140 FIELD NOTES FOR THE YEAR. 



shooting a few pigeons, at the risk occasionally of having the 

 bottom of our boat stove in by the hidden rocks round which 

 the large tangle floated gracefully in the passing waves, 

 treacherously concealing the rocks from which they grew, we 

 turned our boat's head homewards. By this time the wind 

 had dropped entirely, and the tide running strong against us, 

 we had to row for four hours in a heavy haddock boat to 

 reach our destination. I had only one man and a boy with 

 me, the latter of no use ; so I took an oar myself and pulled 

 steadily on, stopping only occasionally to haul in a gurnet or 

 other fish. 



Both goats and sheep were feeding about the rocks, and 

 even the latter seemed to get easily to places which appeared 

 to be reachable only by means of wings. The small patches 

 of bright velvety-looking grass, which grew here and there 

 on corners of ground formed by the debris of the cliffs, 

 however difficult of access, were all tenanted by them. 



On one bit of emerald-coloured grass, not larger than a 

 good-sized table-cloth, a sheep and her young lamb were 

 feeding at their ease. Although I stopped the boat and 

 examined the place carefully, no way of access to this little 

 bit of table-land could we discover. The well-contented 

 animals seemed shut out by perpendicular precipices from all 

 the rest of the world. 



As for the goats, no ledge or projection of the rocks near 

 which grew any tempting bit of herbage seemed too small or 

 too difficult of approach. 



About three weeks ago our tame pochard had been carried 

 away in a hurricane of wind. To my surprise, one day this 

 month I saw this same pochard swimming about the loch 

 alone, and apparently very tame. One of the children who 

 was with me, and whose own especial property the bird had 

 been, whistled to it in the same way in which he had been 

 accustomed to call it, upon which, to his unbounded joy, it 

 immediately came towards us, and for some time continued 

 swimming within a few yards of where we stood, evidently 

 recognising us, and seeming glad to see us again. 



A few days afterwards we again saw him ; but he was now 

 accompanied by a flock of fourteen or fifteen others. This 

 was remarkable, both on account of the time of year, and 

 because this kind of duck is very rare in this region, and has 

 never been known to breed in the neighbourhood ; but all 

 birds seem to have some means of calling and attracting 



