Foula 1828

From the perusal of one of your interesting Numbers of the Magazine of Natural History, I am induced to forward you an account of the commencement of my researches through the Islands of Shetland and Orkney, in the summer of 1828, in the ornithological department of zoology; possibly you may honour it with a place in your pages.

One of the principal objects that drew me to Shetland was a wish to obtain a specimen of the skua gull (Lestris Cataractes), and to have an opportunity of seeing and observing him in his native haunts. Foula, a small and rocky island situated about thirty miles to the westward of Mainland, is the principal resort of this bird; and to its high and lofty hills it annually arrives for the purpose of incubation. It being then the fishing season, I had some difficulty in obtaining a passage over, as on that depends the Shetlanders’ sole existence in the winter. Having, however, through the friendly assistance of Mr. Scot, the proprietor of Foula, at last procured a boat, a fair wind and a few hours brought me to the general landing-place of the island. The accommodations here are miserably bad: two old chairs and a few blankets were the sole apology for a bed; and as for food, milk and oat-cake of the coarsest kind can only be obtained, together with a few eggs; but the ornithologist with assistance of his gun, is able to subsist very tolerably upon the wild pigeons and a few snipes.

Foula is certainly a romantic curiosity, being about three miles in circumference; a range of lofty hills, presenting their cone-shaped summits, traverse it from south-east to north-west; and the ascent upon the north-east side is extremely steep, so much so, that, to attain the top, it is necessary to catch hold of the dwarf heather at every step; on the other side, they gradually slope away to the sea, and, ending abruptly, present the most stupendous and awful precipices. The natives are kind and hospitable, ever willing to lend you all the assistance possible, to guide you through the cliffs, scale the rocks, and brave the most perilous dangers, with a careless indifference; for, nursed from infancy amid the roar of winds and waves, and the boiling lash of the foaming surge, they traverse, with perfect ease, the most towering and splinter-shaped pinnacles of rock, in quest of wild fowl for subsistence.

The skua gull, called by the natives Buncie, is held and cherished by them with the greatest veneration and kindness; and nothing hurts their feelings more than to see the death of their favourite bird. I was particularly requested, upon my first arrival, by two or three elderly natives, to spare this bird; as to the skua were almost entirely trusted the care and protection of their lambs, during the summer months, that are always allowed to wander unrestrained over the island. These birds possess an inveterate dislike against the eagle and raven; for no sooner does the broad and rounded wing of the eagle appear emerging from his rocky habitation amid the cliffs, than the skua descends upon him from the tops of the mountains, in bodies of three or four, and never fail to force the eagle to a precipitate retreat. The natives always reward his services, by casting from their boats the refuse portion of the fresh-caught fish, which he seizes with greedy avidity, snatching it almost from the hands of the fisherman.

I was particularly amused one evening, when standing at the foot of the loftiest hill (called by the natives Snuge), with the following circumstance: - An eagle was returning to his eyry, situated in the face of the western crags, in appearance perfectly unconscious of approaching so near to his inveterate foe, as, in general, the eagle returns to the rocks from the sea, without ever crossing the smallest portion of the island. This time, however, he was making a short cut of it, by crossing an angle of the land. Not a bird was discernible: a solitary skua might, indeed, be occasionally seen, wheeling his circling flight around the summit of the mountain, which was already assuming its misty mantle. As I was intently observing the majestic flight of the eagle, on a sudden he altered his direction, and descended hurriedly, as if in the act of pouncing; in a moment, five or six of the skua passed over my head with an astonishing rapidity; their wings partly closed and perfectly steady, without the slightest waver or irregularity. They appeared, when cleaving the air, like small fragments of broken rock, torn and tossed by a hurricane from the summit of a towering cliff, until, losing the power that supported them, they fell prone to the sea beneath. The gulls soon came up with him, as their descent was very rapid, and a desperate engagement ensued. The short bark of the eagle was clearly discernible above the scarcely distinguished cry of the skua, who never ventured to attack his enemy in front; but, taking a short circle around him, until his head and tail were in a direct line, the gull made a desperate sweep or stoop, and, striking the eagle on the back, he darted up again almost perpendicular; when, falling in to the rear, he resumed his cowardly attack. Three or four of these birds, thus passing in quick succession, invariably succeed in harassing the eagle most unmercifully. If, however, he turns his head previously to the bird’s striking, the gull quickly ascends, without touching him. This engagement continued some time, the eagle wheeling and turning as quickly as his ponderous wings would allow; until I lost the combatants in the rocks. As soon as this is the case, the gulls leave, and quickly return to the mountain.

Snuge being the highest mountain is usually chosen by the skua gull as his retreat in the breeding season. The female, which is somewhat smaller than the male, makes her nest in the long coarse herbage of the mountain; and generally lays four eggs, of a dirty greenish colour, very faintly and obscurely blotched with spots of a brownish cast, principally at the larger end. When the young are hatched, the old ones are then very savage, and will unhesitatingly strike either man or beast that attempts to molest them by approaching too near to their nests. Their mode of attack is always from behind; never, by any chance, in front. Probably, the reason for this caution is to avoid any blow which they would naturally receive if their intentions were discovered; as they would be, if the birds approached in any direction but behind. It is surprising how dexterously they will avoid an attempt to strike them, by a rapid and almost perpendicular ascent, even if they have advanced within a foot of your shoulders. To avoid them, it merely requires to be on your guard; and, when a bird stoops, to face him immediately, or you are most likely to suffer for your neglect by a good smart blow on the shoulders.

Berwick has given a not very clear description of this bird; therefore, the following one may, possibly, not be disagreeable to your readers: -

In dimensions and weight, Berwick’s is tolerably correct. His head is of a dark brown, each feather margined with dull white; the auriculars and cheeks are covered with fine, narrow, pointed, hackle-like feathers, the points of which are of a yellowish colour; as is also the back of the head, extending almost to the shoulders. The neck is of a darkish brown, each feather sharply pointed with yellowish rust-colour, until, gradually extending, they form waving bars of the same colour across the breast. The belly is of a rusty colour, waved and obscurely marked with ash; under tail-coverts the same. The back, greater and lesser coverts, and tertials, are dark brown, dashed and freckled with ash and rust colour; the tertials more so than the rest. The roots of the primaries white, extending along the inner webs; extremities nearly black; bastard wing dark, each feather sharply pencilled with dull white. Tail, consisting of twelve feathers, dark ashy brown. Bill and claws hooked, the inner claw more so then the rest; eye dark.

On the southern side of the island is one of the most magnificent and stupendous cliffs or faces of rock that I ever beheld; it consists of a lofty mountain, entirely isolated, resembling a cone split or divided from its very summit to the sea; and, as viewed from the sea in a boat, strikes the imagination as the brickwork of a gigantic fortress, being in itself perfectly mural, with scarcely a broken chasm or rent observable, so regular and so beautiful is this bulwark of nature; the strata of which are uniformly of a reddish cast. This face is estimated to be about 1500 ft. above the level of the sea, and is resorted to by innumerable hosts of aquatic birds, the kittiwake (Larus Rissa L.) and guillemot (Colymbus Troille L.) occupying the lowest part; above them, the herring gull (Larus fuscus L.) and a few of the black-backed gull (Larus marinus L.); and, higher still, the Mank’s puffin (Procellaria Puffinus L.), stormy petrel (Procellaria pelagica L.), and common puffin (Alca arctica L.); the whole forming a scene truly delightful to the eye of the ornithologist.

As the stormy petrel is scarcely ever to be seen near the land, except in very boisterous weather, one of the natives, for a trifling remuneration, agreed to traverse the face of this rock, and take me some from out its fissures. Accordingly, accoutred with a rope of hemp and hogs’ bristles, coiled over his shoulders, he proceeded to the cliff, having made one end fast by means of a stake, he threw the coil over the face of the rock, and gradually lowered himself down, but with the utmost caution and circumspection, carefully pressing his foot hard upon the narrow ridges before he at all loosened his firm grasp of the rope, which he never altogether abandoned. I had previously thrown myself upon my chest, to enable me to have a better view of him, by looking over the cliff; and, certainly, to see the dexterity and bravery with which he threw himself from one aperture to another was truly grand. The tumbling roar of the Atlantic was foaming many hundreds of feet beneath, and dashing its curling cream-like surge against the dark base of the cliff, in sheets of the most beautiful white; while the herring and black-backed gulls, alternately sweeping past him so as to be almost within reach of his arm, threw a wildness into the scene by the discordant scream of the former, and the laughing oft-repeated bark of the latter. This, however, he appeared to disregard; and, continuing his search, returned in about half an hour with seven or eight of the stormy petrel, tied up in a stocking; and a pair of the Manks puffins, together with their eggs. The birds, he told me, he had no difficulty in capturing. The eggs of the stormy petrel are surprisingly large, considering the diminutive size of the bird, being as large as those of the thrush. The female lays two eggs, of a dirty or dingy white, encircled at the larger end by a ring of fine rust-coloured freckles. The birds merely collect a few pieces of dried grass, with a feather or two, barely sufficient to prevent the eggs from rolling or moving on the rock. That of the Manks puffin (the bird lays but one) is of a very round shape, and uniformly white, very much resembling that of a hen. These birds very often excavate a small hole, if the stratum is soft enough to admit of it, like the common puffin (Alca arctica L.), by means of their small sharp claws, on the ground of which they deposit their single eggs.

The north-eastern side of the island is principally occupied by the arctic gulls (Lestris parasiticus L.), which breed there very plentifully upon the low and mossy levels, by the edge of a small lake or pond. As the young were already hatched, I discovered concealed in the long grass; and, although many of them were covered with nothing but down, still the blue legs and black toes were very distinct, which corroborated, beyond all doubt, the surmises that the arctic gull and the black-toed gull (Lestris crepidatus L.) are the same: in fact, I afterwards, in the other islands, shot many of them upon the breeding grounds of the arctic gull. Some had not lost the down off their heads, and were a beautiful light-brownish colour, distinctly barred, and spotted with black; and in some, as the bird advanced in growth, the brown colour was gradually disappearing, until, in many specimens, only a very few brown marks were discernible; the middle tail-feathers commenced to elongate, and the bluish cast of the legs became darker, and indistinctly blotched with blackish spots; whence I am led to conclude that they ultimately become black, and assume the rough appearance peculiar to the Lestris genus.

I am, Sir, &c.

RICHARD DROSIER.

Morston, Holt, Norfolk, May 5.

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