THE BIRDS OF FAIR ISLE, NATIVE AND MIGRATORY 7 



A small series of mammals was also collected, and are 

 reserved for a later communication to this magazine. 



Birds formed the main subjects of our investigations ; 

 and as our visit was timed for the height of the autumnal 

 migratory season, a considerable number of interesting species 

 came under our notice as birds of passage. Indeed, we 

 found Fair Isle to be a surprisingly good station for 

 observations, perhaps second to none in Scotland. It would 

 appear that many birds departing in autumn from their 

 summer homes in N.W. Europe, and travelling via the 

 British coasts to reach their winter quarters, arrive at this 

 island on their way south, but do not always visit Shetland 

 en route that is to say, their lines of flight from the N.E. 

 carry them south of the Shetlands to strike this island. 

 That this is the case in some seasons is undoubted, and the 

 observations of the past autumn bear this out, for while we 

 saw great numbers of migrants, especially passerines, at Fair 

 Isle, yet Mr. Thomas Henderson, located at Dunrossness, 

 some thirty miles to the north of us, tells me that it was a 

 poor season there. Our experience, too, at Fair Isle was in 

 great contrast to that of Mr. Laidlaw and myself in southern 

 Shetland during the latter half of September in 1900, when 

 we saw comparatively few species of migratory birds, and of 

 these only two, the White Wagtail and the Wheatear, were 

 passerines. At Fair Isle Mr. Kinnear and I noted no less 

 than fifty-seven species on passage, and of these no fewer 

 than twenty-four were passeres. 



This interesting subject as to where migratory birds 

 arrive on, and depart from, our coasts when on their 

 way from and to northern continental Europe, has been 

 alluded to by me in a previous paper ("Annals," 1901, p. 5), 

 and is well worthy of further investigation. Fair Isle, there 

 can be no doubt, does receive many birds on passage after 

 they have arrived at, and departed from, Shetland on their 

 way south. 



We were fortunate, too, with rare and uncommon species, 

 which have always an interest peculiarly their own. As a 

 rule, however, they contribute far less towards the solution of 

 migration problems than the commoner forms and are often 

 veritable stumbling-blocks in the path of research, since 



