Nov. 9, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
589 
Stalking Wild Swans 
S OME years ago L. was back in England after 
a sojourn in India. Feeling the effects of 
the climate, I jumped at the chance of 
some real rough shooting in Scotland, where I 
hoped to regain some of my lost energy. 
Danna Island, about as wild and bleak a 
place as a sportsman can well find, is situated 
at the mouth of Loch Swin, Argyllshire and 
forms an almost ideal station for the wildfowler. 
On one side of it are the sheltered waters of 
the various branches of Loch Swin, which ex¬ 
tend for eight miles inland in five various direc¬ 
tions. On the other side lie the McCormaig 
and Cais-aig islands and Loch Kiels. I know of 
no other waters so well suited for wildfowling, 
or where there are more geese, widgeon and 
other ducks. I may have seen perhaps more in 
some parts of India and even in Egypt, but it 
seems to me that wildfowl shooting is far more 
enjoyable in such a climate as Scotland or Ire¬ 
land than under the blazing sun of the before- 
mentioned countries. 
On my first day out I found that a pair of 
wild swans frequented this district, and I made 
up my mind to devote what little energy I had 
left to the securing of them, and for several 
days I made fruitless endeavors to get within 
range of them. As the eagle is king among the 
birds of the air, so is the wild swan the king 
among the water birds, and I often observed 
these swans driving the ducks off Knap Point, 
as well as in the sound of Danna Island, and 
in a branch of Loch Swin, called Linnhe Vurich. 
On one occasion I stalked to within fair range 
of them as they rested on a small fresh water 
loch, having a twelve-bore and only No. 4 car¬ 
tridges with me. When they rose, I fired both 
barrels at the head and neck of the largest bird. 
Twice he fell head over heels in the air, but 
recovered and both then flew right out of sight 
toward the island of Jura. 
One morning I found them feeding in the 
shallow waters at the head of Loch Kiels, oppo¬ 
site Port-na, Gollan and succeeded in stalking 
within thirty yards of them. I had my twelve- 
bore and some cartridges loaded for the pur¬ 
pose with No. 2 shot. The first one I killed 
and severely wounded the other, which made 
off across Loch Kiels. As the wind was off the 
land, and I had neither dog nor boat, I had to 
swim for the swan and succeeded in bringing 
him safely to shore. He was an immense bird 
and I could scarcely carry him up the rocks 
from low water mark. The cold was intense, 
and being as I have said all “run down’’ from 
the heat of India, this January bath chilled me 
to the bone. Still I pursued the wounded swan, 
having to walk five miles round the head of Loch 
Kiels before I could approach him. The shore 
whereon he had alighted was so flat that I could 
not get near enough to finish him off, although 
I fired both barrels without effect. 
Darkness then came on and I took refuge 
in Ulva school house on the other side of Loch 
Kiels, having another three miles to walk there. 
What a difference to shooting in India, where 
I should have been carried this distance! The 
water had frozen on my clothes and I could 
hardly speak from the cold. At the school house 
By W. R. GILBERT 
I found my dead swan, which a man had carried 
there. He looked enormous and measured five 
feet nine inches from beak to tail. I was so 
prostrated with the cold that I could not follow 
the wounded swan any further that night, al¬ 
though he had taken refuge on the side of Loch 
Kiels on which Ulva school house is situated. 
Having procured a change of clothes, food and 
a stiff glass—come to think of it, it might have 
been filled again—of hot whiskey and water, I 
walked to a farm house on Danna and slept the 
sleep of the just. 
Next morning I was up before daybreak. 
The weather was very stormy and a heavy gale 
was blowing. From the hill upon which the 
farm house was built I saw at dawn the wounded 
swan swim out of Loch Kiels in the direction 
of Knap Point and followed him along the 
rocky shores of Danna, out to Danna Point. 
The ground was very favorable for a stalk, but 
the great bird never came within shot of the 
shore. The rough water and the tidal race at 
the entrance of Loch Swin turned him back. I 
could see the waves breaking right over him, 
and he then swam back along Danna past the 
mouth of Loch Kiels almost out to the islet of 
Carraig nan Damph, a mile northwest of the 
entrance to Loch Kiels. The snow squalls were 
so heavy that I often lost sight of him, and to 
add to my troubles a thunder storm came on. 
Its effects on the ducks which frequent the Jura 
side of Danna was most remarkable. I think 
they mistook Heaven’s Artillery for the heavy 
gunshots of man, their mortal foe. I might 
have had a splendid morning’s duck shooting 
as I lay among the rocks watching the course 
of the swan. I had determined, however, to fire 
at nothing except the wounded swan. The light¬ 
ning struck the rocks several times close to me, 
and the force of the tempest was such that dur¬ 
ing the worst squalls I could hardly raise my 
head above the rocks, so violently did the hail 
patter in my face. My eyes were so sore that 
I could not follow the white speck in the dis¬ 
tance which was my wounded swan. Being un¬ 
able to stem the strong tide, which runs in the 
sound of Jura, the swan at last turned back, re¬ 
entered Loch Kiels, and swam along Kiels 
Point, where the water is very deep, to an inlet 
on the northern side of the loch, where the water 
is shallow, and where he was able to feed. I 
knew he could not stop long out in the deep 
water. Unfortunately I was on the southern 
shore of the loch, and had to stalk five miles 
round before I could get to where he was rest¬ 
ing. I had previously carefully marked the spot 
where he had gone ashore, and among the high 
rocks of Kiels Point stalked within thirty-five 
yards of where he was standing on a small islet. 
The first barrel floored him and I fired the sec¬ 
ond at his feet and breast as he kicked spasmodi¬ 
cally upside down. I was suffering so severely 
from the wetting of the day before—developing 
“cold feet”—I simply dared not go out after 
him for fear of cramps. The wind was off the 
land and the tide setting out, and to my sorrow 
I saw him drift out to sea into the rough waters 
of the Sound of Jura. 
The gulls kept stooping at him as he floated 
upside down, and I feared they would spoil his 
skin. I fired several times to scare them, but 
they took not the slightest notice of the shots. 
The dead swan vanished in the snow squalls. 
Fortunately I had heard that there was a strong 
current outside the mouth of Loch Kiels,, which 
would set him on the Danna shore, and “done 
brown” as I was, I had to go another five miles 
round Loch Kiels in search of him. The farm¬ 
ers on Danna confidently assured me that he 
would have drifted out through Islay Sound, 
but this was not so. I found him floating along 
the shore just where I expected, and he was 
washed up in a small bay almost at the extreme 
point of Danna. It was no easy task to carry 
him and my gun up the steep hills to the farm, 
but I accomplished it at last. I hung him over 
my back and even then his body nearly trailed 
on the ground behind me. It took me—with the 
aid of the farmer—nearly all the next day to 
skin the two birds. The second one was nearly 
as large as the first, and they were both old 
cobs (males), which accounts perhaps for their 
savageness to the other wildfowl. They were 
rather strong food when washed, and I was 
content with eggs and bacon and the satisfac¬ 
tion of having secured the skins. 
* A 
tffci of®;;- v’ 
• -T- 
‘ J. 
l- a.:: 
* V ' ■ ' 
POINT BLIND, BOWLEY S QUARTERS, MARYLAND. 
Photo by Talbott Denmead. 
