Birds in the Shetlands. 217 



hope of getting more that day. However, my wife 

 found a strong needle among some of her reserves. 

 I broke the point off it, and with it managed to drive 

 the lead back. We then secured two males and two 

 females of the skua. 



" We put up an eider duck, and, as she was getting 

 off the nest, she covered her eggs with a copious 

 evacuation. If this was intended to scare off in- 

 truders, we thought that, in most cases, it would be 

 most efficient. The question arose, could she clean 

 them so as to ensure hatching ? In this case she did 

 not require to hatch them. It was a bird that was 

 particularly wanted, and I brought it down. The 

 nest was made up of a large quantity of feathers, 

 broadly spread on the ground. It is said that they 

 pluck the feathers from their breasts to make their 

 nests, and it seemed most likely, as the bird was very 

 bare of feathers all over the under part of the body, 

 and the feathers of the nest appeared to agree well 

 with the feathers of that region. Among other birds 

 obtained during our short stay at Lerwick was the 

 tern, Sterna arctica. These birds were in beautiful 

 condition. 



" The stormy petrel, Thalassidroma pelagica, and 

 its eggs were especially wanted. Our friend Mr. 

 Gatherer told us that the best place to get the petrel 

 was on a little island called Papa, a little distance 

 off Scalloway. We crossed over to Scalloway, where 

 we stayed with Dr. Robertson, and Mr. Gatherer 

 joined us next day. He accompanied us to Papa. 



" For this expedition we got a boat and two strong 

 men. When we were a little way from shore the sea 



