Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/32

6 may be passed over as belonging to one of the common species, for it must not be forgotten that the migrants do not have to undergo so close a scrutiny here as is the case on Heligoland, where every man is a birdcatcher, and will at once recognize a new or unrecorded species to that island.

It is somewhat strange that the Siberian Meadow Bunting, Emberiza cioides, which is one of the recent additions to our British avifauna, has not yet been recorded from Heligoland. On the other hand, the following species of Asiatic Buntings have occurred on Heligoland, but have not yet been noticed in Great Britain, viz. the Yellow-breasted Bunting, E. aureola, Pall.; the Pine Bunting, E. leucocephala, Gmel.; Cretzschmar's Bunting, E. cæsia, Cretz., any of which may be looked for here; and Strickland's Bunting, E. cinerea, Strickl., is stated to have been seen, but not obtained on Heligoland.

There are many instances of the gradual extension westward of Asiatic birds, as, for instance, that of the Shore Lark, Otocorys alpestris (Lin.), which a century ago was but an occasional and rare visitant to Europe proper, and was not known to breed in Scandinavia until about 1835; whereas now it breeds commonly in Lapland, and is frequently met with in considerable numbers during the seasons of migration as far west as the British Islands; and, according to Mr. Gätke, hundreds of thousands pass Heligoland each autumn. Again, we have the case of the Scarlet Grosbeak, Carpodacus erythrinus (Pall.), which in 1856, when, as a lad, I first visited Finland, was but a rare species; and I well recollect my delight in finding that it had nested in the Botanical Gardens at Helsingfors. Now, however, it is quite a common species in some parts of Finland, and nests regularly near Helsingfors.

To return, however, to Pallas's Willow Warbler. This interesting little bird was first described in 1811 by Pallas (Zoogr. Ross. As. i. p. 199), but Gould figured and redescribed it in 1837 (B. of Europe, ii. pl. 149), and gave it the name of Dalmatian Regulus, Regulus modestus. Subsequent writers have to a large extent confused the Yellow-browed Warbler and Pallas's Willow Warbler, and the first specimen of the Yellow-browed Warbler obtained in Great Britain was recorded under the name of Regulus modestus, Gould.