SNARING PUFFINS. 109 



Soa again alive. If the forcible English with 

 which its intrusion was greeted in stentorian tones 

 could have been translated into Gaelic for its edifi- 

 cation I am persuaded it would have entertained 

 but an ill- opinion of itself. 



When we reached a point some five or six 

 hundred feet up, our boat, which we could see 

 tossing on the waves below, looked like a little chip. 

 Nothing was visible of her except her gunwale and 

 seats, upon which were three small figures our 

 friend Mr. Young, and a man and a boy who had 

 been left in charge. 



I got Finlay Gillies to lay a Puffin snare on a 

 rock which jutted out seawards, and was considered 

 the favourite spot on all the St. Kilda group of 

 islands for the sport. Before he laid the engine of 

 destruction down, the crag had been covered with 

 birds; but the sight of the bit of rope, weighted at 

 either end with a stone and crowded with horse-hair 

 nooses in the middle, made them fight shy of it 

 for a while as they flew past in perfect clouds. 



By-and-by one individual, bolder than the rest, 

 alighted on the rock, and with an air of foolish 

 curiosity commenced to step along sideways towards 

 where the snare was set. He pulled several of the 

 nooses about with his beak, and after examining 

 them for awhile grew bolder. Poor bird ! his in- 

 quisitiveness cost him something; for in the course 

 of his investigations one of his feet slipped through 

 a noose, and when he came to lift his leg he dis- 

 covered that he was a prisoner. He contested his 

 captivity with great spirit and vigour, to the fright 

 of all the other members of his species that kept 

 on flying close past in a continuous and exhaustless 

 stream, until he became either weary of the struggle 

 or convinced of its uselessness, and rolled over upon 



