THE EASTERN LESSER WHITETHROAT 179 
erie NSN ebooks WEE Ta KOAD. AN 
IONOMITWOWN “AO! els, WM Slal WO eeu NAN 
AND Te VELCEOW- LEGGED HERKING 
CULES NEW RECORD FOR  SCOLUAND; 
JI) AUR ESO) as, 
By W. EAGLE CLARKE, I.S.0., LL.D:, and-J. H. STENHOUSE, 
M.B., Surg.-Admiral. 
DURING a visit to Fair Isle, extending from 5th September 
to 5th October, we were fortunate enough to come across 
two birds of exceptional interest, viz., a specimen of the 
Eastern form of the Lesser Whitethroat (Sylvza curruca 
afinzs, Blyth), hitherto unrecorded for the British Isles, 
and an adult of the Yellow-legged Herring Gull (Larus 
argentatus cachinnans, Pallas), which is new to the Scottish 
avifauna. 
The Whitethroat, sexed male, and apparently a bird of 
the year, was found amongst turnips on 3rd October. The 
wing measures 62 mm. and the second primary is inter- 
mediate in length between the sixth and the seventh. 
Sylvia affints was originally described by Blyth in 1849 
(Cat. Birds Astatic Soc, p. 187). Regarding this bird and 
S. curruca and S. althea, Hume (Stray Feathers, vii., p. 66, 
1878) remarks this is a case in which some ornithologists 
will treat these birds as three species, whilst others will 
consider them to be only three races of one somewhat 
variable species, S. curruca. Seebohm tells us (Caz. Birds 
Brit. Mus., v., pp. 18-19) that he prefers to treat them as 
subspecies —a European form (curruca), a Siberian form 
(affints), and a Himalayan form (a@thea). Hartert (Vogel 
Pal. Fauna) regards affints as a form of curruca, but awards 
althea (p. 590) full specific rank. 
Regarding affints, Seebohm (om. ct., p. 19) states that it 
only differs from the typical form (curruca) in having the 
second primary generally intermediate in length between 
the sixth and the seventh, in rare instances between the 
