PART II 

 SOME CELEBRATED HAUNTS 



Birds of Shetland 



CHAPTER XVII 



Cuffs and Moori^and. Goi^den Plover. Curlew and 

 Whtmbrel. Snipe. Ravens. Carrion and Grey Crows. 

 Divers. Red-necked Phalarope. Mergansers. Foula. 

 Varieties of Cliff and Shore Birds. Guillemots and 

 Puffins, Great vSkuas and Terns. Cormorants and 

 Shags. The Tystie. Great Black-backed Gulls. 

 Oyster-catchers, and Ringed Dotterel. 



Shetland, the most northerly part of the British 

 Isles, consists of a group of islands, about 30 of 

 which are inhabited, whilst others innumerable 

 are tenanted only by the ubiquitous wild fowl. 

 The chief islands are Mainland, equalling about 

 half the area of the group, Yell, Unst, Fetlar, 

 Whalsay, Bressay, Papa Stour, Foula, etc. In- 

 land, the country is mainly moorland, where the 

 heather grows high, broken by stony ridges, and 

 sloping to the numberless lochs. In the valleys 

 by the loch-sides are small, square, cultivated 

 patches, bounded by low stone walls. When 

 vegetables are grown on the higher ground, they 

 are enclosed in round watch-tower-like structures, 

 a few yards in diameter, to protect them from 

 the tearing winds. 



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