THE MAGAZINE 



OF 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



MAY, 1831. 



Art. T. Account of an Ornithological Visit to the Islands of 

 Shetland and Orkney^ in the Summer of 1828. By Richard 

 Drosier, Esq. 



{Continued from Vol. III. p. 326.) 



Taking leave of Foula, I with some difficulty crossed the 

 boisterous sea that runs between this island and the island of 

 Valey in Shetland. The boat that is most in use is the 

 Norway skiff*. These long passages, therefore, in unsettled 

 weather become rather hazardous. 



Valey, a small island, nearly opposite to that of Foula, is 

 divided from the mainland by a spacious and commodious 

 harbour. The entrance to this harbour is with difficulty dis- 

 cerned untH nearly wdthin its mouth, owing to a huge frag- 

 ment of rock that lies immediately in front of it, round which 

 the tide runs with an astonishing velocity. The tide, being 

 farther confined within the narrow limits of the mural cliffs 

 that afford an entrance to the harbour, foams and boils with 

 increased violence, as it rushes along, as if running through 

 a funnel, until, escaping from the contracted passage, it miti- 

 gates its impetuosity, and sweeps away into a most beautiful 

 expanse of water, uniting again with the sea by a somewhat 

 enlarged channel, at the south-eastern extremity of the island. 

 Valey possesses little ornithological interest. A few of the 

 common guillemots, razor-bills, and kittiwakes, scattered 

 thinly along the cliffs that form the western and southern 

 sides, are the only birds observable. There are, however, a 

 pair or two of the peregrine falcon, that repair annually to 

 the island for the purpose of breeding ; building in the most 

 inaccessible places, which are only to be gained by the best 

 and ablest rockmen; and even then it is very uncertain if the 



Vol. IV. — No. 19. o 



