344 A FARMER'S YEAR 



' Doing ? ' answered that youth with a sour smile ; ' I'm set to 

 watch yer shoot, and I^m a notching of yer misses /' 



The sportsman who would be happy in Coll belongs to none of 

 these classes. He must be a person who does not mind hard work 

 and who is a lover of Nature and its voices. To such a one there 

 are few places like this island, for here wild things abound, and 

 though the bags may not be heavy, they will certainly be varied. 

 In the bogs are snipe, among the bents lie partridge, and yonder 

 on the moorland grouse may be found ; both the partridge and the 

 grouse having been introduced since Boswell's day, who, when he 

 went out shooting in Coll, was content with starlings, which he 

 ate. Then there are hares in great numbers, wild duck if you can 

 get near them, golden and green plover, the last so plentiful that 

 they are not shot, and in the winter woodcocks and wild geese. 



Ravens may be seen also, and not far from them a pair of pere- 

 grines hanging about the face of the Green Mountain, although, 

 because of their destructiveness, neither of these birds are allowed 

 to increase. Out of the caves, too, flash rock-pigeons with a noise 

 of rattling wings, and from time to time a curlew, surprised in a 

 hollow of the sandpits, twists away like a great snipe, filling the 

 air with his ringing, melancholy notes ; while yonder on the sea- 

 shore the gulls wheel and clamour. Indeed, if you will sit quiet and 

 watch at certain places, there in the calm water under the shelter 

 of a rock you may see a round head appear, a head adorned with 

 whiskers and large soft eyes, followed presently by another. These 

 are seals, pretty, harmless creatures, which in my opinion ought to be 

 less shot at than ihey are, especially as for every one that is brought 

 to bag about three sink down to die. They are comparatively rare 

 here ; indeed, if the reader wishes to find seals he should visit 

 the coasts of Iceland, where I have counted dozens of them, huge 

 fellows, and apparently of different varieties, lying upon islands or 

 disporting themselves within a few yards of our boat. I never 

 shot at one, however, and of this I am very glad. 



Shooting here is quite a different thing to shooting in Norfolk. 

 To begin with, not more than two guns go out together. At a 



