4288 THE ZooLoGist—JANUARY, 1875. 
that I was not far from the nest. The farther I walked in one particular 
direction, the more impatient the poor bird became, stooping to within a few 
feet of my head, and circling above me in apparently great anxiety for the 
safety of its treasure. Well accustomed as I was to the ways of the skua 
during the breeding season, it was nevertheless with no little effort that 
I refrained from swerving aside every time the bird, suddenly dropping 
from a height, came charging directly towards my face; however, it always 
rose abruptly when within a few feet of me, and passed over my head with 
great velocity, its wings being fully expanded and perfectly steady, causing, 
as they rushed through the air, a noise exactly like that of a small sky- 
rocket. After watching these manceuvres for some time, I resumed the 
search upon the ground, and soon found an egg, in a nest which consisted 
of a neatly rounded cavity in the moss and heather, measuring about eleven 
inches in diameter, and lined with small pieces of moss, heather and dry 
grass. Presently we found many more skuas’ eggs, but we only brought 
home a couple, being unwilling to further decrease the already too scanty 
race, though in a few years more, whether we took all or none, there will very 
soon be no more skuas on Hermaness.”—P. 353. 
Here ends this long review. I could heartily and honestly have 
penned a few eulogistic platitudes, or have transcribed that stereo- 
typed formula of worthless panegyric, “No library should be 
without it,” and thus have saved myself the examination of every 
page and every paragraph; but such a course would have been 
unjust to the author and unsatisfactory to the reader; an author 
has a right to expect at the hands of a reviewer more consideration, 
more respect, than is evinced by this common-place, this mere 
matter-of-course commendation; and the reader who is recom- 
mended to purchase a book is entitled to such information about 
its contents as would enable him to form a judgment, favourable or 
adverse, as the case may be, irrespective of the reviewer's opinion. 
This object I have endeavoured to keep steadily in view: no one 
who, after reading the striking passages I have extracted, shall 
possess himself of the book, can possibly complain of having been 
induced to purchase by any false representation or undue praise of 
mine. 
And now a word remains for the loving brother who so willingly 
undertook, and who has so nobly performed, the editorial task of 
presenting these Observations on the Birds of Shetland to the 
critical and exacting republic of British ornithologists. He has 
exhibited an unusual, an unexampled, aptitude for the onerous 
duty: while exhibiting in every page his fitness, while proving 
