WIDGEON FLOUNDERS. 179 



Both male and female have the same sober plumage at this 

 season ; nor are the drakes in full beauty till January. I 

 shot a brace of widgeon on the 8th of September this year, 

 which is a month before their usual time of arrival. A flock 

 of eight passed over my head, nearly a quarter of a mile from 

 the sea, and I killed two of them one apparently a young, 

 and the other an old bird. I am inclined to think that they 

 had been hatched in this part of the country. Although they 

 leave us regularly in the spring, I have been told by an old 

 poacher that he has no doubt a pair or two, probably wounded 

 birds, remain about some of the unfrequented lochs and breed, 

 as he says he has occasionally seen widgeon in summer in one 

 or two places in the neighbourhood ; but that is rare. As 

 my informant has a very accurate acquaintance with most 

 birds, I believe his account to be correct. The widgeon that 

 I saw on the 8th of September had very much the appear- 

 ance of a brood which had been hatched near at hand ; one 

 of the birds not having arrived at that fulness and hardness 

 of plumage that would enable it to have made a long aerial 

 voyage. In Sutherland they breed every year. 



I have a long walk before me, and bright as an October 

 day is, the sun does not give us many hours of his company, 

 but seems to be in a great hurry to hide his glorious head 

 behind the snowy peaks of Inverness-shire. 



In crossing the sands of the bay in order to arrive at the 

 neck of sandy ground that divides it from the main sea, 

 there are many runs of water to be waded, some caused by 

 the river itself, which branches out into numerous small 

 streams which intersect the sands, and some made by two 

 good-sized brooks which empty themselves into the bay. 

 In all these streams there are innumerable flounders, large 

 and small, which dart as quick as lightning from under your 

 feet. Their chief motive power seems to lie in their broad 

 tails, with which they propel themselves along at a wonderful 

 rate; then suddenly stopping, they in an instant bury 

 themselves in the sand ; and it is only a very sharp eye that 

 can detect the 'exact spot where they are by observing their 

 outline faintly marked on the sand in \vhich they are 

 ensconced: sometimes also their two prominent eyes may be 

 discovered in addition to their outline. 



It is a favourite amusement with my boys in the summer 

 to hunt and spear the flounders which remain at low water 

 in the pools and runs of water in the bay. On a calm day, 



