126 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



of size " (A. G. More in " The Ibis "). Dr Saxby reports having 

 received eggs " from Yell, in Shetland, which he considers to 

 belong to the Great Northern Diver;" and his belief is strengthened 

 by the fact that the Black-throated Diver does not breed in 

 Shetland (" Ibis," 1865, p. 449).* 



LITTLE GREBE. 



PODICEPS MINOR {Gmelin). 



This is a rather rare species in Sutherland. Mr Selby observes 

 that it was met with " occasionally upon the smaller lochs during 

 the excursion " in 1834. Sir W. Milner also includes it in his 

 "List" in 1847. It breeds regularly in the neighbourhood of 

 Tongue, but is rare in the west, so far as. I know. I have neither 

 taken or received its eggs from there. 



Order via., AN SERES. Fam. iil, A LCI DAE. 



COMMON" GUILLEMOT. 



URIA TROILE {Linnaeus). 



On Handa there is an immense colony of this species, far 

 surpassing in numbers those on the Bass Rock, on Ailsa 

 Craig, or on the Hoy Head. That portion of Handa which is 

 most crowded with these birds, if any part be more thickly 

 populated than another, is "The Stack." Thousands crowd its 

 ledges, and swarm on the outward-sloping face at the top. The 

 Guillemot is decidedly the most abundant species at Handa. I 

 have been much disappointed in finding the eggs of the Guillemot 

 at this locality not, as a rule, nearly so richly coloured as those 

 from other nurseries of sea-fowl. Out of a lot of about 400, I 

 picked out a dozen or so of the finest, but found even those to be 

 poorly marked as compared with others I have seen, and since 

 possessed, from other places. 



In the " Old Statistical Account" of the Parish of Edderachyllis 

 mention is made of the fact that the inhabitants, at the time of 

 its publication — 1793 — "set great store by the birds of Handa, 

 both as food, and for sake of the feathers." Now such is not so 

 much the case, though the birds are occasionally made use of for food. 



Of the race U. ringvia I may state that it is abundant on 



* Also see Dr Saxby's " Birds of Shetland," 1874. 



