SOME RARE BIRDS FROM SCOTTISH STATIONS 137 



whole being heated by a furnace of coke. When the flesh reaches 

 the ground it is quite dry with little smell, and dogs eat it readily. 

 Again it is taken up in buckets to the top of a mill, in which it is 

 ground and is run off into sacks. It now resembles pale brown 

 snuff, and is used in Scandinavia for feeding cattle. The refuse 

 passes out another way, and, along with boiled and ground bones, 

 is used for manure. The products of an average-sized whale con- 

 sist of 3 tons cattle food, and rather over a ton of manure, the 

 commercial value being about ^30. The manure is of most 

 excellent quality, but cattle in Scotland do not at first take kindly 

 to the flesh, though it greatly increases the yield of milk and butter ; 

 however, the flesh is worth as manure about as much as it is worth 

 as cattle food. The blood which runs out when the whale is cut 

 up flows into a tank, the oil is extracted and the refuse is treated 

 as manure. Thus the whole of the immense carcase is utilised. 



In Shetland the benefit to the local people is great. When the 

 deep-sea white fishing, called the " haaf," ceased, there were a 

 number of men who used to fish from " sixerns," or six-oared boats, 

 who were too old to go to the herring fishing, and who had no 

 other work to do. The whale stations give them work, and pay 

 good wages. At the Alexandra whale station about thirty are 

 employed, and receive over ^500 a year in wages, and at Olna still 

 more a great help in poor districts. 



The baleen goes to Paris, where it is used for stiffening ladies' 

 corsets, making artificial osprey feathers, stuffing for mattresses, and 

 also, it is said, for making into hair for barrister's wigs, brushes, 

 etc. 



The meat of a young whale, say of 50 feet long, lately killed, 

 and kept in vinegar for a day, is food not to be despised. It is 

 tender as veal with the richness of pork. Dressed by a good 

 cook it is a fair substitute for veal cutlets. It is also made into 

 rissoles. The Norwegians like it cut as thin steaks and fried with 

 onions. Well cooked, hardly anyone would know that it was not 

 very tender veal or pork. 



OLLABERRY, SHETLAND. 



SOME RARE BIRDS FROM SCOTTISH STATIONS. 



By W. EAGLE CLARKE. 



DURING the past spring the Scottish Light Stations have 

 been visited by an unusual number of interesting migratory 

 birds, specimens of which have been forwarded to me for 

 identification. Several of these are deserving of special 



