history, so far as I can trace it, is that it was killed by a poacher in Glenmoriston about
forty years ago. It will be seen by thé measurements under the photograph on p. 132 that
it is a remarkable head from every point o f view, the brow points and form being
exceptionally beautiful.
6. At the sale o f Roualeyn
Gordon-Cumming’s effects Lord
Powerscourt added this extraordinarily
wide head to his collection.
Roualeyn Gordon-Cumming admitted
that he poached it on Lord
Lovat’s ground in Glen Strath-
Svaedail)
G B
Sj>a» yjfarrar.
Just as he killed the deer he saw
Lord Lovat’s keepers approaching, so he
cut off the head and got clear away with
it. I do not think that this head should
receive quite so much attention as its span
would at first lead one to suppose, for on
examining it closely one will see that the
right horn has had during growth a severe blow, which should, properly speaking, bring
it within the list o f abnormalities. Even without this defect it would be an extraordinary
head (see p. 132).
7. Another remarkable Scotch head in Lord Powerscourt’s collection is one carrying
19 points, with a span o f 40 inches, and which was killed by a poacher in Rhidorroch some
forty years ago. It came into the hands o f the owner o f the forest, the late Hay Mackenzie,
from whom it passed to the fourth Marquis of Londonderry, and from him to his stepson,
the present owner.
8. Considering the short time that Lord Burton has been tenant o f Glenquoich, he has,
with the help of first-rate natural grazing, worked wonders with his deer. Though I have
not seen the heads, as they hang in the house, I have, through the courtesy o f Messrs. Macleay
and Snowie, seen nearly all the good heads killed there during the last few years.
Stags’ Heads
Glenquoich heads are now second to none, and the gem o f the collection is said to be the
20-pointer killed by Lord Burton in 1893. Many do not' admire this trophy as an example of
a wild Scotch head, but then that is merely a matter o f taste. That any Highland deer should
have been capable o f throwing out such a curious form o f horn-growth is indeed very remarkable,
all the more so as when I examined the horns shortly after death they were not o f good
quality or solidity. Mr. Grimble, in his Deer Forests o f Scotland, tells us the circumstances
under which this head was obtained. He states that Lord Burton was proceeding with a
party from Glenquoich to Loch Nevis when' they suddenly came on a company o f stags.
Seeing there was no way o f getting round them, Lord Burton, who had his rifle with him,
tried a long shot, fully 300 yards, at a big stag, and dropped him dead.
These eight heads we may safely place in a class apart, and they are some o f the best
examples o f extraordinary Scotch heads killed within the last forty years. In this category
should also be included the two big heads hanging in Beaufort Castle, killed respectively by