30 SEA-FOWL SHOOTING IN 



" In common, I believe, with every resident of 

 the neighbourhood of the Firth who has taken an 

 interest in its wild fowl, I am surprised to hear 

 that the black guillemot (uria grylle), the Tyste of 

 the Orcadians, is still to be met with in its waters ; 

 and I am yet more astonished to hear that its 

 nests are sometimes to be found upon the Isle of 

 May. Were it not that your contributor evidently 

 writes with a competent knowledge of marine 

 ornithology, I should at once consider that he has 

 mistaken young birds of the common guillemot in 

 their transition plumage for their black namesakes. 



" There is no doubt that, if we can rely upon old 

 writers on natural history, the black guillemot did 

 at a former period build on the Bass, and, no 

 doubt, on the May, but I have never happened to 

 meet with any naturalist or sportsman who ever 

 found a single specimen in the Firth. As to their 

 nests, I am myself acquainted with almost every 

 nook and crevice of the Bass and May, and I think 

 I may absolutely say the black guillemot has 

 never been known to build on either within the 

 memory of man. They are found in vast numbers 

 among our more northern islands ; they are consi- 



