RECOLLECTIONS AND ADVICES. 121 



par and minnows, and is not able to master the stronger 

 inhabitants of the flood ; as for the latter, its object of 

 attack is the spawn or roe, both that of the salmon 

 and the trout. On this it preys with great voracity, 

 devouring more than its own weight in the day, and 

 searching even at the bottom of deep pools, in order 

 to appease its appetite. The dainty manner in which 

 the heron feeds upon the perch is worthy of remark. 

 Being prevented by the thick, indigestible coat of scales, 

 and sharp spines of this fish, from swallowing it entire, 

 the bird manages with its bill to take off the skin, and 

 so get at the edible parts. We have started herons 

 at this work, and examined with minuteness the half 

 flayed victim left behind. 



Our Scottish waters are sometimes visited by the* 

 wild swan. St Mary's Loch, to which that bird is 

 poetically transported by Wordsworth, is, however, a 

 very rare place of resort. About four years ago, a 

 large one was shot at the foot of Corsecleugh Burn, 

 and at the same time two smaller ones were wounded 

 and taken. One of these was sent by the person who 

 captured it, to the late Sir Walter Scott of Abbotsford, 

 and, we believe, lived for some time. 



The large black-backed gull, esteemed a rare bird, 

 we have frequently seen about St Mary's, as well as 

 a fine specimen of the blue falcon, inhabiting the rocks 

 at the Grey Mare's Tail, a few miles off. The nest 

 of this latter is annually robbed, and yet, what is sin- 

 gular, the parent birds always return ; nay, it is asserted, 

 that if one of these should happen to be shot, the sur- 

 vivor provides itself with a mate before spring, although 

 necessarily from a great distance. 



We once saw what we should suppose to be a great 

 curiosity, passing over our head while angling on the 

 Earn in Perthshire. This was a white eagle, of a large 



