SPORT OF BUTE. 105 



of the old birds of the two districts ; and it ap- 

 peared evident that the reason why those at 

 Kames were so aspiring in the situation of their 

 high-roofed nurseries, was the absence of cover to 

 conceal them ; and by far the greater proportion 

 of these sly birds put more trust in their own 

 well-known hidling powers among the thickets 

 of North Bute, than in the pinnacle of the most 

 tall and dizzy fortress that nature ever reared. 



It is now thirty-seven years since the secret of 

 trapping flying vermin, by removing their young 

 from the nest and using them as decoys, was first 

 found out by myself and my late father's game- 

 keeper. The day of our discovery rises clearly to 

 my mind's eye from beyond the deepening mists 

 of these long years ; and somewhat gloomily too, 

 for on that very day I was the means of expelling 

 from the loch of my ancestors the most romantic 

 and time-honoured dependant on its bounty. 



Having arranged a vermin crusade with the 

 keeper among the islands of Loch Lomond, the 

 ospreys, who had just repaired their yearly nest 

 on the ivied castle of Galbreath, were unfortun- 

 ately too tempting sport for a thoughtless youth 



