144 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



view. I now joined our party there, who had been busy giv- 

 ing books, &c., among the few cottages which lie in one shel- 

 tered corner. A poor man, whom reason had left, lay basking 

 on the grass with a number of children playing all round him. 

 He seemed gentle and kind to them, though no others dared 

 to interfere. Sorrow had left its deepest traces on his poor 

 old mother's face. Suffering of many kinds met our eyes ; 

 and we were painfully impressed with the contrast between 

 the outer forms of nature and these poor wrecks of humankind. 



In consequence of a summons from Adams of the Bass 

 Eock, I went down one morning in March by train to North 

 Berwick, where he agreed to meet me, for a cruise in the 

 Firth after the eider-ducks. Each year a few of these Nor- 

 wegians remain among the rocky islets of the Forth for the 

 purpose of incubation. On the Bass there was only one nest 

 last season ; but they are more apt to hatch on the rocks of 

 " The Lamb " and " Fiddery," and even in the bluff headlands 

 of the coast. Their nests are not easily found, especially as 

 the duck is so close a sitter. As the eiders had not paired, I 

 expected a good view of them swimming in small companies, 

 and perhaps a chance shot at a drake from a large single gun 

 I brought with me. The west wind scarcely dimpled the sea ; 

 so, with the exception of one long shot which did not touch, 

 no eiders would allow a nearer approach than some hundred 

 yards. The drakes had a singular appearance on wing the 

 upper half of their bodies snowy white, and the lower jet 

 black. At the distance they rose, the division of colour looked 

 pretty equal. I was delighted with a good sight of that 

 beautiful creature the long-tailed duck. He was diving in the 

 harbour, and is nicknamed " Coll -the- caunle wick" by the 

 fishermen, on account of his cry. We passed a very wild flock 

 or two of velvet-ducks, but I saw none of the common scoter. 

 Crowds of dunlins and knots, collectively named " mussel- 

 pickers " by Adams, were tripping upon many of the points. 



