9526 Birds. 



he was discovered standing very contentedly upon a heap of snow 

 which had drifted through the broken door. A few days afterwards he 

 made a second escape, and was again found standing upon the snow. 



Herring Gull. — It is difficult to imagine how this weather can affect 

 sea birds, yet there can be no doubt that since the frost set in they 

 have become far more familiar. Herring gulls have been particularly 

 bold lately, and although their natural food is even more than usually 

 abundant this season they arc to be seen feeding with the poultry, and 

 occasionally, sweeping by the kitchen-door, they snap up one of the 

 small fish which are hung out to dry. Often, too, they visit the turnip 

 fields, where they commit some damage. I have shot them almost in 

 the very act, and found their stomachs filled with pieces of turnip. It 

 is a beautiful sight to see these birds following a shoal of fish. A single 

 bird thus engaged may be observed sweeping round in wide circles 

 (possibly to avoid overshooting the mark), at about fifty feet from the 

 surface, and with the wings apparently motionless. The signal is well 

 understood, and in a few minutes hundreds of birds collect; but, in- 

 stead of flying wildly and crossing one another's track, they wheel 

 round in such a manner that, viewed from a little distance, they appear 

 to form a slowly-revolving hollow cylinder, sometimes rather irregular 

 in its form, but often astonishingly perfect; the regularity also with 

 which its diameter contracts and expands is very singular. They may 

 be seen continuing these evolutions as far as the eye can follow them ; 

 but their object is a mystery, for no captines seem to be made. 

 Probably they follow the shoal until it comes to a halt in some 

 sheltered place, for when small fish assemble about the rocks in any 

 numbers, and confine themselves nearly to one spot, herring gulls 

 devour them greedily. 



Black Guillemot. — As early as the first week of December black 

 guillemots were to be seen, in which a few.black feathers were already 

 beginning to ajjpear upon the breast, and during the present month 

 (January) I have shot specimens having fully one half of the number 

 of feathers upon the under jiarts black. These variations in plumage 

 still appear to be very imperfectly understood, and nothing but con- 

 stant observation can solve the mystery. The abundant opportunities 

 which I now enjoy may perhaps enable me ere long to supply a few 

 reliable facts as to the changes of plumage which the black guillemot 

 and a few other species undergo at various ages and at different 



seasons. ,_ ^ „ 



Henry L. Saxby. 



Baltasound, Shetland, January 31, 1805. 



