BIRD NOTES FROM NORTH RONALDSHAY, ORKNFA" 157 



east ; a slight mist over the sea at different times during the 

 day. Quite a great day for small birds, most of them about 

 Holland House and Garden. In the first place I shot a 

 Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa grisold], one of a pair ; this 

 bird is new to our North Ronaldshay list, neither Mr. Trail 1 

 nor myself having seen one before, although a bird of such 

 sober plumage might easily escape observation. There 

 were two, if not three, Garden Warblers (Sylvia Jwrtcnsis] 

 about the elder hedges ; I secured one of these, a female. On 

 one previous occasion I had noticed this bird here (see 

 "Annals," April 1894, p. 83). Saw a single Pied Fly- 

 catcher and a single Redstart (Rnticilla phcemairns\ both in 

 the garden. I also shot a female Wryneck (lynx torquilla) 

 as it was sitting on the coping stones of a wall close to the 

 house, in the company of a Willow Warbler and a Pied Fly- 

 catcher ; perhaps all three may have been driven from the 

 garden when we were beating the bushes and hedges shortly 

 before. Three days later, on Sunday, 6th September, when 

 out for a walk we saw another Wryneck ; it kept flying 

 along a dry-stone dyke, by the side of which we were walk- 

 ing, always dropping on the far side of the dyke from us, 

 until we were quite close, then skimming away again for 

 another 70 or So yards, and we ultimately lost sight of it 

 over a field of standing corn. On two former occasions the 



o 



Wryneck has been taken, to my knowledge, in North Ronald- 

 shay, both times by the late Dr. Traill, the last being in I 880 

 or 1 88 I. A single Swift (Cypselus apns] kept circling round 

 the house for an hour or two in the afternoon, and later on 

 in the evening six House Martins (Chelidon nrbica) arrived ; 

 I shot one of the latter to make sure of its identification. 

 I may say here that I have never yet identified the swallow 

 (Hirundo rustica) in this island. Several Willow Warblers 

 in the garden towards evening. Willow Warblers, although 

 never very plentiful this season, were still common, as from 

 their first appearance on 3ist Aug. to the day of our depart- 

 ure on iQth Sept. there were always a few to be seen about 

 the island wherever there was a bit of cover. Although well 

 looked out for, there was no sign of the Chiffchaff (Phyllo- 

 scopus collybita) this season ; only twice have I fallen in 

 with it here, viz. 1893, when I got one on i6th and another 



