FAIR ISLE, THE BRITISH HELIGOLAND 53 



For the marine forms, the Isle, being situated amid a 

 stormy main, affords little shelter, and hence it is chiefly 

 such hardy seagoing species as the Eider and the Long- 

 tailed Duck that can brave the turbulent Fair Isle waters 

 and find in them haunts congenial to their tastes. The 

 surface-feeders, such as the Mallard, Teal, and Wigeon, 

 are, however, to be found in small numbers, during the 

 autumn, winter, and spring, on the few freshwater 

 pools, and on the sea at the mouths of the burns. 



The numerous migrants arrive almost entirely 

 during the hours of darkness, and after a longer or 

 shorter sojourn, depending on the state of the weather, 

 take their departure during the night, both their in- 

 coming and outgoing being usually unobserved. An 

 interesting exception to this rule came under notice on 

 the evening of 9th October 1908. During this day 

 there were thousands of Redwings on the island which 

 had arrived during the previous night, and at 6 p.m. a 

 large party of these birds were observed to rise high on 

 the wing and leave the island, proceeding in a south- 

 westerly direction towards North Ronaldshay — the 

 northernmost island of the Orkneys. 



On fine sunny days during September, I have 

 frequently seen Skylarks and Pipits leaving the island 

 between 6 a.m. and noon. They usually left in parties 

 (some of the Skylarks flying high), and these also shaped 

 their course for the Orkneys. 



Fair Isle has produced a surprising crop of rare 

 species — more so than any other portion of the British 

 area during the period covered by the investigations, 

 1905-1911 — and several of them have proved to be new 

 to the British fauna and quite a number to that of 

 Scotland. The occurrences of rare birds have always 

 n. D 2 



