PLATE I 

 GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. Larus marinus 



June i<)/A, 1897. In the north of Shetland, on the grassy summit of a 

 precipitous rock called Humla Stack, two pairs of Great Black-backed Gulls 

 had built their nests, and I was fortunate enough to locate them. The 

 nests of these birds are not very easy to reach, as a rule; and when I found 

 that Humla Stack was not a difficult climb, I at once set out with my 

 camera to photograph them, and obtained a photo of each, one of which is 

 illustrated in the Plate. I had rather an unpleasant experience that day on 

 this very Stack. As I was changing my plates on the grassy summit, I 

 suddenly observed a Fulmar Petrel sailing round the Stack; and as I had 

 not then secured photos of these birds, I set about getting down the face 

 of the cliff. It was fairly easy for about ten or twelve feet from the top, 

 and then I was checked by a smooth face of almost perpendicular rock, 

 about nine feet high, with a narrow ledge of rock some fourteen inches 

 wide at the bottom. I was very nearly giving it up, when I noticed two 

 Fulmars sitting on their eggs at a corner on the ledge. I got my camera 

 slung on my back, and let myself down to full arm's-length over the rock, 

 steadied myself for a moment, and then let go. Down I went about three 

 feet, and landed all right on the ledge. I got a snap-shot of one Fulmar, 

 but the other flew away; then I found it quite impossible to get up again, 

 and after trying everything, even to standing on my camera case, I had to 

 give it up and try to get round the rock somewhere down below, a pro- 

 ceeding which took me four hours of the most trying climbing I have ever 

 had, as I was burdened with a 25-lb. camera. 



VOL, IV.- 



