the head, which is brown; the neck much more faintly marked with the white ring; the coverts dusky.

GENUS XXXIV.—THE PELECAN.

Gen. Char.-Bill long and straight, the end either hooked or sloping; nostrils either totally wanting or small, and placed in a furrow that runs along the sides of the bill; faced naked; gullet naked, and capable of great distension; toes, all four webbed.

Species 1.-The Cormorant or Corvorant.

The Cormorant, Wil. Orn. 329. Raii Syn. Av. 122. Pelecanus Carbo, Lin. Sys. 216. Brit. Zool. 476. Orc. Great Scarf.

THIS bird is very frequent both in salt and fresh water; continues with us the whole year, living on fish, of which it destroys vast numbers.

The whole bird is black, except the throat and a tuft of feathers on the thighs; the bill is large, dusky, and hooked'; the throat capable of opening very wide, and it can swallow a very large fish; the tail consists of fourteen feathers, which is a character distinguishing it from the next; the belly in some is a dusky white, in others darker.

The corvorant seems to have but little other concern, than how to eat enough; it is indeed surprising what quantities of fish it will gorge itself with, and, when it has filled itself to

the throat, retires to some point where it sits till hunger compels it to the water again. A female corvorant weighs seven pounds and a half.

Species 2.-The Shag.

The Shag, called in the north of England the Crane, Wil. Orn. 330. Corvus aquaticus minor, Graculus palmipes dictus, Raii Syn. Av. 123. Pelecanus graculus, Lin. Sys. 217. Brit. Zool. 478. Brit. Zool. Illus. tab. 25. Orc. Scarf.

THE general appearance of this bird is the same with the former, only it is much less in every proportion, and this has but twelve feathers in the tail. The whole bird is black*; the back has a greenish cast; the belly dusky; in females and young birds the whole body is of a dusky brownish black; the legs are black.

The manners, the haunts, and every part of the history of these two birds is the same, but the shags are much more numerous : I have observed sometimes five hundred in a flock, especially where they had fallen in among a school or shoal of small fish.

They build like the former in the rocks, making a large nest of tang, and lining with softer materials; lay from four

*There is a variety in Orkney pretty frequent, with a white belly; in other particulars, as far as I can observe, not different from the former. A grown scarf weighs four pounds.

fish are

to six eggs of a white colour; fly a great way for fish, especi» ally while they are scarcest, that is, while the young so small as to be unobserved by them.

Our Hoy men and other rock-men tell us they sit in very large flocks on the rocks, and one keeps watch while the rest are asleep; if they can catch the watcher they are sure of the whole, but if he gives warning they all throw themselves over the rock into the sea. The rock-men go in the night-time to the places where they frequent, and catch many of them as above.

Species 3.-The Gannet.

Soland Goose, Wil. Orn. 328.

Raii Syn. Av. 122. Mart. Desc. West. Isles, 281. Pelecanus Bassanus, Zool. 479. Pen. Tour. 165, tab. 8. Orc. Solan.

Sib. Scot. 20. tab. 9. Lin. Sys. 217. Brit.

THE Solan Goose breeds in none of the Orkney Isles, as far as I can learn, but is very frequent in our bays, where great numbers of them may be seen fishing, after their manner, together. I have observed they dart briskest in windy wea ther; perhaps the motion of the water disturbing the fish, makes them appear better to this quick-eyed observer; however this is, the bird flies slowly along till it sees a fish, when it immediately throws itself on its back, and darts at the fish. Whether this last particular of its throwing itself on its back has been before observed I know not, but have myself observed it many and oft times. The nearest land to Orkney where

the solan goose breeds is a rock called the Stack of Soliskerry, where many hundreds breed every year, as the seals do on the Skerry. Sometime ago a ship went from this place thi ther, and returned with a great quantity of young solans, the feathers of which were good, as they were not near so oily as those of the older sea-fowl; the birds were eaten, but were very wild and fishy tasted, with a strong smell.

In the air, or at a distance, the solan goose has much the appearance of very large gull, but may, to an attentive observer, be distinguished by the following tokens: The neck is much longer; the body more cylindrical; the wings placed farther back than in the gull-kind; and the method of flying is much more equal than in that genus; which is all that needs to be said of this bird, after the excellent description given of it in the British Zoology.

ADDENDA.

The Coot.

Wil. Orn. 319. Raii Syn. 116. Fulica atra, Lin. Sys. 257. Brit. Zool.392.

Orc. Snyth.

THE Coot is found here at all seasons, and in several places,

particularly at Burwick in South Ronaldsha, and Aikerness in Evie; builds in grassy lochs, amongst which it conceals itself; lays a number of eggs, sometimes seven. It can fly, though something awkwardly; swims with its head grovelling in the water.

The Turnstone.

Turnstone or Sea Dotterel, Wil. Orn. 311. Morinellus marinus, Raii Syn. Av. 112. Tringa Morinellus, Lin. Sys. 249. Brit. Zool. 370.

THE bird described in the British Zoology under this name, is found in small flocks round the shores of Orkney, though only in winter. Migrates in spring, probably to the northward, as most others do which leave us in the summer.

The Peregrine Falcon.

Falco peregrinus niger, Ald. I. 239. Brit. Zool. 136, tab. 4. pl. 52. (tabula optima.) Orc. Falcon.

THIS species found in all our head-lands and other inaccessible rocks. It is the falcon or more noble species of hawk which was formerly so much coveted, and brought from Orkney. In the Burgh of Birsa I observe the dark-coloured kind of this species, so beautifully engraved in the additional vo