CHAP. TWENTY-FIVE WATER BIRDS 



water like a silver arrow) can get out of reach, he is caught 

 in the bill of the tern, and in a moment afterwards is either 

 swallowed whole, or journeyingrapidly through quite a new 

 element to feed the young of his captor. Often in the sum- 

 mer have I watched flocks of terns fishing in this manner 

 at a short distance from the shore, and never did I see one 

 emerge after his plunge into the water without a sand-eel. 

 When I have shot atthe bird as he flew away with his prey, 

 I have picked up the sand-eel, and there are always the 

 marks of his bill in one place, just behind the head, where 

 it seems to be invariably caught. 



The terns which breed in the islands on a loch in the 

 woods of Altyre,fullyfivemiles in astraightline fromwhere 

 they fish, fly up to their young with every sand-eel they 

 catch. I have seen them fly backwards and forwards in this 

 way for hours together, apparently bringing the whole of 

 their food from the sea, notwithstandingthe distance; their 

 light bodyand longswallow-likewingsmakethis longflight 

 to and fro less fatiguing to the tern than it would be to al- 

 most any other bird. 



Great numbers of terns breed every year on the sand- 



tionary in the air, auxiously looking below for the re-appearance of her prey. Having 

 well examined one pool, she suddenly turns off and, with rapid flight, takes herself to an 

 adjoining part of the stream, where she again begins to hover and circle in the air. Ou 

 making a pounce into the water, the osprey dashes the spiay up far and wide, so as to 

 be seen for a considerable distance" (7ij<r, chap. vii. ). 



It is now almost vain to expect the spectacle here described to be displayed in British 

 waters; so ruthlessly has the osprey been persecuted that it is probably extinct as a 

 breeding species, although migrant individuals still visit these islands, too surely doom- 

 ed to a violent death. When I was last at Achnacarry, in Lochaber, about twelve years 

 ago, there were two eyries of ospreys, one near each end of Loch Arkaig; but, despite 

 the protection attempted, there also the birds and their eggs have fallen prey to the 

 greed of collectors. — Ed. 



