WILD SWAN SHOOJ'ING. 31 



whisky, light our pipes, and step out for the further shallow loch 

 without further delay (having first of all taken the precaution to 

 put up close to the water's edge a mild sort of scarecrow). 

 Within ten yards of its brink there is an old " peat hag," the 

 upper surface of which extended so far that it forms an admirable 

 shelter for the stalker, the difificulty of course being (when there 

 were birds on the loch) to get there unseen. On the present 

 occasion, beyond a few ducks which fly off at once, there is 

 nothing on the moss-brown water of the tarn to interest us, and 

 we take up our quarters underneath the overhanging turf without 

 any elaborate precautions. 



The snow begins to descend, and I suggest to Bob the propriety 

 of his remaining with me in the comparative shelter, but he won't 

 have it. " If, when the swans come back, they chance to settle at 

 the other side of the loch, they'll want drivin' towards ye," he 

 sapiently remarks, and after a frugal meal away he goes, leaving me 

 with " Garry " to keep me company, and both the guns, but not 

 very sanguine as to results. 



More than two hours have passed since Bob's departure, and I 

 have pretty well given up hope, when from the direction of the sea 

 there come clear and unmistakable notes, and frying directly to-i 

 wards me I can see some thirty or forty swans high in air. Need 

 I say that I endeavour to make myself microscopically small, and 

 need I say that Bob's precaution is justified, and that the big birds 

 descend with a mighty swish into the water at the far side of the 

 loch, a good three hundred yards distant from my place of conceal- 

 ment. 



For a little time they are very much on the qui vive, but soon 

 they seem to lose all sense of danger, and begin to feed and preen 



