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SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



preen their feathers, and I then saw accurately 

 their blood-red bills. A party of four oyster- 

 catchers were also frequenting this neighbour- 

 hood, but did not betray great excitement, and a 

 sandwich-tern in the air drew my attention by its 

 distinctive call-note. A dunlin rose from the beach 

 and flew to the seaweed, and I anxiously, but 

 unavailingly, searched for the eggs amongst the 

 stones and gravel, never having yet found them in 

 such a site. The little bird fed most confidingly 

 on the shore, and called once, whilst ring plovers 

 ceased not to call plaintively about me. When 

 eventually an oyster-catcher uttered its alarm the 

 interesting little party flew oft". 



A lengthened detour was necessary to reach the 

 stony point, and the walking over the raised line of 

 smooth, rounded stones, running out about a quarter 

 of a mile from land, was of a very rough nature. 

 Towards the extremity of the point, grass, with 

 scurvy-grass, clothed the stones and made a softer 

 surface, and at the region immediately before this, 

 where scurvy-grass and Silent were struggling to 

 maintain their hold amongst the stones, the Arctic 

 terns were chiefly breeding. The first nest found, 

 consisting of a few thin stems placed together in a 

 slight depression, contained two eggs ; a second 

 nest, marked by a line of seaweed round its rim, 

 lay a little off amongst some stones, and contained 

 three eggs, and another amongst stones was formed 

 of a considerable mass of seaweed. The birds 

 were just beginning to lay, as I found only one 

 nest with three eggs. I failed to find the eggs of 

 the sandwich tern, and doubt whether it was 

 breeding at this point. The only birds present 

 here, besides the Arctic terns, were a pair of rock 

 pipits that frequented a ruined circular dyke in 

 the terns' haunt. 



Continuing my journey along the grassy fore- 

 shore, I renewed my acquaintance with many 

 species already noted, and observed a single black 

 guillemot. A sudden change to moorland, however, 

 takes place, and persists as far as the next head- 

 land, where a series of rocks of no great height — 

 though steep, and forming two fine geos — forms the 

 corner of the headland. These combined aspects 

 of wilder scenery encouraged the hope of some 

 change in the bird-life. The summit of the rocks 

 was finely decked with the beautiful blue Scilla 

 verna, and masses of Empetrum nigrum, covered 

 with a thick crop of still unripe berries, formed 

 mats near the edge. Peeweeps and ring plovers 

 still remained constant to their charge, and the 

 golden plover now awaited me and called from his 

 station on the ground. From the rocks I roused a 

 pair of rockdoves, and I also found a pair of hooded 

 crows tenants here. One new nest of the latter 

 birds occupied a depression near the top of the 

 rocks, but the eggs had been smashed by stones 

 dropped upon them from above ; nevertheless, the 



uproar of the birds assured me that they had 

 another nest in a securer spot. The other rock 

 birds here were cormorants — four of which passed 

 together, and an odd one later — also a single black 

 guillemot. Once a nestling rock pipit issued from a 

 mass of crowberry and disappeared over the banks. 

 The rocks soon failed, and a small loch lying in 

 the following depression again afforded a change 

 of scene. A goodly number of birds found food or 

 shelter on this loch and on the adjoining swampy 

 ground. On my approach eleven oystercatchers 

 flew off in a body, and a single shelduck made 

 seaward, whilst a dunlin — most confiding of birds — 

 ran anxiously along the edge, as if intent on 

 feeding only. Two other dunlins were here also, 

 but their mates may have been sitting far enough 

 away from the water. Two herring gulls — one 

 immature — hovered for a long time overhead. 

 The surrounding swamp was rough, and suitable 

 for nesting-birds, but, as I had yet so much ground 

 to cover, I could not spare the necessary time to 

 explore it. 



Striking across country, with peeweeps and a 

 pair of redshanks attendant, I disturbed a lark 

 from her nest, with four eggs, in a thick bunch 

 of heather, and soon after I reached the side of 

 Tankerness Loch. I was in great hopes of finding 

 something worthy of note on this extensive sheet of 

 water, nor was I disappointed, though my first 

 scrutiny of the surface gave me little encourage- 

 ment. I observed some ducks not favourably 

 situated for identification, and meanwhile paid no 

 further heed to tbem, as I hoped to have a distinct 

 view of them from the opposite side of the loch. 

 Beginning my circuit of the loch — keeping it on my 

 right hand — I loitered long about a great patch of 

 heather that was enclosed between the water's edge- 

 and a semicircle of bright golden whins. Here a 

 number of small birds — yellowhammer, common 

 linnet and starling — found shelter, but no ducks 

 rose from their nests in spite of my persistent 

 search. 



The heather ground gave way to pasture and 

 cultivated land, and my old assailants, peeweeps 

 and redshanks, with ring plovers and Arctic terns,, 

 again attended me. My journey to the loch head, 

 did not reveal anything of interest, and I had 

 turned along the opposite side before I began to 

 encounter the typical life of the loch. Three 

 mallard in down presently ran to the water's edge 

 and swam oft from land, and, on my crossing to the 

 spot from which they had risen, the old bird 

 fluttered out. She beat back and forward in front 

 of me, with her neck stretched fully out along the 

 surface of the water, whilst the young birds swam 

 out far from shore. The mallard duck remained 

 near the edge, displaying her anxiety in a most 

 marked manner, and kept flying in front of me 

 long after I had left the spot where her young had 



