3fARCH. DEATH OF WILD SWAN. 199 



ground was covered with sand-hills and bent, so 

 that I conld not see the exact spot where he fell, 

 whether on the dry ground or in the sea. However, 

 I marked the direction as well as I could, and set 

 off after him. 



Large as he was, I had a long and for some time 

 a fruitless search amongst the broken sand-hills. 

 I scanned the bay with the glass in vain, and then 

 came back towards the lochs. At last I hit upon 

 him by finding a quantity of blood on the sand, and 

 following the drops, which had fallen almost in a 

 stream : in fact the track of blood, though falling 

 from such a height, was as conspicuous as that of a 

 wounded hare on snow. At length I came to the 

 swan, who was lying stretched out on the sand, and 

 a noble bird he was. I shouldered him as well as 

 his great length would enable me to do, and 

 carried him back to where the boy was waiting for 

 me. I found him, too, no slight burden ; he 

 weighed above 27 lbs. ; the breadth between his 

 wings 8 feet, and his length 5 feet. Of all the 

 swans I ever killed he was by far the largest, the 

 usual weight being from 15 to 18 lbs. 



The pochard which I brought home from Spynie 

 remains quite contented and goes about with the 

 other ducks. He will eat whatever they feed upon, 

 but prefers worms to everything else, showing great 



