tenant, who in these commercial speculations is
generally a permanent one, if he wishes to make
money by the game must take care to preserve and
increase it proportionably.
The custom of selling game is, I am glad to see,
becoming very general amongst the principal pro-
prietors. To the careless observer it may at first
appear an unjust proceeding for the landlord to
sell game which feeds on the farms of his tenants ;
but, practically, I scarcely know an instance where
the latter are not most amply remunerated ; indeed
the farmer can legally claim indemnification if his
landlord is so unjust and unwise as to refuse it.
It should be remembered also, that although rab-
bits, hares, and deer undoubtedly do much damage
to crops, all flying game are assistants rather than
enemies to the farmer.
In many of our larger towns the game-shops are
even supplied with birds from America, which are
brought by the steamers via Liverpool. The ruffed
grouse, a very beautiful bird, and excellent for the
table, a smaller species of grouse, and even the far-
famed canvas-backed duck, find their way over in
CH. XXXVI. AMERICAN GAME. 263
these rapid vessels. The latter Wrd, however, does
not seem likely to become a profitable article of
commerce, as the price at which it is sold in
America is greater than can be obtained for it in
this comitry. Although the canvas-backed duck
is a kind of pochard, yet, unlike our ducks of that
species, it does not feed by diving, but almost
wholly on the wild celery and other succulent
plants ; and this it is which gives its flesh the
exquisite flavour so much praised by all who have
eaten it. Excellent as our own mallards are when
well fed in the corn-fields, the canvas-backed duck
is undoubtedly far superior.
Besides the common eatable ducks, such as the
mallard, the widgeon, and the teal, golden eyes,
scaup ducks, scoters, and indeed every possible
variety, are to be found in the large poulterers'
shops : swans, geese of all kinds (the bernacle
goose from Ireland principally, and the brent
goose from almost all our coasts), are to be had m
profusion : but these birds, and indeed all wild
fowl, are so variable in their flavour, according to
the feeding-ground they come from, that the careful
buyer should always endeavour to learn where they
have been killed.
Strange as it may appear, mergansers, goosan-
ders, and all the fish-eating and rank-tasted birds.
264 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXVI.
even including cormorants and sea-gulls, find con-
sumers among the inhabitants of large towns, who
are exceedingly omnivorous, and by no means over
fastidious in their tastes ; and so wide is the range
of ornithological traffic in which the poulterers
engage, that the bird-stuffer and the collector of
specimens cannot do better than make friends with
them.
But beyond all other places, Leadenhall Market
is the emporium to which the purchaser of rare
birds and animals, living or dead, should betake
himself. There is scarcely a quadruped, from a
brown bear to a white mouse, or a bird, from a
golden eagle to a long-tailed tomtit, which cannot
be found there ; and not a few of the dealers in
these articles are themselves curious specimens of
the genus homo, accustomed to deal with every
description of customer, from the nobleman who
wishes to add to his menagerie, or to the feathered
tenants of his lake, to the organ boy who wants to
purchase a dormouse or monkey. They are as
shrewd as Scotchmen, and as keen bargainers as a
Yorkshire horse-dealer : but although somewhat
over-suspicious in making their purchases, and
sadly deficient in elegance of manner and language,
they are on the whole by no means bad fellows to
deal with, if care be taken not to "rub them
CH. XXXVI. LEADENHALL MARKET. 265
against the grain." Singing-birds, hawks, cats
with brass collars and chains, ready got up for
tabby-loving spinsters, Blenheim spaniels and
wicked-looking bulldogs, pigeons, bantams, gold
fish, in short every kind of bird or beast that was
ever yet made a pet of is here to be bought, sold,
and exchanged, and frequently the collector may
obtain very rare and valuable specimens. Holland
and Belgium supply great quantities of wild-fowl,
canaries, carrier pigeons, &c. ; and on a busy day
the traffic in this division of Leadenhall Market is a
most amusing sight.
One thing which especially surprises the visitor
to this market is the total defiance of the game
laws which all the dealers indulge in. There is
scarcely a description of game which cannot be
bought here at any season, legal or illegal ; and it
is difficult to understand how game laws and their
penalties can be so openly and systematically in-
fringed. Pheasants and pheasants' eggs, grouse
and grouse eggs, &c. &c., are undisguisedly and
unblushingly sold at all seasons, in defiance of
informers and magistrates. On asking how it
happens that the dealers can supply game of all
sorts at all seasons, you are gravely told " that it is
all foreign game." Scotch grouse are called Nor-
wegian grouse, and good English partridges and
VOL. II. jT
266 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CII. XXXVI.
other game are libelled by being called Dutchmen
or Frenchmen. It is certainly true that vast num-
bers of white grouse come from Norway. These
birds, as well as the capercailzie, are caught or shot
as opportunity offers during the winter, are sub-
jected to the cold until they are thoroughly frozen,
and are kept in that state until a full cargo is col-
lected, or at least until a ship sails for London,
Hull, or some British port. Although perhaps as
many as eighty capercailzies may come over in one
ship, it is not to be inferred that these birds are so
numerous as to allow of this number being killed
in the course of a short time in one place. They
are generally obtained in very small numbers.
Each peasant brings in one or two : these are all
bought up and " frozen " by one general dealer,
who periodically, or as opportunity offers, sends
them to some poulterer in all-devouring England.
The same system is carried on with regard to the
Norwegian grouse or ptarmigan ; the facility of
freezing the birds enabling the dealers of that
country to keep them until they have collected a
sufficient number. A capercailzie killed in winter
is to my taste scarcely eatable, owing to the strong
flavour of turpentine which then pervades the flesh
of the bird ; I have, however, eaten one brought
over early in the year, and it w^as almost as well-
CH. XXXVI. CAPERCAILZIE AND BLACKCOCK. 2G7
tasted as any of our British game. It is to be
hoped that in time we shall again see this noble
kind of grouse tolerably common in the extensive
plantations of fir and larch which are springing up
on many of our Highland mountains which hitherto
have been covered only by the heather.
Both in Scotland and Norway, wherever the
capercailzie and blackcock inhabit the same dis-
trict, hybrids between them are by no means un-
common. The difference of size between the male
capercailzie and the grey-hen is very great ; but
the female of the former bird is much smaller than
the male, being frequently very little larger than a
full-grown blackcock. Both species, too, being po-
lygamous, there is a greater chance of their breed-
ing together than of hybrids between the blackcock
and the grouse, those birds always pairing. The
blackcock is a perfect Turk in his domestic esta-
blishment, taking to himself as many wives as he
can collect together, and keeping them by force of
arms against all rivals.
In the recent reintroduction into Scotland of the
capercailzie a spirited example has been set us ;
and there is no doubt that many other species of
grouse and game birds might be naturalized in
Britain. The ruffed grouse, for instance, and
several other species from America, and also phea-
N 2
2G8 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS, CH. XXXVI.
sants and other birds from the higher ranges of the
Himalaya mountains, would not only be ornamental
but valuable additions to our woods and hills ; nor
can it be doubted that many of these beautiful
birds would do well and increase in this climate,
provided they were allowed for the first few years
to breed and multiply undisturbed.
On considering the immense quantity of game
and wild fowl which is daily exposed in poulterers'
shops throughout the entire kingdom, the question
naturally suggests itself, " Will not these birds be
soon extirpated?" But, to all appearance, the
supply continues amply to meet the demand year
after year. By the beneficent arrangement of Pro-
vidence all birds adapted for the food of man are
far more prolific than the birds of prey, or than
sea-gulls and those other birds the flesh of which
cannot be eaten.
The nesting places of sea-gulls and some other
kinds of water-fowl are curious things to see. The
constant going to and fro, the screaming, and
wheeling about of the old birds and the apparent
confusion are perfectly wonderful. The confusion
is, however, only apparent. Each guillemot and
each razor-bill amongst the countless thousands
flies straight to her own single egg, regardless of
the crowds of other birds, and undeceived by the
CH. XXXVI. NESTING-PLACES OF WATER-FOWL. 269
myriads of eggs which surround her. So, also, in
the breeding-places of the black-lieaded and other
gulls, every bird watches over and cares for her
own nest — though the numbers are so great, and
the tumult so excessive, that it is difficult to con-
ceive how each gull can distinguish her own spotted
eggs, placed in the midst of so many others, exactly
similar in size, shape, and colour ; and when at
length the young are hatched and are swimming
about on the loch, or crowded together on some
grassy point, the old birds, as they come home from
a distance with food, fly rapidly amidst thousands
of young ones, exactly similar to their own, without
even looking at them, until they find their own
offspring, who, recognising their parents amongst all
the other birds, receive the morsel, without any of
the other hungry little creatures around attempt-
ing to dispute the prize, each waiting patiently for
its own parent, in perfect confidence that its turn
will come in due season.
The breeding rocks of the solan geese, the Bass
Rock in the Firth of Forth and Ailsa Craig on the
west, will well repay the trouble of visiting them.
Rows of the nests thickly cover the ground ; and
wild and wary as these birds are at other times,
during the breeding season they will not move from
their nests until actually lifted ofi* by the hand.
270 EXTRACTS FROM KOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXVI.
The eider-duck, peculiarly wild and sliy as it is, is
equally tame while sitting, allowing herself to be
handled and her nest to be robbed, not of its eggs,
but of the valuable down of which it is composed,
without attempting to move from it.
It is a singularly interesting sight to witness a
number of the solan geese fishing, on a calm day, in
the Firth of Forth. Following the shoals of her-
ring, these handsome birds dash one after the other
into the water, with a force which is actually asto-
nishing, coming up (and almost invariably with a
herring in their bill) several yards from the place
where they made the plunge. They do not rise to
the surface gradually, like most divers, but sud-
denly, like a cork, or as if their buoyancy equalled
that of a bladder. The peculiar manner in which the
skin of this bird is attached to the body, leaving large
intervals where the flesh and skin seem scarcely at
all connected, may give it this peculiar lightness,
which to the spectator is extremely striking.
During the severe winter season the solan geese
disappear from the Bass Rock, going no one knows
where ; but even at that season two or three fine
warm days bring them all back again. Their
abiding places are probably regulated more by the
supply of food than by the weather.
I am by no means of opinion that either herring.
CH. XXXVI. HERRINGS NOT MIGRATORY. 271
salmon, or other so-called migratory fish, leave our
coasts during those seasons when they disappear,
or rather, I should say, when they are not caught.
I am more inclined to think that they always con-
tinue in the same neighbourhood, retiring only to
the depths of the ocean, where they rest quietly,
safe from nets, instead of betaking themselves, as
the general opinion is, to the other end of the world.
( 272 )
FISHERIES.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Supply of Fish in Scotland — Herring-fishery — Highlanders
coming to Herring-fishing — Fishermen of east coast — Dif-
ference of Language in Nairn — Departure of Herring-boats ;
dangers to •which they are exposed — Loss of Boats and lives
— Fishing in good weather — Loch fishing — Fishing Sta-
tions on west coast — Fishing for Haddocks, &c. — State of Bri-
tish Sea-fisheries.
The northern seas and bays of Scotland swarm
with fish to an ahnost unequalled extent ; and
although in many situations and districts consider-
able use is made of this bountiful provision of
nature, it cannot be doubted that much greater
benefit might be obtained fi-om it.
As far as relates to commercial speculation the
herring holds the first place, or nearly so. The
fishermen on this eastern coast go out about the
middle of July ; previous to which they have been
for some weeks employed in preparing their boats,
overhauling their tackle, and engaging extra hands,
generally Highlanders, who come down to the coast
at this season in order to hire themselves to the
CH. XXXVII. HIGHLAND FISHERMEN. 273
owners of the boats for the six or eight weeks
during which they are out at sea. These men earn
during the season from three to six pounds, a perfect
godsend to the poor fellows, whose eyes are seldom
gladdened by the sight of hard money during the
rest of the year. Just before the time when the
herring boats go out, the roads are dotted with
httle groups of Highlanders, each man having a
small parcel of necessaries tied up in a handkerchief
and carried on a stick over his shoulder. They
are sadly footsore and wayworn by the time they
have traversed the island from the west coast.
Being little accustomed for the most part to walk-
ing anywhere but on springy heather and turf, the
hard roads try them severely. Most of them are
undersized and bad specimens of the Celtic race.
Very little English is spoken amongst them, as not
one in ten understands a word of anything but
Gaelic, ^^^len they have occasion to go into a
road-side shop to purchase anything, or to ask a
question, a consultation is first held amongst the
party, and then the most learned in Saxon is deputed
to act as spokesman, for there is scarcely any Gaelic
spoken along the east coasts, the fishermen in par-
ticular being almost wholly a foreign race of people,
that is, not Highlanders. Some are English settlers,
and some are descendants of Danes and other races
who have originally been left by chance or choice
n3
274 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXVII.
on this coast. Their names are frequently Danish
or Swedish. In fact they arc altogether a different
people from the Celtic inhabitants of the neighbour-
ins mountains. There is an almost regular line
drawn through the country, where the Gaelic lan-
guage ends and the English commences. The town
of Nairn is divided by this line, one half of the inha-
bitants being talkers of Gaelic, and the other speak-
ing only English. It is said that one of our prime
ministers boasted to a foreigner that his master, the
King of England, possessed a town so extensive that
the inhabitants of one end spoke a different lan-
guage from those of the other end. Nairn was the
town in question ; and whatever the merit of the
joke may be, it corroborates what I stated.
To return, however, to our Highland fishermen.
Wearily and heavily the poor fellows labour along
the road, and by the time they reach Forres, Nairn,
and the other towns near the shore, they are sadly
knocked up, their food during the journey having
been poor and scanty, consisting generally of pota-
toes, and perhaps oatmeal, mixed up frequently
with cold water, a sorry mess for a Highlander who
is taking the unaccustomed exercise of tramping
along a hard road. Many of these men know
pretty well where, and by whom, they shall be hired,
but others have to seek employment where they
can. Their faces grow visibly shorter as soon as
CH. XXXVII. HIGHLAND FISHERMEN. 275
they are engaged ; and they set to work, though
possessing little seamanship, to assist in putting into
order the nets, floats, stores, &c. In a few days
every boat is afloat and ready. Then comes the
parting-glass with their shore-staying friends, which,
by the bye, is often multiplied until it amounts to a
very fair allowance.
As the boats set sail from the small harbours
and piers, the wives and families of the fishermen
who belong to the place come down to see their
relatives off; and many groups of weather-beaten
women sit and watch the boats till out of sight,
discussing anxiously the chances of a good or bad
season, a matter of no hght import to them, as
their comfort during the rest of the year almost
entirely depends upon it.
I have frequently seen some stout boy, strong
and fearless, but too young to be allowed to accom-
pany his father, hide amongst the nets, sails, &c.,
in the boats, hoping to get taken out unobserved,
till they were too far out at sea to send him back.
The little fellows, however, seldom succeeded, and
were generally chucked unceremoniously enough
out of the boat, either on to the pier whilst the boat
was passing along side of it, or into some of the
numerous haddock and other fishing boats which
lie at anchor in the harbour.
The herring season, although a time of hard
276 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH, XXXVII.
work to the men, is for the most part a time of rest
to the women. Instead of having to tramp, as they
shortly hope to do, miles into the country with a
weight of fish on their back which M'ould be almost
a burthen for a donkey, they have little else to da
than to gossip with each other, and set lines about
the harbour and shores, excepting in those places
where the herrings are cured, and put into casks
for foreign consumption, where they are busy
enough. The boats which go out from many of
our small towns seldom return home again until
the season is over ; but leave the produce of their
fishing at the curing stations every night if possible.
The herring fishermen have not only much hard
work, but many dangers to contend with. Whilst
far out at sea tending their nets during the night-
time, storms of wind suddenly come on ; and a
scene of hurry and confusion ensues which can
scarcely be imagined. Anxious to save their tackle
and unwilling to lose any chance, the men in some
boats are busily engaged hauling up their nets ;
other boats are driving past them with everything
in confusion and their sails flapping in the wind.
Others, manned by more prudent and able hands,
who have foreseen the coming storm, are scudding
with everything snug for the nearest port, and lucky
are the boats which reach it without loss of tackle
or life. Frequently by waiting too long, whilst
CH. XXXVI T. PERILS OF THE HERRING-FISHER. 277
endeavouring to save their nets, the poor herring
fishers are placed in the utmost danger, and are
driven helplessly out to sea, where they either toss
about at the mercy of the winds and waves till
the storm somewhat abates, or are swamped and
lost, the men probably having been wearied out by
their efforts to keep the boat's head straight to
avoid shipping the broken waves which surround
them. The crews too, the chief part of whom are
generally landsmen, or, at best, men accustomed
only to the calm waters of the west coast lochs,
become disheartened and useless at the hour of
need, affording little assistance to the " skipper " of
the boat, who is probably the principal owner also,
and who, if he saves his life, has the prospect before
him of heavy loss or ruin. Many and many a
herring boat founders in this way at sea, her crew
worn out by their exertions. At other times an
inshore wind dashes the boats on the iron-bound
coasts off which they have been fishing, and the
crews perish before the eyes of their wives and
families. Instances have occurred of a crew reaching
some rock within a short distance of the shore, and
within hearing of those assembled on the beach, who,
after having vainly attempted to afford them assist-
ance, see the poor fellows gradually washed off one
by one as their strength fails them during the rise
of the tide. There are but few harbours on the
278 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXVII.
east coast into which the boats can run if caught
in a storm and driven away from the safer parts
of the coast. If a heavily-laden herring boat is
overtaken by rough weather, it is very difficult to
get rid of the cargo quickly enough to escape being
swamped. In fact the throwing them overboard is
a long operation ; and sometimes when they have a
lucky haul, they load until the gunwale of the boat
is but a few inches above the water. In this case
the shipping of a single wave is sufficient to swamp
them. A cargo of large fish, such as cod or skate,
may be thrown overboard with some degree of
quickness — not so a cargo of herrings.
Although the months of July and August gene-
rally pass over without any very dangerous weather,
September is frequently a season of sudden squalls
and storms on our coasts.
This year, 1848, one of these sudden storms
came on towards the end of the fishing season.
It reached from the north coast to near Sunderland,
beyond which place the wind was comparatively
light. The boats had gone out with a gentle
breeze, nor had there been any warning of bad
weather ; but before morning, on the east coast
alone, more than a hundred fishermen were drowned,
and the loss of boats, nets, &c., was immense.
Nothing could be more melancholily significant of
the havoc which that storm had caused than the
en. xxxvir. laying the herring-nets. 279
fact of one fisherman bringing to his house fifteen
blue bonnets, the owners of which must have all
perished near the same spot. Fishermen are gene-
rally men with large families, and the numbers
of widows and orphans left dependent on the charity
of the world in these cases are always very great.
This is the gloomy side of the picture of herring
fishing ; but it has its bright one, for I do not know
a more exhilarating sight than the fleets of herring
boats standing out from all the larger towns between
Wick and the Firth of Forth on a fine day during
the fishing season. All along the coast where
at other times the indolent habits of the fishermen
are prominently seen, everything now evinces life,
energy, and activity.
Hundreds of brown-sailed boats go out from
some of the harbours at once, the place resounding
with the loud but good-humoured greetings and
jokes, from one boat to another, as they pass with
all speed of sail and oar to the herring-grounds,
each eager to be the first to reach the place so as
to have choice of station. A fresh but gentle
breeze takes them merrily out, and their nets are
cast and fixed, buoyed up by their large round
floats, or by what are much used in some places,
prepared dogskins — a most unworthy fate for so
noble an animal. To make these floats they cut
oflT the head, and take the whole body out at the
280 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXVII.
aperture, leaving the skin otherwise entire. It is
then dressed and tarred over. The neck is stopped
up by a wooden plug made to fit it, and the skin
having been thus rendered water-tight is filled with
air, legs and all. So that the float consists of the
entire dog minus his head. Blown up and extended
as it is, and black with tar, it is about as ugly but
as serviceable a float as can well be imagined.
The herring-nets being laid, the men, if the
shoals do not appear to be on the move, set to work
to fish for cod, halibut, &c., of which they frequently
catch great numbers ; earning in this way a con-
siderable addition to their wages. AVarned, how-
ever, by the cries and activity of the sea-birds, and
by other well-understood signs, all at once they
take up their lines, in order to attend to the main
object of their fishing, and in a few minutes you see
every boat hauling up the herrings which hang in
the meshes of the nets, and glance like pieces of
burnished silver as they break the surface of the
water. Sometimes the dog-fish do great mischief,
biting the herrings in two, and tearing the nets.
When, however, all goes well, the nets are soon
hauled in, and the fish disentangled from them as
quickly as possible, and in a surprisingly short space
of time all is made ready for another draught.
Sea-birds innumerable attend on the herring-
CH. XXXVII. HERRING-FISHING IN THE LOCHS. 281
boats, finding it easier to pick up the dead fish,
whether whole or in pieces, which fall into the
water, than to dive after the living ones. The
larger gulls eat immense quantities. I was as-
sured that a black-backed gull has been seen
to swallow five goodly sized herrings in rapid
succession. He was then so utterly gorged and
unable to move that he was caught. All these
flocks of birds enliven the scene —some, like the
gannets, dashing down from a height into the
calm water, and almost invariably catching a her-
ring; others diving and attacking the shoals far
down beneath the surface ; while the gulls for
the most part feed on the maimed and broken fish.
Every bird, too, seems to be trying to scream
louder than the rest, and such a Babel-like mixture
of sounds can scarcely be heard anywhere else.
Altogether it is a most interesting and animated
scene, and to see it in perfection it is well worth
while to take the trouble of passing a night in a
herring boat instead of in one's bed. In fact I can
truly assert that two nights spent many years ago
in herring fishing have kept an honoured place in
my memory, and are looked back to as among the
most amusing of my out door adventures.
A different mode of pursuing this fish is resorted
to when the shoals take to the lochs or salt-water
282 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXVII.
inlets on the west coast. The scene is then one of
singular interest and beauty. The fishing is car-
ried on in what looks like a calm fresh- water lake,
winding far up into the mountains, which, over-
hanging the water, echo back with startling dis-
tinctness every sound which is uttered on its smooth
surface. The picturesque rocks, dotted with noble
old birch trees, with their weeping branches hang-
ing like ladies' tresses over the deep water of the
bay, and the grey mountain slopes above these, add
a beauty to the scene which is so unexpected and so
unusual an accompaniment to sea-fishing, that to be
understood it must be seen. Hundreds of boats
are actively employed in every direction ; whilst
larger vessels lie waiting to get their cargo of fish
complete, and then stand out from the bay, ^vinding
round its numerous headlands until they can take
advantage of a steady wind, blowing from some one
certain point, instead of from two or three at once,
as mountain winds always do. In addition to these
vessels which are bound for Liverpool, Dublin,
Londou, or elsewhere, there is the Government
cruiser, distinguishable at once by its S}'mmetry
and neatness, lying near the mouth of the loch, with
its tall mast and long yards, keeping order amongst
the thousands of men who are all rivals in the same
pursuit and all eager for the best places, or what
CH. XXXVII. STEAM-TUGS ON FISHING-STATIONS. 283
they consider as such. When she fires her morning
and evening gun, or makes any other signal, the
echo is repeated again and again loud and distinct,
and then dies away with a rumbling noise like far-off
thunder, as the sound penetrates up some distant
glen. The deer feeding on the grassy burns of the
corrie hear it, and lifting their heads, listen intently
for some minutes to the strange sound, until, having
made up their mind that it is not a matter that
concerns them, they resume their grazing, only listen-
ing with increased watchfulness to every noise.
As the risks and expenses of carrying on the her-
ring fishings are large, so are the gains considerable,
if the season is favourable and the fishing lucky.
It would be a very great assistance and cause of
safety to the seamen on our northern and most
frequented fishing stations had they the advantage
of a few small steamboats, or tugs, such as we see
in such numbers issuing out of the Tyne and other
rivers of England grappling with great black colliers
and traders several times as big as themselves, and
carrying them off (as a black emmet does a blue-
bottle fly) in spite of wind and tide.
One small steam-tug could tow a line, a perfect
Alexandrian line, of herring boats to and from their
fishing stations ; and in the event of an approaching
storm, a change of wind, or other dangers, they
284 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXVII.
would be of the greatest use in bringing home the
boats, nets, &c., under circumstances in which,
at present, much danger and much loss of life and
property are sustained.
There is a general emigration from many of the
western stations as soon as the herring season is
over. Men, birds, beasts, and rats among the rest,
all desert them. Of birds the number is very great :
having assembled to feed on the refuse of the her-
rings, particularly at the curing stations, they now
depart in all directions ; whilst the rats have occa-
sionally been seen migrating in large numbers
from Wick and other places, and distributing them-
selves through the country, in order to change the
fish diet, which they have for .so many weeks luxu-
riated on, for a vegetable one. On the east coast,
where the agricultural population is numerous,
the refuse of the herrings is used in great quantities
as manure, and being laid out in large heaps on
the fields preparatory to being mixed with other
substances, poison the air and attract great numbers
of sea-gulls, who appear very willing to exchange
fresh fish for that which is half rotten ; but a sea-
gull has a most convenient and unfastidious appetite,
thriving on anything that comes in his way.
The Highlanders who have assisted at the fishing
on the east coast, now return home with heavier
CH. XXXVII. HADDOCK-FISHING. 285
bundles and purses, but lighter hearts : however, I
fear that many of the inhabitants of the fishing vil-
lages spend a great part of their hard-earned wages
in whiskey instead of applying it to the comforts of
their families. Some are more prudent, and lay the
money by, in order that in due time they n^iy
become owners of a herring boat themselves.
The inhabitants, at least the males, of fishing vil-
lages are an indolent-looking race, going about all
their land occupations in a slow and lazy manner, and
being for the most part remarkably ignorant. But we
should bear in mind that they spend their nights at
sea, in laborious and fatiguing occupation, exposed
to cold and wet, and that it is only during their
intervals of rest that we see them, when they are
lounging about half asleep, and leaving to their
wives the business of preparing their lines and
selling the fish.
The coiling of a long line, with about three hun-
dred hooks on it, is a mystery to the unpractised
and uninitiated. Each haddock boat takes out
coiled lines with from two to three thousand baited
hooks upon them; and yet so perfectly and skil-
fully are they arranged that they never catch or
entangle, but run out with as great certainty and
as a ship's cable.
The haddock fishing on the coast is carried on in
ease
28G EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CH. XXXV^II.
has, however, more hands on board, partly for the
sake of rowing, and partly of working these long
lines, or " shooting " them, as it is called.
The boats frequently run forty or fifty miles to
set their haddock and cod lines ; going fi-om Nairn
and the adjacent fishing villages over to Wick,
where they are almost always sure of a plentiful
supply of fish.
Trawling for flat fish has not yet been tried to
any extent, but I have no doubt that it would be a
most profitable and useful speculation. At present
we get no soles, but occasionally some turbot are
caught : for these, however, the demand is confined
to a few of the neighbouring gentry ; and conse-
quently this kind of fishing is not much practised.
A boat's crew does occasionally go out to fish for
turbot, using a very simple and small kind of hang-
net, and generally brings home a good supply.
Looking at the state of British sea-fisheries in
general, it appears to me undeniable that the ad-
vantage derived from this great and inexhaustible
source of wealth is as nothing compared to what it
might and ought to be. It is true that of late
years some enterprising individuals have done,
and are doing, a great deal towards improving
this branch of commerce ; and the speculations re-
CH. XXXVII. BRITISH SEA-FISHERIES. 287
cently entered into for the more regular and more
abundant supply of the southern markets will doubt-
less lead to more extensive competition and to im-
proved methods of fishing ; but Government might,
I conceive, greatly promote this important branch
of national industry by regulating the size and
construction of the boats, which are often most
miserably inefficient, encouraging the fishermen in
every possible manner, aflbrding them the protec-
tion and assistance of large vessels and steamers
at different points, during the busiest times of
the fishing season, expending sums of money in
tackle, boats, &c., to be repaid or partly repaid by
the fishermen, and also by having surveys made
and soundings taken off* many parts of the coast,
in order to find out the banks and feeding places of
the cod and other large fish. The Dogger Bank
and all the principal fishing grounds have been dis-
covered by chance ; and it cannot be doubted that
were a careful survey made, many other equally
prolific localities would be found.
The fishermen would at once know, were they
provided with plans of the different depths, &c., of
the sea, where the best spots would be for fishing,
according to the nature of the bottom, the currents,
tides, &c. But they are quite unable to make
these observations themselves, from want of proper
288 EXTRACTS FROM NOTE-BOOKS. CII. XXXVII.
boats, &c. ; nor can a simple fisherman afford to
spend weeks or days of fine weather in taking
soundings and making systematic series of experi-
ments ; and hence it is, as I said before, our best
fishing banks have been found out by chance.
In short, our fisheries, by careful attention on the
part of Government and by a very moderate outlay
of public money, might be made the source of food
and employment for thousands and tens of thousands
more of our suffering population than are at present
supported by them. The seas which surround our
coasts contain an inexhaustible supply of wholesome
and nutritious food, and nothing is required to ren-
der it largely available to all but a more efficient,
systematic, and well-regulated mode of procuring
it.
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