A DAY WITH THE GRILSE 165 



upon the mainland ; but there are plenty of rocky 

 islands seldom visited where they can breed in 

 peace. I like them better than the jackdaws, 

 which increase and multiply in the same places 

 and for the same reason. The one reminds me 

 of a mastiff; the other of a mischievous yapping 

 cur. I am tolerant of what keepers call vermin, 

 and would never willingly permit the slaughter 

 of a peregrine or an eagle, although I know they 

 take toll both in moor and forest ; but jackdaws 

 and rats are my abhorrence, and any method of 

 destroying them, per fas or nefas, has my hearty 

 acquiescence and good- will. The eagles, alas ! 

 seldom if ever pay us a visit ; but the peregrine 

 is often with us. Only three days ago, as I was 

 fishing the Irishman's pool, higher up the river, 

 I was startled by the cry of a curlew evidently 

 in distress ; and immediately afterwards the bird 

 itself settled on the stones not ten yards off, and, 

 as I had conjectured, the cause of its terror imme- 

 diately followed in the shape of a splendid hen 

 falcon which swooped close past my head, and, 

 seeing me, soared off with a startled flight, and 

 was soon lost to sight over the neighbouring hill. 

 It was ten minutes and more before the curlew 

 would leave my society, doubtless fearing that its 

 enemy was waiting for it not far off. 



But the dog-cart has pulled up at Dunadd Bridge, 

 and it is time that I should get out and put my 

 rod together. As I look at the heavy stream 



