126 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



The absence of Whales in those seas during the past season is 

 certainly exceptional, and probably arises from the peculiar 

 conditions of the ice ; but I am informed that the failures, in 

 some at least of the previous years, have been, in a great 

 measure, due to the vessels cruising about in fleets, to the 

 great disturbance of the Whales, instead of pursuing their 

 search singly ; the Whales have thus been rendered very shy, 

 and when seen have proved quite able to take care of them- 

 selves. The fitting out of a whaling vessel has now become a 

 very costly matter; added to which the high rate of wages 

 demanded by the men renders an unsuccessful voyage a heavy 

 loss ; but it is the opinion of a Commander of great experience 

 that there are still sufficient Whales in the Greenland Seas to 

 pay for their pursuit, provided too many vessels do not take 

 part in the fishery, and that each " steers by its own com- 

 pass," otherwise this branch of the fishery must soon come to 

 an end. 



THE BIRDS OF PAPA STOUR, WITH AN ACCOUNT OF 

 THE LYRA SKERRY. 



By Harold Raeburn. 



The following account of the birds of Papa Stour is 

 necessarily a very imperfect one, from the difficulty of obtaining 

 reliable information as to the winter visitors. This defect is 

 very general in accounts of the Ornithology of our outlying 

 islands which are not lighthouse stations, or which have not 

 been so fortunate as to possess — like Unst — such an enthusiastic 

 and able resident naturalist as the late Dr. Saxby. 



Saxby apparently never visited Papa Stour, for in his ' Birds 

 of Shetland ' he does not even mention this island, and the 

 references in other and earlier writers are few and brief. My 

 acquaintance with the island and its bird-life was made in the 

 course of two visits paid in June, 1887, and again in June, 1890 ; 

 and Mr. W. Eagle Clarke has kindly given me a list of species 

 observed by him on Papa Stour and the Ve Skerries in June of 

 last year (1890), which enables me to add one or two species not 

 observed on my visit. 



Papa Stour (i.e. Pope or Priest Island, and Norse Stor, large) 



