THE BIRDS OF FAIR ISLE 77 



of the island, and it was most difficult to detect them. 

 In these singular haunts they were busily engaged in the 

 pursuit of insects, which were evidently abundant on the 

 faces of the lichen-clad perpendicular rocks. When thus 

 employed they were very sprightly in their actions, and 

 we noticed that they had a habit of erecting their tails 

 to a remarkable degree indeed, until they were almost 

 parallel with their backs. Occasionally they quitted the 

 cliffs and alighted on the fences or on rocks near their 

 summit ; but at all times and everywhere they displayed 

 extreme shyness and wariness, and were practically un- 

 approachable. On the days named these birds appeared 

 synchronously with the Arctic Bluethroats, Redbreasts, Red- 

 starts, Bramblings, Redwings, Goldcrests, Yellow - browed 

 Warblers, and other northern migrants ; and it seems to me 

 highly probable that these Flycatchers reached the island in 

 their company. 



On 4th October there was another considerable arrival 

 of immigrants, and among them was a bird of the year of 

 this species. 



There is only one previous record for the occur- 

 rence of this little Flycatcher in Scotland, namely, at 

 the Monach Isle, Outer Hebrides, on 22nd October 1893. 



124. SWALLOW, Hirnndo rnstica. A few were seen on the spring 



passage northward during May and June ; but only a single 

 example was detected returning in the autumn. Several 

 were seen, on rare occasions, in the summer of 1906, but the 

 species does not nest on the island. 



125. RED-RUMPED SWALLOW, Hirundo rufula. The occurrence of 



this southern straggler, the first that is known to have 

 reached the shores of Britain, on the 2nd of June 1906, has 

 already been recorded in the pages of this magazine 

 ("Annals," 1906, p. 205). 



126. HOUSE-MARTIN, Chelidon urbica. In spring this species is 



much more abundant as a passing migrant than the Swallow, 

 but it has not yet been detected as an autumn visitor on its 

 return southern flight. 



127. SAND-MARTIN, Cotile riparia. Several were seen late in May, 



and others late in June ; but none were observed as visitors 

 during the autumn. It appears to be a rare bird in the 

 Shetland group. That it should be so is interesting and 

 significant, for the species has a high northern range in 

 Scandinavia, and hence might naturally be expected to 

 occur regularly, and in some numbers, in the Archipelago, 

 while on its spring and autumn migratory journeys. 



