20 SEA-FOWL SHOOTING IN 



This happy right and left having supplied a 

 companion to each of the eider drakes, we tri- 

 umphed in anticipation of our collection being 

 adorned with these superb examples of natural 

 history. Could I have foreseen that ere the day 

 closed another of these much-admired eiders would 

 have deprived me of a shot at the rarest sea-bird I 

 ever detected in the Firth, I might not have re- 

 garded them so complacently. 



Having landed to search one of the homeward 

 islands, a male eider was asleep on a promontory 

 which flanked a tiny bay. A ledge of rocks, par- 

 allel to both, made the stalk after fowl either in 

 this creek or on the promontory very easy. Ne- 

 glecting (contrary to my wont) to examine the bay, 

 I gave my whole notice to the unsuspecting drake, 

 struck him badly at the sitting shot, and brought 

 him down dead with the other. 



Before I could rise from my hiding, three little 

 sea-fowl swam rapidly into view from the bay. 

 They never saw me, and seeming more surprised 

 than frightened, never attempted to fly. The 

 leader had a hood like a hoopoe, and in the centre 

 of the hood a white star, the Hooded Merganser ! 



