72 



Bird Notes and News 



the hut of one of the Society's Watchers 

 to pick up eleemosynary fragments of 

 bread ! 



Pirates and robbers as they are, with a 

 reputation also for devouring eggs and 

 young birds, Skuas and Gulls yet nest not 

 far apart, and Mr. Ogilvie-Grant mentions 

 that several Eider-Ducks nested close 

 to a pair of Bonxies without suffering 

 any interference. Similarly, " though 

 nests of the Lesser Black-backed and 

 Common Gulls were found in close 

 proximity to the nesting colonies of 

 Arctic Terns, not a single egg of the 

 latter seemed to have been destroyed, 

 and the most perfect harmony reigned 

 among these and other species which 

 are usually believed to prey on one 

 another." 



The story of the White-tailed Eagle, or 

 Erne, is unfortunately of another kind. 

 Man's hand has been too long against 

 him. The Watchers of the R.S.P.B. have 

 come too late. Down to 1835 it was the 

 custom of the " Commissioners of Supply" 

 in their economic zeal for sheep-breeding, 

 to give 3s. 6d. for every Eagle killed, 

 Golden or White-tailed. Yet when Queen 

 Victoria came to the throne, the Erne 

 was apparently not rare in Shetland, and 

 the Golden Eagle bred in Orkney. A 

 collector who visited the Islands in 1837, 

 and whose chronicle has been quoted in 

 an earlier number of Bird Notes and News 

 (September, 1907), obtained eight speci- 

 mens, seemingly without much trouble, 

 and mentions nests at Northmaven and 

 Fitful Head. But for years past its 

 hold on existence as a British Bird has 

 been precarious. Its wandering habits 

 make it the easier prey of the " fool with 

 a gun," who invariably acclaims his 

 feat with gusto in a local newspaper 

 and describes his victim — generally an 

 immature bird — as a Golden Eagle. 

 Such birds are usually rovers from 



the Continent ; but our British birds 

 have gone, one by one, in the same 

 way. 



In 1911, the Society's Watcher reported 

 from the last of the Erne's nesting-places 

 that the female bird had returned to 

 the nest, and sat there watching ; but no 

 mate appeared. Doubtless he had been 

 shot. For the last two springs the bird 

 has again come, and again watched and 

 waited ; but she has not made up the 

 nest, and probably she is now too old to 

 breed even if a male bird were to come. 

 Another of the species was seen with 

 her early in 1914, but is thought to have 

 been a second female, and did not stay. 

 This old remaining bird is believed to 

 be the last of her ancient family, sole 

 survivor of her kind in the Shetlands. 

 She is entirely white, except for the 

 duskiness of her primary-quills. She 

 haunts the place of the nest, but when 

 last seen was flying out to sea, mobbed 

 by Carrion - crows — the last of the 

 monarchs, alone and old, pursued by 

 canaille ! 



Other notable birds of these Islands 

 include the Black-backed Gulls, Greater 

 and Lesser, the colony of the former on 

 Noss being the largest in Great Britain ; 

 Arctic, Common, and Sandwich Terns ; 

 Raven ; Peregrine Falcon ; Merlin ; 

 Short-eared Owl, which exists on Orkney 

 where voles are plentiful ; Sheld-duck, 

 Pintail, Teal, Shoveler, Pochard, Golden- 

 eye, and Merganser, chiefly on Orkney ; 

 Eider-duck, common on Shetland, also 

 Grebes ; a few Whimbrels ; Golden, Green, 

 and Ringed Plovers ; Snipe, Guillemot, 

 Fulmar, and Puffin. The Corncrake, a 

 disappearing species in many parts of 

 England, is still common in Orkney and 

 believed to have breeding-places on 

 Shetland. The Water-rail also breeds. 

 Quail possibly nest, since one was heard 

 calling. Among species that are being 



