Birds. 9129 
Hooded Crow.—The hooded crow is a late breeder, that is, late 
compared with the raven, the only other species of crow indigenous to 
these islands. It paired early in the month, but no nests have yet 
been found. Although the raven displays such cunning in the selec- 
tion of a site for its nest, the hooded crow, on the contrary, seems to 
take no small pains so to place its nest that it shall be easily accessible 
to man. Iam by no means a good climber, and yet I never saw more 
than one of these nests which was beyond my reach. In this island, 
where we have no ¢ree larger than rhubarb, except in Dr. Edmond- 
ston’s garden, sticks and even twigs are scarce, therefore birds are 
compelled to select such materials as the climate affords for nest- 
building purposes. Mr. Hewitson has long since recorded the fact 
of Shetland eagles and crows substituting sea-weed for sticks. The 
most singular looking nest which has yet come under my notice was 
that of a hooded crow. The upper part was, as usual, composed of 
large sea-weed stalks, lined with wool, feathers, hair and moss, but this 
was placed upon a substantial foundation of the bones of ponies and 
sheep, collected in such quantity that the mass measured nearly a yard 
across, and, in one part, a foot indepth; many of the bones were of so 
large a size that it was difficult to imagine how they had been con- 
veyed by the birds. But the peculiarity did not end here. In my 
walks along shore I had at various times collected a number of quills 
of geese and great blackbacked gulls, depositing them for safety in a 
crevice of a rock; but the hoard having been discovered by the crows, 
it was unceremoniously appropriated by them, and long afterwards the 
quills were to be seen sticking like so many skewers around the brim 
of the nest, crossed and interwoven in a manner well calculated to 
afford great strength, although they certainly caused a very odd 
appearance. I know of one other instance in which bones entered 
into the composition of the nest, but they were only used in very 
small quantity. 
Purple Sandpiper.—Purple sandpipers are still to be met with in 
considerable numbers, not only upon the rocks by the sea-side, but 
also in moist spots upon the tops of hills several hundred feet above 
the level of the sea. They are found in the latter situation chiefly in 
spring and autumn, probably because at those seasons food is more 
abundant inland. Returning homewards rather late one evening, 
across a piece of wet gravelly ground, I heard a low grating noise, and 
after some little search discovered that it proceeded from a purple 
sandpiper, which was standing near with its bill partly open, and 
apparently making great efforts to swallow something. I then shot 
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