Identifier : birdwatcherinshe00selo ( find matches )
Title : The bird watcher in the Shetlands, with some notes on seals--and digressions;
Year : 1905 ( 1900s )
Authors : Selous, Edmund
Subjects : Birds Seals (Animals)
Publisher : London, J. M. Dent & co. New York, E. P. Dutton & co.
Contributing Library : Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor : Smithsonian Libraries

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nise finely with those of the sea, and some-times, indeed, bear a curious resemblance to some ofits minor, sullen gurgles, deep within the cavern. Butno birds fly out. Several times, again, now, 1 have seen this largesmall cetacean, and once another one, larger still?infact, an unmistakable small whale, which came brisklyup at no great distance away and blew a jet of oily-looking vapour from its nose. It looked almost black,and had the right whale shape, though not more, per-haps, than some dozen or twenty feet long. Thesesmall whales are common off the Shetlands, but sud-denly to see one is very exciting. It reminds me ofwhen, from the rocks of Raasey Isle, I saw in theclear, pale light of the morning, true whales?hugemonsters of the deep?leaping, head first, out of thewater and falling back into it again with a roar, which,though several miles off, I heard each time mostdistinctly, and attributed, at first, to the breakingaway of portions of the cliff on the opposite shores of
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IN THE SHETLANDS 85 Skye. Nothing, it seemed to me, but a landslip wassufficient to account for such a tremendous sound, andit was with an interest the vividness of which I caneven now feel that its true nature first dawned uponme. These whales, as, with their huge dimensions, Icould see, though so far away, leapt almost if notentirely clear of the water, and perpendicularly into theair. At that time I was quite unaware that they everdid this, but since then I have both heard and read ofit, and Darwin, somewhere in his journal, speaks ofthe cachalot or sperm-whale doing the same thing. Pufiins are beginning now to fly hither and thitherover the sea, and terns are fishing about a low-lyingeastern isle. They are the common kind, but someclouds above the island are becoming flame-touched,making them roseate terns. An Arctic skua goes bytoo, and a black guillemot flies with a fish to feed itsyoung. Still from the recesses of the cavern comethose deep, hoarse, bellowing sounds, but they mu

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