374 A SPRING WEEK IN THE WEST HIGHLANDS. 



contrary, no birds are easier trapped, even at a stale bait, 

 than kites and buzzards. 



Once, and only once, I noticed a hen-harrier devouring 

 what she had no hand, or rather foot, in killing. On Lennie 

 Moor I wounded a grouse, and marked the spot where it 

 towered and fell. The scent was bad, and my dogs could 

 not find it. Two days after I was ranging the same 

 ground, and a female hen-harrier rose out of the heather. 

 She was giving the last polishing to the bones of my 

 grouse. It is probable she might have noticed the bird 

 fall, as hawks are very quick in detecting disabled prey. 

 I have seen them single out the wounded bird from a pack, 

 and stick to it closely. . Upon one occasion a hawk made a 

 desperate charge at a grouse I had actually knocked down, 

 neglecting several others which rose at the same moment. 

 I gave him an uncomfortable salute with my second barrel. 



Next day was the last of our Highland trip, and my boy 

 begged hard to be allowed to dedicate a couple of hours to 

 the pike at Kilchurn.* He had caught his bait before 

 breakfast, and borrowed a pike tackle, the waiter's old rod, 

 and a small rickety reel with ten yards of very rotten line. 

 We walked down to the castle of Kilchurn, which is sur- 

 rounded by a shallow reach of water, a sort of enclosed 

 bay from Loch Awe, full of large pike. A boat is a great 

 advantage here, where sunk banks and feeding grounds 

 abound in every direction, as in many of the shallower 



* The three best places on the loch for pike are Kilchurn, at the head, 

 Port and Sherry Bay, half way down, where the pike generally run large, 

 and, best of all, " the Foord " at the foot. 



