VOL. VI.] NOTES FROM HOLY ISLAND. 205 



considerable influx of Bramblings and Chaffinches which 

 were not present in the morning. The wind was blowing 

 strongly from the south-east, as it had been on the 

 28th, when no Goldcrests were observed. On the 30th 

 they had decreased to about ten, on October 3rd to five, 

 on the 4th to three, on the 7th to one, while by the 8th 

 they had all disappeared. 



Neither Mr. G. Bolam in his Birds of Northumberland 

 and the Eastern Borders, nor Mr. A. H. Evans in his 

 Fauna of the Tweed Area recognised this form as distinct 

 though both alluded to the autumn-immigration of the 

 species. Mr. Evans goes so far as to say that "flocks 

 arrive from the Continent from August onwards," but 

 we have so far no record of an identified specimen of the 

 Continental Goldcrest in the British Isles so early as 

 August. 



Fire-crested Wren {R. i. ignicapilhis). — On the 

 morning of October 4th I observed a Firecrest in a garden. 

 I saw it on tMO other occasions during the day and secured 

 it in the afternoon. It was a male in perfect plumage, 

 but on skinning it I found by examination of the skull 

 that it was a bird of the year. It was also extremely fat. 

 The wind on this day was westerly, the day before north- 

 west, and the two previous days north-east ; but on 

 September 30th there was an easterly gale, and this may, 

 I suppose, have driven this bird to the neighbourhood, 

 but its very fat condition would seem to indicate that 

 it was not a storm-driven bird. I may remark that the 

 Firecrest is quite easily to be distinguished from the 

 Goldcrest, not only by the black lines on the sides of the 

 head, but by the bright dark green of its back, the bronze 

 markings on the sides of the neck and the whitish hne 

 over the eye, all of which distinctions strike one in the 

 field. Although I watched it for a considerable time 

 this bird made no sound, and thus differed markedly 

 from the Goldcrests which, whether on migration or not, 

 are always uttering their squeaky notes. In its breeding- 

 haunts, however, the Firecrest in my experience utters 



