348 TttE ZOOLOGIST. 



to have taken up its quarters about 1878 (' Summer Birds of 

 Shetland,' by Harold Kaeburn, Proc. Koy. Phys. Soc. Edinburgh, 

 1888, p. 562 ; see also ' Zoologist,' 1879, p. 380). We found about 

 sixty pairs on Foula, in two colonies, a mile apart. But as high 

 cliffs overhang at the spots selected, a majority of the nests are 

 inaccessible. These birds are increasing here, and are said by 

 natives to have come to Foula on the back of a dead whale about 

 eighteen years ago. It is said also that they remain about the 

 island the whole year. 



Puffinus anglorum. A flock at sea near Foula. Breeds 

 sparingly there, the eggs according to the natives being very hard 

 to get. Local name " Cut-water." 



Thalassidroma pelagica. Said by natives to breed on Foula 

 in small numbers ; but I failed to find any trace of it, and no 

 eggs were offered for sale by dealers on the island. 



The natives of Foula have not for ten or twelve years past 

 gone to the cliffs and descended with ropes for the sake of bird- 

 catching. If they do so at the present day, it is merely to " show 

 off" before strangers, or to procure eggs for sale. Cliff- climbing, 

 as a matter of necessity, has long been a thing of the past, and 

 disuse has probably produced timidity and want of skill, if the 

 present generation of islanders be compared with those of the 

 past. Even the St. Kildeans are not what they were. The famous 

 Stack-a-Biorach, which was the test by which the St. Kilda 

 maidens in old times measured the pluck and agility of their 

 lovers — and without climbing which, a young man, according to 

 some writers, had no chance of acceptance — is now rarely scaled. 

 I can confirm the danger and great difficulty of this feat, and 

 regret that I was not able to compare the old Foula method of 

 climbing and bird-catching with my experiences in the St. Kilda 

 group. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



MAMMALIA. 



Varieties of Water Vole and Long-tailed Field Mouse. — My brother 

 shot last month on his brook at Wistow Grange, Leicestershire, a very 

 pretty variety of this animal ; it is of a pale sandy colour all over, and was 

 about half-grown : varieties of this species are rare. He also sent me a 



