Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 3 (1899).djvu/97

Rh (Emberiza miliaria).—About Walls and Baltasound, in the neighbourhood of cultivation.

(Alauda arvensis).—Very numerous. The exquisite song, poured out amidst the high cold wind, enlivened the dreariest heaths of the country between Walls and Sandness. A nest with three eggs among the heather.

(Sturnus vulgaris).—Numerous on Foula and elsewhere. We found them nesting in a variety of situations, as below the eaves of a stable, on sloping ground between two boulders on one of the islands near Scalloway; and in Unst, in the loose stone base of a low sod fence within a few inches of a little stream. They seem to place their nests anywhere within shelter.

(Corvus cornix).—Common. There was an occupied nest on the bell-gablet of the Wesleyan Church at Walls.

(C. corax).—One on Foula, buffeted by an Oystercatcher. Two between Walls and Lerwick.

(Asio accipitrinus).—One among the rocks near Braga Ness, Walls, persecuted by Hooded Crows.

(Falco tinnunculus).—One seen in Unst.

(Phalacrocorax carbo).—Saw some birds, but no breeding place.

(P. graculus).—Common. Owing to the rough weather we visited no nesting place.

(Sula bassana).—A few seen off the coast.

(Anas boscas).—Met with nesting both in Mainland and Unst, some of the nests being hidden in tall heather. In three cases the duck was sitting on nine eggs.

(Querquedula crecca).—Two on one of the Walls lochs.

(Mareca penelope).—Two drakes on Hulma Water, 21st May.

(Clangula glaucion).—Two on a small lake near Walls; others noted in Unst.

(Somateria mollissima).—Nesting on the islands near Scalloway. In two cases where there were three fresh eggs the nests were lined with down. Abundant off Papa Stour; we saw, as mentioned by Mr. Raeburn, birds among the Great Black-backed Gulls on Lyra Skerry.