Amid the High Hills

Part 1

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AMID THE HIGH HILLS

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AGENTS

AMERICA THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 64 & 66 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK

AUSTRALASIA THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 205 FLINDERS LANE, MELBOURNE

CANADA THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LTD. ST. MARTIN’S HOUSE, 70 BOND STREET, TORONTO

INDIA MACMILLAN & COMPANY, LTD. MACMILLAN BUILDING, BOMBAY 309 BOW BAZAAR STREET, CALCUTTA INDIAN BANK BUILDINGS, MADRAS

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By FINLAY MACKINNON.]

AMID THE HIGH HILLS

SIR HUGH FRASER

“But on and up, where Nature’s heart Beats strong amid the hills.”

RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES.

A. & C. Black, Ltd. 4, 5, & 6 Soho Square, London, W.1 1923

Printed in Great Britain by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh.

TO ALL WHO LOVE THE HIGH HILLS, AND PARTICULARLY TO THOSE--MY DEAR KINSMEN AND FRIENDS (SOME OF WHOM HAVE PASSED TO THE GREAT BEYOND)--TO WHOM I AM INDEBTED FOR MANY HAPPY DAYS ON HILL, LOCH, AND RIVER.

PREFACE

For many years past from time to time I have contributed articles on sport and natural history to various journals.

It was recently suggested to me that I should publish these articles in book form, and I was fortunate enough to have friends who kindly offered to illustrate them. I have accordingly selected some of these articles, and have included others which have never been published before. Amongst the former are some which in the same or a slightly altered form have appeared in The Field, Country Life, The Scottish Field, The Salmon and Trout Magazine, and The Saturday Westminster Gazette. To the editors of these journals I tender my warmest thanks for their courtesy and kindness in allowing me to republish the articles in question. To my friends, Mr. Finlay Mackinnon, Mr. Vincent Balfour-Browne, and Mr. Frank Wallace, I am greatly indebted for the pictures in colour and black and white, and the pencil sketches which they have contributed.

To my friends and neighbours, Lady Anne Murray of Loch Carron and Mrs. Schroder of Attadale, my grateful thanks are due--to the former for the photograph, “Winter Sunshine--Wild Geese at the foot of Applecross Hills,” and to the latter for the water-colour drawing, “An Autumn Day--Loch Carron, looking West.”

To my friend, Miss Diana Darling, I am indebted for the photograph, “Among the Western Islands,” and to my son-in-law, Mr. Noel Wills, for the pencil sketch of Donald McIver, my gamekeeper and constant companion on the hill for many years.

I wish to thank Mr. W. R. Bousfield, K.C., F.R.S., for helpful criticism from the scientific point of view on my article “Birds of Fastest Flight in the British Isles,” and Mr. A. D. Bateson, K.C., for his kindness in reading the book in manuscript.

In conclusion, I should like to say that, having derived so much pleasure from reading the experiences of others who love sport and natural history, I venture to hope that these pages may bring back to some of my readers recollections of their own delightful days amid the High Hills.

H. F.

STROMEFERRY, ROSS-SHIRE, August 7, 1923.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Part 2

I. THE CHARM OF SPORT AMID THE HIGH HILLS 1

II. STALKING IN ITS MOST ENJOYABLE FORM 6

III. A GREAT FISH AND A GREATER FISHERMAN 12

IV. THE BIRDS OF FASTEST FLIGHT IN THE BRITISH ISLES 23

V. A GOOD DAY IN THE FOREST OF COIGNAFEARN 71

VI. A STALKER’S PERIL 81

VII. THE LUCK OF SALMON FISHING 85

VIII. A STORMY WEEK IN THE FOREST 97

IX. A SALMON LOCH IN SUTHERLAND 113

X. THE HOMING INSTINCTS OF WOUNDED DEER 123

XI. THE METHOD BY WHICH EAGLES AND HAWKS SECURE THEIR PREY 136

XII. INSTANCES OF WOUNDED STAGS ATTACKING STALKERS 155

XIII. TRAPPED 165

XIV. THE LAST STALK OF THE SEASON 170

XV. THE LOCH PROBLEM 182

XVI. THE SURGEON OF THE DEER FOREST 197

XVII. THE SECRET OF THE HIGH HILLS 215

INDEX 221

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

* Those marked with an asterisk are in colour.

*September Snow, Loch Carron, Ross-shire. Frontispiece By Finlay Mackinnon.

FACING PAGE

*“The joy of watching deer when they have no suspicion that they are being watched” 1 By V. R. Balfour-Browne.

Golden Days 4 By V. R. Balfour-Browne.

*“See! from the tops the mist is stealing” 6 By Finlay Mackinnon.

*“The salmon leaped twice straight up into the air” 16 By V. R. Balfour-Browne.

The Peregrine Falcon 26 By V. R. Balfour-Browne.

Winter Sunshine--Wild Geese at the Foot of the Applecross Hills 36 From a Photograph by The Lady Anne Murray of Loch Carron.

Part 3

*The Spine-tailed Swift 40 By V. R. Balfour-Browne.

*The Golden Eagle 64 By V. R. Balfour-Browne.

Where the Golden Eagle reigns 68 From a Photograph by Frank Wallace.

*Preparing for Battle 76 By Frank Wallace.

*“Take the fifth, he’s the best” 80 By V. R. Balfour-Browne.

In the Forest of Fannich 82 By Finlay Mackinnon.

“He had the advantage of some inches over my little grandson, who was nearly five years old” 90 From a Photograph by Mrs. Noel Wills.

*Sligachan, Isle of Skye 96 By Finlay Mackinnon.

“Lying on a ridge we spied some deer” 98 From a Photograph by the Author.

The Five Sisters of Kintail 104 By Finlay Mackinnon.

Old Angus nearing Home 110 By V. R. Balfour-Browne.

The Sanctuary, Kinlochewe Forest 124 By Finlay Mackinnon.

“The trusty allies of our fathers on the hill” 128 By Philip Stretton.

“I was spying for some time” 134 From a Photograph by the Author.

*The Applecross Hills, and a Highland Fishing Village 142 By Finlay Mackinnon.

Death of the Mallard 148 By J. Wolf.

Among the Western Islands 166 From a Photograph by Miss Diana Darling.

*Where Strome Castle looks over the Sea to Skye 168 By Finlay Mackinnon.

*“The big stag is still there” 176 By Frank Wallace.

*An Autumn Day, Loch Carron--looking West 184 By Mrs. Schroder of Attadale.

Sunset on the Shores of Loch Carron 192 From a Photograph by Miss Alexandra Fraser.

*On the Edge of the Deer Forest 200 By Finlay Mackinnon.

In Achnashellach Forest 204 By Finlay Mackinnon.

*Evening Glow, Poolewe, Ross-shire 212 By Finlay Mackinnon.

*“The morning cometh” 218 By Finlay Mackinnon.

Also pencil headings to each Chapter.

By V. R. BALFOUR-BROWNE.]

THE CHARM OF SPORT AMID THE HIGH HILLS

Part 4

The fascination of deer-stalking is largely due to the romance of the hill--the hill as it is known only to those who love it and understand something of its hidden mysteries. The long day, all too quickly ended, with the silent but sympathetic stalker--alone with Nature in its most inspiring and elevating form--the ever-changing beauty of sky and hill--the joy of watching deer when they have no suspicion that they are being watched--the opportunities of seeing rare birds and finding rare plants--all these things apart from the difficulty and interest--and the greater the difficulty the greater the interest--of trying to outwit--in other words trying to get within shot of the particular stag one is after--go to make up the attractions of what some of us think is the very best of true sport.

I well remember a famous statesman, who had himself owned one of the best deer forests in the Highlands, saying to me that the greatest attraction of stalking is that it takes one to places where otherwise one would never go, and enables one to see the most wonderful things which otherwise one would never see. Further, there is probably no form of sport where less pain and suffering are inflicted, assuming that any one who stalks will take the trouble to know his rifle well, and will not take a long or risky shot. The shot itself after all plays only a small part in the pleasure of a day’s stalking. I have friends, first-class rifle shots, who delight in stalking, and who, when they have arrived within shot of the stag they have stalked, will sometimes not shoot at him at all. This would not always be easily accomplished by those who have strongly implanted within them the instincts of the hunter, or perhaps I should say the primitive man.

Again, to pass from stalking, what is the real explanation of the intense enjoyment of ptarmigan shooting on the high tops after the close of the stalking season? I have more than once heard this described as the most enjoyable of all kinds of shooting. As is well known, on a still clear day the ptarmigan is the easiest of birds to shoot, but on a wild windy day one of the most difficult--twisting and turning with extraordinary rapidity. Neither this latter fact, however, nor the exhilarating and bracing air at the altitude where these birds are to be found wholly explains the enthusiasm of those who have had this sport. I have no doubt that the environment of the high hills and all that this means are largely the cause of this enthusiasm. The delights of grouse shooting, whether in the case of driven birds, or over dogs, are greatly increased by the same cause. Without entering upon the well-worn controversy as to the respective advantages and disadvantages of these two forms of sport, is there any one who has enjoyed both of them amid the hills who has not ineffaceable memories of the vistas of marvellous beauty which he has revelled in again and again while waiting in his butt for the first birds of the drive, and--to change the scene--of the pleasures of many a glorious twelfth in the company of an old friend with whom he was in perfect sympathy, watching the dogs at work amidst the purple heather on the side of the hill or along the heather-clad banks of a burn?

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