220 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



that the herons were ranged like soldiers along the loch at 

 the foot of the peak where I had attempted my strategy. 

 Directly on hearing the report they climbed the air, and I 

 had just time to cock one barrel and shoot a front-ranker; 

 but had both barrels been on full bend, I could as easily have 

 dropped his rear file with a second shot. The bird happened 

 to be a fine male, and, for a heron, plump enough to prove 

 that the Bull Loch fishmarket was well stocked. 



Another company of herons haunted the opposite extremity 

 of my shooting-beat during two seasons. Contrary to their 

 usual habits and nature, these last frequented the bare hard 

 moor, and appeared quite independent of loch, stream, or 

 even morass. Like their neighbours, they always posted " a 

 look-out," but were much tamer than herons usually are. 

 To any fair and open passer-by they gave little heed; but 

 the least appearance of scouting instantly raised their neck 

 or put them to flight. I suppose they fed at night, and 

 only rested on the moor. Since the railways began, several 

 heronries in the neighbourhood of the lines have been de- 

 serted, and the refugees have settled on the trees of more 

 secluded districts. The old heronry at Gartshore was aban- 

 doned at the very time when the trees in the gorge of the 

 lonely Glen Fruin were appropriated by a colony of these 

 birds. 



With the exception of the never-failing mergansers fishing 

 the shallow water of the coast, and a few waders on the shore, 

 the seas around Bute seem to have no attraction for wild-fowl. 

 This neglect of the many sheltered bays and shallows of the 

 island seems strange, but of all birds it may most emphatically 

 be said of sea-fowl, " There is no accounting for taste." 



Eoes and partridges are far more numerous in South Bute 

 than on the northern division of the island which I rented. 

 The copses of the Kyles, which so often helped the partridges 

 to foil us, always, however, harbour a sprinkling of these 



