40 THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 



been observed in central or western Europe. The Little Bunting, 

 on the other hand, appears in Heligoland every autumn, and is 

 frequently shot. I have myself handled it on no less than twenty 

 or thirty occasions. In Holland the bird has been frequently 

 caught during the autumn migration, and in one instance at least is 

 known to have occurred in England ; several individuals have also 

 been met with in Austria and Upper Italy. In the south of 

 France, however, which seems to be the terminus of the autumn 

 migration of the western migrants of this species, it is said to be ' the 

 counnonest of the rarer Buntings,' small companies of it winter- 

 ing at Marseilles. Inasmuch then as both species are found breed- 

 ing in about equal numbers in the neighbourhood of Archangel, 

 both too belonging to S23ecies whose autunm migration is directed 

 south, we are confronted by the question as to what may possibly 

 be the cause which determines the one, the Little Bunting, 

 annually in large numbers to turn to the west on starting for the 

 common nesting home, while the other, the Yellow-breasted 

 Bunting, is hardly ever induced to swerve in this manner from its 

 normal southerly course. 



There is no doubt that man}' species of birds have a tendency, 

 apart from their normal southerly migration, to wander westward 

 in greater or less numbers, while in the case of many others this 

 appears never to be the case. The commoner, more widely dis- 

 tributed species, however, do not offer the same favourable oppor- 

 tunities for observing this phenomenon as those cited above, which 

 are better adapted for an investigation of this kind by reason of their 

 more showy plumage, or the more strictly defined range of their 

 breeding quarters. That, however, many species from eastern 

 Asia ai'e subject to such a tendency is proved b}' the large number 

 of examples already mentioned as having been either killed or 

 observed in Heligoland, to which may be further added : — The 

 Isabelline Shrike (Lanius isabellinui-:), White's Thrush {Tardus 

 varius), Red-throated Thrush (T. riificollis), Black-throated Thrush 

 (T. atrigularis), and Pale Thrush {T. pallens) ; Sylvia nitida, S. 

 viridana, S. coroiudd, S. regidoides, S. fuscata, Booted Warbler 

 (S. salicaria), Olivaceous Warbler {8. jKdlida), Paddyticld Warbler 

 {S. agricola), and Pallas' Warbler (S. certhiola) ; the Black Lark 

 (Alaudct tatarica), and the White-winged Lar)^ (A. sibirica); the 

 Rustic Bunting (Emberiza rustiai) and the Pine Bunting (E. 

 pithy ornis); the Eastern Golden Plover {Charadrius fulvus) and 

 the Caspian Plover (C asiaticus), as well as many other less pro- 

 minent membei's of the feathered ti'ibe. 



The majority of the above-named species have, it is true, been 

 shot only once on the island : nevertheless .some of them, .such as 



