406 Birds. 



cimen, which I had an opportunity of seeing when fresh, was killed 

 some years ago. 



Common tern, Sterna Hirundo. Breeds in low islands. 



Black tern, Sterna Jissipedes. I observed one a few years ago. 



Skua gull, Lestris Cataractes. Breeds on a few remote moors : 

 Hermaness in Unst, Ronas hill in Northmarm, and the island of Fou- 

 la, are, I believe, the only places. 



Richardson's skua, Lestris Richardsonii. Breeds with the preced- 

 ing, but is much more common. A very curious anomaly prevails 

 with regard to the colouring of the plumage. Birds are found indis- 

 criminately breeding together, of a uniform blackish brown colour, 

 quite resembling, in this respect, Larus Cataractes ; and others hav- 

 ing the under parts, throat and cheeks yellowish white. This differ- 

 ence in colour is apparent when the young birds are in the nest ; and 

 the parents may be both black, or both of the other kind, or one of 

 the black and one of the white-bellied variety, and the young will be 

 either two black, two white-bellied, or one of each indiscriminately. 

 I have seen two black young birds in the nest of two white-bellied. 

 I have shot, dissected, and domesticated many individuals, without 

 obtaining any clew to this singular anomaly ; the two varieties being 

 precisely similar in every particular but that of colour. 



The above catalogue shows sixty-two land-birds and seventy-five 

 water-birds, making altogether one hundred and thirty -nine birds, re- 

 sident, migratory and stragglers. About fifty-nine species breed in 

 Shetland, the remainder being only seen in winter, or as irregular 

 visitants. 



It seems strange that no wild gallinaceous birds are found. The 

 absence of wood, and extensive cultivated grounds, debar the phea- 

 sant and partridge, and sufficiently extensive and abundant heath is 

 in most instances wanting, for the shelter and maintenance of the red 

 grouse ; but I am strongly inclined to think that our lonely hills, 

 scantily covered with heath and ling, would, in many instances, afford 

 eligible situations for the grey ptarmigan : the experiment of intro- 

 ducing this bird has not, however, so far as I am aware, been tried. 

 The brown ptarmigan, or red grouse, is not uncommon in the neigh- 

 bouring islands of Orkney, which also possess the king eider, the red 

 phalarope and dabchick grebe, birds rarely found with us. 



The birds sought after by the sportsman are, however, not few in 

 Shetland. Several kinds of wild geese and ducks, the noble and ma- 

 jestic hooper, rock pigeons, the curlew and whimbrel, the vast flocks 





