244 HAPPY HUNTING-GROUNDS 



even a goose, although these latter are not common. 

 Great flocks of wild-fowl are always found between 

 Bellanoch Bridge and Crinan, and again in Port-na- 

 Dewar bay ; but the ground is too open to stalk them, 

 and they are " ill to drive." All the more does one 

 feel a sense of jubilation when a successful ambush and 

 a well-arranged drive have enabled us to secure one 

 or two couple. Perhaps one may get a curlew, or put 

 an end to the marauding of a black-backed gull, one 

 of the worst enemies of eggs and young game, and not 

 infrequently also guilty of destroying young lambs and 

 picking out their eyes. The hoarse bark of the raven 

 overhead betrays the identity of the " blot in heaven," 

 which at that distance could not, if silent, be distin- 

 guished from rook, crow, or even jackdaw ; cormor- 

 ants wing their flight between Crinan and Loch 

 Fyne, and long-winged herons flap out of the deep 

 drains. 



So passes our Christmas at Poltalloch, and the 

 fortnight seems to have flown all too rapidly when we 

 find ourselves once more upon the pier at Ardrishaig 

 waiting for the Grenadier to take us South. May we 

 have many more such Christmas visits, and may I be 

 fortunate enough for once to hit upon a season when 

 the guns come in for a real good flight of woodcock ! 

 There is a new plantation growing up on Kilchoan 

 banks, between the house and Duntroon, which ought 

 to be an ideal place for these birds in a year or two. 

 Never, I regret to say, have I so far been fortunate 

 enough to hit upon even an average season for cock, 

 and the sportsman always hankers after just the one 

 thing he fails to obtain. Why should I be denied the 

 sort of sport my nephew Bonham Carter got at Taynish 



