PAGHAM. 



mingled with the scream of the tern and the 

 taunting laugh of the gull. 



Here have I watched the oyster-catcher, as he 

 flew from point to point, and cautiously waded 

 into the shallow water ; and the patient heron, that 

 pattern of a fisherman, as with retracted neck, and 

 eyes fixed on vacancy, he has stood for hours 

 without a single snap, motionless as a statue. 

 Here, too, have I pursued the guillemot, or craf- 

 tily endeavoured to cut off the retreat of the diver, 

 by mooring my boat across the narrow passage 

 through which alone he could return to the open 

 sea without having recourse to his reluctant wings. 

 Nor can I forget how often, during the Siberian 

 winter of 1838, when "a whole gale," as the sailors 

 have it, has been blowing from the north-east, I 

 used to take up my position on the long and nar- 

 row ridge of shingle which separated this paradise 

 from the raging waves without, and sheltered be- 

 hind a hillock of sea-weed, with my long duck-gun 

 and a trusty double, or half buried in a hole in 

 the sand, I used to watch the legions of water- 

 birds as they neared the shore, and dropped dis- 

 trustfully among the breakers, at a distance from 

 the desired haven, until, gaining confidence from 

 accession of numbers, some of the bolder spirks 

 the pioneers of the army would flap their wings, 

 rise from the white waves, and make for the calm 



B 5 



