THE ISLAND OF COLONSAY 31 



a limit as to grouse, which we took care not even to 

 approach, as we were not fortunate in hitting upon 

 good breeding seasons. We were the despair of the 

 keeper, as we rarely took a set day with dogs and 

 men. What my sons, and perhaps their father also, 

 loved best was to wander out alone with a ruk-sack, 

 glass, and pea rifle, and bring back as much as a 

 solitary sportsman cared to carry. It can readily be 

 imagined that under such circumstances hares were 

 severely let alone, and rabbits only shot at in the 

 evening when we had got very near home. 



What happy days we spent there during those two 

 autumns ! The old house was large enough to accom- 

 modate a numerous party, and I never knew anyone who 

 visited the island who did not succumb to its charm. 

 There was amusement to suit all tastes; the old whale- 

 boat was qut most days, unless the wind was unfavour- 

 able, bearing a merry party to picnic either northward 

 or southward as tide and wind happened to serve ; 

 others would visit the golf links at Machrins, taking 

 with them gun, rifle, or fishing-rod ; for West Loch 

 Fada was close to the links, and the evening hours 

 were best for a rise, while duck, pigeon, and snipe 

 abounded in the bays and rushy marshes on the 

 edges of the green turf, and along the sides of the 

 three lakes which stretched below the. road between 

 Killoran and the bay. These lakes must at no very 

 distant date, geologically speaking, have formed part 

 of the sea itself. They discharge their overflow into 

 Port Mor and the Atlantic through a low marshy field, 

 and the whole conformation of the valley in which they 

 are situated nearly resembles such sea lochs as Loch 

 Swen and West Loch Tarbert in the Mull of Cantyre. 



