THE BIRDS OF FAIR ISLE 79 



Great Grey Shrike, Laniiis excubitor. — Our previous informa- 

 tion regarding this species at Fair Isle related to a solitary 

 example seen some years ago by Mr. Tulloch, a former 

 lightkeeper there, who was interested in birds. In April 

 1907 single Great Grey Shrikes were seen on three occasions 

 on their northern passage ; and in the autumn several (also 

 single birds) were recorded for dates ranging from the last 

 week of October to the second week of November. Several 

 were obtained, all of which belonged to the variety known 

 as Z. major. In one of these the white wing - bar was 

 exceptionally narrow, only showing to the extent of two- 

 tenths of an inch on the closed pinion. 



Red-backed Shrike, Lanius colhirio. — Several occurred on 

 the spring passage in May ; and a few young birds were 

 seen by us at intervals during the first three weeks of 

 September — the first autumn passage of this species which 

 has come under our notice. 



Goldcrest, Reguliis cristatus. — One of the ornithological 

 features of last autumn was the all but entire absence of 

 this species, only a single Goldcrest being observed, namely 

 on 4th November. During my previous visits, this little 

 bird has swarmed for several days, affording an interesting 

 lesson in the shifts for a living which have to be resorted to 

 by migratory birds when e7i voyage. On these occasions 

 they were observed in numbers creeping about the lichen- 

 spangled faces of the great cUffs in pursuit of insects, utter- 

 ing the while their feeble squeaky notes, which struck one 

 as being tinged with irritability — perhaps a reflection of 

 their feelings at finding themselves committed to such 

 uncongenial hunting-grounds ! On the spring migration it 

 occurred on two occasions in April. 



Garden Warbler, Sylvia hortensis. — The Garden Warbler, a 

 species which was not detected during the spring migration 

 of 1906, occurred on five dates during the vernal passage 

 in 1907. It is probably a fairly common bird on both 

 passages. 



148. Wood Warbler, Phylloscopus sibilatrix. — This bird is a some- 

 what surprising addition to the gipsy element in the ornis 

 of Fair Isle ; and it has not hitherto been recorded as 

 visiting either the Orkney or Shetland groups. Single birds 

 were captured on the island early in June and in August. 



It has, however, occurred on that far-off Atlantic outlier 

 of the Orcades, Sule Skerry, where an example caught 

 at the lantern on the night of 27th September 1906 was 

 forwarded to me in the flesh. 



