9094 Birds. 
with some small strips carefully cut from the breast of a glaucous gull 
which I happened to be skinning at the time: these so much 
resembled earthworms that I confidently placed them in the bird’s 
way, but, although it evidently perceived them, it never even attempted 
to take one in its bill. 1 have since asked myself whether a snipe 
ever does take food from a hard surface. A hooded crow, which 
afterwards appeared upon the scene, was not so particular. Very 
early one terrible morning in winter I found a dead snipe upon the 
ledge outside the kitchen-window: the poor bird was crouched up 
almost into the form of a ball, and was in such sad condition that 
when I took it up it seemed to weigh little more than a stuffed skin. 
Sky Larks—Upon the 3rd of March the song of the sky lark com- 
menced, and it has since regularly accompanied almost every gleam 
of sunshine. Very few of these birds remain during the winter. 
Gulls——Iceland and glaucous gulls have left, but they are very 
irregular in their migrations: I have seen the former in May, and the 
latter even as late as June. Iceland gulls are comparatively rare, but 
a severe winter is sure to bring large numbers of glaucous gulls to feed 
upon the dead ponies. I have only seen one ivory gull this winter. 
Ravens.—Ravens are very busy with their nests in the high sea- 
cliffs, and will soon begin to lay. In Shetland I have never seen the 
eggs earlier than the 22nd of March. Ravens arrive in great numbers 
about the middle of October, and remain until the commencement of 
the breeding season. As many as forty may sometimes be seen 
together upon the hill-side, but they are then very shy and difficult to 
approach. Very little damage is done by them at this time of the 
year, but a few weeks hence, when the young birds begin to require a 
large supply of food, the parents are sure to visit the farms and commit 
serious depredations: no uncovered egg will then be safe, and ducks, 
hens, lambs and foals, will be mercilessly slaughtered. Even full- 
grown ponies will not be secure if they exhibit any signs of weakness. 
The first attack is always made upon one eye, and then, as the 
tortured animal endeavours to alleviate the agony by rubbing the 
wound upon the ground, the other eye is pierced, and the cruel bird 
flies off, only to return when its victim is dead. A pony struggling to 
extricate itself from a peat bog is almost certain to be destroyed by 
ravens if it remains long unaided. 
Blackbirds, Redwings, Bramblings and Chaffinches.—Before Dr. 
Edmondston began to plant shrubs about his house, many insessorial 
birds which now visit us regularly were almost unknown in this island, 
We now look with confidence for the blackbird, the redwing, the | 
