51 



nests may be found almost side by side. Of these the former 

 has only been seen in Heligoland on three occasions within more 

 than fifty years, and with the exception of an example met with 

 at Genoa, has never been observed in Central or Western Europe. 

 The Little Bunting, on the other hand, appears in Heligoland 

 every autumn, and is frequently shot. ... In the south of 

 France it is said to be the commonest of the rarer Buntings, 

 small companies of it wintering at Marseilles. [He might also 

 have added that nine examples were obtained near Malaga, in 

 Spain, December 28, 1874 (Irby)]. Inasmuch, then, as both 

 species are found breeding in about equal numbers in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Archangel, both, too, belonging to the group whose 

 autumn migration is directed south, we are confronted by the 

 question as to what may possibly be the cause which determines 

 the one the Little Bunting annually in large numbers to turn 

 west on starting from the common nesting home, while the other 

 the Yellow-breasted Bunting is hardly ever induced to swerve 

 in this manner from its normal southerly course." 



After reading the above and comparing it with further re- 

 marks on the Little Bunting in other parts of the book, one is 

 somewhat puzzled as to whether Herr Gatke intends we should 

 gather that the Little Buntings met with on Heligoland are sup- 

 posed to be derived from the neighbourhood of Archangel, or from 

 far eastern breeding grounds in Asia. If from the latter locality, 

 then, according to the author's treatment of other species, their 

 flight would come under the category of an east-to-west descrip- 

 tion, and not, as previously stated, of a north-to-south type. A 

 reference to the records of the Little Bunting on Heligoland 

 seems to point to the fact that the individuals touching there are 

 derived from two districts, as there is a break in the continuancy 

 of migration, not a regular dribble of individuals during the 

 autumn as with other species. As the species breeds throughout 

 Northern Russia, east of the White Sea, it may perhaps be the 

 case that the later arrivals come from the Petchora, or other river 

 valley in the north-east. In any case there is no evidence of a 

 flight rigidly performed either from east to west or north to 

 south, though the general direction appears to be from north- 

 east to south-west, or thereabouts. 



