1918.] Birds of the Isle of May. 261 



takes place chiefly in April, though one or two birds are 

 recorded from 19 March to 18 May. In autumn very large 

 flocks visit the island : the earliest noted is on 17 September, 

 the latest 17 November, but October is the month in which 

 the main arrivals take place. We have often seen day-time 

 movements of this species : on 10 October, 1909 (south 

 wind, liglit) flock after flock came in from the nortli-east 

 all morning, till by midday there were numbers on every 

 part of the island; by afternoon the flocks were enormous — 

 there must have been thousands present. On 7 October, 

 1910, a good many Brambliugs arrived from the east during 

 the day (W., liglit, haze), and we heard and saw many 

 other flocks flying over us, going west, 



Acanthis cannabina caunabina. The Linnet. Formerly 

 a few pairs bred on the island ; now, however, it only occurs 

 on passage in small numbers. One appeared on 11 March^ 

 1908, and there are a few scattered records in May, while 

 in autumn small numbers are reported between 19 September 

 and 8 November. 



Acanthis linaria linaria. The Mealy Redpoll. An 

 irregular passage migrant and winter visitor. It has been 

 recorded in spring in small numbers between 12 March and 



20 May, and in autumn (sometimes very plentifully) betvveen 



21 September and 12 November ; large immigrations oc- 

 curred in the autumns of 1910 and 1913. Under the date 

 8 February, 1886, Mr. Agnew writes : ''For some weeks 

 the island has been visited by a considerable number of 

 Redpolls, and numbers of them died, I suppose from the 

 extreme cold." 



^Acanthis linaria holboelli. Holboll^s Redpoll. A bird 

 of this subspecies was procured on 23 October, 1910, and 

 sent to us. 



'^Pyrrhula pyrrhula pyrrhula. The Northern Bullfinch. 

 The Isle of May participated in the large immigration of 

 Northern Bullflnches which took place in Scotland in the 

 autumn of 1910; several visited the island in the latter half 



