The Athletes and Athletic Sports of Scotland

32 ATHLETIC SPORTS OF SCOTLAND. inches broad, set on its edge, and kept upright by pegs. At seven feet six inches behind the stance a peg is put in, or a line drawn, parallel tothe stance. The competitor has thus aparal­ lelogram seven feet six inches in length, by from three to six feet in breadth, to put from. The almost invariable mode of putting is as follows :—The athlete stands with his left side towards the stance, his right foot at the peg or line, his left foot a little in advance and tothe left,the weightof the body resting on the right leg ; the right arm, bent upwards, holds the stone generally just above theright shoulder, the left arm is stretched out, free, in front. The whole attitude is in most cases par­ ticularly graceful. Having balanced himself for a little in this position the athletebends his right knee alittle, leansbackward, and raising his left foot, hops forward on his right; the left is next brought to the groundnear or at the stance, then the right arm and shoulder are launched forward, the right foot at the same timebeing brought forward to the stance,and the leftleg and armswung behind. All this is doneso quickly that the eye cannot follow and take in all the detailsat once. When thelate James Fleming,Tullymet, one of the finest exponents of the art ever seen,was putting, you saw him standing at one moment on his right foot, left arm and leg in front towards the stance, the next moment you saw him leaning far over the •stance, again on his right foot, but with the left arm and leg behind and away from the stance. Not unfrequently the put is fol­ lowed by a shout of " foul" from a judge, in which case the put is not marked, and is lost. A foul may be made in various ways. The athlete, especially if the ground is a little downhill, may step behind the peg or line so as to get a longer hop or race; he may put his right foot beyond the end of the stance ;or he may lean too far forward at the finish, and sohave to rest with his knee orhand on the stance or his hand may rest on the ground beyond the stance; or he may step right over the stance, or beyond and in front of it at either end. In any of these casesthe put is disallowed. Some