THE FIRTH OF FORTH. 9 



is strong and shy make an empty bag to a 

 shooter with the above qualifications a rare event. 

 It is evident, however, that none can possess them 

 without long experience and acute observation, 

 advantages which have most likely enticed the 

 possessor into the tempting province of the natu- 

 ralist. A new field has thus been opened up. The 

 sportsman studies the nature and habits of the 

 wild creatures of chase, not merely to get shots at 

 them, but also for the pleasure derived from the 

 study itself. In place of being confined to the 

 shooting months, his sporting season comprises 

 the whole year. The advent and departure of 

 migrants ; the discovery of a rare visitor, with 

 perhaps the triumph of adding him to the museum ; 

 the inexpressible delight and excitement of a trip 

 to the crags and cliffs of the ocean, swarming with 

 their varieties of wild sea-birds, with wilder cries, 

 are now objects of even greater interest than his 

 most successful day among the grouse or the deer. 

 The time for studying the peculiar and indivi- 

 dual characteristics of sea-fowl is the month of 

 May. Not only are the birds tamer then, and 

 their instincts more prominently brought out, but 



