Ornithological Observations and Reflections in Shetland. J19 



sweep together, again, and go down where they were before. 

 There is then the same scene of clamour and excitement, for 

 some ten or fifteen more minutes, when about a third of all 

 the birds flit up, and hover, for a little, over the main host on 

 the water. Then again, in one instant, with the most absolute 

 unanimity, as far as the eye can pronounce, these, too, rise, 

 and mingle with their brethren — absorb them, rather — after 

 which there is the same graceful flitting and circling, and 

 again all go down, but not on quite the same spot of the sea. 



And now, another strange thing happens, for, at once, 

 as though some fear had oppressed them, the voices of the 

 birds all sink, and, for clamour and jangle, which, till now, has 

 been increasing, there is entire silence through the whole of 

 them. Why some three hundred birds, or so, that have all, 

 up till now, been excitedly vociferating, should all cease to do 

 so, at just the same time, it is hard to imagine. There was 

 certainly no cause for alarm, no bird of prey in the air, no seal 

 or porpoise from beneath. The sea is open,* and, under such 

 conditions of nearness and clearness, mistake or non-observance 

 impossible. Nor had any sudden wind sprung up, to end the 

 calm stillness of to-day and many days previously. Yet so 

 it is — full conversazione up to a certain moment, and then as 

 though a silence spoke. It lasts for many minutes, then gradu- 

 ally the clamour recommences, but does not, for some time, 

 regain its full volume. Now, however, it is, again, normal, 

 and has even been beyond it, having risen, at one time, to a 

 verv high pitch. Then, once more, there is that strangely 

 sudden lull — a silence almost total, broken only by a suppressed 

 individual sound, now and again. Some ten minutes have 

 gone by, but the clamour has not been renewed. The birds 

 are now riding, all clustered together, in an extended oval 

 formation, quite close in shore. I try to count them and 

 have got to nearly the first hundred, when, as though threaded 

 on rows of strings which had all been suddenly jerked upwards, 

 the whole of them, in one instant, rise as one, and speed swiftly 

 away, southwards, down the coastline. No more than in the 

 first instance, as narrated, or on the occasion of either of the 

 strange, sudden silences, was there any perceivable cause for 

 this instantaneous out-flight en masse. 



There may be those to whom such facts as the above 

 present no difficulty ; nor do they, indeed, to me, insofar as 

 their existence is concerned, for, after all, not much would 



* I mean beyond the gathering ; but supposing such an animal to 

 have approached invisibly and passed beneath it, it is not eas}^ to imagine 

 such an effect as this resulting. Had it emerged, at one point, or broken 

 the surface in a continuous line, localised confusion and flight up would 

 have answered to this, and I must then have seen something of the cause. 

 There is nothing relevant to it in the fact noted. 



1918 Oct. 1. 



