356 TRANSACTIONS LIVEIU'OOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



I now propose to give an account of all the birds which 

 are resident in the St. Kildan group, or which visit thoBe 

 islands for the purpose of breeding. The time is not yet 

 ripe for giving a complete account of the entire avifauna 

 of St. Kilda, for there can be no doubt that many species 

 occur there on migration, or are occasional visitants, but 

 the presence of which has been overlooked owing to the 

 lack of observers. Dixon (7), who visited the island in 

 1884, published a complete list of all the birds, which had 

 up till then been recorded, though some of these were, 

 I think, admitted to his lists on insufficient evidence. 

 Since then a few additions have been made, the most 

 interesting of which was an example of the sub-Alpine 

 warbler [Sylvia subalpina) which was shot by Mr. J. Steel 

 Elliott (5) in Tune, 1894. In Mr. Elliott's list two other 

 birds are given on the authority of Mr. McKenzie, which 

 are not down in Dixon's list, viz., the common Swift and 

 the House Martin. The former of these two birds was 

 also seen by my friend Mr. Wheat, during his visit to St. 

 Kilda in 1899; whilst as regards the latter, I myself saw 

 an example flying round the cliffs on the south side of the 

 main island on the afternoon of June 8th. The Brent 

 Goose was also once observed by Heathcote (1). I am 

 able to add another bird, which has not, so far as I know, 

 been previously recorded, namely, the White Wagtail 

 (Motacilla alba). Two of these birds in full bleeding 

 plumage, frequented the little patches of cultivated ground 

 about the village during the week previous to my depar- 

 ture (June 18th to 25th), and as I saw them several times, 

 and was frequently quite close to them 1 feel confident 

 as to their identification. They might have been nesting, 

 but I failed to obtain any evidence of it. I may also add 

 the Mallard (Anas boscas), which visits St. Kilda in the 

 autumn, on the strength of a skin forwarded to me since 



