CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 235 



jutted out into a large piece of water, and thickly- 

 studded with heather. In tramping about all over 

 this ground I suddenly sprung a Hen Harrier 

 off her nest ; putting up my gun suddenly — 

 the ground being very rocky and rough — I 

 stumbled and almost fell, and as my gun con- 

 sequently was not in the proper alignment the bird 

 escaped practically unhurt. Naturally I was very 

 disheartened, but nevertheless decided not to leave 

 the spot at once. This decision was a very lucky 

 one as it eventually turned out, for after waiting 

 some little time, I noticed a large hawk-like looking 

 bird high up in the air making towards the promon- 

 tory, which I rightly concluded must be the female 

 returning to the nest. I at once got down amongst 

 the heather, lying almost on my back, and when the 

 bird got over my head I fired, with the intense 

 satisfaction of seeing her come tumbling down into 

 the water. Here came a difficulty; the Hen Harrier 

 was dead, true enough, but havino- no boat, how were 

 we to get it out ? 



By luck, as it happened, there was a slight breeze 

 blowing at the time, so we simply had to exercise 

 our patience till the bird was blown ashore. This 

 took up a lot of time ; and moreover, when we took 

 it out of the water the feathers were so soaked 

 that we had to lay the body, with the wings out- 

 spread, on a bush for the sun and breeze to improve 

 matters a bit. 



It will give you some idea how long all this took 

 if I say that, although we made a fairly early start 



Q2 



