74 



BIRD NOTES AND NEWS. 



occasion and six on another. Then, as now, it 

 was the only Eagle of the Shetlands, though the 

 Golden Eagle nested in the Orkneys ; but it 

 was clearly not rare. Now, in the whole group 

 of islands this noble species has so few homes, 

 and such an insecure tenure of life, that its 

 resorts have to be most anxiously guarded by 

 Watchers, provided by the Royal Society for 

 the Protection of Birds, in order to prevent the 

 total extermination of the last British represen- 

 tatives of their race. The Peregrine was " very 

 numerous," though confined to certain districts; 

 the Merlin was " not so common as the 

 Peregrine in Shetland, but more numerous 

 in Orkney." The Raven bred " in considerable 

 numbers," though both this species and the 

 Eagles had been a good deal thinned at the 

 instigation of the Commissioners of Supply, 

 who for many years previous to 1835 were 

 accustomed to give 3s. 6d. for every Eagle's 

 head, 4d. for a Raven's, and 2d. for a Crow's 

 (Hooded Crow), as an encouragement to their 

 destruction. The Bonxie or Great Skua, and 

 the Richardson Skua, were, on the other hand, 

 preserved by the landowners, on the supposition 

 that they defended the sheep against the attacks 

 of Eagles. Nevertheless the Skuas were already 

 known to be on the decrease. " During the 

 interval between my two visits " [1831 and 

 1835], writes the author of " The Ornithologists' 

 Guide," "several parties from the south travelled 

 through the Shetlands, principally for amuse- 

 ment, and, having fowling-pieces with them, 

 destroyed indiscriminately every bird that came 

 within their reach, in fact almost annihilated 

 several species, principally the Skua Gull ; a 

 great number were also shot by officers on a 

 cutter which was stationed at Rona's Voe for 

 two or three months." He adds, "Mr. Sheer 

 blamed me for thinning them more than any 

 other person ; in that he was certainly mistaken, 

 as I did not take so many as to injure the 

 breed. These gulls were, however, so scarce 

 when I last visited the islands that I had great 

 difficulty in obtaining permission to visit the 

 places where they bred, the landlord assigning 

 as a reason for his refusal that the birds had 

 become almost extinct, but allowed me as a 



great favour to shoot a single pair." At that 

 time the Skuas bred on Rona's Hill on the 

 mainland, as well as on Foula, Unst, and other 

 places ; but in spite of the landlords' zeal on 

 behalf of their sheep, or possibly through the 

 granting of too many favours to collectors, it 

 gradually disappeared from all but two of these 

 haunts, and not long ago seemed likely to join 

 the company of the Great Auk and other lost 

 species. Determined protection by certain pro- 

 prietors, in the interests not of sheep but of 

 ornithology, has happily had the effect of saving, 

 and even increasing, the Skuas on Foula and 

 elsewhere, and the Society's Watchers report 

 nests on new sites. This is the more satisfactory 

 since the birds are said to have been practi- 

 cally exterminated by collectors on the Faroe 

 Islands, almost their only other breeding-ground. 

 Curiously enough, complaint against the Skuas 

 comes now from the flock-owners for whose 

 sake they were formerly preserved, for if the 

 sheep unwittingly encroach upon the nesting 

 area the Skuas beat them off with a passion that 

 is apt to frighten a peaceable sheep half out 

 of its wits. 



There was still a hope cherished in 1837 that 

 the Great Auk itself might be found alive ; and 

 the "animal preserver" was considerably 

 disappointed that he had no opportunity of 

 " preserving" a survivor of the race. " I have 

 never seen a living specimen," he remarks. " I 

 made enquiries at every place I visited, but no 

 one knew it. During my stay at Orkney, at 

 Pappa Westra, I was informed by Mr. Traill 

 that a pair were constantly seen there for several 

 years, and were christened by the people the 

 King and Queen of the Auks. Mr. Bullock 

 made several attempts to obtain one, and about 

 a fortnight after his departure one was shot and 

 sent to him and the other forsook the place." 

 That was the end of the Great Auk, so far as 

 Orkney was concerned. They were never seen 

 there afterwards, and will never be seen there 

 again. That was in 1812 ; the specimen killed 

 for Mr. Bullock is now in the Natural History 

 Museum, but the more general account states 

 that its mate had been previously shot. 



The writer of the " Guide " tells his aims and 



