CH. XXXIV. WILD-CAT. 225 



perched on one foot on a stone in the middle of 

 the stream. A golden -eye or two were diving 

 earnestly and quickly in the quieter parts of the 

 river, taking wing only on my near approach, and 

 after flying some distance up the stream, coming 

 back again over my head, making with their 

 rapid pinions the peculiar clanging noise which 

 distinguishes their flight from that of any other 

 duck. They passed me unmolested, for had we 

 killed them they would have been useless. In- 

 deed no diving duck is fit to eat, with the excep- 

 tion perhaps of the pochard and scaup ; and even 

 these, although I have heard them much praised, 

 are far inferior to mallard, widgeon, or teal, which 

 are, in my opinion, the only British ducks worth 

 killing for the larder. 



On leaving the birch -woods the country be- 

 came wild and dreary, and frequently we had 

 no small difficulty in making our way along the 

 trackless snow. The otters had turned off here 

 and there from the river, and we saw no more 

 of their footsteps. A wild-cat had been hunting 

 at one part of the banks, but had crossed where 

 some stones raised above the water had enabled 

 her to do so tolerably dry -footed. Although not 

 so unwilling to get wet as the domestic cat, this 



animal appears to avoid the water as much as 

 VOL. II. Q 



