PLATE I 

 COMMON GULL. Larus canus 



June 28//z, 1897. This nest was photographed on one of the small rocky 

 islets lying off the island of St. Ninians, in the south of Shetland. The 

 fisherman, who put me across, told me that they took the Gull's eggs for 

 food, but allowed the birds to sit on the third laying. We saw several 

 nests in similar places, and one well-grown young bird. 



This group of little islands is a most fascinating place in the breeding- 

 season, although there are no rarities. The grassy flower-clad tops of the 

 islands are the home of the Lesser Black-backed and Herring Gulls ; some- 

 times too a pair of Eiders have their nest among the long grass. On the steep 

 rocky faces the Shags build their nests, and the holes among the boulders 

 and ddbris at the base of these miniature cliffs are tenanted by the Black 

 Guillemot and Puffin. Among the jagged rocks and small patches of sea- 

 pink, the naturalist may find an Oyster-catcher's nest, or here and there a 

 pair of Common Gulls, and in some of the little holes among the rich soil 

 on the summit the Stormy Petrel builds. The grey colour of the rocks, 

 covered here and there with red and yellow lichens, the bright green grass, 

 the patches of pale pink of the sea-pink in bloom, with a background of 

 deep blue sea, and white sea-birds screaming in the air, make up one of the 

 most pleasing pictures one can well behold. 





