256 THE LAND'S END 



He wished he had known it was a pet seal ; he 

 wouldn't have killed it, no, not for anything, if he 

 had only known. And why had he not been warned ? 

 and so on, until he stepped out of the boat and went 

 his way with his gun. 



He had not been warned because in spite of all 

 the ferryman had seen of sportsmen and their ways 

 he never imagined that any one would have done so 

 brutal a thing or that the murderous shot would have 

 been fired so quickly. 



He also told me about an osprey which appeared 

 one autumn at the estuary. It was the first bird of 

 its species he had ever seen, and when it first appeared, 

 flying high in the air and hovering directly over his 

 hut where he kept a number of fowls and turkeys, 

 he became alarmed for their safety, thinking it was a 

 kite or other large destructive hawk. By and by 

 the strange bird sailed away and began circling above 

 the water, coming lower down, then after hovering at 

 one spot like a kestrel for some moments he saw it 

 drop into the water and rise with a good-sized fish in 

 its talons. Then he knew that the strange big hawk 

 was the famous osprey. 



For some days it displayed its magnificent powers 

 to all who came to the water-side, exciting a great 

 deal of interest ; then one of the sporting gentlemen 

 succeeded in getting a shot at it and wounding it 

 badly. But it did not drop ; it was watched flying 

 laboriously away over the moor until out of sight 

 and was never seen again. 



Another season he had a great northern diver in 



