74 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



ably because it is then silent, or nearly so, and hence does 

 not proclaim itself and is consequently overlooked. A 

 male specimen was obtained on zoth October 1906, and 

 duly forwarded to me. 



So far as I have been able to ascertain, this is the first 

 specimen that has ever been obtained in any of the Isles of 

 the Shetland group. Saxby, however, mentions it as occur- 

 ring very rarely at about the same times of the year as the 

 Willow-warbler. 



YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER, Phylloscopus supertiliosus. Dur- 

 ing our 1905 visit we accounted ourselves fortunate when 

 we obtained a single specimen the second Scottish of 

 this interesting little migrant. In the autumn of 1906 no 

 less than six of these birds came under our observation 

 during the latter half of September and the early days of 

 October, and, no doubt, several others escaped notice. They 

 all frequented the plots of potatoes and turnips, and were ex- 

 tremely shy and restless, and hence very difficult to approach. 



115. SEDGE WARBLER, Acrocephalus phragmitis. This was another 



bird of double passage in 1906. It was not uncommon 

 during the second, third, and fourth weeks of May ; but only 

 twice came under our notice in the autumn, namely, in the 

 latter half of September, when single birds were seen. This 

 bird has not hitherto, strange to say, been recorded for any 

 of the Islands of the Shetland group ; and yet, as it is a 

 summer visitor to Norway, where it reaches a high northern 

 latitude, it most probably occurs annually on passage in our 

 northern Isles, as indeed the Fair Isle record for 1906 

 indicates. 



1 1 6. REED WARBLER, Acrocephalus streperus. The only Reed 



Warbler known to have occurred in Scotland was shot from 

 among some potatoes on 241)1 September a day on which 

 Pied Flycatchers, Redstarts, Redwings, Thrushes, Tree 

 Pipits, Chaffinches, Jack Snipe, and other migrants, were 

 present in numbers. This species is unknown in Norway, 

 but is found as far north as the south of Sweden. The 

 occurrence of this bird at Fair Isle presents one of those 

 enigmas, already alluded to, with which the study of bird 

 migration is so much beset. 



REDBREAST, Erithacus rubecula. This is chiefly a bird of 

 double passage, but a small number pass the winter in the 

 island. Only a few appeared in September, but in October 

 and November its visits were frequent, and it was occasion- 

 ally observed in considerable numbers. Several remained 

 through the winter of 1906-7. 



