Vol. xxiii.] 4 



marvellous. Examples of not less than 117 species were 

 obtained or observed by Mr. Clarke and his assistants 

 during the spring and autumnal migrations of 1907. Of 

 these 17 were new to the Avifauna of the Islet, and amongst 

 these were such rarities as the Siberian Chiffchaff [Phyllo- 

 scopus tristis), the Black-headed Bunting {Emberiza melano- 

 cephala), the Black-throated Wheatear (Saxicola stapazina) , 

 and the Short-toed Lark [Alauda brachydactyla), whilst 

 others, of less importance, were the Grasshopper-Warbler 

 {Locustella neevia), the Wood- Warbler {Phylloscopns sibi- 

 latrix), and the Black Redstart (Ruticilla titys). It would 

 almost seem that in Fair Isle we have found a British rival 

 to the famous Islet of Heligoland at the mouth of the Elbe. 



Turning now to other branches of our Science we remark 

 that the country that has mostly attracted the attention of 

 Ornithologists during the past year seems, as usual, to be 

 Africa, which, as we all know, is " always producing some- 

 thing new.^^ Not to speak again of the great Ruwenzorian 

 Expedition and of Mr. Alexander's arduous journey from the 

 Niger to the Nile, which have both yielded very successful 

 results in Ornithology, I may remind you that three other 

 excellent Naturalists have been lately hard at work in widely 

 separated districts of the Ethiopian Region, and have all 

 attained brilliant results — Mr. Bates, Mr. A. L. Butler, and 

 Mr. Swynnerton. 



Mr. Bates has sent home very large series of specimens 

 from the almost unexplored forests of Southern Cameroon, 

 and has supplied us with abundant field-notes on their 

 habits ; Mr. A. L. Butler varies his labours on the preserva- 

 tion of the Game-Animals of the Egyptian Sudan with the 

 preparation of excellent notices of the wild life of the birds 

 of the same country ; and Mr. Swynnerton has discovered a 

 mine of ornithological wealth in Gazaland, which was 

 preAdously absolutely untouched. Erithacus (or as I should 

 call it Tarsiger) swynnertoni (see 'Ibis,' 1907, p. 61, pi. i.) is 

 certainly one of the prettiest additions lately made to the 

 South-African Avifauna. 



lu Asia, Ornithologists have not been quite so active lately 



