Birds. 



7933 



enclosure. To those of my countrymen in Old England who have 

 never wandered far from their own green woods, and to whom the loss 

 of a few small trees would be a matter of little importance, the above 

 may appear a somewhat cruel proceeding, but for all that it was 

 a necessary one, otherwise it would not have been sanctioned by 

 Dr. Edmondston, who is too thorough a naturalist to countenance any- 

 thing like wanton destruction of life, and who, it should be borne in 

 mind, has for the last twenty years and upwards been very successfully 

 endeavouring to introduce trees and shrubs into the island, notwith- 

 standing the ill-natured ridicule with which his early attempts were 

 received by certain of the inhabitants who ought to have known better. 

 Having thus so far justified myself, I will confess that no less than 

 seven birds fell to my gun alone ; besides this, many others were 

 brought to me from various parts of the island, but, strange to say, not 

 one female was to be found among them, and with one single excep- 

 tion all were first-year's birds. 



The first two presented nothing unusual in their appearance, but on 

 taking the third one into my hand, 1 at once remarked the worn look 

 of the bill, tail and claws. I immediately suspected that this was 

 caused by the scarcity of trees having driven the bird to seek its food 

 among stones and rocks, and, upon opening the stomach, my sus- 

 picions w r ere confirmed by the discovery, among other insects, of 

 several small beetles which are found only upon the hills. 



I may mention that these beetles are very abundant in Shetland, 

 although I do not remember having seen any of the kind in England : 

 they are about the size and shape of one half of a split-pea, 

 black, edged with scarlet. 



I afterwards saw spotted woodpeckers on various parts of the hills, 

 on walls, and even in high sea-cliffs ; I also saw them on roofs 

 of houses and upon dunghills, and although several were killed upon 

 corn-stacks I never found any grain in the stomach. They were fre- 

 quently to be met with upon the ground among heather, where at all 

 times they were easily approached, but more particularly in rainy or 

 misty weather, when their plumage becoming saturated with moisture 

 and rendering them too heavy for a long flight, many were stoned to 

 death by boys. 



Those in the garden fed largely upon seeds of the mountain-ash, 

 which they broke open the berries to procure, sometimes dropping a 

 whole cluster upon the ground and descending to feed, but more fre- 

 quently breaking the berries to pieces as they hung upon the trees. 

 But even in the garden they did not confine themselves to the trees : 



