276 WILD LIFE OF SCOTLAND 



out of the distance. A right and left yielding, if 

 successful, a pair, is the most the expertest shot can 

 expect on the passage. More are shot where they 

 alight. The estuary is a guide rather than a goal. 

 They speedily diverge from it, generally where some 

 burn finds its way in, and make for their feeding- 

 ground in inland field or marsh. 



Barnacle, brent, and pink-footed geese ; scaup 

 and widgeon ; mallard and teal ; pintail and golden- 

 eye ; curlew and oyster-catcher ; godwit, knot, and 

 redshank ; dunlin and sanderling ; silver and ringed 

 plovers ; are among the commoner estuary forms in 

 winter. 



There are no hawks present to trouble them. 

 The peregrine falcon, both wild and tame, for this 

 is a historic hawking scene, struck his quarry 

 here, but now, in neither form, is he any longer 

 present. 



One wonders why this picturesque form of sport, 

 so different from the punt gun, even from the right 

 and left, involving a more refined skill, as well as 

 lending itself to the purposes of art, should not 

 be revived, along with other old-fashioned forms. 

 Why the lighter kestrel should no longer sit on my 

 lady's wrist. Our forefathers chose these birds, 

 not blindly, but with a full knowledge of their 



