14 SEA-FOWL SHOOTING IN 



we beat up against the wind, looking out for a 

 fresh chance. I was not long in espying a solitary 

 white speck in the direct line of the team I had 

 shot at, which I at once suspected was my second- 

 barrel bird. Getting well to windward, we care- 

 fully bore down, and the eider, although uneasy, 

 allowed us to run within reach of a long shot, 

 then heavily rose, and hanging against the wind, 

 crossed our bow. We fired together. The bird 

 dropped, and instantly dived, but soon rose again 

 to the surface dead. 



We had now secured two splendid eider drakes, 

 but to complete the case a brown mate was needed 

 for each. Again I scanned the wide expanse of 

 water with the telescope, and soon fixed it on a 

 large bird in the smooth water near the mainland 

 coast. " It's the loon, sir," shouts the boatman ; 

 "there's one of them has haunted these bays for 

 the last fortnight." As I had no specimen yet, 

 the Great Northern was a prize worth trying for. 

 From their weakness in the air, and their amazing 

 power in the water, grebes and divers are very 

 unwilling to take wing, always preferring to baffle 

 their foes in the element to which nature has so 



