498 LESTlllS UlCIIAKDSUNII. 



instinct that enables it to select a bird that has something to 

 spare for its wants is trnly surprising. I have never seen it 

 give chase to a Gull or Tern, without accomplishing its 

 ])urpose. One might be induced to think that it Avatches 

 the birds, and, on observing that one has caught a fish, 

 attacks it before its food has been well swalloAved ; but I 

 have seen it come from a distance into the midst of a flock, 

 and select one which it could not previously have noticed. 

 It seldom fails in catching the fish that has been dropped, 

 but yet this sometimes happens ; and on such occasions I 

 have seen it pick it up after it had fallen on the water, 

 although at other times it did not attempt to obtain it, pos- 

 sibly because it had sunk beyond its reach. 



" It is not a singular case that an animal should be 

 destined to live by the labours of others of different species ; 

 but in the class to which the Pirate belongs there are very 

 few instances of such an arrangement. It cannot, however, 

 be said to live without labour, for the trouble of compelling 

 its unwilling vassals to disgorge is apparently greater than 

 what would abundantly supply it with honestly obtained 

 food. We are accustomed to look upon rapine and destruc- 

 tion in animals with a feeling akin to that excited by the 

 same actions in our own species ; but in this we manifestly 

 err, the Pirate being quite as innocently occupied as the 

 bird which it pursues. 



" One might naturally suppose that this rover of the seas 

 should breed on its shores, on cliffs, or unfrequented islands, 

 and this had been my opinion until, one day, the 17th June, 

 1818, when traversing the marshy heaths of North Uist, I 

 was met by two individuals of this species, which seemed 

 intent on decoying me from some lumps of peat covered with 

 heather that emerged from a small pool. My gun was in bad 

 condition, and covered with rust, Avhich in these islands grows 

 almost as fiist as mushrooms. iSo I sat down, put it in order, 

 and, one of the birds coming very near me, I fired, and 

 brought it down. Several noAv appeared, Avhich had been 

 sitting in the neighbourhood. Having wounded another 

 which flew directly off, I pursued it more than a mile befon^ 

 an opportunity of shooting it occurred. This bird, although 



