238 THE PEAT ISLE. 



raw flesh which was held out to them. After getting hold 

 of one by the above stratagem, I was amazed to see it- 

 throw up a dead mole, which showed the straits to which 

 it had been reduced. Another, which I winged about the 

 end of November at the foot of a drain, cast up three or 

 four good-sized trout. How it had caught them at that 

 season, I should like to know.* 



The young gulls are very fond of slugs, &c., and two 

 kept in my father's kitchen garden were of great use in 

 destroying such reptiles. They require more solid food, 

 however ; but these dainties appear to come in as a dessert. 

 The nests of the herons are always on a tree or ruin j those 

 of the gulls on a dry sandy piece of ground on the island. 

 The red-breasted merganser, and the goosander, may be 

 seen in the summer, but are constant visitors in winter, 

 the latter sometimes scattered along the shore in flocks 

 of fifty and upwards. 



But the most interesting summer emigrant is the curlew. 

 There is a melody in its two wild notes that carries an 

 indescribable charm over the calm waters or the lonely 

 moor. It generally makes its appearance a little after the 

 green plover, and both hatch on the island every year. 

 By imitating the curlew's cry, I have often arrested its 

 flight, even at an immense distance, and brought it wheel- 

 ing round my head for some minutes together. In early 

 spring it is generally most clamorous, and continues so 

 until it leaves the inland moors and lochs for the sea-coast 



* In the winter 1837-8, 1 shot five fine specimens of the heron. None 

 of them had any food in their crop. 



