80 WANDERINGS AND MEMORIES 



at present the fears of the ducks were groundless ; 

 for at the moment he had no wish for anything 

 beyond a big trout, and this he presently found 

 basking in the shallows of a still pool about three 

 hundred yards below. What a splash his clumsy 

 majesty made as he entered the water ! One would 

 think that any fool of a fish must have seen his 

 coming; but no, he had got a beauty of three 

 pounds or thereabouts, and it was kicking to relieve 

 itself as it sent a shower of golden spray into the 

 light. The bird of Jove, having now got his dinner, 

 made straightway for a neighbouring mound close 

 to the river bank. For a moment I half entertained 

 an idea of stalking him, which I fancy was easy, 

 but, on second thoughts, I left him in peace to 

 enjoy the dinner, and contented myself with 

 watching him through the telescope. 



This bird and his mate visited us daily, and did 

 not appear to molest the ducks, although they 

 seemed to live in greater terror of him than of their 

 really formidable enemy, the falcon. The eagles 

 selected a long, still swim, or lake pool, and beat up 

 and down it at a considerable height; and we did 

 not again observe either of the birds descend on 

 a fish. 



Another bird whose nest I wished to discover 

 was the Black Scoter, and after two days' hunting 

 in a lake marsh I at last almost stepped on a female, 

 whom I was obliged to shoot in the interest of 

 science. There seemed to be not more than a 

 dozen pairs of these birds altogether, and of the 

 Gadwall I saw nothing at all. Other interesting 

 birds that I saw at our first Myvatn camp were a 

 pair of pied ravens. Doubtless in time, from iso- 



