128 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



The boatman soon fished up the dead bird, and we beat up 

 against the wind, looking out for a fresh chance. I was not 

 long in espying a solitary white speck in the direct line of 

 the team I had shot at, which I at once suspected was my 

 second-barrel bird. Getting well to windward, we carefully 

 bore down, and the eider, although uneasy, allowed us to run 

 within reach of a long shot, then heavily rose, and hanging 

 against the wind, crossed our bow. We fired together. The 

 bird dropped, and instantly dived, but soon rose again to the 

 surface dead. 



We had now secured two splendid eider drakes, but to 

 complete the case a brown mate was needed for each. Again 

 I scanned the wide expanse of water with the telescope, and 

 soon fixed it on a large bird in the smooth water near the 

 mainland coast. " It's the loon, sir," shouts the boatman ; 

 " there's one of them has haunted these bays for the last fort- 

 night." As I had no specimen yet, the Great Northern was 

 a prize worth trying for. From their weakness in the air, 

 and their amazing power in the water, grebes and divers are 

 very unwilling to take wing, always preferring to baffle their 

 foes in the element to which nature has so finely adapted 

 them. The difficulty, therefore, of getting a shot consists in 

 their jealousy of a close approach, and the power they all 

 possess, by swimming very low, of slipping under water like 

 magic. 



The Great Northern is not only the most wary of the diving 

 tribe, but his progress under water is as fast as that of some 

 birds in the air, and the length of his dive often extends to 

 a quarter of a mile. We therefore went to work very cau- 

 tiously : first tacking about to windward for some time, to 

 accustom the bird to the appearance of the boat, and then 

 gently wearing her, we approached imperceptibly nearer and 

 nearer. The loon was greedily feeding, and from the short- 

 ness of his dives, and the rapidity with which they succeeded 

 each other, he had evidently an abundant feast. Crouching 



