138 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



notice on account of their rarity, while the others will add 

 considerably to the value of the Report for 1 906. 



RUSTIC BUNTING (Emberlza rustled}. Foremost among 

 the rarities, from the Scottish point of view, is an adult 

 male of this species in full summer plumage which appeared 

 at Cape Wrath on the I ith of May. This bird is not only 

 an addition to the fauna of Scotland, but its occurrence is 

 additionally interesting since it is the first of its kind which 

 has been known to visit Great Britain during the spring 

 time. The other British specimens, some four or five in 

 number, have occurred in the Eastern and Southern counties 

 of England, and during the autumn. This Scottish example 

 had possibly passed the winter with us ; and when it came 

 to grief at the northern extremity of our mainland, was 

 probably on its return journey to the summer home of the 

 species in North-eastern Europe, or perhaps Siberia. From 

 its western native haunts the Rustic Bunting does not seem 

 to migrate to any far removed winter quarters, for it is only 

 as a straggler that it occurs in Central or Southern Europe ; 

 but the Northern Asiatic birds migrate regularly to cold 

 weather retreats in China and Japan. 



DESERT WHEATEAR (Saxicola deserti}. A male in full 

 summer dress occurred at the Pentland Skerries on the 2nd 

 of June. This appears to be the fourth known occurrence 

 of this species in Great Britain and the third for Scotland. 

 That this southern bird should have been detected in 

 Scotland in most of these chance visits to Britain is 

 remarkable. It is not known to be a native of Europe, but 

 has its home in the arid districts of Northern Africa, the 

 Soudan, Arabia, Palestine, and the western portion of 

 Central Asia. In winter it is to be found in Northern India, 

 Baluchistan, etc. Its occurrences on the continent of 

 Europe are few, and appear, so far as they are known, 

 to have been confined to Heligoland, where it has come 

 under notice on three occasions. Hitherto all the British 

 examples have been obtained in the autumn, and only one of 

 the Heligoland birds was captured in the spring. It is quite 

 impossible to account for the appearance of this bird in 

 localities so very far removed from its native wilds, especially 



