126 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



approach, others rising in your wake, numbers darting on 

 wing, a fair though quick cross-shot, past the bow or stern 

 of your trig little craft ; an infinite variety of gulls, from the 

 giant to the kittywake, flapping lazily over and around you, 

 and the solan in the distance, just poising, then coming down 

 prone like a meteor into the glancing wave, the dull thud of 

 the plunge being heard at a mile's distance. Soaring among 

 them from her secure nest among the most fearful of the 

 beetling cliffs is the sooty raven, scarcely, however, to be 

 distinguished but by her croak from a jackdaw; while the 

 peregrine, also nidifying on a giddy point, and faring sumptu- 

 ously on her sea neighbours, seems dwarfed to a merlin. 



Amidst this magnificent but, to the uninitiated, chaotic 

 panorama, we have placed the occupant of the picturesque 

 fishing-boat, and will suppose him a keen sportsman just 

 lapsing into the naturalist. Anxious for rare specimens, but 

 totally bewildered, he turns helplessly to the boatmen, who 

 overpower him, as the fowl dash past, with the coast slang 

 nicknames Marrots, Tommie Nories, Nettleducks, Coll-the- 

 caunlewicks, Letter-o'-marques, &c. until, perhaps, the day 

 closes with a boat-load of trash, and only some distant ran- 

 dom chances at the wilder, rarer, or more gorgeous treasures 

 of the deep. 



How vastly intensified in interest does this living sea be- 

 come to the keen eye of an experienced sportsman who is at 

 the same time an accomplished naturalist ! Not only does 

 he know each kind and genus by book, but, from an intimate 

 knowledge of their habits and manners, and a quick eye kept 

 in constant practice, can distinguish every variety at distances 

 which (to a novice) appear impossible. He scans the sea 

 with his telescope, detects at a glance the specimens he is in 

 search of, and immediately decides upon the safest approach 

 that offers a fair prospect of a successful shot. Should he 

 secure the coveted object of pursuit, it is not alone its rarity 

 or beauty which makes his heart to dance like his little 



