246 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



brother and his son, and found two half-grown Woodcocks on the 

 ground and flushed them, but they only flew a few yards, and I 

 flushed one of them again. This is the first known record, I 

 believe, of the Woodcock found nesting in Shetland. R. C. 

 HALDANK, Ollaberry, Shetland. 



[It is right to remember that Saxby records seeing the eggs of 

 Woodcock on Hermaness, N. Unst, on 23rd May (year?), and this 

 is quoted in Buckley and Evans' "Fauna of Shetland," p. 163. 

 J. A. H.-B.] 



Snipe migrating- in a Floek at Tiree. On the aoth October 

 1904, I noticed at about 2 P.M. a flock of birds coming from the 

 north straight towards me. I thought at first that they were Golden 

 Plover, but upon their coming nearer I saw that they were flying 

 straight, but in a zig-zagging fashion, tacking up against the wind. 

 They passed over my head, low down, and about thirty yards off. 

 They were Snipe (Gallinago cxlestis), and there would be about one 

 hundred of them. I thought they were going to alight on the 

 island, but they held on in the direction of Dhuheartach. PETER 

 ANDERSON, Tiree. 



[Mr. M'Elfrish recorded ("Annals " 1902, p. i 21) a similar flight 

 in Benbecula. Though not often observed, yet it is probable that 

 when on migration Snipe of both species move in flocks. I have 

 seen migrating flights of the Common Snipe in Faroe, and of Jack 

 Snipe at the Flannan Isles. W. E. C.] 



New Breeding Station of the Fulmar Petrel in Shetland. 

 While staying at Scousburgh, last May, I was interested in seeing 

 several Fulmar Petrels (Fi/lmarus glacialis) flying about the cliffs a 

 little to the north of Fitful Head. Mr. Thomas Henderson, jun., 

 informs me that the first time he knew of or observed them was in 

 1900, and then only a pair or two. Since then they have increased 

 every year, and now he thinks there are about thirty pairs nesting. 

 The breeding colony is on two high peaks jutting out into the sea 

 about quarter of a mile apart. In the "Vertebrate Fauna of 

 Shetland," Messrs Evans and Buckley mention six different breeding 

 colonies of the Fulmar Petrel, the farthest south being at the Noup 

 of Ness, near Lerwick, which was discovered by Mr. R. Godfrey 

 ("Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist." 1899, p. 53). On the west side the 

 nearest breeding station to Fitful is at Foula, the oldest established 

 colony in Shetland. NORMAN B. KINNEAR, Edinburgh. 



The Opah in Shetland. A fine specimen of the Opah (Lampris 

 lunci) was washed ashore at Sumburgh, Shetland, on 6th September. 

 The fish was in good condition, but it appeared on examination to 

 have met with some accident, there being an extensive bruise with 

 large quantity of coagulated blood in the flesh on the right side. 

 It had possibly been struck by a steamer or other vessel. The fish 

 when brought to Sumburgh House had not been long dead the 



