PUNT SHOOTING. 109 



than when they have to work for it, which they have 

 to do when the shores are covered with ice, and 

 hard 



Knowing that Cromarty Bay was a noted place 

 for geese and all kinds of fowl, I went there ; but 

 I found that there were at least three or four 

 professional men there, and so I steamed back to 

 Inverness, and hearing a wonderful account of a 

 place called Munlochy Bay, I repaired thither, intent 

 upon doing great things. The first night I went 

 there, knowing nothing of the country, I went up 

 the bay about flight time, and the quantity of 

 widgeon that came in was perfectly marvellous ; 

 they came in, flock after flock, as fast as they could 

 come, for nearly half an hour. But I could not hear 

 any of them " pitch " ; and though I went some way 

 up the said bay, I never could make out where they 

 went to ; but, wherever they did go to, they must 

 have been in hundreds upon hundreds, or for any- 

 thing I know in thousands. Two or three days after 

 this, I made a purpose journey in the day-time to 

 try and find where they all fed at night ; but from 

 the state of the weather it was impossible to get far 

 enough up the bay to find out their ground. We 

 had anchored my little yacht at the entrance of the 



