VOL. VI.] NOTES FR():\I HOLY ISLAND. 203 



As I have supplied the British Ornithologists' Club 

 Migration Committee with data regarding the movements 

 of all the commoner species, I propose here to give details 

 only of those species which have been rarely noticed or 

 not previously recorded for the county or for the " Tweed 

 Area " — since Holy Island is included in that area. 



Before proceeding to enumerate these birds, a few 

 general remarks may prove of interest. In the first place 

 there was never a " rush " of birds at any time while we 

 were in the island, but migration was proceeding on 

 twenty-six out of the forty days on which I was observing. 

 For the most part these movements were to be traced only 

 by the presence of two or three birds, and continuous and 

 careful observation was necessary to detect them as new 

 arrivals. The direction of the wind on these twenty-six 

 days may be noted as follows : — S.E. or S.S.E., 10 days ; 

 N.E. veering to S.E., three days ; E., one day ; N.E., 

 three days ; N., one day ; N.W., one day ; W., four 

 ■days ; S.W., three days. 



So far as Miss Jackson and I were able to observe, there 

 was little or no " coasting " migration to be seen at Holy 

 Island, though the island is so near the mainland. Only 

 ten Swallows (on four days), and three House-Martins 

 (on two days), and no Sand-Martins were seen, nor were 

 there any coasting flocks of Finches. We had very httle 

 westerly wind during our stay, and I suppose that such 

 winds, if strong, might force coasting birds more over the 

 island. 



On fourteen days out of the twenty-six on which we 

 noted movements, we found birds in the afternoon which 

 we had not seen on the same ground in the morning. 

 I know that it is very easy to overlook birds, but it would 

 be unreasonable to suppose that on all these occasions 

 Ave had missed these birds in the morning. Moreover, 

 I managed to see apparently the same Lesser Whitethroat 

 every day for fourteen days which proves that birds did 

 not readily escape attention on the ground we were 

 working. Further, several of these afternoon arrivals 



