WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS 



nor am I addicted to punting myself in a flat boat over half- 

 frozen mud, and waiting for hours together for the chance 

 of a sweeping shot. There may be great sport in this kind 

 of proceeding, but I cannot discover it. I much prefer the 

 more active and independent amusement of taking my 

 chance with a common gun, meeting the birds on their way 

 to and from their feeding or resting places, and observing 

 and taking note of their different habits and ways of get- 

 ting their living. 



No rule can be laid down for wild-fowl shooting; what 

 succeeds in one place, fails in another. The best plan, in 

 whatever district the sportsman is located is to take note 

 where the birds feed, where they rest in the daytime, and 

 where they take shelter inheavy winds. By observingthese 

 different things, it is always easy enough to procure a few 

 wild ducks. On the coast, the birds change their locality 

 with the ebb and flowof the tide, generally feedingwith the 

 ebb, and resting with the flow. I believe that about the 

 best wild-fowl shooting in the kingdom is in the Cromarty 

 Firth, where thousands of birds of every variety pass the 

 winter, feeding on the long sea-grass, and passing back- 

 wards and forwards constantly at every turn of the tide. I 

 have here often killed wild ducks by moonlight. It is an in- 

 terestingwalk in the bright clearwinter nights, to go round 

 by the shore, listening to the various calls of the birds, 

 the constant quack of the mallard, the shrill whistle of the 

 widgeon, the low croaking note of the teal, and the fine 

 buo-le voice of the wild swan, varied every now and then 

 by theloudwhistlingof a startled curlew, or oyster-catcher. 

 The mallard and teal are the only exclusivelynight-feeding 



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