On the Various Methods of Shooting Ducks 135 
own specimens, but if not they should be despatched as soon as possible to the taxidermist. 
In warm weather it is a good plan to take out the body, as decomposition proceeds very 
slowly when this is done. Careful notes of sex, date, locality, and age of the bird should be 
taken at once and entered in a book ; whilst the stomach should be examined and the food 
if possible identified. 
My experience has been that the Shetland boatmen are not nearly so brave or so 
observant as the Orcadians, whilst the Hebridean crofters are both lazy and avaricious ; 
yet there are very good hunting grounds for sea-ducks to be found in the Sound of Yell in 
the former islands, and on the west coasts of both North and South Uist and the Sound of 
Harris, if the hunter can get over the difficulties of securing reliable boats and boatmen. 
