133 



wards identified from a skin. It is found in Spain, Sardinia, 

 Greece and Syria. It also occurs in Northern Africa (Bree.). 



Lesser Kestrel. — " The homes of this small Falcon extend 

 through the whole of Southern Europe " (Gatke, p. 176). "In 

 the Spanish Peninsula it is very numerous" (Saunders). This 

 species has occurred several times in the British Islands. 



Bose-coloured Starling. — This may fairly be called a south- 

 eastern species. Though in the year 1875 it bred in large 

 numbers in Italy. From the fact of the flocks following flights 

 of locusts this is a most erratic bird. It has occurred very 

 frequently in the United Kingdom, and in many parts of Europe. 



Apparently Herr Gatke finds a difficulty in accounting for 

 the presence of this species on Heligoland in August and his 

 explanation is rather far fetched. The majority of the individuals 

 captured there have been taken in June. These he would 

 account for on the theory that they are the survivors of pairs who 

 have lost their mates. It will be noted, however, it was not 

 until the 17th of the latter month that the first eggs were laid, 

 when the species bred so numerously in Italy (Saunders). With 

 regard to the examples obtained later in the summer, no less 

 than eight having been killed in August, 1853, and again three 

 young in grey early plumage in September, 1860, it is suggested 

 that the species may breed in European and Asiatic Eussia as far 

 north as the latitude of Heligoland, and that the young forsake 

 their normal course of flight and turn to the west on their 

 autumn migration. Or again, the possibility is suggested that 

 they are individuals which have been bred in Scotland and when 

 captured on Heligoland are on their way home to their usual 

 winter quarters. Any theory seems, to the author, more prefer- 

 able than the simple fact that they are individuals entirely out of 

 their reckoning. It is not unreasonable to assume that an erratic 

 species like the present may be less acute in its powers of orien- 

 tation than species which regularly frequent the same breeding 

 grounds. 



Ehrenherg's Bedstart. — A single example of this species 

 obtained June 12th, 1864 — an old male. It is found in Asia 

 Minor. 



Bufous Warbler. — Herr Gatke does not devote a chapter to 



