VISIT TO THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 
33 
A COMPANY OF PUFFINS. 
CHAPTER IV. 
On a fine morning, towards the end of May, three of 
lis mounted the Rocket Portsmouth coach ; douhle-harrel- 
led patent percussions having been previously duly pre- 
pared, and a suitable supply of copper caps, powder and 
shot, and the etceteras of bird-stuffing laid in ; and the 
close of day found us at Newport, in the centre of the Isle 
of Wight. The next morning we reached Freshwater, or 
Freshwater Gate, as the natives term it, experiencing a 
most sanguinary feeling against all manner of sea-fowl and 
ornithological rarities : we, however, soon learned that we 
must reserve our ardour until the following morning, for 
that the birds went to. seaward at sunrise, and did not return 
until it was too dark at night to get any shooting ; so we 
D 
