CH. XXXVII. HERRING-FISHING IN THE LOCHS. 281 



Sea-birds innumerable attend on the herring- 

 boats, finding it easier to pick up the dead fish, 

 whether whole or in pieces, which fall into the 

 water, than to dive after the living ones. The 

 larger gulls eat immense quantities. I was as- 

 sured that a black -backed gull has been seen 

 to swallow five goodly -sized herrings in rapid 

 succession. He was then so utterly gorged and 

 unable to move that he was caught. All these 

 flocks of birds enliven the scene — some, like the 

 gannets, dashing down from a height into the 

 calm water, and almost invariably catching a her- 

 ring ; others diving and attacking the shoals far 

 down beneath the surface ; while the gulls for 

 the most part feed on the maimed and broken fish. 

 Every bird, too, seems to be trying to scream 

 louder than the rest, and such a Babel-like mixture 

 of sounds can scarcely be heard anywhere else. 

 Altogether it is a most interesting and animated 

 scene, and to see it in perfection it is well worth 

 while to take the trouble of passing a night in a 

 herring-boat instead of in one's bed. In fact I can 

 truly assert that two nights spent many years ago 

 in herring-fishing have kept an honoured place in 

 my memory, and are looked back to as among the 

 most amusing of my out-door adventures. 



A different mode of pursuing this fish is resorted 



