158 WILD SPORTS OF THE HIGHLANDS. [CHAP. xix. 



to the fields. Those flocks that feed at a distance start before 

 sunrise ; but those that feed nearer to the bay do not leave their 

 roosting-place so soon. During stormy and misty weather, the 

 geese frequently fly quite low over the heads of the work-people 

 in the fields, but even then have a kind of instinctive dread of 

 any person in the garb of a sportsman. I have also frequently 

 got shots at wild geese, by finding out the pools where they drink 

 during the daytime. They generally alight at the distance of 

 two or three hundred yards from the pool ; and after watching 

 motionless for a few minutes, all start off' in a hurry to get their 

 drink. This done, they return to the open fields or the sea- 

 shore. 



In some parts of Sutherland for instance on Loch Shin, and 

 other lonely and unfrequented pieces of water the wild goose 

 breeds on the small islands that dot these waters. If their eggs 

 are taken and hatched under tame geese, the young are easily 

 domesticated ; but, unless pinioned or confined, they always take 

 to flight with the first flock of wild geese that passes over the 

 place during the migrating-season. Even when unable to fly, 

 they evince a great desire to take wing at this season, and are 

 very restless for a few weeks in spring and autumn. In a lonely 

 and little-frequented spot on the banks of Loch Shin, where the 

 remains of walls and short green herbage point out the site of 

 some former shealing or residence of cattle- herds, long since 

 gone to ruin, I have frequently found the wild goose with her 

 brood feeding on the fine grass that grows on what was once the 

 dwelling of man. The young birds do not fly till after they are 

 full grown ; but are very active in the water, swimming and 

 diving with great quickness. 



March is a month full of interest to the observer of the habits 

 of birds, particularly of those that are migratory. During the 

 last week of February and the first week in March thousands of 

 pewits appear here : first a few stragglers arrive, but in the 

 course of some days the shores of the bay are literally alive with 

 them. 



The black-headed gulls also arrive in great numbers. Tin's 

 bird loses the black feathers on the head during the winter, and 

 at this season begins to resume them. I see the birds with their 

 heads of every degree of black and white just now ; in a fort- 



