very great satisfaction of seeing and taking many of these 

 most interesting birds alive ; they breed in great numbers on 

 several of the islands, principally upon Foula, the north of 

 Unst, and upon Papa and Oxna, two small islands in the bay 

 of Scalloway ; the last of these I visited on the 31st of May, 

 in hopes of procuring their eggs (it being the season in which 

 most of the sea-birds begin to lay), but in this I was disap- 

 pointed ; the fishermen who know them well by the name of 

 Swallows, assured me that my search would be quite useless, 

 that they had not yet " come up from the sea," and so it 

 proved. Sixteen days after this (June 16, and three follow- 

 ing days) I was at Foula, but was alike unsuccessful, the 

 birds had arrived at their breeding places, but had not yet 

 begun to lay their eggs; numbers of them were sitting in 

 their holes, and were easily caught ; one man brought me 

 above a dozen tied up in an old stocking, two of which I 

 kept alive in my room for nearly three days, and derived very 

 great pleasure from their company ; during the day they 

 were mostly inactive, and after pacing about the floor for a 

 short time, poking their heads into every hole, they hid them- 

 selves between the feet of the table and the wall ; I could not 

 prevail upon them to eat anything, though I tried to tempt 

 them with fish and oil ; their manner of walking is very light 

 and pleasing, and diifering from that of every other bird 

 which I have seen ; they carry their bodies so far forward 

 and so nearly horizontal, as to give them the appearance of 

 being out of equilibrium. In the evening, towards sunset, 

 they left their hiding places, and for hours afterwards never 

 ceased in their endeavours to regain their liberty, flying round 

 and round the room, or lluttering against the windows ; when 

 flying, their length of wing, and white above the tail, gives 

 them a good deal the appearance of our House Martin. I 

 went to bed and watched them in their noiseless flight, long 

 ere I fell asleep, but in the morning they had disappeared ; 

 one had fortunately made its escape through a broken pane 



