Reminiscences of the Lews; Or, Twenty Years' Wild Sport in the Hebrides (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV. THE HARRIS LOCHS AND A WORD ABOUT DOG REARING. I WAS disappointed with the firstwinterl spent in the Lews. I had expected to see many wild things there, but noticed few. Of eagles, gulls, hawks, ravens, and crows, there were plenty, and some martin cats; but I had expected numbers of wild-fowl, in which I was mistaken. There were ducks and teal, occasionally wild geese (these last breed in the island). I have heard of wild swans, which are occasionally shot, but never saw one. From the lochs, on which the wild fowl are, being very open, they are hard to be got at. Snipes and plover breed in the country, but generally leave it towards the middle or end of October. Some remained, and many came over from other parts to those more northern and western. Golden plover breed largely there, and abounded on the north and west; but, though a famous bird to eat, I never saw much pleasure in thatsort of shooting. "Woodcocks generally do not arrive in flights till the first or second week in November, though I have shot them early in October. Strange to say, though they breed largely on the adjacent mainland, I never knew an instance of their breeding in the Lews. As there is no wood in it, all the woodcock shooting is on heather. Particularly good dogs are wanted to find them; and both you and your dogs must have a very accurate knowledge of where to look for them. A really good woodcock dog ought never to forget any spot in which he has ever found a woodcock. Certainly, the first year of my sojourn I found very few; but then, perhaps, I did not know where to look for them. Some parts of the Park had a great reputation, and justly so, for cocks; but then there was Loch Seaforth to get over, and the winter days were short, and not so serene as one would have wished. I got...