9764 Birds. 



July, 1865. 



Golden Plover and Snipe. — On the evening of the 3rd of July I 

 started from Lerwick on foot, being too much pressed for time to wait 

 for the sailing-packet, and from that lime until noon next dhy golden 

 plovers were never out of hearing, seldom out of sight, except when I 

 was crossing two narrow sounds which lay in my way. All night long 

 the plovers were in full activity, whistling all over the moors and fre- 

 quently accompanying me for several hundred yards. By imitating 

 Iheir call, 1 even caused them to alight in tlie dusty road, and so little 

 fear did they show that when my near approach made them take wing 

 they merely flew for a very short distance, and then ran in front of me 

 as before. But the moment 1 ceased to answer their whistle and 

 advanced silently, they were sure to rise hurriedly with a peculiar note 

 of alarm, seldom venturing near me again unless 1 repeated the signal 

 in the same manner as before. A plover dashing past at full speed 

 will often pause and alight on hearing a tolerably accurate imitation 

 of its note, but this seldom takes place when the birds are in flocks or 

 flying high. When 1 reached Baltasound (about fifty-five miles distant 

 from Lerwick by the road) plovers were still to be seen in every 

 direction, nor did 1 observe that their number was any grealer during 

 the day than in the night. When do plovers sleep ? I have been 

 upon the hills at all hours, and at all seasons, and have almost in- 

 variably found these wakeful birds upon the alert, not only close at 

 hand, but whistling far away where no human being could iTave been 

 near them. Since A])ril the weather has been so unusually dry that 

 upon the moors there is scarcely a burn or even a stagnant pool to be 

 seen. I saw no snipe in the day-time, but at night I heard them in 

 many places. When I was aware of the vicinity of a stream I pro- 

 ceeded cautiously, and in most cases with the result of stealing unob- 

 served upon a snipe, feeding near its margin. Occasionally there were 

 several together, and the herbage was so short that their outline was 

 distinctly visible, although the night was cloudy and unusually dark 

 for the time of year. On my first observing them they were always 

 walking slowly, now and then stopping to touch the ground with their 

 bills, but the moment they caught sight of me they slopped abruptly 

 and squatted closely, with the bill sloping downwards and the head 

 usually drawn back. 



Curlew, Whimbrel and Common Gull. — Curlews and whimbrels 

 were also upon the alert, having, 1 suppose, eggs or young in the neigh- 

 bourhood, otherwise they would have been less bold. Occasionally 



