1 9 1 4 - * 9 x 5-] Outer Hebrides and in Midlothian. 173 



Lothian and the north of Berwickshire. When it is taken 

 into consideration that about 800 geese, and nearly as many 

 duck and snipe, are killed in a season, besides woodcock, 

 grouse, and other game, this place must be regarded as a 

 sportsman's paradise. The variety of duck included mallard, 

 teal, tufted widgeon, scaup, golden-eye, shoveller, pintail, 

 pochard, besides occasional strangers. 



It is now many years since I hatched and introduced tufted 

 ducks into Midlothian. Whether they bred there previously 

 I never could find out. Over forty years ago, in company 

 with my old friend the late Bailie Lewis, I was fishing in a 

 loch in which were some islands — I had better not say where. 

 The late Bailie took a great interest in natural history, and, 

 as trout were not 'on the take/ we had a bird-nesting 

 excursion on an island. Among other nests, we found one of 

 the tufted duck with eight eggs. They were already chipped, 

 and would have been hatched in another day or so. I at 

 once suggested taking them and having them hatched under 

 a hen. My friend was a bit sceptical, thinking the chicks 

 would die before we got them home, as seven or eight hours 

 would intervene. Having had experience with pheasant eggs, 

 I was aware that, when near hatching, this length of time 

 would not prove fatal to the chicks. I put the eggs in my 

 basket, packed among grass, and in about seven hours they 

 were under a sitting hen. Forty hours after, I had seven 

 lively little ducklings, which I placed in a coop with a run in 

 front. For several days I fed them on custard, and would 

 have much liked to see them grow up. At that time, how- 

 ever, I had, like the ducks, to migrate to the north and spend 

 a few months at Dalnaspidal, near the county march between 

 Perthshire and Inverness-shire. I therefore transferred the 

 ducklings to the banks of the Esk, where pheasants were 

 being reared, and every one of them grew to full size. They 

 stayed in the river all winter, but when March came round 

 they, impelled by the irresistible instinct of migration, departed 

 and were not again seen. 



A few years after, Mr Lewis and I were fishing on Glad- 

 house Reservoir. I cannot be certain of dates, but it was not 

 long after the reservoir was made. As usual, we explored 



