158 NATURAL HISTORY AND 



the trees of more secluded districts. The old 

 heronry at Gartshore was abandoned at the very 

 time when the trees in the gorge of the lonely 

 Glen-Fruin were appropriated by a colony of these 

 birds. 



With the exception of the never-failing mergan- 

 sers fishing the shallow water of the coast, and a 

 few waders on the shore, the seas around Bute 

 seem to have no attraction for wild fowl. This 

 neglect of the many sheltered bays and shallows 

 of the island seems strange, but of all birds it 

 may most emphatically be said of sea-fowl, " There 

 is no accounting for taste." 



Eoes and partridges are far more numerous in 

 South Bute than on the northern division of the 

 island which I rent. The copses of the Kyles, 

 which so often helped the partridges to foil us, 

 always, however, harbour a sprinkling of these 

 beautiful little deer. Not wishing to disturb them 

 much last winter, we had only one hunt, when I 

 killed a very fine buck with a splendid head, and 

 my son a large doe, both in prime order. This 

 year, when beating for black game, we stumbled 

 on a pair of roes which had acquired such con- 



