2i8 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



of Mossbank, and have counted as many as ten fishing together 

 close inshore. I did not find the nests of this species. 



FULMAR, Fulmarus glatialis. On 23rd June I discovered a small 

 colony of Fulmars, consisting of six birds, on the north face of 

 Calder's Geo in Eshaness, and watched them with the greatest 

 interest for four hours. Two previous haunts Foula and 

 Papa Stour are noted in Shetland, but I did not succeed in 

 reaching either of these islands. Few birds are stronger or 

 easier on the wing than the Fulmar ; few are more helpless on 

 land. It stands in a curious attitude, with its breast barely, if 

 at all, off the ground, and it lowers its head slowly but 

 repeatedly as if unable to maintain its balance. On the ledges 

 the birds walked in a very laboured style, as if they were 

 moving in great pain at each step, and sitting seemed their 

 only safe position on land. I suspected that this awkwardness 

 on land accounted for their slowness in alighting, and I watched 

 the birds on many occasions come right up to a ledge then 

 sheer off again without gaining their object. When alighting, 

 the Fulmar vibrates its wings to enable it to procure a foothold, 

 and tries to settle on the very rim of the rock. One alighted 

 on the centre of a ledge instead of on the rim, and even 

 though maintaining the vibration of his wings to check his fall, 

 just missed hitting his head against the ground. One Fulmar 

 clung to its ledge as tenaciously as a Shag during my entire 

 stay, and would not budge for all the efforts I made to dislodge 

 it ; this individual was probably hatching, but would not give 

 me an opportunity of seeing its egg. The Fulmar's cry is a 

 harsh, repeated croak. 



RAZORBILL, Alca torda. Very abundant. On iSth July the first 

 young in their journey south from the Ramna Stacks were seen 

 off Mossbank, but in a week they were common. One parent 

 bird alone accompanies the youngster, and one such adult bird 

 shot by us proved to be a male. 



GUILLEMOT, Lomvia troile. Abundant like the last. 



BLACK GUILLEMOT, Una grytte. -^^ "tystie" is a never-failing 

 object on the seas round Shetland in summer, occurring in 

 greater abundance in the neighbourhood of cliffs. 



PUFFIN, Fratercula arctica. Another abundant species, whose 

 breeding-haunts, however, I did not reach. 



RED-THROATED DIVER, Colymbus septentrionalis. In summer the 

 call of the rain-goose is one of the most frequently heard notes 

 in Shetland. The bird is generally distributed, occurring more 

 abundantly in the more desolate tracts. In 1895 I found a 

 nest on a small loch by the roadside in Walls; and in 1896, 

 within a certain small area, I discovered two nests with eggs, 

 and saw a third diver leading two newly hatched young birds. 



