CHAP, XXIv.] WILD SWANS AND WIDGEONS. 193 
lochs : they consist of three pieces of water, the largest about 
three miles in length and one in width; the.other two, which 
communicate with the largest, are much smaller and narrower, 
indeed scarcely two gunshots in width; for miles around them, 
the country is flat, and intersected with a mixture of swamp and 
sandy hillocks. In one direction the sea is only half a mile from 
the lochs, and in calm winter weather the wild fowl pass the 
day-time on the salt water, coming inland in the evenings to 
feed. As soon as we were within sight of the lochs we saw the 
swans on one of the smaller pieces of water, some standing high 
and dry on the grassy islands, trimming their feathers after their 
long journey, and others feeding on the grass and weeds at the 
bottom of the loch, which in some parts was shallow enough to 
allow of their pulling up the plants which they feed on as they 
swam about, while numbers of wild ducks of different kinds, par- 
ticularly widgeons, swarmed round them and often snatched the 
pieces of grass from the swans as soon as they had brought them 
to the surface, to the great annoyance of the noble birds, who 
endeavoured in vain to drive away these more active little depre- 
dators, who seemed determined to profit by their labours. Our 
next step was to drive the swans away from the loch they were 
on; it seemed a curious way of getting a shot, but as the old man 
seemed confident of the success of his plan, I very submissively 
acted according to his orders. As soon as we moved them, they 
all made straight for the sea. ‘This wo’n’t do,” was my remark. 
“ Yes, it will, though; they ’1] no stop there long to-day with this’ 
great wind, but will all be back before the clock chaps two.” 
“‘ Faith, I should like to see any building that could contain a 
clock, and where we might take.shelter,” was my inward cogita- 
tion. The old man, however, having delivered this prophecy, 
set to work making a small ambuscade by the edge of the loch 
which the birds had just left, and pointed it out to me as my 
place of refuge from one o’clock to the hour when the birds 
would arrive. 
In the mean time we moved about in order to keep ourselves 
warm, aS a more wintry day never disgraced the month of 
October. In less than half an hour we heard the signal cries of 
the swans, and soon saw them in a Jong undulating line fly over 
the low sand-hills which divided the sea from the: largest loch, 
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