CONTRIBUTIONS TO A FAUNA OF SHETLAND 9 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO A FAUNA OF THE 

 SHETLAND ISLES. 



AUTUMN NOTES. 



By J. A. Harvie-Brown, F.R.S.E., F.Z.S. 



Two visits paid to a far southerly portion of the Shetland 

 Isles convinced the writer of these notes that the district is 

 almost a terra incognita to the working Field-Naturalist 

 during the autumn. 



Dr. Saxby's " Birds of Shetland," — excellent as in many 

 respects it is, — and his earlier first notes in the " Zoologist," 

 cannot be held as relating to Shetland generally, and indeed 

 as only referring to the much more restricted area of Unst. 



Since Dr. Saxby wrote, we have scarcely a record from 

 Shetland, except of summer observations, of which latter, 

 however, there is no lack. 



We spent several weeks, first in October and November 

 i8c)i,and again in September and October 1892, at the 

 Southern extremity of the Shetland Isles, in the parish of 

 Dunrossness, to which portion of the main island the ac- 

 companying notes principally refer. 



During the first of these visits we only met with 56 

 species of birds. During our second visit we added consider- 

 ably to this list, making a list of and notes upon 84 species. 



In 1 89 1, migration along our whole East Coasts — Scot- 

 tish and English — was at a minimum, on account of the 

 prevalence of westering winds throughout the season, culmi- 

 nating in a gale of great force and severity from S.S.W., which 

 ranged over our coasts for the space of seven days, begin- 

 ning moderately (in Shetland) on the night of the 8th October, 

 continuing strong over the 9th to 13th, and reaching its 

 maximum strength on the 14th. On the 15 th, I find in my 

 journals that the united roar of surf and wind " had gone 

 down to a ' hum,' " and that it was windless on the 1 6th. 

 All the time previous to the latter date, the wind had been 

 westerly. In 1892, migration bulked much more heavily all 

 down our Hast Coasts, even as far north as North Ronald shay 

 in Orkney, and at Girdlencss in Aberdeenshire, whilst on the 



