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ON THE MORE IMPORTANT ADDITIONS TO OUR 

 KNOWLEDGE OF BRITISH BIRDS SINCE 1899. 



BY 



H. F. WITHERBY and N. F. TICEHURST. 

 Part VI. 



{Conthuied from page 184.) 



NORTHERN BULLFINCH Pyrrhula ptjrrhula (L.). 

 S. page 195. 

 " A considerable immigration of Bullfinches " was recorded 

 by Mr. J. S. TuUoch as having taken place in Shetland at 

 the end of November, 1905. A specimen having been sent 

 to Mr. W. Eagle Clarke, he pronounced it to be a representa- 

 tive of the large and brilliant race which breeds in Scandinavia 

 and Russia — the typical Loxia pyrrhula of Linnaeus. Others 

 probably of the same form were seen by Dr. T. E. Saxby at 

 Unst in March and April, 1905 ; while in November of the 

 same year one or more visited Fair Isle. Further records 

 include a male killed in North Shetland, October 18th, 1906, 

 and a few seen in Fair Isle in November, 1906 (c/. Ann. 

 S.N.H., 1905, p. 182; 1906, pp. 50, 115, and 148; 1907, 

 pp. 50 and 70). A female which Dr. Saxby obtained at 

 Halhgarth on November 8th, 1902 {ZooL, 1902, p. 468), may 

 have also belonged to this form. The only previous authentic 

 records of the occurrence of this bird in the British Isles were 

 of two obtained in Yorkshire at Kilnsea, Holderness, and at 

 Hunmanby, in November, 1894 {P.Z.S., 1895, p. 681. and 

 Nat., 1896, p. 4). 



SCARLET GROSBEAK Pyrrhula erythrina (Pall.). 

 S. page 197. 



Radnorshire. — A male in full plumage is preserved in 

 the collection of stuffed birds at Maesllwch Castle, Glasbury- 

 on-Wye. It shows no indication of having been in confine- 

 ment, and is said to have been shot by a gamekeeper named 

 Sharp, near Painscastle, Radnorshire, about 1875 (J. H. 

 Salter, Zool., 1904, p. 228). 



Fair Isle (Shetlands). — A bird of the year was shot on 

 October 3rd, 1906 (W. E. Clarke, Ann. S.N.H., 1907, p. 70). 



The Scarlet Grosbeak has been recorded three times pre- 

 viously in this country. 



