9766 ^ Birds. 



there to mark the place, but to our surprise, the moment he began to 

 move away the bird flew out from between his feet, and went down 

 into the standing grass about twenty yards distant. The nest consisted 

 of a nearly circular hollow, three inches deep in the centre, and care- 

 fully lined to an inch in thickness with fragments of weeds and small 

 pieces of moss. The cavity measured seven inches across. 



Sky iMrk. — Although there are plenty of well-fledged sky laiks in 

 the tields, eggs are still to be met with. Two nests, each containing 

 four nearly fresh eggs were found on the 14lh. I often watch sky larks 

 on the nest, and with a little care frequently succeed so far in gaining 

 their confidence that they will allow me to stroke them upon the head 

 and back while they are sitting. 



Redstart and Swallow. — On the 16th (wind S.S.W.) a redstart, 

 either an old female or a young bird of the year, and two swallows, 

 made their appearance at Halligarth. Both species still remain here, 

 the former keeping well concealed among the bushes, the latter 

 hawking near the house and garden, occasionally, with their gentle 

 notes, reminding one of Old England. 



Arctic Tern. — Arctic terns are pretty numerous. Very few have 

 hatched yet, but 1 saw the first young one, about three days old, 

 on the 22nd. On fine sunnuer evenings whole parties of these beau- 

 tiful birds may occasionally be seen skimming above the meadows in 

 pursuit of winged insects. 



Snipe. — On the 25th, while crossing a piece of damp ground several 

 hundred feet above the sea level, I found the nest of a snipe. It was 

 situated in the heart of a tuft of long coarse grass, and contained one 

 whole egg and some broken shells, which bore distinct marks of having 

 been hatched a k^ days previously. On opening the whole egg I 

 found, as I expected, a dead, but perfectly formed chick. Having very 

 frequently observed similar instances among the waders, I have been 

 led to imagine that those young ones which are hatched first will 

 sometimes, in their impatience to see the world, entice the parent bird 

 from the nest, thus leaving to perish any eggs which may remain 

 unhatched. 



Guillemot. — A young guillemot, caught below the cliffs a few days 

 ago, is fully feathered except upon the top of the head, and is about 

 the size of a little auk. It is already very tame and runs about with 

 great activity. Always when running, and most commonly when 

 standing, it rests upon the toes, not upon the tarsus. 



Lesser Blackbacked Gull. — Most of the lesser blackbacked gulls 

 have hatched, but a few still have fresh eggs. The latter are most 



