MARCH. WILD SWANS AND GEESE. 201 



mallard, though so excellent a bird when feeding 

 in the stubble fields, is often rank and bad when 

 driven by deep snows and frost to feed on seaweed, 

 shellfish, &c. Widgeon and brent geese also, and 

 in fact all wild fowl, are good or bad eating ac- 

 cording to where they feed, in the same way that 

 the dog of the Chinese, which is fatted for the 

 table, must be very unlike in flavour to a foxhound 

 who has been fed on horseflesh. 



The bernacle goose seldom pays us a visit, but I 

 saw a few one day near the bar. I had one of my 

 boys with me, who was anxious to get a shot at a 

 wild swan who was swimming about one of the 

 lochs, and when we came back from an unsuccessful 

 pursuit of him the geese had left the place. This 

 bird is numerous only on the west coast. 



About the 20th of March I see a few white- 

 fronted geese feeding in the swamps near the lakes. 



On the 22nd the dabchicks come to their breed- 

 ing places in the smaller lochs, where there are 

 plenty of rushes, and the sheldrakes now come fre- 

 quently inland. About the middle of March the 

 black-backed gulls are very noisy in the bay. 



As the old keeper saw some bean geese pass over 

 the house, I took a long walk on the 12th to look 

 for them in their usual feeding-places, but without 

 success. The old man, a true " laudator temporis 



k3 



