SEA-FOWL SHOOTING IN THE FIRTH OF FORTH. 125 



to see him out over a rugged country, where game is not over 

 plentiful, and when the November blasts have made it wild 

 and wary. The complete self-reliance, caution, and care with 

 which he will give his beautifully trained dogs the benefit of 

 all the best spots to harbour game ; the knowing manner he 

 will approach it when found; the masterly way he will 

 spring the pack or covey to advantage ; and the exquisitely 

 quick and steady shooting so essential when game is strong 

 and shy make an empty bag to a shooter with the above 

 qualifications a rare event. It is evident, however, that 

 none can possess them, without long experience and acute 

 observation, advantages which have most likely enticed the 

 possessor into the tempting province of the naturalist. A 

 new field has thus been opened up. The sportsman studies 

 the nature and habits of the wild creatures of chase, not 

 merely to get shots at them, but also for the pleasure derived 

 from the study itself. In place of being confined to the 

 shooting months, his sporting season comprises the whole 

 year. The advent and departure of migrants ; the discovery 

 of a rare visitor, with perhaps the triumph of adding him to 

 the museum ; the inexpressible delight and excitement of a 

 trip to the crags and cliffs of the ocean, swarming with their 

 varieties of wild sea-birds, with wilder cries, are now objects 

 of even greater interest than his most successful day among 

 the grouse or the deer. 



The time for studying the peculiar and individual char- 

 acteristics of sea-fowl is the month of May. Not only are 

 the birds tamer then, and their instincts more prominently 

 brought out, but each species is decked in its most imposing 

 and brightest attire. From a lightly-rigged yawl on a sunny 

 May morning with a gentle breeze, the coup d'ceil of a coast, 

 well frequented by sea-birds, and in the neighbourhood of 

 their breeding-rocks, is the most absorbing of all marine 

 views. You see the countless array .of guillemots, razor-bills, 

 sea-parrots, cormorants, and grebes some diving at your 



