554 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



bird when first seen was lying on her Qgg, which was placed 

 on the bank of a loch about two hundred yards long. Con- 

 trary to the usual custom, this nest was about two feet above, 

 and a couple of yards away from the water. On catching 

 sight of me the old bird immediately struck out vigorously 

 with her feet, shoving herself along on her breast till it touched 

 the water, when she immediately vanished without the least 

 splash, and only reappeared near the other end of the loch. 

 The eggs are of two sti'ongly-marked types. One has the 

 ground colour rich reddish brown, the other olive green; 

 occasionally a spotless clay-coloured egg may be met with. 



50. Common Guillemot {Lomvia troile), (Longie). — At the 

 few large breeding stations this bird occurs in enormous 

 numbers. The three largest of these are Unst, Foula, and 

 Noss, and at each of them the numbers amount to many 

 thousands. On Papa-Stour, and on the Eamna Stacks, off 

 Fiedeland Point, there are smaller colonies. I visited one of 

 these latter on the 31st May, and found it crowded with 

 birds. The stack is a small one, merely a pinnacle of rock 

 about 150 feet high, and 80 or 90 feet in diameter, and desti- 

 tute of ledges or a particle of vegetation, but is covered from 

 about half-way to the summit with broken masses of rock, 

 thus providing numerous chinks and crevices for the shelter 

 of the birds, every one of which crevices was swarming with 

 life. On looking into one you would be confronted by the 

 white-striped, threatening open beaks of a couple of razorbills ; 

 the next would contain a party of guillemots, or, perhaps, a 

 puffin ; while under the larger rocks you would come upon 

 the nests of the cormorant or shag (built in this locality in a 

 great measure of seaweed), the owners of which vociferate 

 their displeasure from a rock a few yards distant. The tame- 

 ness of the birds in this locality was extraordinary. There 

 being no ledges, the guillemots are compelled to adopt the 

 habits of the razorbill, and deposit their eggs in the crevices. 

 They seldom attempted to fly when approached, but merely 

 scrambled into a corner, and allowed themselves to be taken 

 in the hand without a protest. The razorbills were not quite 

 so submissive, usually making some attempt to bite. The 

 little puffins are the most obstreperous, biting very hard, and 



