JANUARY, 1882. 123 



definite measure of incapacity was met with last autumn, 

 by a shooting party on Loch Creran. They could not 

 imagine what strange objects they were approaching near 

 the middle of the loch,and were more than surprised to 

 find a brace of hen pheasants with their heads down and 

 feet in the air ; exactly in the same condition as the poor 

 little page, who got no quarter, but who was found " with 

 his heels in the air and his head in a water butt." Not 

 a sign of shot or other violence was to be found upon 

 them, and as they were quite warm, it was supposed they 

 had just attempted to fly across the loch, and, having 

 over-estimated their powers, fallen into the water to perish 

 helplessly. For the pheasant is an unwieldy bird, and of 

 no great power of flight. Yet it is scarcely credible that 

 any bird in its ordinary state should be unable to keep 

 itself afloat for a reasonable time, and the seemingly 

 sudden surrender together of two hen pheasants is as 

 remarkable in its way as the intelligent adaptation of the 

 black cock to its altered circumstances. 



A very simple and natural explanation, surely ! The 

 oyster-catchers have continuously been frequenting 

 ploughed land, and we received the very sensible reply 

 to our query, " Why are these birds forsaking the shores 

 and taking to wandering with the rooks and seagulls ?" 

 that the shore had really been so cleared of food by the 

 long-continued and severe gales that no shore bird could 

 readily obtain its usual prey. There must be something 

 in this, and the numbers of limpet-shells we noted on the 

 foreshore to-day seemed to tell of greater loss than the 

 usual wear-and-tear of a shore existence. 



Our boat has been skulking in a corner all these weeks, 

 fearing to follow the fate of its many fellows ; but the 

 tide had been told it would be a big one, and evidently 



