DEATH OF A LARGE SWAN. 117 



suddenly saw him rise straight up into the air, his snowy 

 plumage shining as it caught the rays of the sun. I saw him 

 a second time rise perpendicularly to a great height ; he then 

 suddenly turned backwards in the air and tumbled headlong 

 to the ground perfectly dead. He was above half a mile or 

 more from me, in the direction of the bay, and the whole 

 intervening ground was covered with sand-hills and bent, so 

 that I could not see the exact spot where he fell, whether on 

 the dry ground or in the sea. However, I marked the 

 direction as well as I could, and set off after him. 



Large as he was, I had a long and for some time a fruitless 

 search amongst the broken sand-hills. I scanned the bay 

 with the glass in vain, and then came back towards the 

 lochs. At last I hit upon him by finding a quantity of blood 

 on the sand, and following the drops, which had fallen almost 

 in a stream : in fact the track of blood, though falling from 

 such a height, was as conspicuous as that of a wounded hare 

 on snow. At length 1 came to the swan, who was lying 

 stretched out on the sand, and a noble bird he was. I 

 shouldered him as well as his great length would enable me 

 to do, and carried him back to where the boy was waiting 

 for me. I found him, too, no slight burden ; he weighed 

 above 27 Ibs. ; the breadth between his wings 8 feet, and his 

 length 5 feet. Of all the swans I ever killed he was by far 

 the largest, the usual weight being from 15 to 18 Ibs. 



The pochard which I brought home from Spynie remains 

 quite contented and goes about with the other ducks. He 

 will eat whatever they feed upon, but prefers worms to every- 

 thing else, showing great activity in diving for them when 

 they are flung into the water. If they are given to him on 

 land, he usually carries each worm to the water before eating 

 it. Even when brought into the house he seems quite at 

 home. Many kinds of wild fowl might, with a little care, be 

 perfectly domesticated, and I have no doubt would breed 

 freely. Care must, however, be taken to prevent their flying 

 away at the migrating seasons, and also to keep them at 

 home when they begin to make their nests, as at that time 

 they seem inclined to wander off in search of quiet and un- 

 disturbed places. I have no doubt that the sheldrake might 

 be tamed in this way, and after a few generations of them 

 had been bred at home, that these birds would become as 

 useful for the table as our common ducks, and would be far 

 more ornamental. 



