THE GULL.j 



SHOOTING, 



[SWAK FAMILY. 



family ; but Colonel Hawker extends them to 

 thirteen. They have all a striking resemblance 

 to each other; and their principal characteris- 

 tics are a compressed bill, elongated and 

 pointed, with the upper mandible turned to- 

 wards the end, and the lower, underneath, form- 

 ing a salient angle. Their nostrils, placed to- 

 wards the middle of the bill, are long, narrow, 

 and bored through. Their tail is full ; the legs 

 rather long, and the thumb short. All the gull 

 tribes are more or less objects of the gunner's 

 sport, and the shooting of them is often at- 

 tended with considerable excitement and plea- 

 sure. These birds generally congregate in vast 

 flocks in those parts of the coast that are high, 

 abrupt, and little frequented by either boats or 

 land travellers ; where, in fact, the rugged na- 

 ture of the cliffs, and the air of solitude and 

 desolation around, seem to secure to them 

 comparative safety and retirement. To a man 

 susceptible of the wild and grand in scenery, 

 and with a fowling-piece in his hand, we 

 know of no more attractive pursuit than a 

 ramble along the headlands of the coast, in 

 quest |of these birds. Everything around is 

 vast and imposing. The ocean casts a solemn 

 shade over the most volatile mind, and lifts 

 the thoughts to objects of contemplation, that 

 strikingly impress it with the majesty of the 

 Supreme Power. In such sporting rambles 

 amono' the feathered tribes in this section of 

 Nature's vast domains, the sportsman scans 

 the singular economy that prevails in the con- 

 gregated families that are here bred and nou- 

 rished by her paternal hand. He scrambles 

 from one cliff to another, sometimes with 

 fear and trepidation ; while he often recog- 

 nises birds of which he knew little or nothing 

 before ; and, perchance casts his eye on the 

 nest of the eagle, whose marauding flights 

 are marked in every direction with blood and 

 rapine. 



" High from the summit of a craggy clifF, 



Hung o'er the deep, such as, amazing, frowns 

 On utmost Kilda's shore, whose lonely race 

 Resign the setting sun to Indian worlds, 

 The royal eagle draws his vigorous young. 

 Strong pounced, and ardent with paternal fire, 

 Now fit to raise a kingdom of their own, 

 He drives them from the fort, the towering seat, 

 For ages, of his empire ; which in peace 

 "Unstained he holds, while many a league to sea 

 He wings his course, and preys in distant isles." 



580 



These birds abound in far greater numbers 

 in the northern parts of Britain than in the 

 southern. In the Fern Islands, off" the coast of 

 Northumberland, and all around the northern 

 and western parts of Scotland, they are to be 

 found extremely numerous, especially in rocky 

 localities. In the Orkney and Hebrides Islands, 

 they afford plenty of good sport ; for we con- 

 ceive that most sportsmen, who have had op- 

 portunities of enjoying this species of shooting, 

 must have remarked, that the farther north 

 they went, and the more unfrequented the 

 parts into which they travelled, the less shy 

 the birds became, and the richer the harvest 

 that awaited them. 



The weather has a great influence over this 

 sport. All the different kinds of sea-fowl are 

 more approachable in stormy than in calm 

 weather ; only the former is not so pleasant to 

 the sportsman himself. But there is no get- 

 ting all matters to square evenly in sporting 

 practices. The fair must be blended with the 

 foul, even to impart a relish to sport. 



THE SWAN FAMILY. 



The A7ias of Liuna3US have long held a dis- 

 tinguished place in the eyes of sportsmen. 

 The ancients consecrated them to Apollo and 

 the Muses. Callimachus, in his hymn upon 

 the island of Delos, celebrates them : — 



"When from Pactolus' golden banks, 

 Apollo's tuneful songsters, snowy swans. 

 Steering their flight seven times their circling course, 

 M'heel round the island, carolling meantime 

 Soft melody, the favourites of the nine. 

 Thus ushering to birth with dulcet sounds 

 The god of harmony, and hence seven strings 

 Hereafter to his golden lyre he gave ; 

 For ere the eighth soft concert was begun 

 He sprung to birth." 



These birds are considered at the head of the 

 web-footed tribes ; and to shoot them is, amoug 

 sportsmen, esteemed a great achievement. 

 The Iwofers, or wild swans, are very easily 

 killed, if the fire be directed towards the head, 

 or under the wing ; but they are almost shot- 

 proof in other parts of their body. The flight 

 of the swan is very rapid. Hearne says—" Not- 

 withstanding their size, these birds are so ex- 

 tremely swift on the wing when in full featlier, 

 as to make them more difficult to shoot than 

 almost any others, it being frequently neces- 

 sary to take sight, say twelve feet before their 



