The Zoologist— May, 1866. 211 



break, when the birds come out of their holes, they are driven down 

 these runs into the pitfall. ' We rushes 'em do^vn, sir, and they 

 tuuibles one over another into the hole,' was the way the men 

 expressed it. They crowd down and fall in by hundreds, crushing 

 and smothering each other until the pit is full, when the men break 

 down the fence at the sides and let the rest escape. They generally 

 take 2000 or 2-200 in each drive. The .uen then jump into the hole 

 and set to work to pick them, pulling off the body-feathers, and 

 stuffing them into bags, and throwing the carcases out of the hole 

 1 Ins lasts till noon. It is hard woi-k, and before the end of the season 

 their nails sometimes come off, from the continual plucking. It takes 

 the feathers of twenty-five birds to make a pound, which sells at 

 Launceston for twopence; but Tucker, his wife, and his pal Dick 

 collected a ton of feathers last year. To do this they must have killed 

 56,000 birds, and yet they say their numbers do not seem to decrease. 

 The birds come back to the islands again on the 23rd of November to 

 lay. They lay but one egg, and generally on the day or the day after 

 they arrive : the sealers collect a good many for their use ; and when 

 the young birds are nearly full grown, they attack them again for the 

 sake of the oil with which the old birds feed them. They thrust their 

 hands into the hole and pull out the young bird by the head, kill it by 

 squeezing it, and, holding it up by the legs, the oil runs out at the 

 beak. Ihis oil is very clean and pure, burns well and sells at Laun- 

 ceston at four shillings per gallon. When the young birds are full 

 grown they are very fat. The men then pull them out of their holes 

 spit them and sell them. It is rather dangerous work catching them' 

 in this way, for many venomous snakes dwell in the holes, and are 

 sometimes seized and pulled out instead of a bird." 



Ornithological Notes from Shetland. By H. L. Saxby, M.D. 

 (Conlinued fiora S. S. 67). 



November and Decembeb, 1865. 

 November 1. Wind N. A robin appeared in the garden. 

 " -• » N- A small Hock of fieldfares arrived. 



" ^- " ^' (fi'ost). Flocks of twites increasing in size. 



" ^- » N- ('Vost). Marked decrease in the number of 



golden plovers. 



