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knocked down with sticks or caught by dogs ; tlie latter, how- 
ever, would speedily be compelled to quit their hold were not 
prompt assistance at hand. 
So far as I am aware. Hoopers always rise head to wind ; thus 
one can often obtain a fair shot from the land by running in 
from the windward side and waiting until they pass overhead. 
This method will often answer even when they are sitting far 
out of shot from the shore, for they rise so heavily that only a very 
slight elevation is attained by the time the first fifty or sixty 
yards have been traversed. For similar reasons, sailing down 
upon them before the wind affords a good chance ; but an oppor- 
tunity very seldom occurs, owing to their preference for the lochs. 
To give an instance. One morning early in May 1861 I saw a 
Hooper settle in the voe at Balta Sound, evidently a wounded 
bird. Two men pushed off in a boat, taking a gun with them, 
to secure it. The swan allowed them to come so near, ap- 
proaching as they were to windward of it, that the men actually 
determined to catch it loith their hands ! However, they 
stupidly went round to leeward, and away flew the swan, none 
the worse for the attempt made to shoot it. In fact, this bird 
can almost never be made to fly down the wind when alarmed. 
The Hooper is a most remarkably powerful swimmer. One 
November day, when a heavy gale was blowing from the S.S. W., 
I remember seeing three Hoopers, two old ones and a young one, 
swim right out in the very teeth of it with great rapidity. Since 
the passing of the Gun Licence Act, the number of this bird’s 
persecutors has undergone a considerable diminution, but there 
are still sufficient licensed shooters to make its short sojourn 
with us anything but a peaceful one. It is a slight consolation, 
liowever, to know that on an average not one shot in twenty is 
successful. Tlie extraordinary misses- one occasionally sees are 
something marvellous ; but of course a large allowance must be 
made for old muskets and blasting powder. A few years ago, a 
man ol)serving two Hoopers in the loch of Cliff early one morn- 
ing, succeeded in creeping up to a convenient stone within tlie 
distance of forty yards. Observing that they sat motionless 
