BIRD NOTES mo MEWS. 



Jssueo (Quarterly bit tlje ftotral ^ocictg for tire $roteritoit of fBiroa. 



Vol. II.— No. 7.] 



London : 3, Hanover Square, W. 



[SEPT. 30, 1907. 



ULTIMA THULE. 



HOI. IE CRAIG, NEAR THE KNAII, LERWICK. 



From a photograph by R. H. Ramsay, of Lerwick, by kind permission. 



UST seventy years ago an ornitho- 

 logist, who calls himself on the title- 

 page of his book — truthfully or 

 otherwise, as the reader may deter- 

 mine — an " animal preserver," published an 

 "Ornithologists' Guide to Orkney and Shetland," 

 wherein he sets forth for the benefit of other 

 naturalists particulars of the birds of the dis- 

 trict and how best to obtain them, together with 



an account of his own journey- 

 ings. The little work is frankly 

 intended for the collector-orni- 

 thologist, and for him only. The 

 writer begins by expressing his 

 appreciation of the facilities he 

 enjoyed in contrast with the hard 

 lines that fell to his lot in Holland, 

 where, owing to the fact that his 

 visit was paid in the close time, 

 he was " highly mortified " by 

 being unable to level his gun at 

 the Spoonbills, Purple Herons, 

 and Orioles that he saw and 

 coveted. Ultima Thule, like the 

 rest of Great Britain, knew 

 nothing of a close time for wild 

 birds in 1837 On the contrary, 

 the breeding season was evi- 

 dently selected for the "animal 

 preserver's " business, because it 

 was easier to get at the birds 

 when they were flying to and from 

 their nests than at other times; 

 and this method of securing 

 specimens is suggested in this 

 book in the case of some species 

 that presented difficulty through 

 their "shyness." 



The route in Shetland followed 

 by the writer was not a long one. 

 On the mainland at that time 

 were found that now have a 

 existence on the outer isles 

 one particular spot is named 

 where "almost every bird inhabiting the 

 Shetlands may be found." The White-tailed 

 Eagle, for example, is mentioned as nesting 

 at Filful Head, and in Northmaven, so 

 that the writer had the pleasure of ob- 

 taining two specimens of the bird on one 



many birds 

 precarious 

 only ; and 



