SEPTEMBER 347 



in due course we follow them. This is perhaps the prettiest 

 shooting of all, for in these spots the snipe rise suddenly and 

 unexpectedly. Nobody seems quite to understand their habits, 

 or why they choose one place and not another to hide in ; thus, 

 in Coll I have noticed on several occasions that on one side of a 

 ridge they will be plentiful, whereas on the other, on what seems the 

 most suitable and tempting ground, it is impossible to find a single 

 bird. 



Following the snipe ' lays,' by degrees we work round to the 

 sand-bents near the seashore, where partridges make their home, 

 strong and beautiful birds with a delicious flavour, but, as I think, 

 a little browner in colour than our variety. They feed, I believe, 

 on the young shoots of the bent. By the way, these tough sea 

 grasses, of which the botanical name is Elymus Arenarius, play an 

 important part in the natural economy of Coll, since except for 

 them much of the island would be swallowed up in blowing sand. 

 As it is, the aspect of the area of bent ground is strange and even 

 fantastic. From year to year and from generation to generation 

 the roaring winds of winter tear and delve among these sand- 

 hills, here scooping out a huge pit fifty feet deep or more, there 

 bevelling a ridge almost to the angle of a precipice. But ever 

 during the more peaceful months the sand grasses are at work to 

 repair the damage, matting and binding the shiftmg soil with 

 their succulent white roots. It is another instance of the ex- 

 traordinary providence of Nature, or the extraordinary nature of 

 Providence ! 



At length we come to a little spring of water — water is not 

 very plentiful in Coll, rain excepted, of course — and halt to lunch. 

 The meal is frugal, for it must be carried — the heavy feed of an 

 English shooting luncheon being represented by a few sandwiches 

 and a bit of bread and cheese, flavoured with water-cress from the 

 spring, and washed down with a little whisky. But how delight- 

 ful it is to sit in that wild and lonely place, listening to the con- 

 tinual swish of the wind among the rocks and grasses, breathing 

 an air like wine, and watching the billows as they roll in from the 



