68 The Shetlands in the 



between its legs, and, rolling on to its back, lie 

 completely hidden under it until the danger is past 

 But it was getting late and the wind was against us, 

 and pleasantly as another hour or two might have 

 been passed on Mousa, we were obliged to tear 

 ourselves away. It was not until we had tacked six 

 times that we found ourselves on shore again at 

 Sandwick, in time and with appetites for an excellent 

 dinner. 



The teeming bird life of the Shetlands is confined, 

 during the breeding season, mainly to the coast line. 

 In the drive of five-and-twenty miles from Lerwick to 

 Sumburgh, the last half of which we took the morning 

 after our visit to Mousa, and in our walks across the 

 Island to and from Scalloway, we were struck with 

 the comparative scarceness of birds when out of sight 

 of the sea. 



Wherever there were buildings,the ubiquitous House 

 Sparrow was, of course, to be seen, but not in anything 

 like the numbers it is usually found elsewhere, and 

 once, not far from Sandwick, we certainly thought we 

 saw a pair of Tree Sparrows. But a treeless island is 

 scarcely the place to look for a bird so named, and as 

 we afterwards failed to find any mention of it in Dr. 

 Saxby's " Birds of Shetland," and were too modest to 

 suppose that it had been reserved for us, in a week's 

 visit, to make an addition to his list, we were obliged 

 to conclude that, to our eyes, more accustomed to the 

 smoky colour tones of London, the clean head feathers 

 of a spick and span House Sparrow in wedding gar- 

 ments had seemed the chocolate cap of the smaller 

 and rarer bird. 



The small birds we noticed oftenest inland were 

 Mountain Linnets or " Twites," which, though scarce 

 farther south, here take the place of the common 



