480 THE MOOR AND THE LOCH. 



Buxton wrote to a friend his " serious opinion that good 

 woodcock-shooting was a preferable thing to glory." Few 

 senators would sink self so low as to rank the flight of the 

 woodcock higher than flights of oratory, and fewer still would 

 even have the honesty to record it if they did. But in sing- 

 ling out the pursuit of this bird, the great anti-slavery advo- 

 cate showed how much more exciting it was to him than any 

 other shooting. With the exception of wild-fowl, I quite 

 agree with him, and these two sports are certainly the strength 

 of the Sound of Mull. 



The first hard frost generally brings the best flight of wood- 

 cocks. The succeeding frosts, even though more severe, 

 seldom produce so many birds. Wild-fowl, on the contrary, 

 crowd the shores in exact proportion to the severity of the 

 weather ; and should the frost be more than usually intense, 

 and the storm protracted, rare and curious specimens con- 

 stantly turn up. 



Of all shooting comforts a really useful water-retriever is 

 most rare. Of late years I have discarded three dogs of this 

 description, all pronounced first-rate and thoroughly broke, by 

 their trainers men who were considered no mean judges of 

 the capabilities of a sporting dog. One of these swimming 

 paragons was too off-hand to reflect; another, though cautious, 

 was self-willed and sulky ; while the third, being well en- 

 dowed with common -sense, and good temper to use it, now and 

 then unfortunately carried his gift to the extreme of discre- 

 tion, by refusing to face a cold or stormy sea. 



When the days were, like the old Aberdeen sermons, " short 

 and cauld and clear," my son went down to Mull for some 

 winter shooting. He had only a knowing quiet-tempered old 

 pointer, who had never either retrieved or taken the water in 

 his life. One of the first killed shots, a fine Merganser drake, 

 was being rapidly floated away by the tides : disdaining to 

 imitate the discreet retriever, he instantly plunged into the 

 sea no uncommon winter exploit and brought the bird to 



