7



the worse, can hardly be strictly called delicate. My own opinion is, that

these birds usually die of apoplexy, or heart disease, suddenly; that a

scare, caused by the hasty entry of any person into the bird-room, or the

abrupt turning on of artificial light, may be accountable.


If these few rough notes should prove useful to any of our members,

they will have served their purpose ; and such matters as I may' have over¬

looked, will, I hope, be supplemented by others who have had experience of

this form of Aviculture. On the other hand, should anyone wish for

further information on any of the points which I have mentioned, it will

be a pleasure to me to attempt to answer such questions as he may put.

What all aviarists desire is, to render their feathered pets as nearly as

possible immortal ; but perhaps when I say all, I should exclude bird-

dealers, who doubtless would be content with a more moderate span of life

for them. At present, aviculture is still in its infancy, and every crumb of

information based upon fact is important. A Society such as ours, which

affords its members the opportunity of freely exchanging experiences, is

therefore likely'- to prove extremely useful, in reducing the death-rate of

birds in captivity.



THE WATERFALL PIRATE AT HOME.


By George C. Williamson, d.lit.,


Member of the Council of the Royal Society of Literature.


Mr. and Mrs. Lestris Catarractes are At Home every afternoon at

Hermaness, Isle of Uust, Shetland Isles; but the distance is too great to

induce many people to go and pay their respe&s to one of the rarest of our

British sea-birds. My wife and I went, however, recently, and were well

rewarded for our journey'.


The island is the most northern point of the Queen’s home dominions.

It is on the same latitude as Cape Farewell in South Greenland, and the

light that one expects in northern Norway, but does not expect in Britain

was streaming around us as though it were midday instead of nearly

midnight.


The great skua occupies in the bird world a place midway between

hawks and gulls. He is a bold and fierce bird. He unites the ferocity of the

hawk and its swiftness and directness of flight to the swimming and fishing-

powers of the gulls, but he is so thoroughly a pirate in the feathered world

that he prefers living upon the activity of others to providing food for his

family by his own exertions. It is quite within the memory of this genera¬

tion that the great auk has become practically extindt, even if there be any

truth in the rumour that a pair have been seen lately in Iceland. At one time

there was a fear that the great skua would share a similar fate— at all events

that it would never be again seen to nest in the British Isles. Now, how¬

ever, thanks to the energy and care of one of the landed proprietors of

Unst, Mr. Baurence Edmondson of Buuess, Hermaness Hill has been fenced

around, permission to enter upon it being scrupulously preserved, and the

eight pairs of skuas left undisturbed.


It is not given to eveiyoue to be able to fence in a great hill 657 feet

high, with all the acres of long slope of grassy downs around it, and to

provide keepers whose special charge is a flock of sixteen birds. Much

gratitude, however, is due from all ornithologists for this action of Mr.

Edmondson’s, and for the guarding care that has preserved to Britain

another of its rarer birds.


The natives call the bird the Bonxie, and in breeding-time they' are

by no means anxious to come -with reach of it.


Lestris catarractes derives his name from the fierce and unhesitating

rush of flight that he makes. So tremendous is the force with which this

pugnacious bird will fly', that, rushing against a tree or a fence, it has

stunned itself and fallen over helpless many a time from the impetus with



