A YEAR AT FAIR ISLE 69 



I'^th May, — Light easterly breeze and fine weather. 



A Spotted Flycatcher, the first of the season, has 

 put in an appearance ; and the other arrivals include 

 Common Whitethroats, Willow- Warblers, a few more 

 Rooks and Swallows, and about a dozen Whinchats. 

 Two Jackdaws, a Pied Flycatcher (male), one Ring- 

 Ouzel, and three House-Martins complete the list of 

 migrants for the day. 



\^th May. — This was one of the red-letter days of 

 the season. The weather was fine and settled. 



Two additions were made to the avifauna of the 

 island, namely, Savi's Warbler (female) and a Hawfinch 

 (male). The Savi's Warblers (there were two of them) 

 were the wildest birds I (George Stout) ever came across. 

 They were pursued up and down a burn for hours ere 

 one of them was obtained for identification. When 

 disturbed, they would rise from among the cover and 

 fly for a short distance, and then literally dive into the 

 grass, etc., with which the sides of the ditch were 

 thickly clothed. One of them was actually observed 

 swimming across a small pool of water. A Grasshopper 

 Warbler and several Sedge- Warblers were seen at the 

 same place. The Hawfinch was found on the northern 

 part of the Isle, and when first seen, was digging its bill 

 into pony's dung, and was so engrossed with its occupa- 

 tion that it allowed a close approach. The other 

 arrivals noted were as follows : the first male Redstart, 

 an Ortolan Bunting (male), a Pied Flycatcher (male), 

 five Red-breasted Mergansers, three Common Gulls 

 (which passed on at once), nearly twenty Dunlins, and 

 numbers of Tree- Pipits. 



15M May. — With the moderate south-east breeze 

 more birds have arrived. 



II. E 2 



