THE BIRDS OF FAIR ISLE 103 



survive. In the autumn of 1909 the family party con- 

 sisted of eight birds, six young having been successfully 

 reared, an unusually large brood. 



CoRVUS coRONE, Carrion Crow. — There are two 

 records of the visits of this species, namely, of single 

 birds in the autumns of 1907 and 1908. The first of 

 these I frequently saw during September in company 

 with Grey Crows. The second arrived in November, 

 and only remained a few days. 



CoRVUS coRNix, Grey Crow. — As a resident, this 

 species is fairly numerous, six pairs at least nesting on 

 the cliffs. Immigrants arrive when the autumn is 

 well advanced, and these are said to be distinguish- 

 able from the resident birds by reason of their 

 keeping in flocks, while the native Grey Crows 

 hunt for food singly or in pairs. The Duchess 

 of Bedford informs me that on 3rd October 

 191 1, great numbers of immigrants were observed. 

 They seemed to be all over the island, and 

 after remaining two or three days, took their 

 departure. 



CoRvus FRUGILEGUS, Rook. — Occurs commonly on 

 both the spring and autumn passages, but is somewhat 

 irregular in its appearances, being seen in numbers 

 in some years, and almost entirely absent in others. A 

 few occasionally occur in winter. 



The spring passage generally commences during 

 the second week of March, and is in progress through- 

 out April, but stragglers have occurred until the end of 

 the first week of May. In 1910, however, numbers 

 appeared during the last week of February. 



In autumn there are a few records of arrivals in 

 September ; but it is not until the latter half of October 



