216 



RAMBLES AFTER SPORT. 



In the afternoon I strolled round tlie island with my 

 pea rifle and practised on the pelicans,, of which there 

 were hundreds on the rocks. It is astonishing how 

 deceitful the distances are in an open sea and a Chile 

 sky. I was shooting with a beautiful little rifle (hollow 

 bullet)^ which was sent out to me by ToUey^ of Birming- 

 ham; with it I constantly used to hit an oyster shell 

 at fifty paces, and I had most accurately sighted it 

 to one hundred and fifty yards. I fired at a pelican, which 

 I thought was at most seventy-five yards ofi", and to my 

 intense astonishment saw my bullet hit some twenty 

 yards (apparently) this side of him. I then put up the 

 one hundred and fifty yards sight, and fired again. The 

 bullet knocked a cloud of feathers out of master pelican, 

 but he flew ofi" unharmed. I never saw such crowds of 

 seafowl as there were on the rocks, and on a block some 

 hundred yards or so out at sea I saw some dozen huge 

 seals. I stalked these gentry quite easily, and fired at 

 the nearest ; I suppose the bullet was too small, as he 

 only gave a wriggle and plunged in again. I didn't 

 shoot any more, as I evidently could make no impres- 

 sion on them. Crowds of the beautiful fishing gulls 

 were flying hurriedly to and fro, always keeping to 

 tbeir own flock; they kept at an altitude of some 

 hundred feet above the sea, now circling, now flut- 

 tering, and anon hurrying swiftly forward, evidently 

 keeping pace with the .fry on the top of the water. 

 Suddenly, with the swiftness of an arrow, down they 

 would plump into the sea, sending the spray flying 

 high into the air like a fountain of gems. They afforded 

 me so much pleasure, I hadn't the heart to fire at them. 

 Another most perfectly beautiful gull I observed, with 

 an orange head, long jet-black bill, white breast, and 



