410 WRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS 



stage, I conclude, to acquiring - the full black plumage of 

 summer. 



Shearwater.' — On August 24th, 1874, my brother 

 Alfred and I spent the night aboard a herring-boat some 

 five or six miles outside the Longstone light, Fame 

 Islands, in order to observe the sea-birds that assemble 

 when nets are drawn at daybreak. It proved a rough 

 morning with heavy sea, and beyond the common gulls, 

 guillemots, and gannets (of which last I shot an adult), 

 the only noteworthy species observed were a few shear- 

 waters. During many voyages to Norway, these oceanic 

 birds, as well as fulmar petrels, have been regularly 

 observed right across the North Sea, until within forty 

 or fifty miles of land : but neither species touches the 

 coast-line. The only fulmar ever seen on this side was 

 washed up dead by the tide. 



NOTE. — In regard to the big sea-divers (Colymbi) assuming an upright 

 attitude such as guillemots and razorbills do, and as the divers are frequently 

 represented in books and museums, I believe that that position, though not 

 actually impossible, is at least highly improbable owing to the osteological 

 formation of their feet. For the joint which connects the leg {Tibia) with 

 the toes is so constructed that it will not bend forward beyond the straight 

 line — nor, indeed, quite so far. 



