1 8 COUNTRY LIFE 



he killed was quite a secondary consideration with 

 him. By preference he would turn his steps towards 

 that waste of sandhills where the foxes, left to forage 

 undisturbed, grew to be " as large as wolves " ; where 

 the rabbits they fattened on had gnawed the furze- 

 bushes they gambolled among into all manner of 

 fantastic shapes ; where, in fact, wild creatures of every 

 kind had it all their own way, and where the cautious 

 observer could study their habits as they followed 

 the promptings of their instincts, unconscious of the 

 presence of man. Or he would break off from so- 

 called sports altogether, to stroll along the -sea-shore 

 when the tide was out, where the seals were basking 

 on the rocks, or disporting themselves among the 

 waves, and crowds of clamorous sea-fowl and water- 

 fowl were picking up their living among the pools, 

 the sand-eels, and the sea-weed. He was always on 

 the look-out to welcome the earliest arrivals from 

 foreign latitudes, to see the swans come trumpeting 

 into the bay to settle down in a stately fleet upon its 

 waters, or to mark the streaming flight of the grey 

 or lag geese as they headed for some well-known haunt 

 away among the inland lochs. It was most unlikely 

 that any unfamiliar stranger would escape his wakeful 

 attention ; he marked each peculiarity in the form or 

 plumage, and never rested till he established its 

 identity. We cannot answer for other people, but 

 to us he has given an infinity of new ideas on the 

 birds that frequent these northern counties. Nearer 

 his home, too, about his doors, and in his " policies/' 



