McGinty") and locked in a barn. They succeed in attracting the laird's attention and eventually in explaining what is going on, and his conviction is reinforced by the sound of a gunshot, which angers the laird and alters his view. He turns out to be a person of impeccably good manners who apologises profusely to his visitors for the way they have been treated. His son Ian ("the young chieftain") also befriends the children, and everyone delights in the recovery of the divers' eggs and their restoration to the nest before they have gone cold. Ransome entrusts this task to Titty and Dick, the two characters whom his biographer Hugh Brogan considered to be Ransome's favourites, because they contained the most of his own personality. Ransome was personally a strong supporter of the protection of birds, and had previously advocated it in his novel Coot Club to which cross-reference is made in this book. As the plot involves more excitement and violence than usual, with the egg-collector attempting to shoot the rare bird of the title and a sailor in his employ attempts to shoot dogs, some have classified this book as one of the metafictional stories in the series: a fantasy tale made up by the children themselves. The other two books generally agreed to be metafictional are Peter Duck and Missee Lee. However, Arthur Ransome himself made it clear that this story was not metafiction. Writing to Myles North, discussing the book's dedication, he says: ...At all costs it must do nothing to weaken the reality ... nothing to suggest that it is a mere story and not the record of an actual happening, even if for bird protection's sake, the details are somewhat disguised. (AR's own emphasis) References External links 1947 children's books 1947 British novels Children's novels about animals Jonathan Cape books Novels set in the Outer Hebrides Swallows and Amazons series