Ornithological Observations and Reflections in Shetland. 357 
part Herring Gulls — with, perhaps, some Lesser Black-backs 
among them. All at once, as by an impulse arising, simul- 
taneously, in all of them, they rise into the air, toss and circle 
in a wild tumultary manner, over the mouth of the small rocky 
inlet immediately beneath them, uttering some wailing cries, 
and then, almost as quickly, disperse themselves, so that, in a 
few minutes, none is to be seen. There is no apparent object 
in this aerial dance above the waves, thus suddenly and 
spontaneously arising. It must have some emotional origin, 
beyond our human purview, and the emotion whatever it may 
be, animates each bird of the assembly — hitherto standing 
idly and dully — at the same instant of time. This is but a 
single instance out of many observed by me of what is one 
of the most interesting, as it is, perhaps, the most mysterious 
fact of bird life. 
An alternate rising and sinking, the last ending in a swift 
circling sweep or two, is the principal characteristic of this 
curious outbreak which is like the performance of some sad 
sea rite — for always it is seawards that the birds sweep. Though 
light as air, and graceful as a bird’s flight must be, yet the great 
cliffs, the tossing waves and wild sky, the greyness and desolate- 
ness of everything, in which the very grass seems to share, 
combine to give to this dance of the Sea Gulls, in these their 
northern Isles, a mournful, almost a heavy character. Their 
cries, that never, to the human ear, have the ring of gladness, 
sound, now, like the saddest of dirges, to which the waves and 
winds reply. But what is it in reality ? What are the birds’ 
real feelings, and why, in one moment, do they all feel the 
same, and all act alike ? To these questions the present day 
field ornithologist can give no answer. ‘ Sunt mysteria rerum.' 
{To be continued ). 
: o : 
In No. 66 X.S. of The Lancashire and Cheshire Naturalist, the Rev. 
S. G. Birks continues his notes on ‘ The Crossopterygian Fossil Fishes of 
this area ’ (in one place called ‘ Crossodterygian.’) It is mainly a list of 
the specimens in the Manchester Museum, and contains such entries as 
‘ M. hibberti, L. loin, Scale, Loc. : Unknown’; ‘ M. (hibberti ?), L. 
10118, Small Scale, Loc. : Unknown.’ We have failed to detect any new 
matter in this further contribution. 
Among many articles appearing in The Essex Naturalist (parts 10-12 
of Vol. 17, for April- December, 1913) recently received, we notice : ‘ Sar- 
sen. Basalt, and other Boulders in Essex,’ by A. E. Salter ; ' The Coast 
Flora of the Clacton District,’ by F. Saxer ; ‘ Mycetozoa Seen during the 
Cryptogamic Forays in Epping Forest, 1913,’ by Miss Gulielma Lister; 
‘ On the Occurrence of Rhaxella-Chert in Epping Forest Gravels,’ by 
Percy G. Thompson ; ‘ Notes on Essex Geology at the latter end of the 
Nineteenth Century and After,’ by W. Whitaker ; and ‘ Cultivation of 
F idler’s Teasel in Essex,’ by Alfred W. Dennis. 
1914 Nov. 1. 
