264 Ornithological Observations in Shetland. 



along the narrow neck of which a man — and sometimes even 

 a sheep — can with difficulty pass. The situation here was 

 an admirable one for the class of research I was engaged 

 in, for behind the birds, and cut off by this ridge of approach 

 was the great lonely slope of the hill, rising to the sky-line, 

 whilst in front of, and many feet below them, was the equally 

 lonely great sea. Yet thus standing, isolated and alone, 

 with nothing visible where there was such complete visibility, 

 a sudden motion broke out in the band, as a whole ; the front 

 ranks ran, in a peculiar eager manner, in the direction in which 

 they had been standing — of the sea namely — and were followed 

 after a moment, by those behind till, in a second or two, all 

 rose, flew swiftly over the cliff's brow, and, after circling and 

 sweeping for a little, in a wild tumultuous manner, and with 

 shrieking cries, dispersed in various directions. They were 

 all Herring Gulls with the exception of a single Great Black- 

 backed, who joined in the exodus, its partner having gone off, 

 some time before. Here too, then, though not quite instan- 

 taneous, as in the previous instance, a sudden general impulse 

 towards flight seems to have arisen in the assembled birds 

 without any discernible cause for this, external to their own 

 minds. There was a sudden idea apparently, a sudden little 

 run — and off ! I have mentioned the ' eager ' manner in 

 which the birds ran. The word is an approximation merely, 

 and was suggested much more by the expression, as caught 

 through the eye and way of holding the head, than by the gait. 

 It was a very odd look that they presented, not at all easy to 

 describe, but perhaps more equivalent to what in ourselves we 

 should call wrapt than to the idea conveyed by the word I 

 have used. I had the sense of having witnessed something 

 strange and unaccountable. It was as though, upon a sudden, 

 the birds had heard a voice, saying ' Fly ! ' To convey this 

 convincingly to anyone not a witness of the incident is im- 

 possible. Birds must be watched hard, and the spirit out of 

 which only such watching can proceed, is a down-gun and up- 

 observation one. 



October i6th. — Kittiwakes standing or sitting on the wet 

 sand at 9-30, this morning, twenty-one in all, eighteen sitting, 

 of which fifteen are asleep, that is to say have the head turned 

 back, and bill buried in the dorsal plumage — in popular parlance 

 the head under the wing. Of the three that stand, one also 

 has the head thus turned and two are preening. This so-called 

 sleep is hardly, I believe, really such, for the bird that, if 

 it were, should be asleep, stretches one leg backwards now, in 

 the common bird fashion so pleasing to see. There is another 

 little group of eight, near by, who sit on the dry sand, as the 

 others on the wet. Six of them tuck in their heads first, and 

 then the other two. To the Kittiwakes, now — those of them 

 upon the wet sand — flit in, like shadows, from seaward, three 



Naturalist, 



