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ENCOUNTERS 203judge, of the wildest and most urgent experiments,but for my part Iattribute his brilliantadvance not so much to his pluck, which nodoubt was great, as to his great gift of laughter,for I doubt if I have ever met his equal there.He had one queer thing to show me in the formof a hybrid bird which his dog had found in astubble field and which he assured me, and I couldwell believe him, had baffled all the experts in theneighbourhood and even " a gentleman out of amuseum," who had come all the way fromGlasgow to look at it. I am too pooran ornithologistto tackle the riddle of its mixed identity,but there was certainly a strong blend of theduck about it, though, truth to tell,it was alsomighty like a pheasant. It was living a secludedand contented life with the rest of the poultry,and I should imagine that ifmy friend could geta good price for it he would not be feared to effecta sale.One dreary evening in Ross-shire we fell in forthe third time with the Tinker, who was encampedon a little knoll two or three hundred yards upthe road. I went up to see him after supper. Histent was in the form of a vast cavern, a roundedstructure, not more than about four feet high.It was made of carpet, felt, canvas an old sail