1 96 Ornithological Visit to Shetland and Orkney^ 



and hawklike actions of the arctic gulls, that sometimes 

 pitch sans ceremonie upon a wandering kittiwake, with such 

 rapacious ferocity that both fall entangled to the very surface 

 of the water ; when the kittiwake, for the purpose of disen- 

 gaging himself from his adversary, alights for a moment on 

 the billows, and, lightly gliding over the tops of the rolling 

 sea, with that buoyant elegance so peculiar to the gull tribe, 

 he is safe. At such times the arctic gull wheels a short 

 flight in an opposite direction, as if intending to leave his in- 

 timidated victim, which the kittiwake perceiving, he thinks 

 a fair opportunity is afforded for making his escape ; but no 

 sooner does he trust himself once more upon his wing than 

 the aquatic falcon, suddenly returning, skims the surface of 

 the billows with the rapidity of an arrow, and quickly coming 

 up with the harassed kittiwake, generally forces him to dis- 

 gorge his half-digested fish, which the plunderer catches for 

 himself ere it reaches the water. 



Ronas Hill, the loftiest mountain in the Shetland Isles, is 

 situated a few miles from this bay ; and a pair or two of the 

 skua gulls, in their passage from the north to Foula, for 

 the purpose of breeding, often arrest their flight, and fix their 

 abode upon its very summit. This pinnacle is generally so 

 completely enveloped in the mist that almost always encircles 

 these isles, that it is rarely visible; though its ascent is by no 

 means difiicult, and on a clear day the view from the top 

 amply repays the labour of climbing to it. The snipe and 

 golden plover breed plentifully at its base, while, higher up, 

 a few pairs of the arctic gulls are observable. The remain- 

 ing northern isles. Yell, Unst, and Fetlai, afford but little treat 

 to an ornithologist ; the common sea-fowl annually resort to 

 many of their craggy sides, and are continually seen while 

 passing Yell Sound, hanging in the bluish cast of the distance, 

 near their favourite haunts, like clustering swarms of bees. 



During a conversation that I had with Dr. Edmonston, 

 the author of an interesting work on the Shetland birds, he 

 stated that the wimbril (»Sc61opax phae^opus), called in Shet- 

 land the waup, usually repaired to the islands of Yell, &c., 

 for the purpose of incubation ; but, although every endeavour 

 was used by me to ascertain the truth of this statement, I was 

 unable to discover the slightest appearance of a nest ; nor did I 

 observe that the birds alluded to were more numerous in the 

 northern than in the southern isles. In fact, this bird isbutthinly 

 distributed over Shetland during the summer; but as autumn 

 advanced, I occasionally discovered small flocks of six or 

 seven searching for marine worms, &c., along the tangle at 

 low water mark. I killed several, but all appeared to be 



