MARCH. WILD -SWANS AND GEESE. 201 



mallard, though so excellent a bird when feeding 

 in the stubble-fields, is often rank and bad when 

 driven by deep snows and frost to feed on seaweed, 

 shellfish, etc. Widgeon and brent geese also, and 

 in fact all wild-fowl, are good or bad eating ac- 

 cording to where they feed, in the same way that 

 the dog of the Chinese, which is fatted for the 

 table, must be very unlike in flavour to a foxhound 

 who has been fed on horseflesh. 



The bernacle goose seldom pays us a visit, but I 

 saw a few one day near the bar. I had one of my 

 boys with me, who was anxious to get a shot at a 

 wild-swan who was swimming about one of the 

 lochs, and when we came back from an unsuccess- 

 ful pursuit of him the geese had left the place. 

 This bird is numerous only on the west coast. 



About the 20th of March I see a few white- 

 fronted geese feeding in the swamps near the lakes. 



On the 22d the dabchicks come to their breed- 

 ing places in the smaller lochs, where there are 

 plenty of rushes, and the sheldrakes now come fre- 

 quently inland. About the middle of March the 

 black-backed gulls are very noisy in the bay. 



As the old keeper saw some bean geese pass over 

 the house, I took a long walk on the 1 2th to look 

 for them in their- usual feeding-places, but without 

 success. The old man, a true "laudator temporis 



