3560 Animal Life 
I remember having an amusing day with my camera stalking seals in the Outer 
Hebrides. It was a comparatively calm September morning, with plenty of light—an 
ideal day for stalking and photographing these wary animals. <A five-mile walk from 
the shooting-lodge brought me to a series of narrow creeks full of low-lying rocks 
and innumerable little islands, many of which could be reached from the mainland at 
low tide. The tide was about half out when I reached the top of a hill overlooking 
the first of these creeks. I had with me a powerful deer-stalking telescope, and 
carried a half-plate camera fitted with a long extension for use with a long-distance 
lens. This apparatus can be got ready for immediate work in a much shorter space 
of time than a camera with a telephoto lens. The latter would, no doubt, give better 
results if it were less bulky and more practicable for stalking on uneven ground after 
wild animals. In the first creek I could see no signs of a seal, and as the tide still 
had a good way to go out before it turned, I sat down and ate my lunch. 
There is always to me a certain charm in being absolutely alone in a wild country, 
far from the haunts of men, far from the noise and bustle of cities and the constant 
wear and tear of life. The ever-present beauty and magnificence of mountain, moor, 
and river makes one think more deeply that there must be a Maker, that there must 
be a God. 
In a town it is different. One sees nothing but the works of man—houses made 
by man, bridges made by man, money made by man. The wonderful creations of God, 
to my mind, can only be seen and properly appreciated in the country, far away 
from man and his work. 
Luncheon over, I again scanned the rocks, which were now beginning to stand 
out in the sea, but, finding nothing, I snapped up the glass and crossed another mile 
of broken moorland. In the second creek there were more islands, and with the naked 
eye I at once discerned some grey-looking objects im the seaweed. Out came the 
glass, and, sure enough, they were found to be seals. But the question was how to 
get near them. From the land it was 
r impossible, as the wind blew straight from 
it to thei powerful noses, and there was 
too much water to think of attempting to 
get near them on the side wind. 
I was sitting down considering what 
I should do, when all at once my eye hit 
upon a colony of seals some few hundred 
yards to the left of the first lot. They 
were lying on some seaweed close under 
the mainland. But in order to get at them 
I saw that I should have to descend a 
pretty formidable precipice to begin the 
stalk with. However, nothing venture 
nothing have, so I got up and walked 
over to the place to have a look at it. It 
was very steep and rocky, but not so bad 
as it looked. With my camera slung on 
my back I got down without any very 
ereat difficulty; but on reaching the 
bottom I found I was confronted with’ a 
| second problem. JI had to face a steep 
: See rock jutting out into the sea. However, 
AUHAPPY COUPLE, I got round this at last without getting 
