NRLF 
 
THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
THE 
 
 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY 
 
 AND THE NEIGHBOURING ISLANDS 
 
 ALDERNEY, SARK, JETHOU, HERM; 
 
 BEING A SMALL CONTRIBUTION TO 
 
 giT of % <Ijamvd Jslanbs. 
 
 CECIL SMITH, F. Z. S., 
 
 3IEMBEB, OF THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGIST'S UNION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 E. H. PORTEE, 6, TENTEEDEN STEEET, 
 HANOVEE SQUAEE. 
 
 1879. 
 
PRINTED BY 
 
 AVF.ST, NKWBIAN AND CO., HATTON GAKDEN, 
 LONDON, E.G. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THOUGH perhaps not possessing the interest to 
 the ornithologist which Lundy Island (the only 
 breeding-place of the Gannet in the South-West of 
 England) or the Scilly Islands possess, or being 
 able to produce the long list of birds which the 
 indefatigable Mr. Giietke has been able to do for his 
 little island, Heligoland, the avifauna of Guernsey 
 and the neighbouring islands is by no means 
 devoid of interest ; and as little has hitherto been 
 published about the Birds of Guernsey and the 
 neighbouring islands, except in a few occasional 
 papers published by Miss C. B. Carey, Mr. Harvie 
 Browne, myself, and a few others, in the pages of 
 the ' Zoologist,' I make no excuse for publishing 
 this list of the birds, which, as an occasional visitor 
 to the Channel Islands for now some thirty years, 
 have in some way been brought to my notice as 
 occurring in these Islands either as residents, 
 migrants, or occasional visitants. 
 
 Channel Island specimens of several of the rarer 
 birds mentioned, as well as of the commoner ones, 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 are in my own collection ; and others I have seen 
 either in the flesh or only recently skinned in the 
 birdstuffers' shops. For a few, of course, I have 
 been obliged to rely on the evidence of others ; 
 some of these may appear, perhaps, rather ques- 
 tionable, as, for instance, the Osprey, but I have 
 always given what evidence I have been able to 
 collect in each case ; and where evidence of the 
 occurrence was altogether wanting, I have thought 
 it better to omit all mention of the bird, though its 
 occasional occurrence may seem possible. 
 
 I have confined myself in this list to the Birds of 
 Guernsey and the neighbouring islands Sark, 
 Alderney* Jethou and Herm ; in fact to the islands 
 included in the Bailiwick of Guernsey. I have done 
 this as I have had no opportunity of personally 
 studying the birds of Jersey, only having been in 
 that island once some years ago, and then only for 
 a short time, and not because I think a notice of 
 the birds of Jersey would have been devoid of 
 interest, though whether it would have added many 
 to my list may be doubtful. Professor Ansted's list, 
 included in his large and very interesting work on 
 the Channel Islands, is hitherto the only attempt at 
 a regular list of the Birds of the Channel Islands ; 
 but as he, though great as a geologist, is no orni- 
 thologist, he was obliged to rely in a great measure 
 on information received from others, and this 
 apparently was not always very reliable, and he 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 does not appear to have taken much trouble to 
 sift the evidence given to him. Professor Ansted 
 himself states that his list is necessarily imperfect, 
 as he received little or no information from some 
 of the Islands ; in fact, Guernsey and Sark appear 
 to be the only two from which much information 
 had been received. This is to be regretted, as it 
 has made the notice of the distribution of the various 
 birds through the Islands, which he has denoted 
 by the letters a, e, i, o, u,* appended to the name of 
 each bird, necessarily faulty. The ornithological 
 notes, however, supplied by Mr. Gallienne are of 
 considerable interest, and are generally pretty 
 reliable. It is rather remarkable, however, that 
 Professor Ansted has not always paid attention to 
 these notes in marking the distribution of the birds 
 through the various Islands. 
 
 No doubt many of the birds included in Professor 
 Ansted's list were included merely on the authority 
 of specimens in the museum of the Mechanics' 
 Institute, which at one time was a pretty good one ; 
 and had sufficient care been taken to label the 
 various specimens correctly as to place and date, 
 especially distinguishing local specimens from 
 foreign ones, of which there were a good many, 
 would have been a very interesting and useful local 
 
 -' a Alderney. o Sark. 
 
 e Guernsey. u Jethou and Heim, 
 
 i Jersey, 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 museum ; as it is, the interest of this museum is 
 considerably deteriorated. Some of the birds in 
 the museum are confessedly foreign, having been 
 brought from various parts of the world by Guernsey 
 men, who when abroad remembered the museum 
 in their own Island, and brought home specimens 
 for it. Others, as Mr. Gallienne, who during his 
 life took much interest in the museum, himself 
 told me had been purchased from various bird- 
 stuffers, especially from one in Jersey; and no 
 questions were asked as to whether the specimens 
 bought were local or set-up from skins obtained 
 from the Continent or England. Amongst those so 
 obtained may probably be classed the Blue-throated 
 Warblers, included in Professor Ansted's list and 
 marked as Jersey (these Mr. Gallienne himself told 
 me he believed to be Continental and not genuine 
 Channel Island specimens) , the Great Sedge Warbler, 
 the Meadow Bunting, the Green Woodpecker, and 
 perhaps a few others. 
 
 This museum, partly from want of interest being 
 taken in it and partly from want of money, has 
 never had a very good room, and has been shuffled 
 and moved about from one place to another, and 
 consequently several birds really valuable, as they 
 could be proved to be genuine Channel Island 
 specimens, have been lost and destroyed ; in fact, 
 had it not been for the care and energy of Miss 
 C. B. Carey, who took great pains to preserve what 
 
PREFACE Vll 
 
 she found remaining of the collection, and place it 
 in some sort of order, distinguishing by a different 
 coloured label those specimens which could be 
 proved to be Channel Island (in doing this she 
 worked very hard, and received very little thanks 
 or encouragement, but on the contrary met with a 
 considerable amount of genuine obstructiveness), 
 the whole of the specimens in the museum would 
 undoubtedly have been lost ; as it is, a good many 
 valuable local specimens valuable as being still 
 capable of being proved to be genuine Channel 
 Island specimens have been preserved, and a good 
 nucleus kept for the foundation of a new museum, 
 should interest in the subject revive and the local 
 authorities be disposed to assist in its formation. 
 In my notices of each bird I have mentioned 
 whether there is a specimen in the museum, and 
 also whether it is included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, and if so in which of the Islands he has marked 
 it as occurring. 
 
 No doubt the Ornithology of the Channel Islands, 
 as is the case in many counties of England, has 
 been considerably changed by drainage works, 
 improved cultivation, and road - making ; much 
 alteration of this sort I can see has taken place 
 during the thirty years which I have known 
 the Islands as an occasional visitor. But 
 Mr. MacCulloch, who has been resident in the 
 Islands for a much longer period in fact, he has 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 told me nearly double has very kindly supplied me 
 with the following very interesting note on the 
 various changes which have taken place in Guernsey 
 during the long period he has lived in that island ; 
 he says, " I can well recollect the cutting of most 
 of the main roads, and the improvement, still going 
 on, of the smaller ones. It was about the beginning 
 of this century that the works for reclaiming the 
 Braye du Valle were undertaken ; before that time 
 the Clos du Valle* was separated from the main- 
 land by an arm of the sea, left dry at low water, 
 extending from St. Samson's to the Vale Church. 
 This was bordered by suit marshes only, covered 
 occasionally at spring tides by the sea, some of 
 which extended pretty far inland. The meadows 
 adjoining were very imperfectly drained, as indeed 
 some still are, and covered with reeds and rushes, 
 forming excellent shelter for many species of aquatic 
 birds. Now, as you know, by far the greater part 
 of the land is well cultivated and thickly covered 
 with habitations. The old roads were everywhere 
 enclosed between high hedges, on which were 
 planted rows of elms ; and the same kind of hedge 
 divided the fields and tenements. Every house, 
 too, in those days had its orchard, cider being then 
 universally drunk ; and the hill-sides and cliffs 
 were covered with furze brakes, as in all country 
 
 * This was nearly the whole of the Vale, including 
 L'Ancresse Common. 
 
PREFACE-. IX 
 
 houses they baked their own bread and required 
 the furze for fuel. Now all that is changed. The 
 meadows are drained and planted with brocoli for 
 the early London market, to be replaced by a crop 
 of potatoes at the end of the summer. The trees 
 are cut down to let in the sun. Since the people 
 have taken to gin-drinking, cider is out of favour 
 and the orchards destroyed. The hedges are 
 levelled to gain a few perches of ground, and re- 
 placed in many places by stone walls ; the furze 
 brakes rooted up, and the whole aspect and nature 
 of the country changed. Is it to be wondered at 
 that those kinds of birds that love shelter and quiet 
 have deserted us ? You know, too, how every bird 
 from the Wren to the Eagle is popped at as 
 soon as it shows itself, in places where there are 
 no game laws and every man allowed to carry a 
 gun." 
 
 This interesting description of the changes 
 agricultural and otherwise which have taken place 
 in the Islands, especially Guernsey, during the 
 last fifty or sixty years (for which I have to offer 
 Mr. MacCulloch my best thanks), gives a very good 
 general idea of many of the alterations that have 
 taken place in the face of the country during the 
 period above mentioned ; but does not by any means 
 exhaust them, as no mention is made of the 
 immense increase of orchard-houses in all parts of 
 Guernsey, which has been so great that I may fairly 
 
X. PREFACE. 
 
 say that within the last few years miles of glass- 
 houses have been built in Guernsey alone : these 
 have been built mostly for the purpose of growing 
 grapes for the London market. These orchard- 
 houses have, to a certain extent, taken the place of 
 ordinary orchards and gardens, which have been 
 rooted up and destroyed to make place for this 
 enormous extent of glass. But what appeared to 
 me to have made the greatest change, and has 
 probably had more effect on the Ornithology of the 
 Island, especially of that part known as the Vale, 
 is the enormous number of granite quarries which 
 are being worked there (luckily the beautiful cliffs 
 have hitherto escaped the granite in those parts, 
 probably not being so good) ; but in the Vale from 
 St. Samson's to Fort Doyle, and from there to the 
 Vale Church, with the exception of L'Ancresse 
 Common itself, which has hitherto escaped, the 
 whole face of the country is changed by quarry 
 works and covered with small windmills used for 
 pumping the water from the quarries. These 
 quarry works and the extra population brought by 
 them into the Island, all of whom carry guns and 
 shoot everything that is fit to eat or is likely to 
 fetch a few " doubles" in the market, have done a 
 good deal to thin the birds in that part of the 
 Islands, especially such as are in any way fit for 
 sale or food, and probably have done more to make 
 a change in the Ornithology of that part of the 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 Island than all the agricultural changes mentioned 
 by Mr. MacCulloch. Indeed, I am rather sceptical 
 as to the agricultural changes above described 
 having produced so much change in the avifauna 
 of the Islands during the last fifty years as 
 Mr. MacCulloch appears to think ; there is still a 
 great deal of undrained or badly drained land in 
 the Island especially about the Vale, the Grand 
 Mare and L'Eree which might still afford a home 
 for Moorhens, Water Eails, and even Bitterns, and 
 all that class of wading birds which delight in 
 swampy land and reed beds. Though no doubt, 
 as Mr. MacCulloch said, many orchards have been 
 destroyed to make room for more profitable crops 
 or for orchard-houses, still there are many orchards 
 left in the Island. I think, however, many, if not 
 all the cherry orchards (amongst which the Golden 
 Orioles apparently at one time luxuriated) are gone. 
 There is also still a great deal of hedge-row timber, 
 none of it indeed very large, but in places very 
 thick ; in fact, I could point out miles of hedges in 
 Guernsey where the trees, mostly elm, grow so thick 
 together that it would be nearly impossible to pick 
 out a place where one could squeeze one's horse 
 between the trees without rubbing one's knees on 
 one side or the other, probably on both, against 
 them, if one found it necessary to ride across the 
 country. True, on a great extent of the higher 
 part of the Island, all along on both sides of what is 
 
Xll PREFACE. 
 
 known as the Forest Eoad, there s little or no 
 hedge-row timber, the fields here being divided by 
 low banks with furze growing on the top of them. 
 Furze brakes also are still numerous, the whole of 
 the flat land on the top of the cliffs and the steep 
 valleys and slopes down to the sea on the south and 
 east side of the Island, from Fermain Bay to 
 Pleimont, being almost uninterrupted wild land 
 covered with heather, furze, and bracken ; besides 
 this wild furze land, there are several thick furze 
 brakes inland in different parts of the Island. All 
 these places seem to me to have remained almost 
 without change for years. The furze, however, never 
 grows very high, as it is cut every few years for fuel ; 
 in consequence of this, however, it is more beautiful 
 in blooming in the spring than if it had been 
 allowed several years' growth, covering the whole 
 face of the ground above the cliffs like a brilliant 
 yellow carpet; but being kept so short, it is not 
 perhaps so convenient for nesting purposes as if it 
 was allowed a longer growth. 
 
 The Guernsey Bird Act, which applies to all the 
 Islands in the Bailiwick, and has been in force for 
 some few years, seems to me to have had little 
 effect on the numbers of the sea-birds of the 
 district, though it includes the eggs as well as the 
 birds, except perhaps to increase the number of 
 Herring Gulls and Shags (which were always suf- 
 ficiently numerous) in their old breeding-stations, 
 
PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 and perhaps to have added a few new breeding- 
 stations. These two birds scarcely needed the 
 protection afforded by the Act, as their nests are 
 placed amongst very inaccessible rocks where very 
 few nests can be reached without the aid of a rope, 
 and consequently but little damage was done beyond 
 a few young birds being shot soon after they had 
 left the nest while they were flappers, and the 
 numbers were fully kept up ; other birds, however, 
 included in the Act, and not breeding in quite such 
 inaccessible places, seem to gain but little advantage 
 from it, as nests of the Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 
 Terns, Oystercatchers and Puffins are ruthlessly 
 robbed in a way that bids fair before long to exter- 
 minate all four species as breeding birds ; perhaps, 
 also, the increase in the number of Herring Gulls 
 does something to diminish the numbers of other 
 breeding species, especially the Lesser Black- 
 backs, as Herring Gulls are great robbers both 
 of eggs and young birds. The Act itself, after 
 reciting that " le nombre des oiseaux de mer 
 sur les cotes des Isles de cet Bailliage a con- 
 siderablement diminue depuis plusieurs annees; 
 que les dits oiseaux sont utiles aux pecheurs, en ce 
 qu'ils indiquent les parages ou les poissons se 
 trouvent ; que les dits oiseaux sont utiles aux marins 
 en ce qu'ils annoncent pendant la duree des 
 brouillards la proximite des rochers," goes on to 
 enact as follows : " II est defendu de prendre, 
 
XIV PREFACE. 
 
 enlever ou detruire les ceufs des oiseaux de mer 
 dans toute 1'entendue de la jurisdiction de cette isle, 
 sur la peine d'une amende qui ne sera pas moindre 
 de sept livres tournois et n'excedera pas trente 
 livres tournois."* Sec. 2 enacts, "Depuis ce jourt 
 au 15 Octobre prochain, il est defendu de tuer, 
 blesser, prendre ou chasser les oiseaux de mer dans 
 toute 1'entendue de la jurisdiction de cette isle." 
 Sec. 3, " Ceux qui depuis ce jour au 15 Octobre 
 prochain auront ete trouves en possession d'un 
 oiseau de mer recemment tue, blesse ou pris, ou qui 
 auront ete trouves en possession de plumage frais 
 appartenant d'un oiseau de mer seront censes avoir 
 tue, blesse ou pris tel oiseau de mer sauf a eux de 
 pr ouver le contraire. Pareillement ceux qui depuis 
 ce jour au 15 Octobre prochain auront ete trouves en 
 possession d'un ceuf de 1'annee d'un oiseau de mer 
 seront censes avoir pris et enleve le dit ceuf sauf 
 a eux de prouver le contraire." The penalty in 
 each case is the same as in Section 1. Section 4 
 contains the list of the oiseaux de mer which come 
 under the protection of the Act, which is as fol- 
 lows : Les Mauves Mouettes, Pingouins, Guillemots, 
 Cormorans, Barbelotes, Hirondelles de mer, Pies- 
 marants, Petrel, Plongeons, Grebes, Puffins, Dot- 
 
 * Fourteen " livres tournois" are about equal to 1. 
 f This Act is passed annually at the Chief Pleas after 
 Easter. 
 
PREFACE. XV 
 
 terells, Alotiettes de mer, Tournpierres, Gannets, 
 Couiiis et Martin pecheur. 
 
 As far as the eggs of many of the species actually 
 breeding in the Islands are concerned, this Act 
 seems to be a dead letter : the only birds of any 
 size whose eggs are not regularly robbed are the 
 Herring Gulls and Shags, and they take sufficient 
 care of themselves ; were the Act strictly enforced 
 it would probably be found that there would be 
 as would be the case in England a good deal of 
 opposition to this part of it, which would greatly 
 interfere with what appears to be a considerable 
 article of food with many of the population. 
 Probably the only compromise which would work, 
 and could be rigidly enforced, would be to fix a 
 later date for the protection of the eggs say as 
 late as the 15th June ; this would allow those who 
 wanted to rob the eggs for food to take the earlier 
 layings, and the birds would be able to bring up 
 their second or third broods in peace; and probably 
 the fishermen and others, who use the eggs as an 
 article of consumption, would be glad to assist in 
 carrying out such an Act as this, as they would 
 soon find the birds increase so much that they 
 would be able to take as many eggs by the middle 
 of June as they do now in the whole year, especially 
 the Black-back Gulls and the Puffins, which are the 
 birds mostly robbed, the latter of which are 
 
XVI PREFACE. 
 
 certainly decreasing considerably in numbers in 
 consequence. 
 
 This plan is successfully carried out by many 
 private owners of the large breeding- stations of 
 the Gannets, Eider Duck, and other sea-birds in 
 the north of England and Scotland. Of course, it 
 must not be supposed that all the birds mentioned 
 in the Act whose eggs are protected breed in the 
 Islands, or anywhere within ten or fifteen degrees 
 of latitude of the Islands ; in fact, a great many 
 of them are not there at all during the breeding- 
 season, except perhaps an occasional wounded 
 bird which has been unaWe to join its companions 
 on their migratory journey, or a few non-breeding 
 stragglers. 
 
 It has often struck me that a small but rigidly 
 collected and enforced gun-tax would be a more 
 efficacious protection not only to the oiseaux de 
 mer, but also to the inland birds, many of which are 
 quite as much in want of protection though not 
 included in the Act than the Sea-bird Protection 
 Act is. I am glad to see that there is some chance 
 of this being carried out, for, while this work was 
 going through the press, I see by the newspaper 
 (' Gazette Officielle de Guernsey' for the 26th March, 
 1879) that the Bailiff had then just issued a Billet 
 d'Etat which contained a " Projet de loi" on the 
 subject, to be submitted to the States at their next 
 meeting ; and in concluding its comments on this 
 
PREFACE. XV11 
 
 Pro jet dc lot the Gazette says, " II n'est que juste 
 en fait que ceux qui veulent se lier au plaisir de la 
 chasse paient pour cette fantaisie et que par ce 
 moyen le trop grand iiombre de nos chasseurs 
 maladroits et inexperimentes se voit reduit au grand 
 avantage de nos fermiers et de nos promeneurs ;" 
 and probably also to the advantage of the chasseurs 
 themselves. 
 
 In regard to the nomenclature, I have done the 
 best I can to follow the rule laid down by the 
 British Association ; but not living in London, 
 and consequently not having access to a sufficiently 
 large ornithological library to enable me to search 
 out the various synonyms for myself and ascertain 
 the exact dates, I have therefore been obliged to 
 rely on the best authorities whose works I possess, 
 and accept the name given by them. In doing 
 this, I have no doubt I have been quite as correct 
 as I should have been had I waded through the 
 various authors who have written on the subject, 
 as I have invariably accepted the name adopted by 
 Professor Newton in his edition of Yarrell, and by 
 Mr. Dresser in his ' Birds of Europe, as far as 
 these works are yet complete : for the birds not yet 
 included in either I have for the most part taken 
 the scientific names from Mr. Howard Saunders's 
 ' Catalogue des oiseaux du midi de L'Espagne,' 
 published in the ' Proceedings ' of the Societe 
 
 b 
 
XV111 PKEFACE. 
 
 Zoologique de France ; and for the names of 
 the Gulls and Terns I have entirely followed 
 Mr. Howard Saunders's papers on those birds 
 published in the 'Proceedings' of our own Zoolo- 
 gical Society, for permission to use which, and foi 
 other assistance, especially in egg-hunting, I 
 have to give him my best thanks. 
 
 As French is so much spoken in Guernsey and 
 the other Islands included in my district, I have 
 (wherever I have been able to ascertain it) given 
 the French name of each bird, as it may be better 
 known to my Guernsey readers than either the 
 English or the scientific name. I have also, where 
 there is one and I have been able to ascertain it, 
 mentioned the local name in the course of my notes 
 on each bird. 
 
 It now only remains to give my best thanks 
 to the various friends who have assisted me, 
 especially to Mr. MacCulloch, who, though he 
 says he is no naturalist, has supplied me with 
 various very interesting notes, which he has taken 
 from time to time of ornithological events which have 
 occurred in Guernsey, and from which I have 
 drawn rather largely ; and I have, also, again to 
 thank him for the interesting accounts he has 
 given me of the various changes agricultural 
 and otherwise which have taken place during 
 his memory, and which may have had some 
 
1'UEFACE. XIX 
 
 effect on the ornithology of the Islands, especially 
 of Guernsey. 
 
 My thanks are also due to Col. L 'Estrange for 
 the assistance he has given me in egg-hunting, 
 and also to Captain Hubhack for his notes 
 from Alderney during the times he was quartered 
 there. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 1. WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. Haliceetus albicilla, 
 Linnaeus. French, " Aigle pygarque," " Pygarque 
 ordinaire." The White-tailed Eagle is an occasional 
 but by no means uncommon visitant to all the 
 Islands. I have seen specimens from Alderney, 
 Guernsey, and Herm, and have heard of its having 
 been killed in Sark more than once. It usually 
 occurs in the autumn, and, as a rule, has a very 
 short lease of life after its arrival in the Islands, 
 which is not to be wondered at, as it is considered, 
 and no doubt is, mischievous both to sheep and 
 poultry; and in so thickly populated a country, 
 where everyone carries a gun, a large bird like the 
 White-tailed Eagle can hardly escape notice and 
 consequent destruction for any length of time. It 
 might, however, if unmolested, occasionally remain 
 throughout the winter, and probably sometimes 
 wanders to the Islands at that time, as Mr. Harvie 
 Brown records (' Zoologist ' for 1869, p. 1591) one 
 as having been killed, poisoned by strychnine, in 
 Herm in the month of January. This was, no 
 
 B 
 
2 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 doubt, a late winter visitant, as it is hardly possible 
 that the bird can have escaped for so long a time, 
 as it would have done had it visited the Islands at 
 its usual time, October or November. All the 
 Channel Island specimens of the White-tailed 
 Eagle which I have seen have been young birds of 
 the first or second year, in the immature plumage 
 in which the bird is known as the Sea Eagle of 
 Bewick, and in which it is occasionally mistaken 
 for the Golden Eagle, which bird has never, I 
 believe, occurred in the Islands. Of course in the 
 adult plumage, when this bird has its white tail 
 and head, no such mistake could occur, but in the 
 immature plumage in which the bird usually makes 
 its appearance such a mistake does occasionally 
 happen, and afterwards it becomes difficult to con- 
 vince the owner that he has not a Golden Eagle ; 
 in fact he usually feels rather insulted when told of 
 his mistake, and ignores all suggestions of anything 
 like an infallible test, so it may be as well to 
 mention that the birds may be distinguished in any 
 state of plumage and at any age by the tarsus, 
 which in the White -tailed Eagle is bare of feathers 
 and in the Golden Eagle is feathered to the junction 
 of the toes. I have one in my possession shot at 
 Bordeaux harbour on the 14th of November, 1871, 
 and I saw one in the flesh at Mr. Couch's, the bird- 
 stuffer, which had been shot at Alderney on the 
 2nd of November in the same year ; and Mr. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 8 
 
 MacCulloch writes to me that one was wounded 
 and taken alive in the parish of the Forest in 
 Guernsey in 1845. It was said to be one of a pair, 
 and he adds " I have known several instances of 
 its appearance since both here (Guernsey) and in 
 Herm," but unluckily he gives no dates and could 
 not remember at what time of year any of the 
 occurrences he had noted had taken place. This is 
 to be regretted, as although the bird occurs almost 
 every autumn indeed, so frequently as to render 
 mention of further instances of its occurrence at 
 that time of year unnecessary its occurrence in 
 the spring is rare, and some of those noted by 
 Mr. MacCulloch might have been at that time of 
 year. As it is, I only know of one spring occur- 
 rence, and that was reported to me by Mr. Couch 
 as having taken place at Herm on the 23rd of 
 March, 1877. 
 
 The White-tailed Eagle is included in Professor 
 Ansted's list, but its range in the Islands is restricted 
 to Guernsey. There is one in the museum, pro- 
 bably killed in Guernsey, in the plumage in which 
 the Channel Island specimens usually occur, but no 
 note is given as to locality or date. 
 
 2. OSPREY. Pandion haliceetus, Linnaeus. French, 
 " Balbusard." I have never met with the Osprey 
 myself in the Channel Islands, nor have I, as far as 
 I remember, seen a Channel Island specimen. I 
 
4 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 include it, however, on the authority of a note 
 kindly sent to me by Mr. MacCulloch, who says : 
 " An Osprey was shot at St. Samsons, in Guernsey, 
 on the 29th of October, 1868. I cannot, however, 
 say whether at the time it was examined by a com- 
 petent naturalist, and as both the Osprey and the 
 White-tailed Eagle are fishers, a mistake may have 
 been made in naming it." Of course such a 
 mistake as suggested is possible, but as the Guernsey 
 fishermen and gunners, especially the St. Samsons 
 men, are well acquainted with the White-tailed 
 Eagle, I should not think it probable that the 
 mistake had been made. The bird, however, can- 
 not be considered at all common in the Islands ; 
 there is no specimen in the Guernsey Museum, and 
 Mr. Couch has never mentioned to me having had 
 one through his hands, or recorded it in the 
 1 Zoologist,' as he would have done had he had one ; 
 neither does Mrs. Jago (late Miss Cumber), who used 
 to do a good deal of stuffing in Guernsey about 
 thirty years ago, remember having had one through 
 her hands. There can be no reason, however, why 
 it should not occasionally occur in the Islands, as it 
 does so both on the French and English side of the 
 Channel. The wonder rather is that it is so rare 
 as it appears to be. 
 
 The Osprey, however, is mentioned in Professor 
 Ansted's list, and only marked as occurring in 
 Guernsey. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 5 
 
 3. GREENLAND FALCON. Falco candicans, Gmelin. 
 I was much surprised on my last visit to Alderney, 
 on the 27th of June, 1878, on going into a small 
 carpenter's shop in the town, whose owner, besides 
 being a carpenter, is also an amateur bird-stuffer, 
 though of the roughest description, to find, amongst 
 the dust of his shop, not only the Purple Heron, 
 which I went especially to see, and which is men- 
 tioned afterwards, but a young Greenland Falcon 
 which he informed me had been shot in that island 
 about eighteen months ago. This statement was 
 afterwards confirmed by the person who shot the 
 bird, who was sent for and came in whilst I was 
 still in the shop. Unfortunately, neither the car- 
 penter nor his friend who shot the bird had made 
 any note of the date, and could only remember that 
 the one had shot the bird in that Island about 
 eighteen months ago and the other had stuffed it 
 immediately after. This would bring it to the 
 winter of 1876-77, or, more probably, the late 
 autumn of 1876. In the course of conversation it 
 appeared to me that the Snow Falcon as they 
 called this bird was not entirely unknown to the 
 carpenter or his friend, though neither could 
 remember at the time another instance of one 
 having been killed in that Island. It is, however, 
 by no means improbable that either this species or 
 the next mentioned, or both, may have occurred in 
 the Islands before, as Professor Ansted, though he 
 
6 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 gives no date or locality, includes the Gyr Falcon 
 in his list of Channel Island birds. As all three of 
 the large northern white Falcons were at one time 
 included under the name of Gyr Falcons, and, as 
 Professor Ansted gives no description of the bird 
 mentioned by him, it is impossible to say to which 
 species he alluded. We may faily conclude, how- 
 ever, that it was either the present species or the 
 Iceland Falcon, as it could hardly have been the 
 darker and less wandering species, the Norway 
 Falcon, the true Gyr Falcon of falconers, Falco 
 gyrfalco of Linnaeus, which does not wander so far 
 from its native home, and has never yet, as far as 
 is at present known, occurred in any part of the 
 British Islands, and certainly not so far south as 
 the Channel Islands. This latter, indeed, is an 
 extremely southern latitude for either the Greenland 
 or Iceland Falcon, the next being in Cornwall, 
 from which county both species have been recorded 
 by Mr. Eodd. Neither species, however, is recorded 
 as having occurred in any of the neighbouring 
 parts of France. 
 
 4. ICELAND FALCON. Falco islandus, Gmelin. An 
 Iceland Falcon was killed on the little Island of 
 Herm on the llth of April, 1876, where it had 
 been seen about for some time, by the gamekeeper. 
 It had another similar bird in company with it, and 
 probably the pair were living very well upon the 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 7 
 
 game-birds which had been imported and preserved 
 in that island, as the keeper saw them kill more 
 than one Pheasant before he shot this bird. The 
 other fortunately escaped. The bird which was 
 killed is now in my possession, and is a fully adult 
 Iceland Falcon, and Mr. Couch, the bird-stuffer 
 who skinned it, informed me a male by dissection. 
 Though to a certain extent I have profited by it, so 
 far as to have the only Channel Island example of 
 the Iceland Falcon in my possession, I cannot help 
 regretting that this bird was killed by the keeper, 
 as it seems to me not impossible that the two birds 
 being together in the island so late as the llth of 
 April, and certainly one, probably both, being adult, 
 and there being plenty of food for them, might, if 
 unmolested, have bred in the island. Perhaps, 
 however, this is too much to have expected so far 
 from their proper home. It would, however, have 
 been interesting to know how late the birds would 
 have remained before returning to their northern 
 home ; but the breeding- season for the Pheasants 
 was beginning, and this was enough for the keeper, 
 as he had actually seen two or three Pheasants 
 some hens killed before he shot the Falcon. As 
 these Falcons can only be considered very rare 
 accidental visitants to the Islands, it may be inter- 
 esting to some of my readers to mention that they 
 may distinguish them easily by colour, the Green- 
 land, Falco candicans, being always the most white, 
 
8 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 and the Norway bird the Gyr Falcon of falconers 
 being the darkest, the Iceland Falcon (the present 
 species) being intermediate. This is generally a 
 good guide at all ages, but oceasionally there may 
 be some difficulty in distinguishing young birds, 
 especially as between the Iceland and the Norway 
 Falcon. In a doubtful case in the Channel Islands, 
 however, it would always be safer to consider the 
 bird an Iceland rather than a Norway Falcon. 
 
 5. PEREGRINE FALCON. Falco peregrinus, Tunstall. 
 French, "Faucon pelerin." The Peregrine can 
 now, I think, only be considered an autumnal 
 visitant to the Islands, though, if not shot or other- 
 wise destroyed, it would, no doubt, remain through- 
 out the winter, and might perhaps have been 
 resident, as Mr. MacCulloch sends me a note of 
 one killed in Herm in December. All the Channel 
 Island specimens I have seen have been young 
 birds of the year, and generally killed in October or 
 November. Adult birds, no doubt, occasionally 
 occur, but they are comparatively rare, and it 
 certainly does not breed anywhere in the Islands at 
 present, though I see no reason why it should not 
 have done so in former times, as there are many 
 places well suited to it, and a constant supply of 
 sea-birds for food. Mr. MacCulloch also seems to 
 be of opinion that the Peregrine formerly bred in 
 the Islands, as he says, speaking, however, of the 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 9 
 
 Falconidce generally, " There must have been a 
 time when some of the species were permanent 
 residents, for the high pyramidal rock south of the 
 little Island of Jethou bears the name of ' La 
 Fauconniere,' evidently denoting that it must have 
 been a favourite resort of these birds, and there are 
 other rocks with the same name." Certainly the 
 rock here mentioned looks much like a place that 
 would be selected by the Peregrine for breeding 
 purposes, but that must have been before the days 
 of excursion steamers once or twice a week to 
 Jethou and Herm. Occasionally a young Peregrine 
 is made to do duty as a Lanner, and is recorded in 
 the local papers accordingly (see ' Star ' for Novem- 
 ber llth, 1876, copying, however, a Jersey paper), 
 but in spite of these occasional notes there is no 
 satisfactory reason for supposing that the true 
 Lanner has ever occurred in either of the Islands. 
 The birds, however, certainly resemble each other 
 to a certain extent, but the young Lanner in which 
 state it would be most likely to occur, may always 
 be distinguished from the young Peregrine by its 
 whiter head, and the adult has more brown on the 
 head and neck. 
 
 The Peregrine is included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, but only marked as occurring in Guernsey and 
 Sark. There is no specimen at present in the 
 Museum. 
 
10 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 6. HOBBY. Falco subbuteo, Linnaeus. French, " Le 
 Hobereau." The Hobby can only be considered as a 
 rather rare occasional visitant, iust touching the 
 Islands on its southern migration in the autumn, 
 and late in the autumn, for Mr. MacCulloch informs 
 me that a Hobby was killed in the Islands, pro- 
 bably Guernsey, in November, 1873, and Mr. 
 Couch, writing to me on the 10th of November, 
 told me he had had a Hobby brought to him on the 
 8th of the same month. Both of these occurrences 
 seem rather late, but probably the Hobby only 
 touches the Islands for a very short time on passage, 
 and quite towards the end of the migratory period. 
 I do not know of any instance of the Hobby having 
 occurred in the Islands on its northern migration 
 in the spring, or of its remaining to breed. 
 
 It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and only 
 marked as occurring in Guernsey. There is no 
 specimen in the Museum. 
 
 7. MERLIN. Falco cesalon* Bris., 1766. French, 
 " Faucon Emerillon." The pretty little Merlin is a 
 much more common autumnal visitant to the 
 Islands than the Hobby, but, like the Peregrine, the 
 majority of instances are young birds of the year 
 which visit the Islands on their autumnal migration. 
 When I was in Guernsey in November, 1875, two 
 
 * Falco cesalon, Tunstall, H.S. 1771. Falco cesalon, 
 Gmelin, Y., 1788. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 11 
 
 Merlins, both young birds, were brought in to 
 Mr. Couch's. Both were shot in the Vale, and I 
 saw a third near Cobo, but did not shoot it. This 
 also was a young bird. In some years Merlins 
 appear to be more numerous than in others, and 
 this seems to have been one of the years in which 
 they were most numerous. Unlike the Hobby, how- 
 ever, the Merlin does occasionally visit the Islands 
 in the spring, as I saw one at Mr. Jago's, the bird- 
 stuffer in Guernsey, which had been killed at Herm 
 in the spring of 1876. This is now in the collection 
 of Mr. Maxwell, the present owner of Herm. 
 Though the Merlin visits the Islands both in the 
 spring and autumn, I do not know that there is any 
 instance of its having remained to breed, neither do 
 I know of an occurrence during the winter. In the 
 * Zoologist ' for 1875 Mr. Couch, in a communica- 
 tion dated November 29th, 1874, says " A Merlin 
 a female was shot in the Marais, which had 
 struck down a Water Eail a minute or two before it 
 was shot. After striking down the Kail the Merlin 
 flew into a tree, about ten yards from which the 
 man who shot it found the Eail dead. He brought 
 me both birds. The skin of the Eail was broken 
 from the shoulder to the back of the skull." 
 
 The more common prey, however, of the Merlin 
 during the time it remains in the Islands is the 
 Eing Dotterell, which at that time of year is to be 
 found in large flocks mixed with Purres and 
 
12 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 Turnstones in all the low sandy or muddy bays in 
 the Islands. 
 
 The Merlin is included in Professor Ansted's list, 
 but only marked as occurring in Guernsey. There 
 is no specimen in the Museum at present. 
 
 8. KESTREL. Falco tinnunculus, Linnaeus. French, 
 " Faucon cresserelle." The Kestrel is by far the 
 commonest hawk in the Islands, and is resident 
 throughout the year. I do not think that its 
 numbers are at all increased during the migratory 
 season. It breeds in the rocky parts of all the 
 Islands. The Kestrel does not, however, show 
 itself so frequently in the low parts even in the 
 autumn as on the high cliffs, so probably King 
 Dotterell, Purres, and Turnstones do not form so 
 considerable a part of its food as they do of the 
 Merlin. Skylarks, Kock and Meadow Pipits, and, 
 in the summer, Wheatears, with a few rats and 
 mice, seem to afford the principal food of the 
 Kestrel, and to obtain these it has not to wander 
 far from its breeding haunts. 
 
 The Kestrel is quite as common in Alderney and 
 Herm, and even in the little Island of Jethou, as it 
 is in Guernsey and Sark. One or two pairs, per- 
 haps more, breed on the before-mentioned rock 
 close to Jethou " La Fauconniere," though a few 
 pairs of Kestrels breeding there would scarcely 
 have been sufficient to give it its name. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 13 
 
 It is mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, but 
 only marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. 
 There are two specimens, a male and female, in the 
 Museum. 
 
 9. SPARROWHAWK. Accipiter nisus, Linnaeus. 
 French, " L'Epervier," " Tiercelet." The Sparrow- 
 hawk, though a resident species and breeding in the 
 Islands, is by no means so common as the Kestrel. 
 In fact, it must certainly be considered rather a rare 
 bird, which perhaps is not to be wondered at, as it 
 is a more tree-breeding bird and less given to nest- 
 ing amongst the rocks than the Kestrel. It does so 
 sometimes, however, as I saw one fly out of some 
 ivy-covered rocks near Petit Bo Bay the last time I 
 was in the Islands on the 27th of May, 1878. I 
 am certain this bird had a nest there, though the 
 place was too inaccessible to be examined closely. 
 The trees, however, at the Vallon or Woodlands 
 would be much more likely nesting-places, especially 
 as it might have an opportunity of appropriating a 
 deserted nest of a Magpie or a Wood Pigeon, rather 
 a favourite nesting-place of the Sparrowhawk. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Sparrowhawk in 
 his list, but confines it to Guernsey and Sark ; and 
 probably, as a resident and breeding bird, he is 
 right as far as my district is concerned, but I should 
 think it must occasionally occur both in Alderney 
 and Herm, though I have never seen a specimen 
 
14 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 from either Island, nor have I seen the bird 
 about alive in either. There is one specimen in 
 the Museum. 
 
 10. COMMON BUZZARD. Buteo vulgaris, Leach. 
 French, "Buse." The Buzzard is a tolerably 
 regular, and by no means uncommon, autumnal 
 visitant, specimens occurring from some of the 
 Islands almost every autumn. But it is, I believe, 
 an autumnal visitant only, as I do not know of a 
 single specimen taken at any other time of year, 
 nor can I find a record of one. I have seen examples 
 in the flesh from both Alderney and Herm, in both 
 of which Islands it occurs at least as frequently as 
 it does in Guernsey, though still only as an autumnal 
 visitant. 
 
 It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only 
 marked as occurring in Guernsey, and there is one 
 specimen in the Museum. 
 
 11. KOUGHLEGGED BUZZARD. Buteo lagopus, Gmelin. 
 French, " Archibuse pattue " or "Buse pattue." 
 Though its visits seem not so absolutely confined to 
 the autumn as the Common Buzzard, the Kough- 
 legged Buzzard is a much more uncommon visitant 
 to the Channel Islands, and can only be looked upon 
 as a rare occasional straggler. Mr. MacCulloch 
 informs me that one was killed near L'Hyvreuse, 
 which is perhaps now more commonly known as the 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 15 
 
 New Ground, in Guernsey, about Christmas, 1870, 
 and I found one at the bird-stuffer and carpenter's 
 shop at Alderney, which had been shot by his 
 friend who shot the Greenland Falcon, but I could 
 get no information about the date except that it was 
 late autumn or winter, and about two years ago. 
 These are the only Channel Island specimens of 
 which I have been able to glean any intelligence. 
 Probably, however, it has occurred at other times 
 and been overlooked. As it may have occasionally 
 been mistaken for the more common Common 
 Buzzard, I may say that it is always to be dis- 
 tinguished from that bird by the feathered tarsus. 
 On the wing, perhaps, when flying overhead, the 
 most readily observed distinction is the dark band 
 on the lower part of the breast. I have, however, 
 seen a very dark variety of the Rough -legged Buz- 
 zard, in which nearly the whole of the plumage 
 was a uniform dark chocolate-brown, and con- 
 sequently the dark band on the breast could not be 
 seen even when one had the bird in one's hand, and 
 had it not been for the feathered tarsus this bird 
 might easily have been mistaken for a very dark 
 variety of the Common Buzzard, and when on the 
 wing it would have been impossible to identify it. 
 Indeed, though it was immediately distinguishable 
 from the Common Buzzard by its feathered legs, 
 there was some little difficulty about identifying it, 
 even when handling it as a skin. 
 
16 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Boughlegged Buz- 
 zard in his list, but only marks it as occurring in 
 Guernsey. There is no specimen at present in the 
 Museum. 
 
 12. MARSH HARRIER. Circus ceruginosus, Linngeus. 
 French, "Busard des Marais." This seems to be 
 the least common of the Harriers in the Channel 
 Islands, though it does occur occasionally, and per- 
 haps more frequently than is generally supposed. 
 
 There are two specimens in the Museum in 
 Guernsey both in immature plumage ; in that 
 state, in fact, in which this bird most commonly 
 occurs, and in which it is the Bald Buzzard of 
 Bewick. 
 
 Miss C. B. Carey records one in the November 
 number of the ' Zoologist ' for 1874 in the following 
 words : " In the May of this year an adult male 
 Marsh Harrier was found in Herm. Unfortunately 
 it got into the hands of some person who, I believe, 
 kept it too long before bringing it over to be pre- 
 served, so that all that remains of it is the head." 
 I had no opportunity of examining this bird myself, 
 not even the head, but I am disposed to doubt its 
 being fully adult, as it seems to me much more 
 probable that it was much in the same state as 
 those in the Museum, in which state it is much 
 more common than in the fully adult plumage. 
 Miss Carey seems only to have seen the head her- 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 17 
 
 self, so there may easily have been a mistake on 
 this point. 
 
 Mr. MacCulloch writes me word that a Marsh 
 Harrier was killed in Herm in May, 1875. It may 
 be just possible, however, that this is the same bird 
 recorded by Miss C.B.Carey, and that Mr. MacCulloch 
 only heard of it in the May of the following year, 
 and noted it accordingly. This, however, is mere 
 supposition on my part, for which I have no reason 
 except that both birds were said to have been killed 
 in Herm, and both in May. 
 
 Professor Ansted mentions the Marsh Harrier in 
 his list, but marks it as only found in Guernsey. 
 
 12. HEN HARRIER. Circus cyaneus, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Busard St. Martin."* The Hen Harrier, 
 perhaps, occurs rather more frequently than the 
 Marsh Harrier, but it can only be considered a rare 
 occasional visitant. In June, 1876, I saw one 
 young Hen Harrier, which had been shot in Herm 
 in the April of that year, about the same time as 
 the Iceland Falcon, and by the same keeper, who 
 had brought it to Mr. Couch to stuff. Another was 
 shot in Herm on the 19th of June, 1877. This 
 bird is now in Mr. Maxwell's collection, where I 
 saw it on the 27th of June. It was first reported 
 to me by Mr. Jago, the bird-stuffer in Guernsey. 
 
 These are the only two Channel Island specimens 
 
 * See Temminck. 
 
18 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 of the Hen Harrier which I have been able to find. 
 I have never shot it myself or seen it alive. It is, 
 however, included in Professor Ansted's list, but 
 marked as occurring in Guernsey only. 
 
 14. MONTAGU'S HARRIER. Circus cineraceus, Mon- 
 tagu. French, " Busard Montagu," " Busard 
 cendre." Montagu's Harrier is certainly a more 
 frequent visitant to the Islands than either the Hen 
 Harrier or the Marsh Harrier. Miss C. B. Carey 
 records one in the ' Zoologist ' for 1873 as having been 
 shot in Alderney in July of that year. She^adds that 
 it was an adult male in full plumage, and that she 
 saw it herself at Mr. Couch's shop. In the 
 ' Zoologist ' for 1874 she records another Montagu's 
 Harrier a young one shot in Herm in July of 
 that year. She adds that "It was brought to 
 Mr. Couch to skin. He found a whole Lark's egg, 
 and also the shell of another, in its throat. He 
 showed me how the whole egg was sticking in the 
 empty shell of the broken one." 
 
 All the Harriers seem to have a special liking for 
 eggs. In his notice of the Marsh Harrier Professor 
 
 OO 
 
 Newton says, in his edition of Yarrell,' that birds' 
 eggs are an irresistible delicacy ; and, in speaking 
 of the food of the present species, he says it con- 
 sists chiefly of grasshoppers, reptiles, small mam- 
 mals, birds and their eggs ; these last, if their size 
 permit, being often swallowed whole, as was the 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 19 
 
 case in the instance mentioned by Miss Carey. 
 Mr. Howard Saunders also says he can bear witness 
 to the egg-eating propensities of the Harriers. 
 
 Besides the two recorded by Miss C. B. Carey, I saw 
 one a young bird in Mr. Maxwell's collection, 
 which had been killed at Herm, and another a 
 young male at Mr. Jago's, the bird-stuffer, which 
 had also been killed at Herm. There were also two 
 young birds in the bird-stuffer and carpenter's shop 
 at Alderney, both of which had been killed in that 
 Island shortly before my last visit, June, 1878. 
 
 As mistakes may occasionally arise in identifying 
 specimens, especially in immature plumage, it may 
 be as well to notice a distinction between the Hen 
 Harrier and Montagu's Harrier, which has been 
 pointed out by Mr. Howard Saunders, and which 
 holds good in all ages and in both sexes. This 
 distinction is, that in the Hen Harrier the outer web 
 of the fifth primary is notched, whereas in Mon- 
 tagu's Harrier it is plain, or, in other words, the 
 Hen Harrier has the exterior web of the primaries, 
 up to and including the fifth, notched, and in 
 Montagu's Harrier this is only the case as far as 
 the fourth.* This distinction is very useful in 
 
 * See * Birds of Spain,' by Howard Saunders, Esq., pub- 
 lished in the works of the Societe Zoologique de France, 
 where he says : " C. ceruginosus et C. cyaneus ont les 
 lisiercs exterieures des remiges emarginees, jusqu'a et y com- 
 prise la cinquieme, et cette forme se trouve en presque toutes 
 
20 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 identifying young birds and females, which are 
 sometimes very much alike. In fully adult males 
 the orange markings on the flanks and thighs, and 
 the greyish upper tail-coverts of Montagu's Harrier, 
 distinguish it immediately at a glance from the 
 Hen Harrier, in which those parts are white. 
 
 Montagu's Harrier is not included by Professor 
 Ansted in his list, nor is there a specimen in the 
 Museum. 
 
 15. LONGEARED OWL. Asiootus, Linnaeus. French, 
 "Hibouvulgaire," "Hiboumoyen due." TheLong- 
 eared Owl seems only a very rare and accidental 
 visitant to the Channel Islands. I have never met 
 with it myself, but Mr. Couch records the occurrence 
 of one in the ' Zoologist ' for 1875, p. 4296 : " I 
 have a Longeared Owl, shot at St. Martin's on the 
 9th of November in that year." This is the only 
 occurrence I can be sure of, except that Mr. Couch, 
 about two years afterwards, sent me a skin of a 
 Guernsey-killed Longeared Owl ; but this may have 
 been the bird mentioned above, as he sent me no 
 date with it. 
 
 les Circus exotiques. En C. swainsonii (the Pallid Harrier) 
 et C. cineraceus cette emargination successive se borne a la 
 quatrieme." We have little to do with this distinction, except 
 as between C. cyaneus and C. cineraceus, C. ceruginosus 
 being otherwise sufficiently distinct, and C. swainsonii not 
 coming within our limits. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. '21 
 
 As it is partially migratory, and its numbers in 
 the British Islands, especially in the Eastern 
 Counties, are increased during the autumn by 
 migratory arrivals, a few may wander, especially in 
 the autumn, to the Channel Islands, but it can only 
 be rarely. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes it in his list, and marks 
 it as having been found both in Guernsey and Sark. 
 There is no specimen of the Longeared Owl at 
 present in the Museum. If there has been one it 
 must have got moth-eaten, like many of the other 
 birds there, and been destroyed. 
 
 16. SHORTEARED OWL. Asio accipitrimis, Pallas. 
 French, " Hibou brachyote." Unlike the Long- 
 eared Owl, the Shorteared Owl is a regular autumnal 
 visitant to the Channel Islands, arriving about 
 October in considerable numbers, but remaining 
 only for a short time, as I do not know of any 
 making their appearance after the end of November, 
 and the majority of those that have arrived seem 
 to pass on about that time, not remaining through- 
 out the winter, and I hear of no instances of their 
 occurring on the spring migration, so the majority 
 must pass north by a different line from that 
 pursued by them on the southern migration. 
 
 There is only one specimen at present in the 
 Museum. Professor Ansted mentions it in his list, 
 but only as found in Guernsey and Sark ; but it is 
 
22 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 quite as common in Alderney, from which Island I 
 have seen specimens, and I think also from Herm, 
 but I cannot be quite sure about this, though of 
 course there can be no reason why it should not be 
 found there, as Herm is only three miles as the 
 crow flies from Guernsey. 
 
 17. BARN OWL. Alucoflammeus, Linnaeus. French, 
 " Chouette effraie." I have never seen the Barn 
 or Yellow Owl alive in the Channel Islands myself, 
 but Mr. MacCulloch does not consider it at all rare 
 in Guernsey, and Mr. Jago informs me the Barn 
 Owls have taken possession of a pigeon-hole in a 
 house in the Brock Eoad opposite his, and that he 
 sees and hears them every night. Some years ago 
 he told me he shot one near the Queen's Tower. He 
 was not scared like the man who shot one in the 
 churchyard, and thought he had shot a cherubim, 
 but he had to give up shooting owls, as the owner 
 of the pigeon-hole where the owls have taken up 
 their abode remonstrated with him, and he has 
 since refrained, though he has had several chances. 
 The vacancy caused by the one being shot was soon 
 filled up. 
 
 The Barn Owl is mentioned in Professor Ansted's 
 list, and restricted to Guernsey and Sark. There 
 are two specimens in the Museum, both of which 
 are said to have been killed in Guernsey. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 23 
 
 18. REDBACKED SHRIKE. LaniusCollurio, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Pie-grieche ecorcheur." The Red-backed 
 Shrike may be considered a tolerably regular, but 
 not very common, summer visitant to the Channel 
 Islands. In June, 1876, I several times saw a male 
 bird about the Vallon, in Guernsey. The female no 
 doubt had a nest at the time in the Vallon grounds, 
 but I could not then get in there to search for it. 
 
 As the Redbacked Shrike frequently returns to 
 the same place every year, I expected again to 
 find this bird, and perhaps the female and the nest 
 this year, 1878, about the Vallon, but I could see 
 nothing of either birds or nest, though I searched 
 both inside and outside the Vallon grounds. 
 
 Young Mr. Le Cheminant, who lives at Le Ree 
 and has a small collection of Guernsey eggs mostly 
 collected by himself in the Island, had one Red- 
 backed Shrike's egg of the variety which has the 
 reddish, or rather perhaps pink, tinge. There were 
 also some eggs in a Guernsey collection in the 
 Museum. These were all of the more ordinary 
 variety. There were also two skins a male and 
 female in the Museum. The bird seems rather 
 local in its distribution about the Island, as I never 
 saw one about the Vale in any of my visits, not 
 even this year, 1878, when I was there for two 
 months, and had ample opportunity of observing it 
 had it been there. There are, however, plenty of 
 places nearly as well suited to it in the Vale as 
 
24 BIBDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 about the Vallon or Le Kee. 1 have never seen 
 it in either of the other Islands, though no doubt it 
 occasionally occurs both in Sark and Herm, if not 
 in Alderney. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Eedbacked Shrike 
 in his list, and marks it only as occurring in Guern- 
 sey. I have no evidence of any other Shrike occurring 
 in the Islands, though I should think the Great Grey 
 Shrike, Lanius excubitor, might be an occasional 
 autumn or winter visitant to the Islands -; but I have 
 never seen a specimen myself or been able to glean 
 any satisfactory information as to the occurrence of 
 one, either from the local bird-stuffers or from Mr. 
 MacCulloch, or any of my friends who have so 
 kindly supplied me with notes ; neither does Pro- 
 fessor Ansted mention it in his list. 
 
 19. SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. Muscicapa grisola, 
 Linnaeus. French, " Gobe-mouche gris."--The 
 Spotted Flycatcher is a regular and numerous 
 summer visitant, generally quite as numerous in 
 certain localities as in England, its arrival and 
 departure being about the same time. It occurs 
 also in Sark and Herm, and probably in Alderney, 
 but I do not remember having seen one there. In 
 Guernsey it is perhaps a little local in its distribu- 
 tion, avoiding to a great extent such places as the 
 Vale and the open ground on the cliffs, but in all 
 the gardens and orchards it is very common. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 25 
 
 Spotted Flycatchers appear, however, to vary in 
 numbers to a certain extent in different years. This 
 year, 1878, they came out in great force, especially 
 on the lawn at Candie where they availed them- 
 selves to a large extent of the croquet-hoops, from 
 which they kept a good look-out either for insects 
 on the wing or on the ground, and they might be 
 as frequently seen dropping to the ground for some 
 unfortunate creeping thing that attracted their 
 attention as rising in the air to give chase to some- 
 thing on the wing. Certainly, when I was in 
 Guernsey about the same time in 1866, Spotted 
 Flycatchers did not appear to be quite so numerous 
 as in 1878. This was probably only owing to one 
 of those accidents of wind and weather which 
 render migratory birds generally, less numerous in 
 some years than they are in others, however much 
 they may wish and endeavour, which seems to 
 be their usual rule, to return to their former breeding 
 stations. 
 
 Professor Ansted mentions the Spotted Flycatcher 
 in his list, but does not add, as he usually does, any 
 letter showing its distribution through the Islands. 
 This probably is because it is generally distributed 
 through them all. There is no specimen in the 
 Museum. 
 
 20. GOLDEN ORIOLE. Oriolus galbula, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Le Loriot." I have never seen the bird 
 
26 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 alive or found any record of the occurrence of the 
 Golden Oriole in Guernsey or the neighbouring 
 Islands, and beyond the fact that there was one 
 example a female in the Museum (which may 
 have been from Jersey) I had been able to gain no 
 information on the subject except of a negative sort. 
 No specimen had passed through the hands of the 
 local bird-stuffers certainly for a good many years, 
 for Mr. Jago's mother who about twenty or thirty 
 years ago, when she was Miss Cumber, had been 
 for some considerable time the only bird-stuffer in 
 the Island, told me she did not know the bird, and 
 had never had one through her hands. It seemed 
 to me rather odd that a bird which occurs almost 
 every year in the British Islands, occasionally even 
 as far west as Ireland, as a straggler, and which is 
 generally distributed over the continent of Europe 
 in the summer, should be totally unknown in the 
 Channel Islands. Consequently writing to the 
 ' Star ' about another Guernsey bird a Hoopoe 
 which had been recorded in that paper, I asked for 
 information as to the occurrence of the Golden 
 Oriole in the Islands, and shortly after the following 
 letter signed " Tereus "* appeared in the ' Star ' : 
 " Concerning the occurrence of the Golden Oriole I 
 cannot speak from my own personal knowledge, but 
 I believe there can be no doubt that the bird has 
 been occasionally seen here. Its presence, however, 
 
 * " Tereus," I soon found, as I expected, was Mr. MacCulloch. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 27 
 
 must be much more rare than that of the Hoopoe, 
 for a bird of such plumage as the Oriole would be 
 more likely to attract even more attention than the 
 comparatively sober-coloured Hoopoe, and if half 
 so common as the latter would be sure to fall before 
 the gun of the fowler. There was a specimen of 
 the female bird in the Museum of the Mechanics' 
 Institution, but I am not sure about its history, 
 and I have some reason to suppose it was shot in 
 Jersey. Our venerable ' national poet, Mr. George 
 Metivier, has many allusions to the Oriole in his 
 early effusions, whether written in English, French, 
 or our vernacular dialect. It seems to have been 
 an occasional visitor at St. George's ; but in Mr. 
 Metivier's early days the island was far more 
 wooded than it is at present, and it is possible that 
 the wholesale destruction of hedgerow elms and the 
 grubbing-up of so many orchards in order to employ 
 the ground more profitably in the culture of early 
 potatoes and brocoli, by which the island has lost 
 much of its picturesque beauty, may have had the 
 effect of deterring some of the occasional visitors 
 from alighting here in their periodical migrations." 
 Signed " Tereus." 
 
 A short time after the appearance of this letter 
 in the < Star ' on the 16th of May, 1878, Mr. 
 MacCulloch himself wrote to me on the subject and 
 said : " I had yesterday a very satisfactory inter- 
 view with Mr. George Metivier. He is now in his 
 
28 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 88th or 89th year. He told me he was about 
 thirteen when he went to reside with his relations, 
 the Guilles, at St. George. There was then a great 
 deal of old timber about the place and a long 
 avenue of oaks, besides three large cherry orchards. 
 One day he was startled by the sight of a male 
 Oriole. He had never seen the bird before. Whether 
 it was that one that was killed or another in a 
 subsequent year I don't know, but he declares that 
 for several years afterwards they were seen in the 
 oak trees and among the cherries, and that he has 
 not the least doubt but that they bred there. One 
 day an old French gentleman of the name of 
 De 1'Huiller from the South of France, an emigrant, 
 noticed the birds and made the remark ' Ah ! 
 vous avez des loriots ici ; nous en avons beaucoup 
 chez nous, ils sont grands gobeurs de cerises.' It 
 would appear from this that cherries are a favourite 
 food with this bird, and the presence of cherry 
 orchards would account for their settling down at 
 St. George. I believe they are said to be very shy, 
 and the absence of wood would account for their 
 not being seen in the present day." 
 
 I have no doubt that Mr. MacCulloch is right 
 that the cherry orchards, to say nothing of other 
 fruit trees, tempted the Golden Orioles to remain to 
 breed in the Island, for they are " grand gobeurs " 
 not only of " cerises," but of many other sorts of 
 fruit, particularly of grapes and figs in grape 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 29 
 
 countries, indeed, doing a deal of damage amongst 
 the vineyards. This damage to grapes would not, 
 however, be much felt in Guernsey, as all the 
 grapes are protected by orchard-houses. But 
 though the grapes are protected, and most, if not 
 all, the cherry orchards cut down, still there is 
 plenty of unprotected fruit in Guernsey to tempt 
 the Golden Oriole to remain in the Islands, and to 
 bring the wrath and the gun of the gardener both 
 to bear upon him when he is there. This, however, 
 only shows that from the time spoken of by Mr. 
 Metivier down to the present time very few Golden 
 Orioles could have visited Guernsey, and still fewer 
 remained to breed; for what with their fruit-eating 
 propensities and their bright plumage, hardly a 
 bird could have escaped being shot and subsequently 
 making its appearance in the bird- staffers' windows, 
 and affording a subject for a notice in the ' Star,' 
 or some other paper. I think therefore, on the 
 whole, that though Guernsey still affords many 
 temptations to the Golden Oriole, and is sufficiently 
 well-wooded to afford shelter to suit its shy and 
 suspicious habits, yet for some reason or other the 
 bird has not visited the Island of late years even as 
 an accidental visitant, or, if so, very rarely. 
 
 The Golden Oriole is mentioned in Professor 
 Ansted's list, and marked as having occurrred in 
 Guernsey and Sark, but nothing more is said about 
 the bird. Probably Guernsey was mentioned as a 
 
30 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 locality on account of the female specimen in the 
 Museum, but with this exception I have never 
 heard of its making its appearance in Sark even as 
 a straggler. 
 
 21. DIPPER. Cinclus aquaticus, Bechstein. 
 French, " Aquassiere," " Cincle plongeur." The 
 Dipper or Water Ouzel, though not very common, 
 less so, indeed, than the Kingfisher, is neverthe- 
 less a resident species, finding food all through the 
 year in the clear pools left by the tide, and also 
 frequenting the few inland ponds, especially the 
 rather large ones, belonging to Mr. De Putron in 
 the Vale, where there is always a Dipper or a King- 
 fisher to be seen, though I do not think the Dipper 
 ever breeds about those ponds in fact there is no 
 place there which would suit it; but though I 
 have never found the nest myself in Guernsey, I 
 have been informed, especially by Mr. Gallienne, 
 that the Dipper makes use of some of the rocky 
 bays, forming his nest amongst the rocks as it 
 would on the streams of Dartmoor and Exmoor. 
 
 Captain Hubboch, however, writes me word he 
 saw one in Alderney in the winter of 1861-62, and 
 there seems no reason why a few should not remain 
 there throughout the year as in Guernsey. 
 
 All the Guernsey Dippers I have seen, including 
 the two in the Museum, which are probably Guern- 
 sey-killed, have been the common form, Cinclus 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 81 
 
 aquaticus. The dark-breasted form, Cinclus melano- 
 gaster, may occur as an occasional wanderer, though 
 the Channel Islands are somewhat out of its usual 
 range. There being no trout or salmon to be pro- 
 tected in Guernsey, the Dipper has not to dread the 
 persecution of wretched keepers who falsely imagine 
 that it must live entirely by the destruction of 
 salmon and trout ova, though the contrary has 
 been proved over and over again. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Dipper in his list, 
 but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey. 
 
 22. MISTLETOE THRUSH. Turdus viscivorus, 
 Linnaeus. French, "Merle Draine," " Grive 
 Draine." I quite agree with the remarks made by 
 Professor Newton, in his edition of ' Yarrell,' as to 
 the proper English name of the present species, 
 and that it ought to be called the Mistletoe Thrush. 
 I am afraid, however, that the shorter appellation 
 of Missel Thrush will stick to this bird in spite of 
 all attempts to the contrary. In Guernsey the local 
 name of the Mistletoe Thrush is " Geai," by which 
 name Mr. Metivier mentions it in his ' Dictionary 
 of Guernsey and Norman French.' He also adds 
 that the Jay does not exist in this Island. This 
 is to a certain extent confirmed by Mr. MacCulloch, 
 who says he is very doubtful as to the occurrence of 
 the Jay in the Island, and adds that the local name 
 for the Mistletoe Thrush is " Geai." Mr. Gallienne, 
 
32 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 in a note to Professor Ansted's list, confirms the 
 scarcity of the Jay, as he says the Book and the 
 Jay are rarely seen here, although they are in- 
 digenous to Jersey. The local name " Geai" may 
 perhaps have misled him as to the occasional 
 appearance of the Jay. I have never seen a real 
 Jay in Guernsey myself. 
 
 As far as I am able to judge from occasional 
 visits to the Island for the last thirty years the 
 Mistletoe Thrush has greatly increased in numbers 
 in Guernsey, especially within the last few years, 
 and Mr. MacCulloch and others who are resident in 
 the Island quite agree with me in this. I do not 
 think its numbers are much increased at any time 
 of year by migrants, though a few foreigners may 
 arrive in the autumn, at which time of year con- 
 siderable numbers of Mistletoe Thrushes are brought 
 into the Guernsey market, where they may be seen 
 hanging in bunches with Common Thrushes, Ked- 
 wings, Blackbirds, Fieldfares, Starlings, and an 
 occasional King Ouzel. Fieldfares and Mistletoe 
 Thrushes usually sell at fourpence each, the rest at 
 four pence a couple. 
 
 Professor Ansted mentions it in his list, but con- 
 fines it to Guernsey and Sark. This is certainly 
 not now the case, as I have seen it nearly as 
 numerous in Alderney and Herm as any of the 
 other Islands. There is a specimen in the Museum. 
 
BIBDS OF GUERNSEY. 33 
 
 23. SONG THRUSH. Turdus musicus, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Grive," " Merle Grive." Very common 
 and resident in all the Islands, and great is the 
 destruction of snails by Thrushes and Blackbirds 
 in fact, nowhere have I seen such destruction as in 
 the Channel Islands, especially in Guernsey and 
 Herm, where every available stone seems made use 
 of, and to considerable purpose, to judge from the 
 number of snail- shells to be found about ; and yet 
 the gardeners complain quite as much of damage 
 to their gardens, especially in the fruit season, by 
 Blackbirds and Thrushes, as the English gardeners 
 and seem equally unready to give these birds any 
 credit for the immense destruction of snails, which, 
 if left alone, would scarcely have left a green thing 
 in the garden. 
 
 The local name of the Thrush is " Mauvis." It 
 is, of course, included in Professor Ansted's list, 
 but with the Fieldfare, Eedwing, and Blackbird, 
 marked as only occurring in Guernsey and Sark. 
 All these birds, however, are equally common in 
 Alderney, Herm, and Jethou. There is also a 
 specimen of each in the Museum. 
 
 24. REDWING. Turdus iliacus, Linnaeus. French, 
 " Grive mauvis," " Merle mauvis." A regular and 
 numerous winter visitant to all the Islands, arriving 
 about the end of October, and those that are not 
 
34 BIBDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 shot and brought into the market departing again 
 in March and April. 
 
 25. FIELDFARE. Turdus pilaris, Linnaeus. French, 
 "Grive litorne," "Merle litorne." Like the Ked- 
 wing, the Fieldfare is a regular and numerous 
 winter visitant, and arrives and departs about the 
 same time. 
 
 When in Guernsey in November, 1871, I did not 
 see either Eedwings or Fieldfares till a few days 
 after my arrival on the 1st ; after that both species 
 were numerous, and a few days later plenty of 
 them might be seen hanging up in the market with 
 the Thrushes and Blackbirds, but for the first few 
 days there were none to be seen there. Probably 
 this was rather a late year, as neither bird could 
 have arrived in any numbers till the first week in 
 November, and in all probability not till towards 
 the end of the week. 
 
 26. BLACKBIRD. Turdus merula, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Merle noir." The Blackbird is a com- 
 mon and numerous resident in all the Islands in 
 the Bailiwick of Guernsey. The Guernsey gar- 
 deners, like their brethren in England, make a 
 great fuss about the mischief done by Blackbirds 
 in the gardens, and no doubt Blackbirds, like the 
 Golden Orioles, are " grand gobeurs " of many 
 kinds of fruit ; but the gardeners should remember 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 35 
 
 that they are equally " grand gobeurs " of many 
 kinds of insects as well, many of the most 
 mischievous insects to the garden, including wasps 
 (I have myself several times found wasps in the 
 stomach of the blackbird) forming a considerable 
 portion of their food, the young also being almost 
 entirely fed upon worms, caterpillars, and grubs ; 
 and when we remember that it is only for a short 
 time of the year that the Blackbird can feed on 
 fruit, which in most cases can be protected by a 
 little care, and that during the whole of the other 
 portion of the year it feeds on insects which would 
 do more damage in the garden than itself, it will be 
 apparent that the gardener has really no substantial 
 ground of complaint. 
 
 As in England, variations in the plumage of the 
 Blackbird are not uncommon. I have one Guernsey 
 specimen of a uniform fawn colour, and another 
 rather curiously marked with grey, the tail-feathers 
 being striped across grey and black. This is a 
 young bird recently out of the nest, and I have no 
 doubt would, after a moult or two, have come to its 
 proper plumage, probably after the first moult, as 
 seems to me frequently the case with varieties of 
 this sort, though I have known a Blackbird show a 
 good deal af white year after year in the winter, 
 resuming its proper plumage in the summer ; and 
 Mr. Jago mentions a case of a Blackbird which 
 passed through his hands which was much marked 
 
36 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 with grey. This bird was found dead, and the 
 owner of the estate on which it was found informed 
 Mr. Jago that it had frequented his place for four 
 years, and that he had seen it with its mate during 
 the summer ; so in this case the variation certainly 
 seems to have been permanent. 
 
 27. KING OUZEL. Turdus torquatus, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Merle a plastron." I do not think the 
 Eing Ouzel is ever as common in the Channel 
 Islands as it is on migration in South Devon. A 
 few, however, make their appearance in each of the 
 Islands every autumn, but they are never very 
 numerous, and do not remain very long, arriving 
 generally about the end of September and remain- 
 ing till the end of November or beginning of 
 December, during which time a few may always be 
 seen hung up in the market. Many of the autumnal 
 arrivals are young birds of the year, with the white 
 crescent on the breast nearly wanting or only very 
 faintly marked. 
 
 Mr. Gallienne, in his remarks appended to Pro- 
 fessor Ansted's list, says the Eing Ouzel stays with 
 us throughout the year, but is more plentiful in 
 winter than in summer. But I have never myself 
 seen one either dead or alive in the spring or 
 summer. It may, however, occasionally visit the 
 Island in the spring migration, but I know of no 
 authentic instance of its remaining to breed, nor 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 87 
 
 have I seen the eggs in any Guernsey collection. 
 I have seen specimens of the Eing Ouzel from 
 Alderney, and it appears to me about equally com- 
 mon at the same time of year in all the Islands. 
 Mr. MacCulloch, however, writes to me : " From 
 what I have heard the Eing Ouzel is more common 
 in Alderney than Guernsey, where it is seen mostly 
 on the southern cliffs." The south end of the 
 Island is no doubt its favourite resort in Guernsey. 
 As far as Alderney is concerned Captain Hubback, 
 E.A., who has been quartered there at different 
 times, says he has never seen one there ; but I 
 do not think he has been much there in the early 
 autumn. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes it in his list, and 
 marks it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There 
 are several, both male and female and young, in the 
 Guernsey Museum. 
 
 28. HEDGESPARROW. Accentor modularis, Lin- 
 naeus. French, " Mouchet," " Traine buisson," 
 "Accenteur mouchet." The Hedgesparrow is, 
 I think, quite as common as in England, and resi- 
 dent throughout the year in all the Islands. Accord- 
 ing to Mr. Metivier's ' Dictionary ' its local name is 
 " Verdeleu," and he describes it as " Oiseau qui 
 couvre les oaufs de Coucou." In Guernsey, however, 
 Cuckoos are much too numerous for the Hedge- 
 sparrow to afford accommodation for them all. 
 
38 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 Professor Ansted mentions the Hedgesparrow in 
 his list, but restricts it to Guernsey and Sark. I 
 have, however, frequently seen it in Alderney and 
 Herm, and the little Island of Jethou. 
 
 29. EOBIN. Ericathus rubecula, Linnseus. French. 
 " Becfin rouge-gorge," " Eouge gorge." The Kobin, 
 like the Hedgesparrow, is a common resident in 
 all the Islands, and I cannot find that its numbers 
 are increased at any time of year by migration. 
 But on the other hand I should think a good many 
 of the young must be driven off to seek quarters 
 elsewhere by their most pugnacious parents, for of 
 all birds the Kobin is by far the most pugnacious 
 with which I am acquainted, and deserves the name 
 of "pugnax" much more than the Kuff, and in a 
 limited space like Jethou and Herm battles between 
 the old and the young would be constant unless 
 some of the young departed altogether from the 
 Island. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Eobin in his list, 
 but, as with the Hedgesparrow, only mentions 
 it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. It is, 
 however, equally common in Alderney, Jethou, and 
 Herm. 
 
 30. EEDSTART. Ruticilla phoenicurus, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Eouge -queue," "Becfin des murailles." 
 I should not have included the Kedstart in this 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 89 
 
 list, as I have never seen it in the Islands myself, 
 but on sending a list of the birds I intended to 
 include to Mr. MacCulloch, he wrote to say " You 
 mention Tithy's Eedstart ; the common one is also 
 seen here." In consequence of this information I 
 looked very sharply out for the birds during the two 
 months (June and July) which I was in Guernsey 
 this year (1878), but I never once saw the bird in 
 any of the Islands, nor could I find any one who 
 had; and such a conspicuous and generally well 
 known bird could hardly have escaped observation 
 had it been in the Island in any numbers. I may 
 add that I have had the same bad luck in all my 
 former visits to the Islands, and never seen a Eed- 
 start. I suppose, however, from Mr. MacCulloch's 
 note that it occasionally visits the Islands for a 
 short time on migration, very few, if any, remain- 
 ing to breed. 
 
 It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only 
 marked as occurring in Guernsey. There is, how- 
 ever, no specimen at present in the Museum. 
 
 81. BLACK KEDSTART. Ruticilla titys, Scopoli. 
 French, " Eouge queue Tithys." The Black, or 
 Tithys Eedstart, as it is sometimes called, is a 
 regular and by no means uncommon autumnal 
 visitant to Guernsey. It seems very much to take 
 the place of the Wheatear, arriving about the time 
 the Wheatear departs, and mostly frequenting the 
 
40 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 same places. In Guernsey it is most common near 
 the sea about the low part of the Island, from 
 L'ancresse Common to Perrelle Bay. In habits it 
 puts one very much in mind of the Wheatear, 
 being very fond, like that bird, of selecting some 
 big stone or some other conspicuous place to perch 
 on and keep a look-out either for intruders or for 
 some passing insect, either flying or creeping, for it 
 is an entirely insect-feeding bird. 
 
 I have never seen the Black Eedstart about the 
 high part of the Island amongst the rocks, which I 
 am rather surprised at, as in the south coast of 
 Devon it seems particularly partial to high cliffs 
 and rocks, such as the Parson and Clerk Eock near 
 Teignmouth ; but in Guernsey the wild grassy 
 commons, with scattered rocks and large boulders, 
 and occasionally a rough pebbly beach, especially 
 the upper part of it where the pebbles join the 
 grass, seem more the favourite resort of this bird 
 than the high rocks, such places probably being 
 more productive of food. It is of course quite 
 useless to look for this bird in the interior of the 
 Island in gardens and orchards, and such places 
 as one would naturally look for the Common Eed- 
 start. 
 
 The male Black Eedstart may be immediately 
 distinguished from the Common Eedstart by the 
 black breast and belly, and by the absence of the 
 white mark on the forehead. The male Black Bed- 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 41 
 
 start has also a white patch on the wing caused by 
 the pale, nearly white, margins of the feathers. 
 The females are more alike, but still may easily be 
 distinguished, the general colour of the female 
 Black Eedstart being much duller a dull smoke- 
 brown instead of the reddish brown of the Common 
 Kedstart. 
 
 Some slight variations of plumage take place in 
 the Black Eedstart at different ages and seasons, 
 which have led to some little difficulties, and to 
 another supposed species, Ruticilla cairii of Gerbe 
 being suggested, but apparently quite without 
 reason. I have never seen the Black Kedstart in 
 the Islands at any time of year except the autumn, 
 and do not know of its occurrence at any other 
 time. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but gives 
 no locality; and there is no specimen in the 
 Museum. 
 
 32. STONECHAT. Pratincola rubicola, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Tarier rubicole," " Traquet patre," 
 " Traquet rubicole." The Stonechat is a numerous 
 and regular summer visitant, breeding in all the 
 Islands, but I do not think any remain throughout 
 the winter ; of course a few scattered birds may 
 occasionally do so in some sheltered locality, but I 
 have never seen one in the Islands as late as 
 November. Both in the Vale and on the Cliffs in 
 
42 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 the higher part of the Island the Stonechat is very 
 common, and the gay little bird, with its bright 
 plumage and sprightly manner, may be seen on the 
 top of every furze bush, or on a conspicuous twig 
 in a hedge in the wilder parts of the Island, but is 
 not so common in the inland and more cultivated 
 parts, being less frequently seen on the hedges by 
 the roadside than it is here, Somersetshire, or in 
 many counties in England. In Alderney it is quite 
 as common as in Guernsey, and I saw two nests 
 this year (1878) amongst the long grass growing on 
 the earthworks near the Artillery Barracks ; it is 
 equally common also both in Jethou, Sark, and 
 Herm. 
 
 There were a great many Stonechat s in the Vale 
 when I was there this year (1878). Generally they 
 seemed earlier in their breeding proceedings than 
 either Wheatears, Tree Pipits, or Sky Larks, which 
 were the three other most numerous birds about 
 that part of the Island, as there were several young 
 ones about when we first went to live in the Vale 
 early in June ; still occasionally nests with eggs 
 more or less hard sat might be found, but the 
 greater number were hatched when fresh eggs of 
 Tree Pipits and Sky Larks were by no means un- 
 common. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Stonechat in his 
 list, but marks it as confined to Guernsey and Sark. 
 There is a specimen in the Museum. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 43 
 
 33. WHINCHAT. Pratincola rubetra, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Tarier ordinaire," " Traquet tarier." 
 The Whinchat seems to me never so numerous as 
 the Stonechat, and more local in its distribution 
 during the time it is in the Islands. It is only a 
 summer visitant, and I doubt if it always remains 
 to breed, though it certainly does so occasionally, 
 as I have seen it in Guernsey through June and 
 July mostly in the south part of the Island, near 
 Pleimont. In my last visit to the Islands, however, 
 in June and July, 1878, I did not see the Whinchat 
 anywhere, neither did I see one when there in 
 June, 1876. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Whinchat in his 
 list, and marks it as occurring in Guernsey and 
 Sark. There is no specimen in the Museum. 
 
 34. WHEATEAR. Saxicola (Enanthe, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Motteux cul blanc," " Traquet moteux." 
 A very common summer visitant to all the 
 Islands, arriving in March and departing again in 
 October, none remaining through the winter at 
 least, I have never seen a Wheatear in the Islands 
 as late as November on any occasion. In the Vale, 
 where a great many breed, the young began to 
 make their appearance out of the nest and flying 
 about, but still fed by their parents, about the 16th 
 of June. In Guernsey it is rather locally distri- 
 buted, being common all round the coast, both on 
 
44 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 the high and low part of the Island, but only 
 making its appearance in the cultivated part in the 
 interior as an occasional straggler. It is quite as 
 common in Alderney and the other Islands as it is 
 in Guernsey, in Alderney there being few or no 
 enclosures, and no hedgerow timber. It is more 
 universallyjdistributed over the whole Island, in the 
 cultivated as well as the wild parts. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but marks 
 it as only occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There 
 are several specimens in the Museum, but I did not 
 see any eggs either there or in young Le Cheminant's 
 collection. This is probably because in Guernsey 
 the Wheatear has a great partiality for laying its 
 eggs under large slabs and boulders of granite per- 
 fectly immovable ; the stones forming one of the 
 Druids' altars in the Vale, were made use of to 
 cover a nest when I was there. 
 
 35. EEED WARBLER. Acrocephalus streperus, 
 Vieillot. French, "Eousserolle effarvatte," "Bee- 
 fin des roseaux." I did not find out the Eeed 
 Warbler as a Guernsey bird till this year (1878), 
 though it is a rather numerous but very local 
 summer visitant. But Mr. MacCulloch put me on 
 the right track, as he wrote to me to say " The 
 Eeed Warbler builds in the Grand Mare. I have 
 seen several of their curious hanging nests brought 
 from there." This put me on the right scent, and 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 45 
 
 I went to the place as soon as I could, and found 
 parts of it a regular paradise for Eeed Warblers, 
 and there were a considerable number there, who 
 seemed to enjoy the place thoroughly, climbing to 
 the tops of the long reeds and singing, then flying 
 up after some passing insect, or dropping like a 
 stone to the bottom of the reed-bed if disturbed or 
 frightened. On my first visit to the Grand Mare 
 I had not time to search the reed-beds for nests. 
 But on going there a second time, on June 17, with 
 Colonel 1'E strange, we had a good search for nests, 
 and soon found one with four eggs in it which were 
 quite fresh. This nest was about three feet from 
 the ground, tied on to four reeds,* and, as usual, 
 having no support at the bottom, was made entirely 
 of long dry bents of rather coarse grass, and a 
 little of the fluff of the cotton plant woven amongst 
 the bents outside, but none inside. We did not find 
 any other nests in the Grand Mare, though we saw 
 a great many more birds ; the reeds, however, were 
 very thick and tall, high over our heads, so that 
 when we were a few feet apart we could not see 
 each other, and the place was full of pitfalls with 
 deep water in them, which were very difficult to be 
 seen and avoided. Many of the nests, I suspect, 
 were amongst the reeds which were growing out of 
 
 * These reeds are the common reed Spires, Spire-reed, or 
 Pool-reed. Arundo phragmites. See ' Popular Names of 
 British Plants,' by Dr. Prior, p. 219. 
 
46 BIBDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 the water. Subsequently, on July the 12th, I found 
 another Eeed Warbler's nest amongst some reeds 
 growing by Mr. De Putron's pond near the Vale 
 Church ; this nest, which was attached to reeds of 
 the same kind as those at the Grand Mare, growing 
 out of water about a foot deep : it was about the 
 same height above the water that the other was 
 from the ground ; it had five eggs in it hard sat. 
 There were one or two pairs more breeding amongst 
 these reeds, though I could not very well get at the 
 place without a boat, but the birds were very noisy 
 and vociferous whenever I got near their nests, as 
 were the pair whose nest I found. There were also 
 a few pairs in some reed-beds of the same sort 
 near L'Eree. 
 
 These are all the places in which I have been 
 able to find the Eeed Warbler in Guernsey. I have 
 not found it myself in Alderney, but Mr. Gallienne, 
 in his remarks published with Professor Ansted's 
 list, says : " I have put the Eeed Wren as doubtful 
 for Guernsey, but I have seen the nest of this bird 
 found at Alderney." In the list itself it is marked 
 as belonging to Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark. 
 
 The Eeed Warbler, though entirely insectivorous, 
 is a very tame and amusing cage-bird, and may 
 easily be fed on raw meat chopped fine and a little 
 hard-boiled egg ; but its favourite food is flies, and 
 of these it will eat any quantity, and woe even to 
 the biggest bluebottle that may buzz through its 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 47 
 
 cage, for the active little bird will have it in a 
 moment, and after a few sharp snaps of the beak 
 there is quite an end of the bluebottle. Daddy 
 long-legs, too, are favourite morsels, and after a 
 little beating about disappear down the bird's 
 throat legs, wings, and all, without any difficulty. 
 The indigestible parts are afterwards cast up in 
 pellets in the same manner as with Hawks. 
 
 I have never seen the nearly-allied and very similar 
 Marsh Warbler, Acrocephalus palustris, in Guernsey, 
 but, as it may occasionally occur, it may be as well 
 perhaps to point out what little distinction there is 
 between the species. This seems to me to consist 
 chiefly in the difference of colour, the Eeed Warbler, 
 Acrocephalus streperus, at all ages and in all states 
 of plumage, being a warmer, redder brown than 
 Acrocephalus palustris, which is always more or 
 less tinged with green. The legs in A. streperus 
 are always darker than in A. palustris ; the beak 
 also in A. palustris seems rather broader at the 
 base and thicker. This bird also has a whitish 
 streak over the eye, which seems wanting in A. 
 streperus. These distinctions seem to me always to 
 hold, good even in specimens which have been kept 
 some time and have faded to what has now generally 
 got the name of " Museum colour." 
 
 Mr. Dresser, in his ' Birds of Europe,' points 
 out another distinction which no doubt is a good 
 one in adult birds with their quills fully grown, but 
 
48 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 fails in young birds and in adults soon after the 
 moult, before the quills are fully grown, and also 
 before the moult if any quills have been shed and 
 not replaced. This distinction is that in A. 
 streperus the second (that is the first long quill, for 
 the first in both species is merely rudimentary) is 
 shorter than the fourth, and in A. palustris it is 
 longer. 
 
 Though I think it not at all improbable that the 
 Marsh Warbler, Acrocephalus palustris, may occur 
 in Guernsey, I should not expect to find it so much 
 in the wet reed-beds in the Grand Mare and at the 
 Vale pond as amongst the lilac bushes and orna- 
 mental shrubs in the gardens, or in thick bramble 
 bushes in hedgerows and places of that sort. 
 
 36. SEDGE WARBLER. Acrocephalus sch&nob&nus, 
 Linnaeus. French, " Bee-fin phragmite." - The 
 Sedge Warbler is by no means so common as the 
 Eeed Warbler, though, like it, it is a summer 
 visitant, and is quite as local. I did not see any 
 amongst the reeds which the Eeed Warbler delighted 
 in, but I saw a few amongst some thick willow 
 hedges with thick grass and rushes growing by the 
 side of the bank, and a small running stream in 
 each ditch. Though perfectly certain the birds 
 were breeding near, we could not find the nests. 
 So well were they hidden amongst the thick grass 
 and herbage by the side of the stream that Colonel 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 49 
 
 1'E strange and myself were quite beaten in our 
 search for the nest, though we saw the birds several 
 times quite near enough to be certain of their 
 identity. I did not shoot one for the purpose of 
 identification, as perhaps I ought to have done, but 
 I thought if I shot one it would be extremely 
 doubtful whether I should ever find it amongst 
 the thick tangle certainly unless quite dead 
 there would not have been a chance. I felt quite 
 certain, however, that all I saw were Sedge Warblers ; 
 had I felt any doubt as to the possibility of one of 
 them turning out to be the Aquatic Warbler, 
 Acrocephalus aquaticus, I should certainly have tried 
 the effect of a shot. As it is quite possible, how- 
 ever, that the Aquatic Warbler may occasionally, or 
 perhaps regularly, in small numbers, visit the 
 Channel Islands, as they are quite within its 
 geographical range, I may point out, for the benefit 
 of any one into whose hands it may fall, that it 
 may easily be distinguished from the Sedge Warbler 
 \)j the pale streak passing through the centre of 
 the dark crown of the head. 
 
 The Sedge Warbler is not mentioned by Professor 
 Ansted in his list, and there is no specimen of 
 either this or the Keed Warbler in the Museum. 
 
 37. DARTFORD WARBLER. Melizophilus undatns, 
 Boddaert. French, "Pitchou Provencal," "Bee- 
 fin Pittechou." The Dartford Warbler is by no 
 
 E 
 
50 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 means common in the Channel Islands indeed 
 I have never seen one there myself, but Miss C. B. 
 Carey records one in the ' Zoologist ' for 1874 as 
 having been knocked down with a stone in the 
 April of that year and brought into Couch's shop, 
 where she saw it. I have no doubt of the correct- 
 ness of this identification, as Miss Carey knew the 
 bird well. I see no reason why it should not be 
 more common in Guernsey than is usually sup- 
 posed, as there are many places well suited to it, 
 but its rather dull plumage, and its habit of hiding 
 itself in thick furze-bushes, and creeping from one 
 to another as soon as disturbed, contribute to keep 
 it much out of sight, unless one knows and can 
 imitate its call-note, in which case the male bird 
 will soon answer and flutter up to the topmost twig 
 of the furze-bush in which it may have previously 
 been concealed, fluttering its wings, and repeating 
 the call until again disturbed. This is the only 
 occurrence of which I am aware in any of the 
 Islands, included in the limits I have prescribed for 
 myself; but Mr. Harvie Brown has recorded two 
 seen by him near Greve de Lecq, in Jersey, in 
 January. See ' Zoologist ' for 1869, p. 1561. 
 
 It is not included in Professor Ansted's list, and 
 there is no specimen in the Museum. 
 
 38. WHITETHROAT. #Zwarz/a,Boddaert. French, 
 " Fauvette grise," "Becfin Grisette." The White- 
 
BIDRS OF GUERNSEY. 51 
 
 throat has hitherto perhaps been better known by 
 the name used in the former edition of ' Yarrell ' 
 and by Messrs. Degland and Gerbe, Curruca 
 cinerea, but in consequence of the inexorable rule 
 of the British Association the name " rufa," given 
 by Boddaert in 1783, has now been accepted for 
 this bird. I have not generally thought it neces- 
 sary to point out these changes, but in this instance 
 it seemed necessary to do so, as in the former 
 edition of ' Yarrell ' the Chiffchaff was called by 
 the name Sylvia rufa, and this might possibly have 
 caused some confusion unless the change had been 
 pointed out. 
 
 The Whitethroat is by no means so common in 
 the Channel Islands as it is in England, and though 
 a regular summer visitant it only makes its appear- 
 ance in small numbers. A few, however, may be 
 seen about the fields and hedgerows in the more 
 cultivated parts of the country. It certainly has 
 not got the reputation for mischief in the garden it 
 has in England, as none of the gardeners I asked 
 about it, and who were complaining grievously of 
 the mischief done by birds, ever mentioned the 
 Whitethroat, or knew the bird when asked about it. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the bird in his list, 
 and restricts it to Guernsey, but I see no reason 
 why it should not occur equally in Sark and Herm. 
 There is no specimen at present in the Museum, 
 
52 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 39. LESSER WHITETHROAT. Sylvia curruca, Lin- 
 nseus. French, " Bee-fin babillard." Like the 
 Whitethroat, the Lesser Whitethroat is a regular, 
 but by no means a numerous summer visitant to 
 Guernsey. I saw a few in the willow-hedges about 
 the Grand Mare, and in one or two other places 
 near there, and young Le Cheminant had one or 
 two eggs in his collection, probably taken about 
 L'Eree. 
 
 The Lesser Whitethroat is included in Professor 
 Ansted's list, and only marked as occurring in 
 Guernsey. There is at present no specimen in the 
 Museum. 
 
 40. BLACKCAP. Sylvia atricapilla, Linnaeus. 
 French, "Fauvette a tete noire," " Bee-fin a tete 
 noire." Though generally known as the Guernsey 
 Nightingale, the Blackcap, though a regular, is by 
 no means a numerous summer visitant. I have, 
 however, always seen a few about every time I have 
 been in the Island in the summer. There are a 
 few eggs in the Museum, and in Le Cheminant 's 
 collection. 
 
 The Blackcap is mentioned by Professor Ansted 
 in his list, and restricted to Guernsey. There is 
 only one specimen a female at present in the 
 Museum. 
 
BIEDS OF GUERNSEY. 53 
 
 41. WILLOW WREN. Phylloscopus trochilus, Lin- 
 naeus. French, " Bee-fin Pouillat." The Willow 
 Wren is a tolerably numerous summer visitant, I 
 believe, to all the Islands, though I have only seen 
 it myself in Guernsey and Sark. In Guernsey I 
 have seen it about the Grand Mare, and in some 
 trees near the road about St. George, and about 
 the Vallon on the other side of the Island. It 
 remains all the summer and breeds. 
 
 Professor Ansted has not included it in his list, 
 although it seems tolerably well known, and has a 
 local name "D'mouaiselle," which Mr. Metivier, in 
 his 'Dictionary,' applies to the Willow Wren of the 
 English. This name, however, is probably equally 
 applicable to the Chiffchaff. 
 
 42. CHIFFCHAFF. Phylloscopus collybita, Vieillot. 
 French, "Bee-fin veloce." The Chiffchaff is cer- 
 tainly more common in Guernsey than the Willow 
 Wren. In Guernsey I have seen it in several 
 places ; about Candie, where a pair had a nest this 
 summer in the mowing-grass before the house ; near 
 the Vallon; and about St. George. I have also 
 seen it in Sark, but not in either of the other 
 Islands, though no doubt it occurs in Herm, if not 
 in Alderney. 
 
 It is mentioned by Professor Ansted as occurring 
 in Guernsey and Sark. I have never seen the 
 Wood Wren in Guernsey, and, judging from its 
 
54 BIKDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 favourite habitations here in Somerset, I should not 
 think it at all likely to remain in the Channel 
 Islands through the summer, though an occasional 
 straggler may touch the Islands on migration. 
 There is no specimen of either the Chiffchaff or 
 Willow Wren in the Museum. 
 
 43. GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. Regulus cristatus, 
 Koch. French, " Eoitelet ordinaire." The Golden- 
 crest is resident in the Islands, but not very 
 numerous, and I doubt if its numbers are regularly 
 increased in the autumn by migrants, as is the case 
 in the Eastern Counties of England. Migratory 
 flocks, however, sometimes make their appearance ; 
 and Mr. MacCulloch writes to me " The Golden- 
 crest occasionally comes over in large flocks, appa- 
 rently from Normandy, flying before bad weather. 
 This, however, cannot be said to have been the 
 cause of the large flight that appeared here so 
 recently as the last days in April," 1878. This 
 flock was mentioned in the ' Star ' of April the 27th 
 as follows : " A countryman informs us that a few 
 days since, whilst he was at L'ancresse Common, 
 he saw several flocks of these smallest of British 
 birds, numbering many hundreds in each, settle in 
 different parts of the Common before dispersing 
 over the Island. In verification of his words he 
 showed us two or three of these tiny songsters 
 which he had succeeded in knocking down with a 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 55 
 
 stick." This large migratory flock had entirely 
 disappeared from L'ancresse Common when we 
 went to live there for two months in May of the 
 same year ; there was not then a Golden Crest to 
 be seen ahout the Common. The whole flock had 
 probably resumed their journey together, none of 
 them having " dispersed over " or remained in the 
 Island, and certainly, as far as I could judge, the 
 numbers in other parts of the Island had not 
 increased beyond what was usual and one might 
 ordinarily expect. I have not been able to learn 
 that the migratory flock above spoken of extended 
 to any of the other Islands. 
 
 The Golden-crested Wren is mentioned by Pro- 
 fessor Ansted, and marked as occurring in Guernsey 
 and Sark. There are two a male and female in 
 the Museum. 
 
 44. FIRE-CRESTED WREN. Regulus ignicapillus, 
 C. L. Brehm. French, "Koitelet a triple bandeau." 
 I have a pair oi' these killed in Guernsey about 
 1872, but I have not the 'exact date ; and Mr. 
 Couch, who knew the Fire-crested Wren well, 
 writing to me on the 23rd of March, 1877, says : 
 " I had the head and part of a Fire-crest female 
 brought me by a young lady. She told me her 
 brother knocked down two, and the other had a 
 beautiful red and gold crest ; so it must have been 
 the male." As Mr. Couch knew both the Gold. 
 
56 BIEDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 crest and Fire-crest well, and the distinction be- 
 tween them, I have no doubt he rightly identified 
 the bird which was brought to him. These and the 
 pair in my collection are the only Guernsey speci- 
 mens I can be certain of. 
 
 The ' Star ' newspaper, however, in the note 
 above quoted as to the migratory flock of Golden- 
 crests, says : " It may be a fact hitherto unknown 
 to many of our readers that the Fire-crested Wren, 
 very similar in appearance to the Golden-crested 
 Wren, is not very uncommon in our Island. The 
 Fire-crested Wren so closely resembles its confrere, 
 the Golden-crested W T ren, that only a practised eye 
 can distinguish the difference between them." I 
 do not quite agree with the ' Star ' as to the Fire- 
 crest not being "very uncommon," though it occa- 
 sionally occurs. I do not think it can be considered 
 as anything but a rare occasional straggler. And 
 this from its geographical distribution, which is 
 rather limited, is what one would expect ; it is not 
 very common on the nearest coast of France or 
 England, though it occasionally occurs about Tor- 
 bay, which is not very far distant. 
 
 The name Fire-crest has probably led to many 
 mistakes between this bird and the Golden-crest, as 
 a brightly- coloured male Gold-crest has the golden 
 part of the crest quite as bright and as deeply 
 coloured as the Fire-crest ; and the female Fire- 
 crest has a crest not a bit more deeply coloured 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 57 
 
 than the female Gold-crest. In point of fact the 
 colour of the crest is of no value whatever in dis- 
 tinguishing between the birds, and the "practised 
 eye " would find itself puzzled if it only relied 
 upon that. 
 
 The French name for the Fire-crest, however, 
 " Eoitelet a triple bandeau," is much more descrip- 
 tive, as under the golden part of the crest there is 
 a streak of black, and under that again a streak of 
 white over the eye, and a streak of black through 
 the eye ; there is also a streak, or rather perhaps a 
 spot of white, under the eye. The Gold-crest has 
 only the streak of black immediately under the 
 gold crest ; below that the whole of the side of the 
 face and the space immediately surrounding the 
 eye is a uniform dull olive-green. If this distinction 
 is once known and attended to the difference between 
 the two birds may be immediately detected by even 
 the unpractised eye. 
 
 A very interesting account of the nesting of this 
 bird is given by Mr, Dresser, in his * Birds of 
 Europe,' he having made a journey to Altenkirchen, 
 where the Fire-crest is numerous, on purpose to 
 watch it in the breeding- season. The nest he 
 describes as very like that of the Golden-crest ; the 
 eggs also are much like those of that bird, though 
 a little redder in colour. 
 
 The Fire-crest is not mentioned in Professor 
 Ansted's list, and there is no specimen at present 
 in the Museum. 
 
58 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 45. WREN. Troglodytes parvulus, K. L. Koch. 
 French, " Boitelet," " Troglodyte mignon," " Trog- 
 lodyte ordinaire." The Wren is common and 
 resident in all the Islands, and very generally 
 distributed, being almost as common amongst the 
 wild rocks on the coast as in the inland parts. On 
 the 7th of July, 1878, I found a Wren's nest 
 amongst some of the wildest rocks in the Island ; 
 the hinder part of the nest was wedged into a small 
 crevice in the rock very firmly, the nest projecting 
 and apparently only just stuck against the face of 
 the rock. A great deal of material had been used, 
 and the nest, projecting from the face of the rock 
 as it did, looked large, and when I first caught sight 
 of it I thought I might have hit upon an old Water 
 Ouzel's nest. On getting close, however, I found it 
 was only a Wren's, with young birds in it. I visited 
 this nest several times, and saw the old bird feeding 
 her young. I could not, however, quite make out 
 what she fed them with, but I think with insects 
 caught amongst the seaweed and tangle amongst 
 the rocks. After the young were flown I took this 
 nest, and was astonished to find, when it was taken 
 out of the crevice, how much material had been 
 used in wedging it in, and how firmly it was attached 
 to the rock. This was certainly necessary to keep 
 it in its place in some of the heavy gales that 
 sometimes happen even at that time of year ; in a 
 very heavy north-westerly gale it would hardly 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 59 
 
 have been clear of the wash of the waves at high 
 water. 
 
 The Wren is included in Professor Ansted's list, 
 but marked as only occurring in Guernsey. There 
 is no specimen in the Museum. 
 
 46. TREE-CREEPER. Certhia familiaris, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Grimpereau," " Grimpereau familier." 
 The Tree-creeper is resident and not uncommon in 
 all the Islands, except perhaps Alderney, in which 
 Island I have never seen it. In Guernsey it may 
 be seen in most of the wooded parts, and frequently 
 near the town, in the trees on the lawns at Candie, 
 Castle Carey, and in the New Ground. I have 
 never seen it take to the rocks near the sea, like 
 the Wren. 
 
 It it mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, and 
 marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There 
 is no specimen in the Museum. 
 
 47. GREAT TIT. Pants major, Linnaeus. French, 
 " Mesange Charbonniere." The Paridae are by no 
 means well represented in the Islands, either indi- 
 vidually or as to number of species ; and the 
 Guernsey gardeners can have very little cause to 
 grumble at damage done to the buds by the Tits. 
 The Great Tit is moderately common and resident 
 in Guernsey, but by no means so common as in 
 England. During the whole two months I was in 
 
60 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 the Island this last summer, 1878, I only saw two 
 or three Great Tits, and this quite agrees with 
 my experience in June and July, 1866, and at 
 other times. 
 
 The Great Tit is included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, but only marked by him as occurring in Sark. 
 
 48. BLUE TIT. Parus ccendeiis, Linnaeus. French, 
 " Mesange bleue." Like the Great Tit, the Blue 
 Tit is resident in all the Islands, but by no means 
 numerous. In Guernsey it is pretty generally dis- 
 tributed over the more cultivated parts, but nowhere 
 so numerous as in England. It is included in 
 Professor Ansted's list, and marked as occurring 
 in Guernsey and Sark. 
 
 I have not included either the Cole Tit or the 
 Marsh Tit in this list, as I have never seen either 
 bird in the Islands, and have not been able to find 
 that they are at all known either in Guernsey or 
 any of the other Islands. 
 
 Professor Ansted, however, includes the Cole Tit 
 in his list, and marks it as occurring in Guernsey, 
 but no other information whatever is given about 
 it ; and there is no specimen in the Museum, as 
 there is of both the Great and the Blue Tits. I 
 have not succeeded in getting a specimen myself. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 61 
 
 49. LONG-TAILED TIT. A credula caudata, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Mesange a longue queue." * The Long- 
 tailed Tit is certainly far from common in Guernsey 
 at present, and I have never seen it in the Islands 
 myself. But Mr. MacCulloch writes me word 
 " The Long-tailed Tit is, or ot least was, far from 
 uncommon. Probably the destruction of orchards 
 may have rendered it less common. The nest was 
 generally placed in the forked branch of an apple- 
 tree, and so covered with grey lichens as to be 
 almost indistinguishable. I remember, in my youth, 
 finding a nest in a juniper-bush." 
 
 It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and 
 marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There 
 is, however, no specimen now in the Museum. 
 
 I am very doubtful as to whether I ought to 
 include the Bearded Tit, Panurus biarmicus of 
 Linnaeus, in this list. There are a pair in the 
 Museum, but these may have been obtained in 
 France or England. One of Mr. De Putron's men, 
 however, described a bird he had shot in the reeds 
 in Mr. De Putron's pond in the Vale, and certainly 
 
 * This name of Temminck is no doubt applied to the 
 Continental form, Acredula caudata, of Linnaeus, not to 
 the British form now elevated into a species under the name 
 Acredula rosea, of Blyth. Owing to want of specimens I 
 have not been able to say to which form the Channel Island 
 Long-tailed Tit belongs, probably supposing them to be 
 really distinct from A. rosea. A. caudatam&j, however, also 
 occur, as both forms do occasionally, in the British Islands. 
 
62 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 his description sounded very much as if it had 
 been a Bearded Tit ; but the bird had been thrown 
 away directly after it was shot, and there was no 
 chance of verifying the description. 
 
 50. WAXWING. Ampelis garrulus, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Jaseur de Boheme," " Grand Jaseur." 
 As would seem probable from its occasional 
 appearance in nearly every county in England, the 
 Waxwing does occasionally make its appearance in 
 Guernsey as a straggler. I have never seen it 
 myself, but Mr. MacCulloch writes me word " I 
 have known the Bohemian Waxwing killed here on 
 several occasions, but have not the date." 
 
 An interesting account of the nesting habits of 
 this bird, and the discovery of the nests and eggs 
 by Mr. Wolley, was published by Professor Newton 
 in the ' Ibis ' for 1861, and will be found also in 
 Dresser's ' Birds of Europe.' and in the new edition 
 of ' Yarrell,' by Professor Newton. 
 
 It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and 
 marked as occurring in Guernsey ; and there is one 
 specimen in the Museum. 
 
 51. PIED WAGTAIL. Motacilla lugubris, Tem- 
 minck. French, " Bergeronette Yarrellii." * The 
 Pied Wagtail has probably been better known to 
 
 * See Temminck's * Man. d'Ornith.' 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 63 
 
 some of my readers as Motacilla Yarrellii, but, 
 according to the rules of nomenclature before 
 alluded to, Motacilla lugiibris of Temminck seems to 
 have superseded the probably better-known name 
 of Motacilla Yarrellii. 
 
 For some reason or other the Pied Wagtail has 
 grown much more scarce in Guernsey than it used 
 to be ; at one time it was common even about the 
 town, running about by the gutters in the street, 
 and several were generally to be seen on the lawn 
 at Candie. But this last summer that of 1878 
 I did not see one about Candie, or indeed anywhere 
 else, except one pair which were breeding near the 
 Vale Church ; and when there in November, 1875, 
 I only saw one, and that was near Vazon Bay. Mr. 
 MacCulloch has also noticed this growing scarcity 
 of the Pied Wagtail, as he writes to me " Of late 
 years, for some reason or other, Wagtails of all 
 sorts have become rare." In the summer of 
 1866, however, I found the Pied Wagtail tolerably 
 common. 
 
 It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and 
 marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. 
 
 52. WHITE WAGTAIL. Motacilla alba, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Lavendiere," "Hoche-queue grise," 
 " Bergeronette grise." The White Wagtail is still 
 scarcer than the Pied, but I saw one pair evidently 
 breeding between L'ancresse Koad and Grand 
 
64 BIRDS OF GUERNSFA'. 
 
 Havre. The White Wagtail so much resembles the 
 Pied Wagtail, that it may have been easily over- 
 looked, and may be more common than is generally 
 known. 
 
 The fully adult birds may easily be distinguished, 
 especially when in full breeding plumage, as the 
 back of the Pied Wagtail is black, while that of the 
 White Wagtail is grey. After the autumnal moult, 
 however, the distinction is not quite so easy, as the 
 feathers of the Pied Wagtail are then margined 
 with grey, which rather conceals the colour be- 
 neath ; but if the feathers are lifted up they will 
 be found to be black under the grey margins. The 
 young birds of the year, in their first feathers, 
 cannot be distinguished, and the same may be said 
 of the eggs. 
 
 The White Wagtail is included in Professor 
 Ansted's list, but marked as only occurring in 
 Guernsey. There is no specimen either of the Pied 
 or White Wagtail in the Museum. 
 
 53. GREY WAGTAIL. Motacilla melanope, Pallas. 
 French, " Bergeronette jaune." The Grey Wagtail 
 is by no means common in the Islands, though it 
 may occasionally remain to breed, as I have seen it 
 both in Guernsey and Sark between the 21st of 
 June and the end of July in 1866, but I have not 
 seen it in any of the Islands during the autumn. It 
 is, however, no doubt an occasional, though never 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 65 
 
 very numerous, winter visitant, probably more 
 common, however, at this time of year than in the 
 summer, as I have one in winter plumage shot in 
 Guernsey in December, and another in January, 
 1879, and there is also one in the Museum in winter 
 plumage. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes it in his list, and marks 
 it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. 
 
 54. YELLOW WAGTAIL. Motacilla raii, Bonaparte. 
 French, " Bergeronnette flaveole." As far as I 
 have been able to judge the Yellow Wagtail is only 
 an occasional visitant on migration. A few, how- 
 ever, may sometimes remain to breed. I have one 
 Channel Island specimen killed in Guernsey the 
 last week in March. Mr. MacCulloch, however, 
 writes me word that in some years they i..e., 
 Yellow Wagtails are not very uncommon, but of 
 late, for some reason or other, Wagtails of all sorts 
 have become rare. He adds " I am under the 
 impression that we have more than one Yellow 
 Wagtail." It is, therefore, possible that the Grey- 
 headed Wagtail, the true Motacilla flav a of Linnaeus, 
 may occasionally occur, or in consequence of the 
 bright yellow of portions of its plumage the last- 
 mentioned species the Grey Wagtail may have 
 been mistaken for a second species of Yellow Wag- 
 tail. I have not myself seen the Yellow Wagtail 
 in either of the Islands during my summer visits in 
 
 F 
 
66 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 1866, 1876, or 1878 ; so it certainly cannot be very 
 common during the breeding-season, or I could 
 scarcely have missed seeing it. 
 
 Professor Ansted has not included it in his list, 
 and there is no specimen at present in the Museum. 
 
 55. TREE PIPIT. Anthus trivialis, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Pipit des arbres," " Pipit des buissons." 
 A very numerous summer visitant to all the Islands, 
 breeding in great numbers in the parts suited to it. 
 In the Vale it was very common, many of the furze- 
 bushes on L'Ancresse Common containing nests. 
 The old male might constantly be seen flying up 
 from the highest twigs of the furze-bush, singing 
 its short song as it hovered over the bush, and 
 returning again to the top branch of that or some 
 neighbouring bush. This continued till about the 
 middle of July, when the young were mostly hatched, 
 and many of them flown and following their 
 parents about clamorous for food, which was 
 plentiful in the Vale in the shape of numerous 
 small beetles, caterpillars, and very small snails. 
 The young were mostly hatched by the beginning 
 of July, but I found one nest with young still in it 
 in a furze-bush about ten yards from high water- 
 mark as late as the 27th of July, but the young 
 were all flown when I visited the nest two days 
 afterwards. The Tree Pipits have all departed by 
 the middle of October, and I have never seen any 
 there in November. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 67 
 
 The Tree Pipit is mentioned in Professor Ansted's 
 list, but no letters marking the distribution of the 
 species amongst the Islands are given. There is 
 no specimen of this or either of the other Pipits in 
 the Museum. 
 
 56. MEADOW PIPIT. Anthus pratensis, Linnaeus. 
 French, "Le cujelier," "Pipit des pres," "Pipit 
 Farlouse." The Meadow Pipit is resident and 
 breeds in all the Islands, but is by no means so 
 numerous as the Tree Pipit is during the summer. 
 I think, however, its numbers are slightly increased 
 in the autumn, about the time of the departure of 
 the Tree Pipits, by migrants. 
 
 It is included by Professor Ansted in his list, but 
 marked as occurring only in Guernsey. 
 
 57. ROCK PIPIT. Anthus obscurus, Latham. 
 French, " Pipit obsur," " Pipit spioncelle." Resi- 
 dent and numerous, breeding amongst the rocks 
 and round the coast of all the Islands. It is also 
 common in all the small outlying Islands, such as 
 Burhou, and all the little rocky Islands that stretch 
 out to the northward of Herm, and are especially 
 the home of the Puffin and the Lesser Black- 
 backed Gull. On all of these the Rock Pipit may 
 be found breeding, but its nest is generally so well 
 concealed amongst the thrift samphire, wild stock, 
 and other seaside plants which grow rather rankly 
 
68 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 amongst those rocks, considering how little soil 
 there generally is for them and what wild storms 
 they are subject to, that it is by no means easy to 
 find it, though one may almost see the bird leave 
 the nest. 
 
 The Eock Pipit is included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, but marked as only occurring in Guernsey. 
 All the Hock Pipits I have seen in the Channel 
 Islands have been the common form, Anthus 
 olscurus; I have never seen one of the rufous- 
 breasted examples which occur in Scandinavia and 
 the Baltic, and have by some been separated 
 as a distinct species under the name of Anthus 
 rupestris. 
 
 58. SKYLARK. A laudaarvensis, Linnaeus. French, 
 " Alouette des champs." Mr. Metivier, in his 
 1 Dictionary,' gives Houedre as the local Guernsey- 
 French name of the Sky Lark. As may be supposed 
 by its having a local name, it is a common and 
 well-known bird, and is resident in all the Islands. 
 I have not been able to find that its numbers are 
 much increased by migrants at any time of year, 
 though probably in severe weather in the winter 
 the Sky Larks flock a good deal, as they do in 
 England. The Sky Lark breeds in all the Islands, 
 and occasionally places its nest in such exposed 
 situations that it is wonderful how the young 
 escape. One nest we found by a roadside near 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 69 
 
 Eonceval ; it was within arm's length of the road, 
 and seemed exposed to every possible danger. 
 When we found it, on the 15th of June, there were 
 five eggs in it, fresh, or, at all events, only just sat 
 on, as I took one and blew it for one of my 
 daughters. On the 19th we again visited the nest ; 
 there were then four young ones in it, but they 
 were so wonderfully like the dry grass which sur- 
 rounded the nest in colour that it was more difficult 
 to find it then than when the eggs were in it, and 
 except for the young birds moving as they breathed 
 I think we should not have found it a second time. 
 A few days after July the 3rd there was very 
 heavy rain all night. Next day we thought the 
 Sky Larks must be drowned (had they been 
 Partridges under the care of a keeper they would 
 have been), but as it was only one was washed out 
 of the nest and drowned ; the rest were all well and 
 left the nest a few days after. So in spite of the 
 exposed situation close to a frequented road, on a 
 bit of common ground where goats and cows were 
 tethered, nets and seaweed, or " vraic," as it is 
 called in Guernsey, spread for drying, dogs, cats, 
 and children continually wandering about, and 
 without any shelter from rain, the old birds brought 
 off three young from their five eggs. 
 
 The Sky Lark is mentioned in Professor Ansted's 
 list as occurring only in Guernsey and Sark. It is, 
 however, quite as common in Alderney and Herm. 
 There is no specimen in the Museum. 
 
70 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 59. SNOW BUNTING. Plectrophanes nivalis, Lin- 
 naeus. French, " Ortolan de neige," " Bruant de 
 neige." The Snow Bunting is probably a regular, 
 though never very numerous, autumnal visitant, 
 remaining on into the winter. It seems to be more 
 numerous in some years than others. Mr. Mac 
 Culloch tells me a good many Snow Buntings were 
 seen in November, 1850. 
 
 Mr. Couch records one in the ' Zoologist ' for 
 1874 as having been killed at Cobo on the 28th of 
 September of that year. This seems rather an 
 early date. When I was in Guernsey iu November, 
 1875, I saw a few flocks of Snow Buntings, and 
 one a young bird of the year which had been 
 killed by a boy with a catapult, was brought into 
 Couch's shop about the same time, and I have one 
 killed at St. Martin's, Guernsey, in November, 1878 ; 
 and Captain Hubbach writes me word that he shot 
 three out of a flock of five in Alderney in January, 
 1863. 
 
 Professor Ansted mentions the Snow Bunting in 
 his list as occurring in Guernsey and Sark, and 
 there is a specimen at present in the Museum. 
 
 60. BUNTING. Ewiberiza miliaria, Linnaeus. 
 French, "Le proyer," ''Bruant proyer." The 
 Bunting is resident in Guernsey and breeds there, 
 but in very small numbers, and it is very local in 
 its distribution. I have seen a few in the Yale. I 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 71 
 
 saw two or three about the grounds of the Vallon 
 in July, 1878, which were probably the parents and 
 their brood which had been hatched somewhere in 
 the grounds. 
 
 It is mentioned in Professor Ansted's list as 
 occurring only in Guernsey. There is one speci- 
 men in the Museum. 
 
 61. YELLOW HAMMER. Emberiza citrinella, Lin- 
 naeus. French, "Bruant jaune." The Yellow 
 Hammer, though resident and breeding in all the 
 Islands, is by no means as common as in many 
 parts of England. In Alderney perhaps it is 
 rather more common than in Guernsey, as I saw 
 some near the Artillery Barracks this summer, 
 1878, and Captain Hubbach told me he had seen 
 two or three pairs about there all the year. In 
 Guernsey, on the other hand, I did not see one this 
 summer, 1878. I have, however, shot a young 
 bird there which certainly could not have been long 
 out of the nest. I have never seen the Girl 
 Bunting in any of the Islands, nor has it, as far as 
 I know, been recorded from them, which seems 
 rather surprising, as it is common on the South 
 Coast of Devon, and migratory, but not numerous, 
 on the North Coast of France ; * so it is very 
 probable that it may yet occur. 
 
 The Yellow Hammer is included in Professor 
 
 * Dresser's ' Birds of Europe, 'fide Degland's Grebe. 
 
72 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 Ansted's list, and marked as occurring in Guern- 
 sey and Sark. There are also a pair in the 
 Museum. 
 
 62. CHAFFINCH. Fringilla coelebs, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Pinson ordinaire," " Grosbec pinson." 
 The Chaffinch is resident, tolerably common, and 
 generally distributed throughout the Islands, but is 
 nowhere so common as in England. In Guernsey 
 this year, 1878, it seemed to me rather to have 
 decreased in numbers, as I saw very few, certainly 
 not so many as in former years, though I 
 could not find that there was any reason for the 
 decrease. 
 
 It is, of course, mentioned in Professor Ansted's 
 list, but by him only marked as occurring in 
 Guernsey and Sark. There is only one a female 
 at present in the Museum. 
 
 63. BRAMBLING. Fringilla montifringilla, Lin- 
 naeus. French, " Pinson d'Ardennes." " Grosbec 
 d' Ardennes." The Brambling can only be con- 
 sidered an occasional autumn and winter visitant, 
 and probably never very numerous. I have never 
 seen the bird in the Channel Islands myself. I 
 have, however, one specimen a female killed in 
 Brock Koad, Guernsey, in December, 1878, and I 
 have been informed by Mr. MacCulloch that he had 
 a note of the occurrence of the Brambling or 
 Mountain Finch in January, 1855. It cannot, 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 73 
 
 however, be looked upon as anything more than a 
 very rare occasional straggler, by no means occurring 
 every year. 
 
 It is mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, and 
 marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There 
 is no specimen at present in the Museum. 
 
 64. TREE SPARROW. Passer montanus, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Friquet." The Tree Sparrow breeds, and 
 is probably resident in the Islands. Up to this 
 year, 1878, I have only seen it once myself, and 
 that was on the 7th of June, 1876, just outside the 
 grounds of the Vallon in Guernsey. From the 
 date and from the behaviour of the bird I have no 
 doubt it had a nest just inside the grounds. I could 
 not then, however, make any great search for the 
 nest without trespassing, though I got sufficiently 
 near the bird to be certain of its identity. This 
 year, 1878, I could not see one anywhere about the 
 Vallon, either inside or outside the grounds. I saw, 
 however, one or two about the Vale, but they were 
 very scarce. I have not myself seen the Tree 
 Sparrow in any of the other Islands. 
 
 It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and 
 marked as occurring in Sark only. I have not seen 
 a specimen at Mr. Couch's, or any of the other 
 bird-stuffers, but there is one in the Museum and 
 some eggs, all of which are probably Guernsey. 
 
74 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 65. HOUSE SPARROW. Passer domesticus, Lin- 
 naeus. French, "Moineau domestique," "Grosbec 
 moineau." The House Sparrow is very numerous 
 throughout the Islands, abounding where there are 
 any buildings inhabited by either man, horses, or 
 cattle. In the gardens near the town of St. Peter's 
 Port, in Guernsey, it is very common, and does a 
 considerable amount of mischief. It is, however, 
 by no means confined to the parts near the town, 
 as many were nesting in some ilex trees near the 
 house we had on L'Ancresse Common, although the 
 house had been empty since the previous summer, 
 and the garden uncultivated ; so food till we came 
 must have been rather scarce about there. As the 
 wheat is coming into ear the Sparrows, as in 
 England, leave the neighbourhood of the town and 
 other buildings and spread themselves generally 
 over the country, for the purpose of devouring the 
 young wheat while just coming into ear and still soft. 
 InAlderney, owing probably in a great measure to the 
 absence of cottages, farm-buildings, and stables at 
 a distance from the town, and also perhaps owing 
 to the absence of hedges, it is not so numerous in 
 the open part, and consequently not so mischievous, 
 being mostly confined to the town, and to the 
 buildings about the harbour- works. The young 
 wheat, however, is still a temptation, and is accord- 
 ingly punished by the Sparrows. 
 
 The House Sparrow is mentioned by Professor 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 75 
 
 Ansted in his list, but no letters are given marking 
 the general distribution over the Islands, probably 
 because it is so generally spread over them. The 
 local Guernsey-French name is " Grosbec," for 
 which see Metivier's ' Dictionary.' 
 
 66. HAWFINCH. Coccothraustes vulgaris, Pallas. 
 French, "Grosbec." The Hawfinch or Grosbeak, 
 as it is occasionally called, is by no means common 
 in Guernsey, and I have never seen it there myself, 
 but I have a skin of one killed in the Catel Parish 
 in December, 1878 ; and Mi\ MacCulloch informs 
 me it occasionally visits that Island in autumn, but 
 in consequence of its shy and retiring habits it has 
 probably been occasionally overlooked, and escaped 
 the notice of the numerous gunners to whom it 
 would otherwise have more frequently fallen a 
 victim. The bird-stuffer and carpenter inAlderney 
 had one spread out on a board and hung up behind 
 his door, which had been shot by his friend who 
 shot the Greenland Falcon, in the winter of 1876 
 and 1877, somewhere about Christmas. I know no 
 instance of its remaining to breed in the Islands, 
 though it may occasionally do so in Guernsey, as 
 there are many places suited to it, and in which it 
 might well make its nest without being observed. 
 As it seems increasing in numbers throughout 
 England, it is by no means improbable that it will 
 visit the Channel Islands more frequently. 
 
76 BIKDS OF GUEENSEY. 
 
 The Hawfinch is included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, and by him marked as occurring only in 
 Guernsey. There are two specimens in the 
 Museum. 
 
 67. GREENFINCH. Coccothraustes Moris, Lin- 
 naeus. French, " Grosbec verdier," " Verdier 
 ordinaire." The Greenfinch is a common resident, 
 and breeds in all the Islands, but is certainly not 
 quite so common as in England. It is more 
 numerous perhaps in Guernsey and Sark than in 
 Alderney; it is also pretty common in Jethou 
 and Herm. 
 
 It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only 
 marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There 
 is no specimen in the Museum. 
 
 68. GOLDFINCH. Carduelis elegans, Stephens. 
 French, " Chardonneret," " Grosbec chardonneret." 
 The Goldfinch is resident in and breeds in 
 all the Islands. In Guernsey I was told a few 
 years ago that it had been much more numerous 
 than it then was, the birdcatchers having had a 
 good deal to answer for in having shortened its 
 numbers. It is now, however, again increasing its 
 numbers, as I saw many more this year (1878) than 
 I had seen before at any time of year. There were 
 several about the Grand Mare, and probably had 
 nests there, and I saw an old pair, with their brood 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 77 
 
 out, at St. George on the 5th of June, and soon 
 after another brood about Mr. De Putron's pond, 
 where they were feeding on the seeds of some 
 thistles which were growing on the rough ground 
 about the pond. I have also seen a few in Alder - 
 ney ; and Captain Hubbach writes me word that the 
 Goldfinch was quite plentiful here (Alderney) in the 
 winter of 1862 and 1863. But he adds" I have 
 not seen one here this year." So probably its 
 numbers are occasionally increased by migratory 
 flocks in the winter. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Goldfinch in his 
 list, but marks it as occurring only in Guernsey 
 and Sark. There is no specimen in the Museum. 
 
 69. SISKIN. Carduelis spinus, Linnaeus. French, 
 " Tarin," " Grosbec tarin." The Siskin can only 
 be looked upon as an occasional, accidental visitant 
 indeed, I only know of one instance of its occur- 
 rence, and that is recorded by Mr. Couch at 
 p. 4296 of the ' Zoologist ' for 1875 in the following 
 words : " I have the first recognised specimen of 
 the Siskin ; a boy knocked it down with a stone in 
 an orchard at the Vrangue in September." This 
 communication is dated November, 1874. I have 
 never seen the Siskin in any of the Channel Islands 
 myself, and Mr. MacCulloch writes me word "I 
 have never heard of a Siskin here, but, being 
 migratory, it may occur." I see, however, no 
 
78 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 reason to doubt Mr. Couch's statement in the 
 ' Zoologist,' as the bird was brought into his shop. 
 He must have had plenty of opportunity of identi- 
 fying it, though he does not tell us whether he 
 preserved it. There can, however, be no possible 
 reason why the Siskin should not occasionally 
 visit Guernsey on migration, as it extends its 
 southern journey through Spain to the Mediter- 
 ranean and across to the North-western Coast of 
 Africa ; and the Channel Islands would seem to lie 
 directly in its way. 
 
 The Siskin, however, is not mentioned in Pro- 
 fessor Ansted's list, and there is no specimen at 
 present in the Museum. 
 
 70. LINNET. Linota cannabina, Linnaeus. French, 
 "Linotte," " Grosbec linotte." The Linnet is 
 resident and the most numerous bird in the Islands 
 by far, outnumbering even the House Sparrow, and 
 it is equally common and breeds in all the Islands. 
 The Channel Islands Linnets always appear to 
 me extremely bright-coloured, the scarlet on the 
 head and breast during the breeding-season being 
 brighter than in any British birds I have ever seen. 
 Though the Linnet is itself so numerous, it is, as 
 far as I have been able to ascertain, the only 
 representative of its family to be found in the 
 Channel Islands ; at least I have never seen and 
 had no information of the occurrence of either the 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 79 
 
 Lesser Kedpole, the Mealy Kedpole, or the Twite, 
 though I can see no reason why each of these birds 
 should not occasionally occur. 
 
 The Linnet is included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, but marked by him as only occurring in 
 Guernsey and Sark ; and there is a specimen in the 
 Museum. 
 
 71. BULLFINCH. Pyrrhula europcea, Vieillot. 
 French, " Bovreuil commun." Miss C. B. Carey, 
 in the ' Zoologist ' for 1874, mentions a Bullfinch 
 having been brought into Couch's shop in November 
 of that year, and adds " This bird is much more 
 common in Jersey than it is here." Miss Carey is 
 certainly right as to its not being common in 
 Guernsey, as I have never seen the bird on any of 
 my expeditions to that Island, nor have I seen it in 
 either of the other Islands which come within my 
 district. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Bullfinch in his 
 list, but oddly enough only marks it as occurring in 
 Guernsey and Sark, although Mr. Gallienne, in his 
 remarks published with the list, says " The Bull- 
 finch occasionally breeds in Jersey, but is rarely 
 seen in Guernsey," so far agreeing with Miss 
 Carey's note in the ' Zoologist,' but he does not add 
 anything about Sark. There is no specimen in the 
 Museum. 
 
80 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 72. COMMON CROSSBILL. Loxia curvirostra, Lin- 
 naeus. French, " Bec-croise," "Bec-croise com- 
 mun." The Crossbill is an occasional visitant to 
 all the Islands, and sometimes in considerable 
 numbers, but, as in England, it is perfectly 
 irregular as to the time of year it chooses for its 
 visits. Mr. MacCulloch writes me word " The 
 Crossbill is most uncertain in its visits. Many 
 years will sometimes pass without a single one 
 being heard of. When they do come it is generally 
 in large flocks. I have known them arrive in early 
 autumn, and do great havoc amongst the apples, 
 which they cut up to get at the pips. Sometimes 
 they make their appearance in the winter, seemingly 
 driven from the Continent by the cold." 
 
 My first acquaintance with the Crossbill was in 
 Sark on the 25th of June, 1866, when I saw a very 
 fine red-plumaged bird in a small fir-plantation in 
 the grounds of the Lord of Sark. It was very 
 tame, and allowed me to approach it very closely. 
 I did not see any others at that time amongst the 
 fir-trees, though no doubt a few others were there. 
 On my return to Guernsey on the following day I 
 was requested by a bird-catcher to name some 
 birds that were doing considerable damage in the 
 gardens about the town. Thinking from having 
 seen the one in Sark, and from his description, that 
 the birds might be Crossbills, I asked him to get 
 me one or two, which he said he could easily do, as 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 81 
 
 the people were destroying them on account of the 
 damage they did. In a day or two he brought me 
 one live and two dead Crossbills, and told me that 
 as many as forty had been shot in one person's 
 garden. The two dead ones he brought me were 
 one in red and the other in green plumage, and the 
 live one was in green plumage. This one I brought 
 home and kept in my aviary till March, 1868, 
 when it was killed by a Hawk striking it through 
 the wires. It was, however, still in the same green 
 plumage when it was killed as it was when I 
 brought it home, though it had moulted twice. 
 
 The Crossbill did not appear at that time to be 
 very well known in Guernsey, as neither the bird- 
 catcher nor the people in whose gardens the birds 
 were had ever seen them before or knew what they 
 were. This year (1866), however, appears to have 
 been rather an exceptional year with regard to 
 Crossbills, as I find some recorded in the ' Zoologist ' 
 from Norfolk, the Isle of Wight, Sussex, and 
 Henley-on-Thames, about the same time ; therefore 
 there must have been a rather widely-spread flight. 
 From that time I did not hear any more of Cross- 
 bills in the Islands till December, 1876, when Mr. 
 Couch sent me a skin of one in reddish plumage, 
 writing at the same time to say " The Crossbill I 
 sent from its being so late in the season when it 
 was shot the llth of December ; there were four 
 of them in a tree by Haviland Hall. I happened 
 
82 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 to go into the person's house who shot it, and his 
 children had it playing with." 
 
 I do not know that there is a,nj evidence of the 
 Crossbill ever having bred in the Islands, though it 
 seems to have made its appearance there at almost 
 all times of year. Mr. MacCulloch mentions its 
 feeding on the apple-pips, and doing damage in the 
 orchards accordingly, and I know it is generally 
 supposed to do so, and has in some places got the 
 name of " Shell Apple " in consequence, but though 
 I have several times kept Crossbills tame, and 
 frequently tried to indulge them with apples and 
 pips, I have never found them care much about 
 them ; and a note of Professor Newton's, in his 
 edition of ' Yarrell,' seems to agree with this. He 
 says : " Of late it has not been often observed 
 feeding on apples, very possibly owing to the 
 greatly-increased growth of firs, and especially 
 larches, throughout the country. In Germany it 
 does not seem ever to have been known as attacking 
 fruit-trees." 
 
 The Crossbill is included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, and only marked as occurring in Guernsey 
 and Sark. There is no specimen in the Museum. 
 
 78. COMMON STARLING. Stum-us rulgaris, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Etourneau vulgaire. The Starling is 
 sometimes very numerous in the autumn, but those 
 remaining throughout the year and breeding in the 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 83 
 
 Island are certainly very few in number, as I have 
 never seen the Starling in any of my summer 
 visits ; and Mr. MacCulloch tells me " the Star- 
 ling may possibly still breed here, but it certainly 
 is not common in summer. A century ago it used 
 to nest in the garrets in the heart of the town." As 
 to its not being common in summer, that quite 
 agrees with my own experience, but a few certainly 
 do breed in the Island still, or did so within a very 
 few years, as Miss C. B. Carey had eggs in her 
 collection taken in the Island in 1873 or 1874, and 
 I have seen eggs in other Guernsey collections, 
 besides those in the Museum. When I was in 
 Guernsey in November, 1871, Starlings were cer- 
 tainly unusually plentiful, even for the autumn, 
 very large flocks making their appearance in all 
 parts of the Island, and in the evening very large 
 flocks might be seen flying and wheeling about in 
 all directions before going to roost. Many of these 
 flocks I saw fly off in the direction of Jersey and 
 the French coast, and they certainly continued 
 their flight in that direction as long as I could 
 follow them with my glass, but whether they were 
 only going to seek a roostiiig-place and to return in 
 the morning, or whether they continued their 
 migration and their place was supplied by other 
 flocks during the night, I could not tell, but cer- 
 tainly there never seemed to be any diminution in 
 their numbers during the whole time I was there 
 
84 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 from the 1st to the 16th of November. I think it 
 not at all improbable that many of these flocks 
 only roosted out of the Island and returned, as 
 even here in Somerset they collect in large flocks 
 before going to roost, and fly long distances, some- 
 times quite over the Quantock Hills, to some 
 favourite roosting-place they have selected, and 
 return in the morning, and the distance would in 
 many places be nearly as great. These flocks of 
 Starlings seem to have continued in the Island 
 quite into the winter, as Miss Carey notes, in the 
 ' Zoologist ' for 1872, seeing a flock in the field 
 before the house at Candie close to the town as late 
 as the 6th of December, 1871. At the same time 
 that there were so many in Guernsey, Starlings 
 were reported as unusually numerous in Alderney, 
 but how long the migratory flocks remained there I 
 have not been able to ascertain. 
 
 The Starling is included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, but marked as only occurring in Guernsey and 
 Sark. There are two specimens in the Museum and 
 some eggs. 
 
 74. CHOUGH. Pyrrhocorax graculiis, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Crave." The Chough is a common resi- 
 dent in Guernsey, breeding amongst the high rocks 
 on the south and east part of the Island, and in 
 the autumn and winter spreading over the cultivated 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 85 
 
 parts of the Island, sometimes in considerable Hocks, 
 like Books. 
 
 As Jackdaws are by no means numerous in 
 Guernsey, and as far as I have been able to make 
 out never breed there, the Choughs have it all their 
 own way, and quite keep up their numbers, even if 
 they do not increase them, which I think very 
 doubtful, though I can see no reason why they 
 should not, as their eggs are always laid in holes in 
 the cliffs, and very difficult to get at, and at other 
 times of year the birds are very wary, and take 
 good care of themselves, it being by no means easy 
 to get a shot at them, unless by stalking them up 
 behind a hedge or rock ; and as they are not good 
 eating, and will not sell in the market like Field- 
 fares and Eedwings, no Guernsey man thinks 
 of expending powder and shot on them ; so though 
 not included in the Guernsey Bird Act, the Choughs 
 on the whole have an easy time of it in Guernsey, 
 and ought to increase in numbers more than they 
 apparently do. In Sark the Choughs have by no 
 means so easy a time, as the Jackdaws outnumber 
 them about the cliffs, and will probably eventually 
 drive them out of the Island indeed, I am afraid 
 they have done this in Alderney, as I did not see 
 any when there in the summer of 1876, nor in this 
 last summer (1878) ; and Captain Hubbach writes 
 me word he has seen none in Alderney himself this 
 year (1878). I, however, saw some there in previous 
 
86 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 visits, but now for some reason, probably the 
 increase ot Jackdaws, the Choughs appear to me 
 nearly, if not quite, to have deserted that Island. 
 In Herm and Jethou there are also a few Choughs, 
 but Jackdaws are the more numerous in both 
 Islands. No Choughs appear to inhabit the small 
 rocky islets to the northward of Herm, though some 
 of them appear to be large enough to afford a 
 breeding-place for either Choughs or Jackdaws, 
 but neither of these birds seem to have taken 
 possession of them ; probably want of food is the 
 occasion of this. Mr. Metivier, in his 'Rimes 
 Guernseaise,' gives "Cahouette" as the local 
 Guernsey-French name of the Chough, though I 
 suspect the name is equally applicable to the 
 Jackdaw. 
 
 The Chough is mentioned in Professor Ansted's 
 list, but marked as only occurring in Guernsey and 
 Sark. There are two specimens in the Museum. 
 
 75. JACKDAW. Cot'vus monedula, Linnaeus. French, 
 " Choucas," " Choucas gris." I am quite aware 
 that many Guernsey people will tell you that there 
 are no Jackdaws in Guernsey, but that their place 
 is entirely taken by Choughs. Mr. MacCulloch 
 seems to be nearly of this opinion, as he writes me 
 " I suppose you are right in saying there are a 
 few Jackdaws in Guernsey, but I do not remember 
 ever to have seen one here ; " and he adds " I believe 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 87 
 
 they are common in Alderney," which is certainly 
 the case ; as I said above, they have almost, if not 
 quite, supplanted the Choughs there. There are, 
 however, certainly a few Jackdaws in Guernsey, as 
 I have seen them there on several occasions, but I 
 cannot say that any breed there, and I think they 
 are only occasional wanderers from the other 
 Islands, Sark, Jethou, and Herm, where they do 
 breed. Mr. Gallienne's note to Professor Ansted's 
 list seems to agree very much with this, as he says 
 " The Jackdaw, which is a regular visitor to 
 Alderney, is rarely seen in Guernsey." It is now, 
 however, resident in Alderney, as well as in Sark, 
 Jethou, and Herm. 
 
 It is mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, but 
 only marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark, 
 nothing being said about Alderney and the other 
 Islands in spite of Mr. Gallienne's note; There is 
 no specimen at present in the Museum. 
 
 76. RAVEN. Corvus corax, Linnaeus. French, 
 " Corbeau," " Corbeau noir." The Eaven can now 
 only be looked upon as an occasional straggler. I 
 do not think it breeds at present in any of the 
 Islands, as I have not seen it anywhere about in the 
 breeding-season since 1866, when I saw a pair near 
 the cliffs on the south-end of the Island in June ; 
 but as the Raven is a very early breeder, these 
 may have only been wanderers. It is probably 
 
88 BIRDS OF GUEENSEY. 
 
 getting scarcer in Guernsey, as I have not seen any 
 there since ; and the last note I have of Eavens 
 being seen in the Island is in a letter from Mr. 
 Couch, who wrote me word that two Eavens had 
 been seen and shot at several times, but not 
 obtained, in November, 1873. I have not seen a 
 Eaven in any of the other Islands, and do not know 
 of one having occurred there. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes it in his list, and marks 
 it as only occurring in Guernsey. There is no 
 specimen at present in the Museum. 
 
 77. CROW. Con- us corone, Linnaeus. French, 
 " Corneille noire." The Crow is pretty common, 
 and breeds in most of the Islands, and probably at 
 times commits considerable depredations amongst 
 the eggs and young of the Gulls and Shags at all 
 events it is by no means a welcome visitor to the 
 breeding stations of the Gulls, as in this summer 
 (1878) I saw four Crows about a small gullery near 
 Petit Bo Bay, one of which flew over the side of 
 the cliff to have a look at the Gulls' eggs, probably 
 with ulterior intentions in regard to the eggs ; but 
 one of the Gulls saw him, and immediately flew at 
 him and knocked him over : what the end of the 
 fight was I could not tell, but probably the Crow 
 got the worst of it, as several other Gulls went off 
 to join their companion as soon as they heard the 
 row ; and the Crows trespassed no more on the 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 89 
 
 domain of the Gulls at least whilst I was there, 
 which was some time. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Crow in his list, 
 but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey and 
 Sark. There is no specimen in the Museum. 
 
 78. HOODED CROW. COITUS comix, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Corbeau mantele," " Corneille mantelee." 
 The Hooded Crow can only be considered an 
 occasional autumnal and winter visitant. I have 
 never seen it myself in the Islands, though many 
 of my visits to Guernsey have been in the autumn. 
 Mr. Couch, however, reports a small flock of Hooded 
 Crows being in Guernsey in November, 1873, one of 
 which was obtained. Mr. MacCulloch writes me 
 word that the Hooded Crow is a very rare visitant, 
 and only, as far as he knows, in very cold weather ; 
 and he adds " It is strange that we should see it 
 so rarely, as it is very common about St. Maloes." 
 Colonel 1'E strange, however, informed me that one 
 remained in Sark all last summer that of 1877 
 and paired with a common Crow,* but we could see 
 
 * Where both forms are common this constantly happens 
 indeed, so constantly that Professor Newton, in his new 
 edition of ' Yarrell,' has made but one species of the Black 
 Crow and the Grey or Hooded Crow, Corvus corone and 
 Corvus comix, on the several grounds that there is no struc- 
 tural difference between the two; that their habits, food, 
 cries, and mode of nidification are the same (in considering 
 
90 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 nothing of the couple this year. I believe it is not 
 at all uncommon for these birds to pair in Scotland 
 and other places where both species are numerous 
 in the breeding-season, but this is the only instance 
 I have heard of in the Channel Islands in fact, it 
 is the only time I have heard of the Hooded Crow 
 remaining on till the summer. 
 
 The Hooded Crow is included in Professor 
 Ansted's list, and marked as occurring in Guernsey 
 and Sark ; and there are two specimens in the 
 Museum. 
 
 79. BOOK. Corvusfrugileyus, Linnaeus. French, 
 "Freux" " Corbeau Freux." I have never seen 
 the Book in the Islands myself, even as a stranger, 
 but Mr. Gallienne in his notes to Professor Ansted's 
 
 this, of course both forms must be traced throughout the 
 whole of their geographical range, and not merely through 
 the British Islands) ; that their geographical distribution is 
 sufficiently similar not to present any difficulty ; that they 
 breed freely together ; and that their offsprings are fertile, a 
 very important consideration in judging whether two forms 
 should be separated or joined as one species. This last 
 seems to me to present the greatest difficulty, and the 
 evidence at present appears scarcely conclusive. Of course 
 in the limits of a note to a work like the present it is impos- 
 sible to discuss so large a question. I can only refer my 
 readers to Professor Newton's work, where they will find 
 nearly all that can be said on the subject, and the reasons 
 which have induced him to come to the conclusion he has. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 91 
 
 list, says, speaking of Guernsey, " The Book has tried 
 two or three times to colonise, but in vain, having 
 been destroyed or frightened away." Mr. MacCulloch 
 also writes me word much to the same effect, as he 
 says " I have known Books occasionally attempt to 
 build here (Guernsey), but they are invariably dis- 
 turbed by boys and guns, and driven off. They 
 sometimes arrive here in large flocks in severe 
 winters." 
 
 The Book is mentioned in Professor Ansted's 
 list as occurring in Guernsey only, and there are 
 two specimens in the Museum, both probably 
 Guernsey killed. 
 
 80. MAGPIE. Pica rustica, Scopoli. French, 
 "Pie" "Pie ordinaire." The Magpie is resident 
 and tolerably common in Guernsey, breeding in 
 several parts of the Island ; it is also resident, but 
 I think not quite so common, in Sark. I do not 
 remember having seen it in Alderney, and the 
 almost entire absence of trees would probably 
 prevent it being anything more than an occa- 
 sional visitant to that Island. 
 
 It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but 
 marked as only occurring in Guernsey ; and there 
 are two specimens in the Museum. 
 
 81. LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER. Picus minor, 
 Linnaeus. French, " Pie epeichette." As may 
 
92 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 be expected, the Woodpeckers are not strongly 
 represented in the Islands, and the present species, 
 the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, is the only one 
 as to the occurrence of which I can get any 
 satisfactory evidence. 
 
 Professor Ansted, however, includes the Greater 
 Spotted Woodpecker in his list, and marks it as 
 occurring in Guernsey only; and there is one 
 specimen of the Green Woodpecker, Gecinus viridis, 
 in the Museum, but there is no note whatever as 
 to its locality ; so under these circumstances I 
 have not thought it right to include either species. 
 But as to the occurrence of the Lesser Spotted 
 Woodpecker, though I have not seen it myself, 
 nor have I a Channel Island specimen, I have 
 some more evidence ; for in reply to some questions 
 of mine on the subject, Mr. Couch wrote to me in 
 April, 1877, " Eespecting the Woodpecker, you may 
 fully rely on the Lesser Spotted as having been 
 shot here, four examples having passed through my 
 hands ; and writing from memory I will, as near as 
 possible, tell you when and where they were shot. 
 I took a shop here in 1866. In the month of 
 August, 1867, there was one brought to me alive, 
 shot in the water lanes, just under Smith's Nursery 
 by a young gent at the College ; he wounded it in the 
 wing. I wanted too much to stuff it (2s. 6d.) ; he 
 took the poor bird out, fixed it somewhere ; he and 
 his companions fired at it so often they blew it to 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 93 
 
 atoms. The same year, early in September, one 
 was shot at St. Martin's; I stuffed that for a lady: 
 there were four in the same tree ; the day following 
 they were not to be found. The second week in 
 October, the same year I had one, and stuffed it for 
 the person who shot it out at St. Saviour's ; there 
 were two besides in the same tree, but I had neither 
 one myself. In 1868, I stuffed one that was shot 
 at St. Peter's, in December ; it was taken home the 
 Christmas Eve. These were all I have had, but I 
 have heard of their being seen about since, twice or 
 three times." In addition to this letter, which I 
 have no reason to doubt, Mr. MacCulloch wrote me 
 word " We have in the Museum a Lesser Spotted 
 Woodpecker, shot near Havilland Hall, in November, 
 1855 ; I saw it before it was stuffed." This bird 
 was not in the Museum this year, (1878), as I looked 
 everywhere for it, so I suppose it was moth-eaten and 
 thrown away, like many others of the best specimens 
 in the Museum, after the years of neglect they have 
 been subject to. From these letters, there can be 
 no doubt whatever that the Lesser Spotted 
 Woodpecker has been occasionally procured in 
 Guernsey, and that it may be considered either an 
 occasional autumnal visitant, remaining on into 
 winter, or, what is more probable, a thinly-scattered 
 resident. 
 
 It is included inProfessorAnsted's list, and marked 
 as only occurring in Guernsey. As above stated, 
 
94 BIEDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 the specimen formerly in the Museum no longer 
 
 exists. 
 
 82. WRYNECK. Yunx torquilla, Linnaeus. French, 
 " Tor col ordinaire." The Wryneck, or, as it is 
 called in Guernsey-French, " Parle" * is generally 
 a numerous summer visitant to the Islands, arriving 
 in considerable numbers, about the same time as the 
 mackerel, wherefore it has also obtained the local 
 name of " Mackerel Bird." It is generally dis- 
 tributed through the Islands, remaining through 
 the summer to breed, and departing again in early 
 autumn, August, or September. Its numbers, how- 
 ever, vary considerably in different years, as in 
 some summers I have seen Wrynecks in almost 
 every garden, hedgerow, or thick bush in the Island ; 
 always when perched, sitting across the branches 
 or twigs, on which they were perched, and never 
 longways or climbing, as would be the case with a 
 Woodpecker or Creeper ; and the noise made by the 
 birds during the breeding-season, was, in some 
 years, incessant ; this was particularly the case in 
 the early part of the summer of 1866, when the 
 birds were very numerous, and the noise made was 
 so great that on one occasion I was told that the 
 Mackerel Birds seriously interrupted a scientific 
 game of Croquet, which was going on at Fort 
 George, by the noise they made ; I can quite believe 
 * Rim. Gu., p. 35. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 95 
 
 it, as, though I was not playing in the game, I 
 heard the birds very noisy in other parts of the 
 Island. This last summer, however (1878), I saw 
 very few Wrynecks only four or five during the 
 whole of the two months I was in the Islands, and 
 hardly heard them at all. 
 
 It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only 
 marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. 
 There are two specimens in the Museum. 
 
 83. HOOPOE. Upupa Epops, Linnaeus. French, 
 "La Huppe," " Huppe ordinaire." The Hoopoe, 
 as may be supposed from its geographical range 
 and from its frequent occurrence in various parts of 
 England, is an occasional visitant to the Channel 
 Islands during the seasons of migration, occurring 
 both in spring and autumn with sufficient frequency 
 to have gained the name of " Tuppe " in Guernsey- 
 French. Though occurring in spring and autumn, 
 I am not aware that it ever remains to breed, though 
 perhaps it might do so if not shot on every possible 
 occasion. This shooting of every straggler to the 
 Channel Islands is a great pity, especially with the 
 spring arrivals, as some of them might well be ex- 
 pected to remain to breed occasionally if left 
 undisturbed ; and the proof of the Hoopoe breeding 
 in the Channel Islands would be much more 
 interesting than the mere possession of a specimen 
 of so common and well-known a bird : if a local 
 
90 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 specimen should be wanted, it could be obtained 
 equally well in autumn, when there would be no 
 question as to the breeding. The autumn arrivals 
 seem also to be most numerous, at least judging from 
 the specimens recorded during the last four or five 
 years, as Mr. Couch records one, a female, shot near 
 Eonseval, in Guernsey, on the 26th of September ; 
 and another also in Guernsey, shot on the 23rd of 
 September; I have one, obtained in Alderney in 
 August, though I have not the exact date ; and 
 another picked up in a lane in St. Martin's parish, 
 in Guernsey, on the 24th of August. During the 
 same time I only know of one spring occurrence ; 
 that was on April the 10th of this year (1878), when 
 two were seen, and one shot in Herm, as recorded 
 in the ' Star ' newspaper, for April the 13th ; this 
 one I saw soon afterwards at Mr. Jago's, the bird- 
 stuffer. These birds were probably paired, and 
 wonld therefore very likely have bred in Herm, had 
 one of them not been shot, and the other accordingly 
 driven to look for a mate elsewhere. It would 
 pay, as well as be interesting, as I remarked in a 
 note to the ' Star ' in reference to this occurrence of 
 the pair of Hoopoe's, to encourage these birds to 
 breed in the Islands whenever they shewed a dis- 
 position to do so, as, though rather a foul-feeder 
 and of unsavoury habits in its nest, and having no re- 
 spect for sanitary arrangements, the Hoopoe is never- 
 theless one of the most useful birds in the garden. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 97 
 
 The Hoopoe is included in Professor Ansted's list, 
 but only marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. 
 There are now only two specimens in the Museum, 
 and these have no note of date or locality, but a few 
 years ago there were several more, and one or two 
 I remember were marked as having been killed in 
 the spring ; the rest were probably autumnal 
 specimens. 
 
 84. CUCKOO. Cuculus canorus, Linnaeus. French, 
 " Coucou gris." The Cuckoo is one of the com- 
 monest and most numerous summer visitants to 
 the Islands, and is generally spread over all of them ; 
 it arrives about the same time that it does in 
 England, that is to say, about the middle of April. I 
 know earlier instances even as early as February 
 have been recorded, but these must have been 
 recorded in consequence of some mistake, probably 
 some particularly successful imitation of the note. 
 Mr. MacCulloch seems to think that the time of 
 their arrival is very regular, as he writes to me to 
 say, " The Cuckoo generally arrives here about the 
 15th of April ; sometimes as early as the 13th, as 
 was the case this year (1878) ; the first are generally 
 reported from the cliffs at St. Martin's, near Moulin 
 Huet, the first land they would make on their 
 arrival from Brittany. ' ' Very soon after their arrival, 
 however, they spread over the whole Island 
 of Guernsey, as well as all the other neighbouring 
 
 H 
 
98 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 islands, in all of which they are equally plentiful ; 
 they seem to cross from one to the other without 
 much considering four or five miles of sea, or 
 being the least particular as to taking the shortest 
 passage across from island to island. As usual, there 
 were a great number of Cuckoos in the Vale whilst 
 I was there this summer (1878) ; but I was un- 
 fortunate in not finding eggs, and in not seeing any of 
 the foster-parents feeding their over-grown proteges : 
 this was rather surprising, as there were so many 
 Cuckoos about, and many must have been hatched 
 and out of the nest long before we left at the end of 
 July. I should think, however, Tree and Meadow 
 Pipits, Skylarks and Stonechats, from their numbers 
 and the numbers of their nests, must be the 
 foster-parents most usually selected ; other favour- 
 ites, such as Wagtails, Hedgesparrows, and Eobins, 
 being comparatively scarce in that part of the Island, 
 and Wheaters, which were numerous, had their nests 
 too far under large stones to give the Cuckoo an 
 opportunity of depositing her eggs there. I should 
 have been very glad if I could have made a good col- 
 lection of Cuckoos' eggs in the Channel Islands, and, 
 knowing how common the bird was, I fully expected 
 to do so, but I was disappointed, and consequently 
 unable to throw any light on the subject of the 
 variation in the colour of Cuckoos' eggs, as far as 
 the Channel Islands are concerned, or how far the 
 foster-parents had been selected with a view to their 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 99 
 
 eggs being similar in colour to those of the Cuckoo 
 about to be palmed off upon them. The only Cuckoos' 
 eggs I saw were a few in the Museum, and in one or 
 two other small collections : all these were very 
 much the same, and what appears to me the usual 
 type of Cuckoo's egg, a dull greyish ground much 
 spotted with brown, and a few small black marks 
 much like many eggs of the Tree or Meadow Pipit. 
 It is hardly the place here to discuss the question 
 how far Cuckoos select the nest of the birds whose 
 eggs are similar to their own, to deposit their eggs 
 in, or whether a Cuckoo hatched and reared by one 
 foster-parent would be likely to select the nest of 
 the same species to deposit its own eggs in ; the 
 whole matter has been very fully discussed in 
 several publications, both English and German ; 
 and Mr. Dresser has given a very full resume of the 
 various arguments in his ' Birds of Europe ' ; and 
 whilst fully admitting the great variation in the 
 colour of the Cuckoos' eggs, he does not seem to 
 think that any particular care is taken by the 
 parent Cuckoo to select foster-parents whose eggs 
 are similar in colour to its own ; and the instances 
 cited seem to bear out this opinion, with which, as 
 far as my small experience goes, I quite agree. 
 
 Whilst on the subject of Cuckoos I may mention, 
 for the information of such of my Guernsey readers 
 who are not ornithologists, and therefore not well 
 acquainted with the fact, the peculiar state of 
 
100 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 plumage in which the female Cuckoo occasionally 
 returns northward in her second summer ; I mean 
 the dull reddish plumage barred with brown, 
 extremely like that of the female Kestrel : in this 
 plumage she occasionally returns in her second 
 year and breeds ; but when this is changed for the 
 more general plumage I am unable to state for 
 certain, but probably after the second autumnal 
 moult. The changes of plumage in the Cuckoo, 
 however, appear to be rather irregular, as I have 
 one killed in June nearly in the normal plumage, 
 but with many of the old feathers left, which have 
 a very Kestrel-like appearance, being redder than 
 the ordinary plumage of the young bird ; some of 
 the tail-feathers, however, have more the appear- 
 ance of the ordinary tail-feathers of the young 
 Cuckoo soon after the tail has reached its full 
 growth : the moult in this bird must have been very 
 irregular, as it was not completed in June, when, as 
 a rule, it would have been in full plumage, unless, 
 as may possibly be the case, this bird was the pro- 
 duce of a second laying during the southern 
 migration, and consequently, instead of a year, be 
 only about six months old. This, however, is not 
 a very common state of plumage ; but it is by no 
 means uncommon to find a Cuckoo in May or June 
 with a good deal of rusty reddish barred with brown, 
 forming a sort of collar on the breast. I merely 
 mention these rather abnormal changes of plumage, 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 101 
 
 as they may be interesting to any of my Guernsey 
 readers into whose hands a Cuckoo may fall in a 
 state of change and prove a puzzle as to its identity. 
 The Cuckoo departs from the Channel Islands much 
 about the same time that it does from England on 
 its southern migration in August or September. 
 Occasionally, however, this southern migration 
 during the winter seems to be doubted, as a clerical 
 friend of mine once told me that a brother clergy- 
 man, a well educated and even a learned man, told 
 him, when talking about Cuckoos and what became 
 of them in winter, that " it was a mistake to suppose 
 they migrated, but that they all turned into Sparrow- 
 hawks in the winter." As my friend said, could 
 any one believe this of a well-educated man in the 
 nineteenth century ? 
 
 The Cuckoo is mentioned in Professor Ansted's 
 list, but only marked as occurring in Guernsey and 
 Sark. There are three specimens, one adult and 
 two young, in the Museum, as well as some very 
 ordinary eggs. 
 
 85. KINGFISHER. A Icedoispida, Linnaeus. French, 
 " Martin Pecheur." The Kingfisher is by no means 
 uncommon, is generally spread over the Islands, 
 and is resident and breeds at all events in Guernsey, 
 if not in the other Islands also. It is generally to 
 be seen amongst the wild rocks which surround 
 L'Ancresse Common, where it feeds 011 the small 
 
102 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 fish left in the clear pools formed amongst the rocks 
 by the receding tide ; it is also by no means un- 
 common amongst the more sheltered bays in the 
 high rocky part of the Island ; it is also to be found 
 about the small ponds in various gardens. About 
 those in Candie Garden I have frequently seen 
 Kingfishers, and they breed about the large ponds 
 in the Vale in Mr. De Putron's grounds ; they also 
 occasionally visit the wild rocky islets to the north- 
 ward of Herm, even as far as the Amfrocques, the 
 farthest out of the lot. As well as about the Vale 
 ponds, the Kingfisher breeds in holes in the rocks 
 all round the Island. I have not myself seen it 
 in Alderney, but Captain Hubbach writes me word 
 he saw one there about Christmas, 1862. I think its 
 numbers are slightly increased in the autumn by 
 migrants, as I have certainly seen more specimens 
 in Mr. Couch's shop at that time of year than at 
 any other ; this may perhaps, however, be accounted 
 for, at all events partially, by its being protected by 
 the Sea Bird Act during the summer and in early 
 autumn, where the ' Martin pecheur ' appears as 
 one of the " Oiseaux de Mer." 
 
 It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and only 
 marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There 
 are three specimens now in the Museum. 
 
 86. NIGHTJAR. Caprimulgus europceus, Linnaeus. 
 French, "Engoulevent ordinaire." The Nightjar is a 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 103 
 
 regular autumnal visitant, a few perhaps arriving 
 in the spring and remaining to breed, hut by far the 
 greater number only making their appearance on 
 their southward migration in the autumn. The 
 Nightjar occasionally remains very late in the 
 Islands, as Miss Carey records one in the ' Zoologist ' 
 for 1872 as occurring on the 16th of October ; and I 
 have one killed as late as the 12th of November : 
 this bird had its stomach crammed with black 
 beetles, not our common domestic nuisances, but 
 small winged black beetles : these dates are later 
 than the Nightjar usually remains in England, 
 though Yarrell notices one in Devon as late as the 
 6th of November, and one in Cornwall on the 27th 
 of November. Colonel Irby, on the faith of Fabier, 
 says the Nightjars cross the Straits of Gibraltar on 
 their southward journey from September to 
 November ; so these late stayers in Cornwall and 
 Guernsey have not much time to complete their 
 journey if they intend going as far south as the 
 coast of Africa ; perhaps, however the Guernsey ones 
 have no such intention, as Mr. Gallienne, in his 
 remarks published with Professor Ansted's list, says 
 " The Nightjar breeds here, and I have obtained it 
 summer and winter." Mr. MacCulloch tells me the 
 Goatsucker is looked upon by the Guernsey people 
 as a bird of ill-omen and a companion of witches in 
 their aerial rambles. The bird-stuff er in Alderney 
 had some wings of Nightjars nailed up behind his 
 
104 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 door which had been shot in that Island by 
 himself. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Nightjar in his list, 
 but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey and 
 Sark. There are two specimens, a male and female, 
 in the Museum, but no date as to time of their 
 occurrence. 
 
 87. SWIFT. Cypselus apus, Linnaeus. French, 
 " Martinet de Muraille." The Swift is a tolerably 
 numerous summer visitant to all the Islands, but I 
 think most numerous in Sark, where hundreds of 
 these birds may be seen flying about the Coupee, 
 amongst the rocks of which place and Little Sark 
 they breed in considerable numbers. Mr. Mac- 
 Culloch and Mr. Gallienne appear to think the 
 Swift rare in Guernsey, as Mr Gallienne says in his 
 remarks on Professor Ansted's list, " The swift 
 appears here (Guernsey) in very small numbers, 
 but is abundant in Sark;" and Mr. MacCulloch 
 writes me word, " I consider the Swift very rare in 
 Guernsey." I certainly cannot quite agree with this, 
 as I have found them by no means uncommon, 
 though certainly rather locally distributed in Guern- 
 sey. One afternoon this summer (1878) Mr. Howard 
 Saunders and I counted forty within sight at one 
 time about the Gull Cliff, near the old deserted 
 house now known as Victor Hugo's house, as he 
 has immortalised it by describing it in his 
 ' Travailleurs de la Mer.' The Swifts use this and 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 105 
 
 two similar houses not very far off for breeding 
 purposes, a good many nesting in them, and others, 
 as in Sark, amongst the cliffs. Young Le Chemiriant 
 had a few Swifts' eggs in his small collection, 
 probably taken from this very house, as the Swift 
 is certainly, as Mr. MacCulloch says, rare in other 
 parts of Guernsey. In Alderney the Swift is 
 tolerably common, and a good many pairs were 
 breeding about Scott's Hotel when I was there this 
 year (1878). Probably a good many Swifts visit 
 the Islands, especially Alderney, for a short time on 
 migration, principally in the autumn, as once when 
 I was crossing from Weymouth to Guernsey, on the 
 18th of August, I saw a large flock of Swifts just 
 starting on their migratory flight ; they were 
 plodding steadily on against a stormy southerly 
 breeze, spread out like a line of skirmishers, not 
 very high, but at a good distance apart ; there was 
 none of the wild dashing about and screeching which 
 one usually connects with the flight of the Swift, but 
 a steady business-like flight ; they went a little to 
 the eastward of our course in the steamer, and this 
 would have brought them to land in Alderney or 
 Cape la Hague. 
 
 Professor Ansted included the Swift in his list, 
 but oddly enough, considering the remark of Mr. 
 Gallienne above quoted, marks it as only occurring 
 in Guernsey. There is no specimen at present in the 
 Museum. 
 
106 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 88. SWALLOW, Hirundorustica, Linnaeus. French, 
 " Hirondelle de Cheminee." According to Metivier's 
 'Dictionary,' "Aronde" is the local Guernsey- 
 French name of the Swallow, which is a common 
 summer visitant to all the Islands, and very gene- 
 rally distributed over the whole of them, and not 
 having particular favourite habitations as the 
 Martin has. It arrives and departs much about the 
 same time that it does in England, except that I do 
 not remember ever to have seen any laggers quite 
 so late as some of those in England. A few 
 migratory flocks probably rest for a short time in 
 the Islands before continuing their journey north 
 or south, as the case may be ; the earliest arrivals and 
 the latest laggers belong to such migratory flocks, 
 the regular summer residents probably not arriving 
 quite so soon, and departing a little before those 
 that pay a passing visit ; consequently the number 
 of residents does not appear at any time to be 
 materially increased by such wandering flocks. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Swallow in his list, 
 but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey and 
 Sark. There is no specimen of any of the Hirundines 
 in the Museum. 
 
 89. MARTIN. Chelidon urbica, Linnaeus. French, 
 "Hirondelle de fenetre." The House Martin is 
 much more local than the Swallow, but still a 
 numerous summer visitant, like the Swallow, 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 107 
 
 arriving and departing about the same time that it 
 does in England. It is spread over all the Islands, 
 but confined to certain spots in each ; in Guernsey 
 the outskirts of the town about Candie Eoad, and 
 the rocks in Fermain and Petit Bo Bay, seem very 
 favourite nesting-places. In Alderney there were 
 a great many nests about Scott's Hotel and a few 
 more in the town, but I did not see any about the 
 cliffs as at Fermain and Petit Bo in Guernsey. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but only 
 marks it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. 
 
 90. SAND MARTIN. Cotyle riparia, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Hirondelle de rivage." When I first 
 made out my list of Guernsey birds I had omitted 
 the Sand Martin altogether, as I had never seen it 
 in the Islands, but Mr. MacCulloch wrote to me to 
 say, " Amongst the swallows you have not noticed 
 the Sand Martin, which is our earliest visitant in 
 this family and by no means uncommon." In 
 consequence of this note, as soon as I got to the 
 Island this year (1878), in June, I went everywhere 
 I could think likely to look for Sand Martins, but 
 nowhere could I find that the Sand Martins had 
 taken possession of a breeding- station. Knowing 
 from my own experience here that Sand Martins 
 are fond of digging their nest-holes in the heads of 
 quarries, (I had quite forty nest-holes in my quarry 
 this year, and forty pairs of Sand Martins inhabiting 
 
108 BIEDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 them), I kept a bright look-out in all the stone- 
 quarries in the Vale, and they are very numerous, 
 but I did not see a single Sand Martin's hole or a 
 single pair of birds anywhere ; and it appeared to 
 me that the sandy earth forming the head was not 
 deep enough before reaching the granite to admit 
 of the Sand Martins making their holes ; and they 
 do not appear to me to have fixed upon any other 
 sort of breeding place in the Island ; neither could 
 Mr. MacCulloch point one out to me ; so I suppose 
 we must consider the Sand Martin as only a spring 
 visitant to this Island, not remaining to breed. 
 The same seems to me to be the case in Alderney, 
 as Captain Hubbach writes to tell me he " saw 
 some Sand Martins about the quarry here (in 
 Alderney), for two or three days at the beginning 
 of April, but cannot say whether they remained 
 here to breed or not." I suppose they continued 
 their journey, as I did not see any when there in 
 June ; I have not seen any in Sark or either of the 
 other small Islands. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Sand Martin in his 
 list, and marks it as occurring in Guernsey and 
 Sark. 
 
 91. WOOD PIGEON. Columba palumbus, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Colombe ramier." The Wood Pigeon is 
 resident and breeds in several places in Guernsey ; 
 but fortunately for the Guernsey Farmers, who may 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 109 
 
 congratulate themselves on the fact, the Wood 
 Pigeons do not breed in very great numbers. I may 
 mention the trees in the New Ground, Candie 
 Garden, the Vallon and Woodlands, as places where 
 Wood Pigeons occasionally breed. No doubt the 
 number of Wood Pigeons is occasionally increased 
 by migratory, or rather perhaps wandering, flocks, 
 as Mr. Couch, in a note to the ' Zoologist,' dated 
 October the 21st, 1871, says, " On Tuesday a great 
 number of Wood Pigeons rested and several were 
 shot." Mr. MacCulloch also writes me, " The Wood 
 Pigeon occasionally arrives in large numbers. A 
 few years ago I heard great complaints of the 
 damage they were doing to the peas; " * but luckily 
 for the farmers these wandering flocks do not stay 
 long, or there would be but little peas, beans, or 
 grain left in the Islands ; and the Wood Pigeons 
 would be more destructive to the crops in Guernsey 
 than in England, as there are not many acorns or 
 Beech masts on which they could feed ; consequently 
 they would live almost entirely on the farmer ; and 
 to show the damage they would be capable of doing 
 in this case, I may say that in the crops of two that 
 I examined some time ago not killed in Guernsey 
 however I found, in the first, thirty seven beech- 
 masts in the crop, and eight others in the gizzard, 
 
 * Query, was this done by a migratory flock, as peas 
 would be ripe about June or July, when migratory flocks 
 of Wood Pigeons would not be likely to occur ; or was the 
 damage to newly sown peas in the spring ? 
 
110 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 sufficiently whole to be counted ; and in the crop of 
 the other the astonishing number of seventy-seven 
 beech-masts and one large acorn ; the gizzard of this 
 one I did not examine. I only mention this to show 
 the damage a few Wood Pigeons would do supposing 
 they were restricted almost entirely to agricultural 
 produce for their food, as they would be in Guernsey 
 if they lived there in any great numbers. 
 
 The Wood Pigeon is mentioned by Professor 
 Ansted and marked as only occurring in Guernsey, 
 and probably as far as breeding is concerned this is 
 right (of course with the exception of Jersey) ; but 
 wandering flocks probably occasionally visit Alderney 
 as well. There is no specimen in the Museum. 
 
 92. EocxDovE. Columba liria, Linnaeus. French, 
 " Colombe biset." I have never seen the Eock 
 Dove in any of the Islands, though there are many 
 places in all of them that would suit its habits well; 
 and Mr. MacCulloch writes to me to say, "I have 
 heard that in times past the Eock Pigeon used to 
 breed in large numbers in the caves around Sark ; 
 but this certainly is not the case at present. Captain 
 Hubbach also writes to me from Alderney, " There 
 were some Eock Doves here in the winters of 1862 
 and 1863; I shot two or three of them then." 
 Probably a few yet remain in both Alderney and 
 Sark, though they certainly are not at all numerous 
 in either island. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. Ill 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Kock Dove in his 
 list, and marks it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. 
 There is no specimen in the Museum. Professor 
 Ansted also includes the Stock Dove, Columba <enas, 
 Linnaeus, in his list as occurring in Guernsey and 
 Sark ; but I think he must have done so on 
 insufficient evidence, as I have never seen it and 
 not heen able to gain any information about it ; 
 neither does Mr. Gallienne say anything about it in 
 his notes appended to the list ; so on the whole I 
 think it better to omit it in my list ; but as it may 
 occur at any time, especially as it is certainly 
 increasing considerably in numbers in the West of 
 England, I may mention that it may be immediately 
 distinguished from the Eock Dove by the absence 
 of the white rump, that part being nearly the same 
 colour as the back in the Stock Dove, and from the 
 Wood Pigeon, Columba palumbus, by its smaller size 
 and the entire absence of white on the wing. It is 
 perhaps more necessary to point out this difference, 
 as the Stock Dove frequently goes by the name of 
 the Wood Pigeon ; indeed Dresser has adopted this 
 name for it, the Wood Pigeon being called the Eing 
 Dove, as is very frequently the case. 
 
 93. TURTLE DOVE. Turtur vulgaris, Eyton. 
 French, " Colombe tourterelle." The Turtle Dove 
 is a regular, but probably never very numerous 
 summer visitant, arriving and departing about the 
 
112 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 same time as in England. Neither Miss Carey nor 
 Mr. Couch ever mention it in their notes on 
 Guernsey birds in the ' Zoologist ' : and Mr. Mac- 
 Culloch, writing to me ahout the bird, does not go 
 farther than to say " The Turtle Dove has, I believe, 
 been known to breed here." In June, 1866, however, 
 I shot one in very wild weather, flying across the 
 bay at Vazon Bay ; so wild was the weather with 
 drifting fog and rain that I did not know what 
 I had till I picked it up ; in fact, when I shot it 
 I thought it was some wader, flying through the fog 
 towards me. This summer (1878) I saw two at 
 Mr. Jago's which had been shot at Herm in May, 
 just before I came ; and in June I saw one or two 
 more about in Guernsey. The pair shot in Herm 
 would probably have bred in that island if they had 
 been left unmolested. 
 
 Professor Ansted mentions it in his list, but only 
 as occurring in Guernsey, and there is one specimen 
 in the Museum. 
 
 93. QUAIL. Coturnix communis, Bonnaterre. 
 French, " Caille." I have never seen the Quail in 
 the Islands myself, and it cannot be considered 
 more than an occasional straggler ; there can be no 
 doubt, however, that it sometimes remains to breed, 
 as there are some eggs in the Museum which I have 
 reason to believe are Guernsey taken, and Mr. Mac- 
 Culloch writes me word that " Quails certainly visit 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 113 
 
 us occasionally, and I remember having seen their 
 eggs in my youth " ; and Mrs. Jago (late Miss 
 Cumber), who was herself a birdstufter in Guernsey 
 a good many years ago, told me she had had two 
 Quails through her hands during the time she had 
 been stuffing ; but evidently she had not had very 
 many, nor did she think them very common, as she 
 did not know what they were when they were 
 brought to her, and she was some time before she 
 found anyone to tell her. The Quail breeds occa- 
 sionally, too, in Alderney, as the birdstuffer and 
 carpenter had some Quail's and Landrail's eggs ; 
 these he told me he had taken out of the same nest 
 which he supposed belonged originally to the Land- 
 rail, as there were rather more Landrail's than 
 Quail's eggs in it. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Quail in his list, 
 but marks it as occurring only in Guernsey. 
 There is a specimen in the Museum, and, as I said 
 before, several eggs. 
 
 95. WATER KAIL. Rallus aquations, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Kale d'eau." The Water Kail is not 
 very common in Guernsey, but a few occur about 
 the Braye Pond, and in other places suited to them ; 
 and, I believe, occasionally remain to breed, as 
 Mr. Jago, the birdstuffer, told me he had seen a 
 pair of Water Rails and four young, his dog having 
 started them from a hedge near the Rousailleries 
 
114 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 farm ; the young could scarcely fly. I saw one at the 
 birdstuffer's at Alderney, which had been shot in 
 that Island ; and the birdstuffer told me they were 
 common, and he believed they bred there, but he 
 had no eggs. Their number, however, is, I think, 
 rather increased in the autumn by migrants ; at all 
 events, more specimens are brought to the bird- 
 stuffers at that time of year. I have before men- 
 tioned the incident of the Water Eail being killed 
 by the Merlin, recorded by Mr. Couch in the 
 * Zoologist' for 1875. 
 
 The Water Kail is included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, and marked as occurring in Guernsey and 
 Sark. There are two specimens in the Museum. 
 
 96. SPOTTED CRAKE. Porzana maruetta, Leach. 
 French, " Poule d'eau marouette." I have some 
 doubt as to the propriety of including the Spotted 
 Crake in my list, but, on the whole, such evidence 
 as I have been able to collect seems in favour of 
 its being at all events occasionally seen and shot, 
 though its small size and shy skulking habits keep 
 it very much from general notice. Mr. MacCulloch, 
 however, writes to me to say the Spotted Eail has 
 been found here ; and one of Mr. De Putron's 
 labourers described a Kail to me which he had 
 shot in the Vale Pond in May, 1877, which, from 
 his description, could have been nothing but a 
 Spotted Kail. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 115 
 
 This is all the information I have been able to 
 glean, but Professor Ansted includes it in his list, 
 and marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There are 
 also two pretty good specimens in the Museum, 
 which I have no doubt were killed in Guernsey. 
 
 97. LANDRAIL. Crexpratensis, Bechstein. French, 
 "Rale des pres," "Rale de terre" ou " de Genet," 
 " Poule d'eau de genet." The Landrail is a common 
 summer visitant, breeding certainly in 'Guernsey, 
 Sark, and Alderney,* and probably in Herm, 
 though I cannot be quite so sure about the latter 
 Island. It seems to be rather more numerous in 
 some years than others, as occasionally I have 
 heard them craking in almost every field. But the 
 last summer I was in the Islands (1878) I heard 
 very few. The Corn Crake arrives and departs 
 much about the same time as in England, and I 
 have never been able to find that any stay on into 
 the winter, or even as late as November. 
 
 It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only 
 marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There 
 are two specimens in the Museum. 
 
 98. MOORHEN. Gallinula cldoropus, Linna3us. 
 French, " Poule d'eau ordinaire." I have not seen 
 
 * For one instance see notice of the Quail ; and the bird- 
 stuffer had several other eggs besides those in the same nest 
 as the Quails, 
 
116 BIEDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 the Moorhen myself in Guernsey, but Mr. Couch, 
 writing to me in December, 1876, told me that 
 Mr. De Putron informed him that Coots, Waterhens, 
 and Little Grebes bred that year in the Braye Pond ; 
 and Mr. De Putron, to whom I wrote on the subject, 
 said the information I had received was perfectly 
 correct. I see no reason to doubt the fact of the 
 Moorhen occasionally breeding in Mr. De Putron's 
 pond, and perhaps in other places in the Island, 
 especially the Grand Mare. But I do not believe 
 they breed regularly in either place ; they certainly 
 did not in this last summer (1878), or I must 
 have seen or heard them. As far as Mr. De Putron's 
 pond is concerned, I could not have helped hearing 
 their loud call or alarm note had only one pair 
 been breeding there ; I have, however, a young bird 
 of the year, killed in Guernsey in November, 1878. 
 Professor Ansted includes it in his list, and marks 
 it as only occurring in Guernsey. There are two 
 specimens in the Museum, probably both Guernsey 
 killed. 
 
 99. COMMON COOT. Fulica atra, Linnaeus. French, 
 " Foulque," "Foulque macroule." In spite of Mr. 
 De Putron's statement that the Coot bred in the 
 Braye Pond in the summer of 1876, I can scarcely 
 look upon it in the light of anything but an occa- 
 sional and never numerous autumnal visitant ; and 
 its breeding in the Braye Pond that year must have 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 117 
 
 been quite exceptional. In the autumn it occurs 
 both in the Braye Pond and on the coast in the 
 more sheltered parts. I have the skin of one killed 
 in the Braye Pond in November, 1876, which might 
 have been one of those bred there that year. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Coot in his list, 
 but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There 
 is no specimen in the Museum. 
 
 100. LITTLE BUSTARD. Otis tetrax, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Outarde canepetiere," " Poule de Car- 
 thage." The Little Bustard can only be considered 
 a very rare occasional visitant to the Channel 
 Islands, and very few instances of its occurrence 
 have come under my notice. The first was men- 
 tioned to me by Mr. MacCulloch, who wrote me 
 word that a Little Bustard was killed in Guernsey 
 in 1865, but unfortunately he gives no information 
 as to the time of the year. Another was shot by a 
 farmer in Guernsey early in March, 1866, and was 
 recorded by myself in the ' Zoologist ' for that year. 
 Mr. Couch also recorded one in the ' Zoologist ' for 
 1875, " as having been shot at the back of St. 
 Andrew's (very near the place where one was shot 
 fifteen years ago) on the 20th of November, 1874." 
 This bird is now in the possession of Mr. Le Mottee, 
 at whose house I saw it, and was informed that it 
 had been shot at a place called the Eperons, in 
 the parish of St. Andrew's, on the date above 
 
118 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 mentioned. These are all the instances of the 
 occurrence of the Little Bustard in the Channel 
 Islands that I have been able to gain any intel- 
 ligence of, but they are sufficient to show that 
 although by no means a common visitant, it does 
 occasionally occur on both spring and autumn 
 migration. 
 
 It 'is not included in Professor Ansted's list. 
 There is, however, a specimen in the Museum, 
 which I was told, when I saw it in 1866, had been 
 killed the previous year, but there is no date of 
 the month, and I should think, from the state of 
 plumage, it was an autumn-killed specimen : it is 
 still in the Museum, as I saw it there again this 
 year, 1878. This is probably the bird mentioned 
 by Mr. MacCulloch as killed in 1865, and also 
 very likely the one spoken of by Mr. Couch, in 
 1875, as having been killed in St. Andrew's fifteen 
 years ago ; but there seems to have been some 
 mistake as to Mr. Couch's date for this one, as, 
 had it been killed so long ago as 1860, it would in 
 all probability have been included in Professor 
 Ansted's list, and mentioned by Mr. Gallienne in 
 his remarks on some of the birds included in 
 the list. 
 
 101. THICK-KNEE. (Edicnemus scolopax, S. G. 
 Gmelin. French, " (Edicneme criard," " Poule 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 119 
 
 d'Aurigny."* The Thick-knee, Stone Curlew, or 
 Norfolk Plover, as it is called, though only an 
 occasional visitant, is much more common than the 
 Little Bustard ; indeed, Mr. MacCulloch says that 
 "it is by no means uncommon in winter. The 
 French call it ' Poule d'Aurigny,' from which one 
 might suppose it was more common in this neigh- 
 bourhood than elsewhere." Miss C. B. Carey records 
 one in the 'Zoologist' as killed in November, and 
 Mr. Couch another as having been shot on the 31st 
 December. I have also seen one or two hanging 
 up in the market, and others at Mr. Couch's, late in 
 November ; and one is recorded in the ' Guernsey 
 Mail and Telegraph' as having been shot by Mr. 
 De Putron, of the Catel, on the 3rd January, 1879. 
 From these dates, as well as from Mr. MacCulloch' s 
 remark that it is not uncommon in the winter, 
 it would appear that as in the Land's End district 
 in Cornwall the Thick-knee reverses the usual 
 time of its visits to the British Islands, being a 
 winter instead of a summer visitant ; and probably 
 for the same reason, namely, that the latitude of 
 the Channel Islands, like that of Cornwall, is about 
 the same as that of its most northern winter range 
 on the Continent. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but only 
 marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There is one 
 specimen in the Museum. 
 
 * Fide Mr. MacCulloch. 
 
120 BIKDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 102. PEEWIT. Vanellus vulgaris, Bechstein. 
 French, " Vanneau huppe." The Peewit is a 
 common and rather numerous autumn and winter 
 visitant to all the Islands, though I have never 
 seen it in such large flocks as in some parts of 
 England, especially in Somerset. Those that do 
 come to the Islands appear to take very good care 
 of themselves, for I have always found them very 
 difficult to get a shot at, and very few make their 
 appearance in the market. Though generally a 
 winter visitant, I have seen occasional stragglers 
 in summer. On the 9th July this year (1878), for 
 instance, I saw one fly by me in L'Ancresse Bay ; 
 this was either a young bird, or, if an adult, was 
 not in breeding plumage, as I could clearly see that 
 the throat was white not black, as in the adult in 
 breeding plumage. A few days afterwards, July 
 19th, another or, perhaps, the same was shot 
 by some quarry-men on the common; this was 
 certainly a young bird of the year, and I had a 
 good opportunity of looking at it. In spite of 
 occasional stragglers of this sort making their 
 appearance in the summer, I have never been able 
 to find that the Peewit breeds on any of the 
 Islands ; but, by the 9th of July, stragglers, both 
 old and young, might easily come from the opposite 
 coast of Dorsetshire, where a good many breed, 
 or from the north of France. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Peewit in his list, 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 121 
 
 but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There 
 is no specimen in the Museum at present. 
 
 103. GREY PLOVER. Squatarola helvetica, Lin- 
 nseus. French, "Vanneau pluvier." The Grey 
 Plover is a regular but by no means numerous 
 visitant to the coast of all the Islands during the 
 winter months, but I have never found it in flocks 
 like the Golden Plover. A few fall victims to the 
 numerous gunners who frequent the shores during 
 the autumn and winter, and consequently it occa- 
 sionally makes its appearance in the market, 
 where I believe it often passes for a Golden Plover, 
 especially in the case of young birds on their first 
 arrival in November ; but for the sake of the un- 
 knowing in such matters, I may say that they 
 need never be deceived, as the Grey Plover has a 
 hind toe, and also has the axillary plume or the 
 longish feathers under the wing black, while the 
 Golden Plover has no hind toe and the axillary 
 plume white : a little attention to these distinctions, 
 which hold good at all ages and in all plumages, 
 may occasionally save a certain amount of disap- 
 pointment at dinner time, as the Grey Plover is 
 apt to taste muddy and fishy, and is by no means 
 so good as the Golden Plover. 
 
 It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only 
 marked as occurring in Guernsey. There are two 
 specimens in the Museum, both in winter plumage. 
 
122 BIKDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 Indeed, I do not know that it even remains long 
 enough in the Channel Islands to assume, even 
 partially, the black breast of the breeding plumage, 
 as it so often does in England. 
 
 104. GOLDEN PLOVER. Charadrius pluvialis, Lin- 
 naeus. French, "Pluvierdore." A common winter 
 visitant to all the Islands, arriving about the end of 
 October or beginning of November, and remaining 
 till the spring, sometimes till they have nearly 
 assumed the black breast of the breeding- season ; 
 but I do not know that the Golden Plover ever 
 breeds in the Islands, at all events in the present 
 day. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Golden Plover in 
 his list, and marks it as occurring in Guernsey and 
 Sark. There is one specimen in the Museum, 
 probably killed rather late in the spring, as it is 
 assuming the black breast. 
 
 105. DOTTEREL. Eudromiasmorinellus, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Pluvier guignard." The common Dotterel 
 is a rare occasional visitant to the Channel Islands, 
 occurring, however, on both the spring and autumn 
 migration, as Mr. MacCulloch says he has a note of 
 a Dotterel killed in May, 1849 ; he does not say in 
 which of the Islands, but probably in Guernsey ; 
 and I have a skin of one, a fine full-plumaged bird, 
 according to Mr. Couch, who forwarded me the skin, 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 123 
 
 a female by dissection, killed in Herm on the 26th 
 of April, 1877. Another skin I have is that of a 
 young bird of the year, killed in the autumn, I 
 should think early in the autumn August or 
 September; and the Kev. A. Morre's, who kindly gave 
 me this last one, has also a skin of one killed at the 
 same time ; both of these were Guernsey killed. 
 
 The Dotterel is included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, and by him marked as having occurred in 
 Guernsey and Sark. I should think Alderney a 
 more likely place for the bird to have occurred than 
 Sark, but I have not been able to gain any information 
 about its occurrence there ; neither the carpenter 
 bird-stuffer nor his sporting friend had a skin or 
 any part of the bird. There is no specimen now in 
 the Museum. 
 
 106. EING DOTTEREL. ^Egialitis hiaticula, Lin- 
 naeus. French, " Grand pluvier a collier," " Pluvier 
 a collier." The Eing Dotterel is very common in 
 all the Islands in places suited to it. Some remain 
 throughout the summer, and a few of these, but 
 certainly very few, may breed in the Islands ; the 
 great majority, however, of those that frequent the 
 coast in the winter are migrants, arriving in the 
 autumn and departing again in the spring. Some, 
 however, appear to arrive very early, and cannot 
 have bred very far off, perhaps on the neighbouring 
 coast of France or Dorset. I have the following note 
 
124 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 on the subject in the ' Zoologist ' for 1866, which 
 gives the time of their arrival pretty correctly. 
 During the first two or three weeks after my arrival 
 that was on the 21st of June, 1866 I found Eing 
 Dotterels excessively scarce even on parts of the 
 coast, where, on other visits later in the year, I had 
 found them very numerous. Towards the middle 
 of July, however, they began to frequent their usual 
 haunts in small parties of six or seven, most 
 probably the old birds with their young. These 
 parties increased in number to twenty or thirty, and 
 before my departure, on the last day of July, they 
 mustered quite as thickly as I had ever seen them 
 before. On another summer visit to Guernsey, 
 from the 3rd to the 19th of June, 1876, I did not 
 see any Eing Dotterel at all, though at the time 
 Kentish Plover were common in most of the bays 
 in the low parts of the Island. The Eing Dotterel 
 must therefore have selected some- breeding-place 
 separate from the Kentish Plover, probably not very 
 far off ; but I do not believe it breeds at all commonly 
 in the Islands. This agrees very much with what 
 I saw of the Eing Dotterel this year (1878) ; there 
 were a few in L'Ancresse and one or two other bays, 
 but none in Grand Havre, close to which I was 
 living, and I very much doubt if any of those I saw 
 were breeding. Neither Colonel 1'E strange nor I 
 found any eggs, though we searched hard for them 
 both in '76 and '78 ; neither did we find any 
 either in Herm or Alderney. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 125 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Eing Dotterel in 
 his list, but marks it as only occurring in Guernsey. 
 There is a specimen in the Museum. 
 
 107. KENTISH PLOVER. Mgialitis cantianus, 
 Latham. French, "Pluvier a collier interrompu." 
 I have always looked upon the Kentish Plover as 
 only a summer visitant to the Islands, never having 
 seen it in any of my visits in October and November ; 
 but Mr. Harvie Brown mentions (* Zoologist' for 1869) 
 seeing some of these birds in January, at Herm, 
 feeding with the Eing Dotterel, but he says they 
 always separated when they rose to fly. If he is not 
 mistaken, which my own experience inclines me 
 to think he was, we must look upon the Kentish 
 Plover as partially resident in the Islands, the 
 greater number, however, departing in the autumn. 
 Until this summer (1878) I have been unsuccessful in 
 finding the eggs of the Kentish Plover, though I have 
 had many hard searches for them ; and they are 
 very difficult to find, unless the bird is actually seen 
 to run from the nest, or rather from the eggs, for, 
 as a rule, nest there is none, the eggs being only 
 placed on the sand, with which they get half buried, 
 when they may easily be mistaken for a small bit 
 of speckled granite and passed by. In the summer 
 of 1866, a friend and myself had a long search for 
 the eggs of a pair we saw and were certain had eggs, 
 as they practised all the usual devices to decoy us 
 
126 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 from them, till my friend, actually thinking one of 
 the birds to be badly wounded, set his dog at it; 
 after this all chance was over : this was in a small 
 sandy bay, called Port Soif, near the Grand Kocques 
 Barracks. I mention this as I am certain these birds 
 had eggs or young somewhere close to us, and this 
 was the farthest point towards Vazon Bay from the 
 Vale I found them breeding. The sandy shores of 
 Grand Havre and L'Ancresse Bay seemed to be their 
 head breeding-quarters in Guernsey. Though I 
 only found one set of eggs in Grand Havre, I am 
 sure there were three or four pairs of birds breeding 
 there ; the two eggs I found were lying with their 
 thick ends just touching each other and half buried 
 in sand ; there was no nest whatever, not even the 
 sand hollowed out ; they were in quite a bare place, 
 just, and only just, above the high-water line of sea- 
 weed. I should not have found these if it had not 
 been for the tracks of the birds immediately round 
 them. In 1'Ancresse Bay I was not equally fortunate, 
 but there were quite as many pairs of birds breeding 
 there. In Herm the shell-beach seems to be their 
 head breeding-quarters, and there Mr. Howard 
 Saunders, Colonel 1'E strange and myself found 
 several sets of eggs, generally three in number, but 
 in one or two instances four : these were probably 
 hard-sat ; in one instance, with four eggs, the eggs 
 were nearly upright in the sand, the small end 
 being buried, and the thick end just showing above 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 127 
 
 the sand. In no instance in which I saw the eggs 
 was there the slightest attempt at a nest; but 
 Colonel 1'E strange told me that in one instance, in 
 which he had found some eggs a day or two before 
 I got to Guernsey, quite the end of May, he found 
 there was a slight attempt at a nest, a few bents of 
 the rough herbage which grew in the sand just 
 above high-water mark having been collected and 
 the nest lined with them. I have not found any 
 eggs in Alderney, but I have no doubt they breed 
 in some of the sandy bays to the north of the 
 Island occasionally, if not always, as I have seen 
 them there in the breeding-season, both in 1876 and 
 in 1866. This summer (1878) I was so short a 
 time in that Island that I had not time to search 
 the most likely places, but Captain Hubbach wrote 
 me " I do not think the Kentish Plover remained 
 here to breed this year, although I saw some about 
 in April." 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Kentish Plover in 
 his list, but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey. 
 There is one specimen, a male, in the Museum. 
 
 108. TURNSTONE. Strepsilas interpres, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Tourne pierre," " Tourne pierre a collier." 
 The cosmopolitan Turnstone is resident in the 
 Channel Islands ; throughout the year its numbers, 
 however, are much increased in the autumn by 
 migrants, many of which remain throughout the 
 
128 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 winter, leaving the Islands for their breeding- 
 stations in the spring. Some of those that remain 
 throughout the summer I have no doubt breed in 
 the Islands, as I have seen the old birds about with 
 their young and shot one in July; and on the 8th of 
 June, 1876, I saw a pair in full breeding plumage 
 in L'Ancresse Bay; I saw them again about the 
 same place on the 16th : these birds were evidently 
 paired, and I believe had eggs or young on a small 
 rocky island about two or three hundred yards from 
 the land, but there was no boat about, and so I 
 could not get over to look for the eggs. Col. 
 1'E strange obtained some eggs on one of the rocky 
 islands to the north of Herm, which certainly were 
 not Tern's eggs as he supposed, and I believe them 
 to have been Turnstone's ; unluckily he did not take 
 the eggs himself, but the boatman who was with 
 him took them, so he did not see the bird go off the 
 nest. This last summer (1878) I was in hopes of 
 being more successful either in Guernsey itself or 
 in Herm, or the rocks near there, but I did not see 
 a single Turnstone alive the whole time I was in 
 Guernsey. I think it very likely, however, I should 
 have been successful in Herm, as I visited it several 
 times both by myself and with Col. 1'E strange and Mr. 
 Howard Saunders ; our first visit was on June the 
 21st, when we did not see a single Turnstone ; but 
 this was afterwards accounted for, as on a visit to 
 Jago, the bird-stuffer, a short time afterwards, I 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 129 
 
 found him skinning a splendid pair of Turnstones 
 which had been shot in Herm a few days before our 
 visit on the 17th or 18th of June ; the female had 
 eggs ready for extrusion ; I need not say I did not 
 exactly bless the person who, in defiance of the 
 Guernsey Sea Birds Act, had shot this pair of 
 Turnstones, as had they been left I have no doubt 
 we should have seen them, and probably found the 
 eggs, and quite settled the question of the Turnstone's 
 breeding there. I have long been very sceptical on 
 this subject, but now I have very little doubt, as I 
 think, seeing the birds about, paired, in Guernsey in 
 June and the pair shot in Herm, the female with 
 eggs in June, pretty well removes any doubt as to 
 the Turnstone breeding in the Islands, and I do not 
 see why it should not, as it breeds quite as far south 
 in the Azores, and almost certainly in the Canaries.* 
 Mr. Kodd, however, tells me he does not believe in 
 its breeding in the Scilly Islands, though it is seen 
 about there throughout the year, as it is in the 
 Channel Islands. Mr. Gallienne, in his remarks on 
 Professor Ansted's list, merely says, " The Turnstone 
 is found about the neighbourhood of Herm through- 
 out the year." It occurs also in Alderney in the 
 autumn, but I have not seen it there in the 
 breeding-season. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but only 
 marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There are a 
 
 * See ' Dresser's Birds of Europe.' 
 
130 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 male and female, in breeding plumage, in the 
 Museum, and also one in winter plumage. 
 
 109. OYSTERCATCHER, Hamatopus ostralegus, Lin- 
 naeus. French, "Hiutrier pie." The Guernsey 
 Bird Act includes these birds under the name 
 * Piesmarans,' which is the name given to the 
 Oystercatcher by all the French-speaking fishermen 
 and boatmen, and which I suppose must be looked 
 upon only as the local name, though I have no 
 doubt it is the common name also on the neigh- 
 bouring coast of Normandy and Brittany. The 
 Oystercatcher is resident all the year, and breeds in 
 all the Islands ; I think, however, its numbers are 
 considerably increased in the autumn by migratory 
 arrivals ; certainly the numbers actually breeding 
 in the Islands are not sufficient to account for the 
 immense flocks one sees about in October and 
 November. There seem, however, to be considerable 
 numbers remaining in flocks throughout the summer, 
 without apparently the slightest intention of sepa- 
 rating for breeding purposes, as I have often counted 
 as many as forty or fifty together in June and July. 
 The Oystercatcher breeds in Guernsey itself about 
 the cliffs. Mr. Howard Saunders, Colonel 1'E strange 
 and myself found one very curiously placed nest of 
 the Oystercatcher on the ridge of a hog-backed rock 
 at the bottom of the cliff, near the south end of the 
 Island ; it was not much above high-water mark, 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 131 
 
 and quite within reach of heavy spray when there 
 was any sea on : we could distinctly see the eggs 
 when looking down from the cliffs on them, and the 
 two old birds were walking about the ridge of rock 
 as if dancing on the tight-rope ; how they kept their 
 eggs in place on that narrow ridge, exposed as it 
 was to wind and sea, was a marvel. The Oyster- 
 catcher breeds also in both the small Islands, Jethou 
 and Herm, on almost all the rocky islands to the 
 north of Herm, in Sark and Alderney, and on 
 Burhou, near Alderney, where I found one clutch of 
 three of the most richly marked Oystercatcher's 
 eggs I ever saw : these, as well as another clutch, 
 also of three eggs, were placed on rather curious 
 nests ; they were on the smooth rock, but in both 
 cases the birds had collected a number of small 
 stones and made a complete pavement of them, on 
 which they placed their eggs ; there was no pro- 
 tection, however, to prevent the eggs from rolling 
 off. Both in Burhou as well as on the Amfroques 
 and other rocks to the north of Herm, the eggs of 
 the Oystercatchers, as well as of the other sea-birds 
 breeding there, had been ruthlessly robbed by 
 fishermen and others, who occasionally visit these 
 wild rocks and carry off everything in the shape of 
 an egg, without paying any respect to the Bird Act, 
 which professes to protect the eggs as well as the 
 birds. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Oystercatcher in his 
 
132 BIEDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 list, but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey and 
 Sark. There is an Oyster catcher and also a few of 
 the eggs in the Museum. 
 
 110. CURLEW. Numenius arquata, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Courlis," " Grand courlis cendre." A 
 good many Curlews are to be found in the Islands 
 throughout the year, but I do not believe any of 
 them breed there ; I have seen them in Guernsey, 
 Jethou, Herm and Alderney, all through the summer, 
 but always in flocks on the mud and sea-weed below 
 high-water mark, whenever they can be there, 
 searching for food, and quite as wild and wary as 
 in the winter. I have never seen them paired, or 
 in any place the least likely for them to be breeding. 
 I know Mr. Gallienne, in his remarks to Professor 
 Ansted's list, says, " Although I have never heard 
 of the eggs of either the Curlew or Whimbrel being 
 found, I am satisfied they breed here (I think at 
 Herm), as they stay with us throughout the year." 
 I cannot from my observation agree with this 
 supposition of the Curlew breeding in the Islands ; 
 nor can I agree with the statement made by a writer 
 in 'Cassel's Magazine' for June or July, 1878, that 
 he found a young Curlew in the down on one of 
 the Islands near Jethou, probably from the descrip- 
 tion ' La Fauconniere.' The writer of this paper in 
 ' Cassel's Magazine ' was evidently no ornithologist, 
 and must, I think, have mistaken a young Oyster- 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 133 
 
 catcher, of which several pairs were breeding there 
 at the time, for a young Curlew ; his description of 
 the cry of the old birds as they flew round was 
 much more like that of the Oystercatcher than the 
 Curlew. All of the boatmen also, with whom I have 
 been about at various times, agree that the Curlews 
 do not breed in the Islands, though they are quite 
 aware that they remain throughout the year, and 
 as many of them, in spite of the Guernsey Bird Act, 
 are great robbers of the eggs of the Gulls, Puffins, 
 and Oystercatchers, all of which they know well, 
 they would hardly miss such a fine mouthful as the 
 egg of the Curlew if it was to be found. No doubt 
 the number of Curlews is largely increased in the 
 autumn by migratory visitors, which remain 
 throughout the winter and depart again in the 
 spring : though numerous during autumn and 
 winter, they are very wild and wary, and, as every- 
 where else where I have had any experience of 
 Curlews at that time of year, very difficult to get a 
 shot at ; consequently very few find their way into 
 the market. 
 
 The Curlew is mentioned in Professor Ansted's 
 list, but only marked as occurring in Guernsey and 
 Sark. There are two specimens in the Museum. 
 
 111. WHIMBREL. Numenias phceopus, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Courlis corlieu." A good many Whimbrel 
 visit all the Islands during the spring migration, and 
 
134 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 a few may stay some little time into the summer, 
 as I have seen them as late as June, but, as far as 
 I have been able to make out, none breed there ; a 
 few also may make their appearance on the autumn 
 migration, but very few in comparison with those 
 which appear in the spring, and I have never seen 
 any there at that time. Purdy, one of the 
 Guernsey boatmen, who is pretty well up in the 
 sea and shore birds, told me the Whimbrel occurred 
 commonly in May, but not on the autumn migration. 
 He added that it was known there as the " May-bird," 
 and was very good to eat, and much easier to shoot 
 than a Curlew, in which he is quite right. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Whimbrel in his 
 list, and marks it only as occurring in Guernsey and 
 Sark. There are two specimens in the Musenm. 
 
 112. EEDSHANK. Totanus calidris, Linnaeus. 
 French, "Chevalier gambette." An occasional but 
 never numerous visitant to all the Islands, on both 
 spring and autumn migrations; none appear to 
 remain through the summer. I have, however, 
 a Eedshank in full breeding plumage, killed in 
 Guernsey as late as the 23rd of April. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Eedshank in his 
 list, but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey. 
 There are two specimens in the Museum. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 135 
 
 113. GREEN SANDPIPER. Totanus ochropus, Lin- 
 naeus. French, "Chevalier cul blanc." The Green 
 Sandpiper is an irregular, very scarce (not so 
 numerous indeed as the Kedshank) visitant on the 
 spring and autumn migration. I have seen what 
 was probably a family party about Vazon Bay, in 
 Guernsey, quite at the end of July, but I do not 
 believe this bird ever breeds in the Islands : those 
 I saw were probably the parents and young brood 
 of an early-breeding pair, on their return from some 
 not very distant breeding-ground. Such parties 
 seem only to pay the Islands a very short visit on 
 their return from their breeding-ground ; at least I 
 have never seen a Green Sandpiper in the Islands 
 as late as October or November ; it may, however, 
 occasionally occur in the winter, as I have a 
 specimen from Torbay killed in December. 
 
 Professor Ansted does not include the Green 
 Sandpiper in his list, though he does the Wood Sand- 
 piper, giving, however, no locality for it. I have 
 never seen this latter bird in the Islands, however ; 
 nor have I been able to find that one has ever passed 
 through the hands of any of the local bird-stuffers, 
 and I cannot help thinking a mistake has been 
 made ; as both birds may, however, occur, and they 
 are something alike, I may, for the benefit of my 
 Guernsey readers, mention that they may im- 
 mediately be distinguished ; the axillary plume or 
 long feathers under the wing, in the Green Sand- 
 
136 BIEDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 piper, being black narrowly barred with white ; and 
 in the Wood Sandpiper the reverse, white with a few 
 dark bars and markings ; the tail also, in the 
 Green Sandpiper, is much more distinctly and 
 boldy barred with black and white. Alive and on 
 the wing they may be immediately distinguished 
 by the pure white rump and tail-coverts of the 
 Green Sandpiper, which are very conspicuous, 
 especially as the bird rises ; the white on the same 
 parts of the Wood Sandpiper is much marked with 
 brown, and consequently never appears so con- 
 spicuously. There is one Green Sandpiper at 
 present in the Museum, which there seems no 
 reason to doubt is Guernsey killed. 
 
 114. COMMON SANDPIPER. Totan-us hypolem'08, 
 Linnaeus. French, " Chevalier guignette." The 
 Common Sandpiper, or Summer Snipe as it is 
 sometimes called, is a spring and autumn visitant, 
 but never a numerous one, sometimes, however, 
 remaining till the summer. One of Mr. De Putron's 
 men told me he had seen one or two about their 
 pond all this summer (1878), and he believed they 
 bred there ; but as to this I am very sceptical ; I 
 could see nothing of the bird when I visited the pond 
 in June and July, and I fancy the birds stayed about, 
 as they do sometimes about my own pond here in 
 Somerset, till late perhaps in May, and then departed 
 to breed elsewhere. The latest occurrence I know 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 137 
 
 of was one recorded by Mr. Couch in the ' Zoologist' 
 for 1874, as having been killed on the 3rd of 
 October. Mr. Couch adds that this was the first 
 specimen of the Common Sandpiper he had had 
 since he had been in the Islands. 
 
 The Common Sandpiper is included in Professor 
 Ansted's list, and marked as occurring in Guernsey 
 and Sark. There is no specimen in the Museum. 
 
 115. BART AILED GOD WIT. Limosa lapponica, 
 Linnaeus. French, "Barge rousse." The Bartailed 
 Godwit is a regular and sometimes rather numerous 
 spring and autumn visitant. In May, 1876, a 
 considerable number of these birds seem to have 
 rested on the little Island of Herm, where the 
 keeper shot three of them ; two of these are now in 
 my possession, and are very interesting, as though 
 all shot at the same time I believe on the same 
 day they are in various stages of plumage, the 
 most advanced being in thorough breeding-plumage, 
 and the other not nearly so far advanced ; and the 
 third, which I saw but have not got, was not so far 
 advanced as either of the others. In the two which 
 I have the change of colour in the feathers, 
 without moult, may be seen in the most interesting 
 manner, especially in the least advanced, as many 
 of the feathers are still parti- coloured, the colouring 
 matter not having spread over the whole feather ; 
 in the most advanced, however, nearly all the 
 
138 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 feathers were fully coloured with the red of the 
 breeding-plumage. This red plumage remains till 
 the autumn, when it is replaced, after the moult, by 
 the more sombre and less handsome grey of the 
 winter plumage. Though the Bartailed Godwit goes 
 far north to breed, not breeding much nearer than 
 Lapland and the north of Norway and Sweden, both 
 old and young soon show themselves again in the 
 Channel Islands on their return journey, as I shot 
 a young bird of the year in Herm the last week in 
 August. Most of the autumn arrivals, however, 
 soon pass on to more southern winter quarters, only 
 a few remaining very late, perhaps quite through 
 the winter, as I have one shot in Guernsey as late 
 as the 14th of December ; this one, I need hardly 
 say, is in full winter plumage, and of course 
 presents a most striking difference to the one shot in 
 Herm in May. 
 
 The Bartailed Godwit is included in Professor 
 Ansted's list, but only marked as occurring in 
 Guernsey. It is, however, as I have shown, 
 perhaps more common in Herm, and it also occurs 
 in Alderney. There is a series of these in the 
 Museum in change and breeding-plumage. 
 
 The Blacktailed Godwit is also included in 
 Professor Ansted's list, but I have never seen the 
 bird in the Islands or been able to glean any 
 information concerning it, and there is no specimen 
 in the Museum. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 139 
 
 116. GREENSHANK. Totanus canescens, Gmelin. 
 French, "Chevalier gris," "Chevalier aboyeur." 
 The Greenshank can only be considered a rare 
 occasional visitant. I have never shot or seen it 
 myself in the Islands, but Miss C. B. Carey records 
 one in the ' Zoologist ' for 1872 as having been shot 
 on the 2nd of October of that year, and brought to 
 Mr. Couch's, at whose shop she saw it. 
 
 The Greenshank is included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, but there is no letter to note which of the 
 Islands it has occurred in. There is no specimen 
 in the Museum. 
 
 117. KUFF. Machetes pugnax, Linnaeus. French, 
 "Combatant," "Combatant variable." The Buff is 
 an occasional but not very common autumn and 
 winter visitant ; it occurs, probably, more frequently 
 in the autumn than the winter. Mr. MacCulloch 
 writes me, " I have a note of a Kuff shot in October, 
 1871." This probably was, like all the Guernsey 
 specimens I have seen, a young bird of the year 
 in that state of plumage in which it leads to all 
 sorts of mistakes, people wildly supposing it to be 
 either a Buff-breasted or a Bartram's Sandpiper. 
 Miss C. B. Carey records one in the ' Zoologist ' 
 for 1871 as shot in September of that year; this 
 was a young bird of the year. Miss C. B. Carey 
 also records two in the 'Zoologist' for 1872 as 
 having been shot about the 13th of April in that 
 
140 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 year ; these she describes as being in change of 
 plumage but having no ruff yet ; probably the 
 change of colour in the feathers was beginning 
 before the long feathers of the ruff began to grow ; 
 and this agrees with what I have seen of the Kuff 
 in confinement ; the change of colour in the feathers 
 of the body begins before the ruff makes its 
 appearance. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Kuff in his list, 
 and only marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There 
 is no specimen in the Museum at present. 
 
 118. WOODCOCK. Scolopax rusticola, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Becasse ordinaire." The Woodcock is a 
 regular and tolerably common autumnal visitant to 
 all the Islands, arriving and departing about the 
 same time as in England, none, however, re- 
 maining to breed, as is so frequently the case with 
 us. There might be some good cock shooting in 
 the Islands if the Woodcocks were the least pre- 
 served, but as soon as one is heard of every 
 person in the Island who can beg, borrow, or steal 
 a gun and some powder and shot is out long before 
 daylight, waiting for the first shot at the unfor- 
 tunate Woodcock as soon as there should be 
 sufficient daylight. In fact, such a scramble is 
 therefor a chance at a Woodcock that a friend of mine 
 told me he got up long before daylight one morning 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 141 
 
 and went to a favourite spot to begin at ; thinking 
 to be first on the ground, he sat on a gate close by 
 waiting for daylight ; but so far from his being the 
 first, he found, as it got light, three other people, 
 all waiting, like himself, to begin as soon as it was 
 light enough, each thinking he was going to be first 
 and have it all his own way with the cocks. 
 Besides the gun, another mode of capturing the 
 Woodcocks used till very lately to be, and perhaps 
 still is, practised at Woodlands and some other 
 places where practicable in Guernsey. Nets are 
 set across open paths between the trees, generally 
 Ilex, through which the Woodcocks take their flight 
 when going out " reading," as it is called that is, 
 when on their evening excursion for food; into 
 these nets the Woodcocks fly and become easy 
 victims. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Woodcock in his 
 list, but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey and 
 Sark. There is one specimen in the Museum. 
 
 119. SOLITARY SNIPE. Scolopax major, Gmelin. 
 French, " Grande becassine." I have never been 
 fortunate enough to shoot a Solitary Snipe myself 
 in the Channel Islands, neither have I seen one at 
 any of the birdstuffers ; but that is not very likely, 
 as the shooter of a Solitary Snipe only congratulates 
 himself on having killed a fine big Snipe, and carries 
 
142 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 it off for dinner, but, from some of the descriptions 
 I have had given me of these fine big Snipes, I 
 have no doubt it has occasionally been a Solitary 
 Snipe. Mr. MacCulloch also writes me word that 
 the Solitary Snipe occasionally occurs. 
 
 It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and 
 marked by him as occurring in Guernsey and 
 Sark. There is no specimen at present in the 
 Museum. 
 
 120. SNIPE. Gallinago gallinaria, Gmelin. 
 French, " Becassine ordinaire." The Common 
 Snipe is a regular and rather numerous autumnal 
 visitant to all the Islands, remaining through the 
 winter and departing again in the spring, some few 
 remaining rather late into the summer. I am very 
 sceptical myself about the Snipe breeding in the 
 Channel Islands in the present day, although I was 
 told one or two were seen about Mr. De Putron's 
 pond late this summer, and were supposed to be 
 breeding there ; however, I could see nothing of 
 them when there in June and July, although, as I 
 have said before, Mr. De Putron kindly allowed me 
 to search round his pond for either birds or eggs. 
 Mr. MacCulloch, however, thinks they still breed in 
 Guernsey, as he writes to me to say, " I believe 
 that Snipes continue to breed here occasionally; 
 I have heard of them, and put them up myself in 
 summer." If they do, I should think the most 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 143 
 
 likely places would be the wild gorse and heath- 
 covered valleys leading down to the Gouffre and 
 Petit Bo Bay, as there is plenty of water and soft 
 feeding places in both ; I have never seen one there, 
 however, though I have several times walked both 
 those valleys and the intervening land during the 
 breedings-eason, and I should think all these places 
 were much too much overrun with picnic parties and 
 excursionists to allow of Snipes breeding there now. 
 Should the Snipe, however, still breed in the Island, 
 it would be as well to give it a place in the Guernsey 
 Bird Act, as it is much more worthy of protection 
 during the breeding-season than many of the birds 
 there mentioned. Sometimes in the autumn I have 
 seen and shot Snipe in the most unlikely places 
 when scrambling along between huge granite 
 boulders lying on a surface of hard granite rock, 
 where it would be perfectly impossible for a Snipe 
 to pick up a living ; indeed with his sensitive bill 
 I do not believe a Snipe, if he found anything 
 eatable, could pick it off the hard ground. Probably 
 the Snipes I have found in these unlikely places 
 were not there by choice, but because driven from 
 their more favourite places by the continual gunning 
 going on in almost every field inland. 
 
 The Snipe is included in Professor Ansted's list, 
 but only marked as occurring in Guernsey : it is 
 difficult to say why this should be, when the Solitary 
 Snipe and the Jack Snipe are marked as occurring 
 
144 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 in Guernsey and Sark, and all three are, at least, 
 as common in Alderney as in the other two Islands. 
 There is one specimen in the Museum. 
 
 121. JACK SNIPE. Gallinago gallinula, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Becassine Jourde." The Jack Snipe is a 
 regular autumnal visitant to all the Islands, but 
 never so numerous as the Common Snipe. A few 
 may always be seen, however, hung up in the 
 market with the Common Snipes through the 
 autumn and winter. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes it in his list, and 
 marks it only as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. 
 There is no specimen at present in the Museum. 
 
 122. KNOT. Tringa canutus, Brisson. French, 
 " Becasseau canut," "Becasseau maubeche." 
 Common as the Knot is on the south and west 
 coast of England during autumn and winter, it is 
 by no means so common in the Channel Islands. 
 I have never shot it there myself in any of my 
 autumnal expeditions. Miss C. B. Carey records 
 one, however, in the ' Zoologist' for 1871, as having 
 been shot on September the 23rd of that year ; and 
 Mr. Harvie Brown mentions seeing a solitary Knot 
 far out on the shore at Herm in January, 1869. 
 These are the only occasions I am certain about, 
 although it probably occurs sparingly every year, 
 but I have never seen it even in the market, and 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 145 
 
 were it at all common a few certainly would have 
 occasionally found their way there. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes it in his list, hut only 
 marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There is no 
 specimen at present in the Museum. 
 
 123. CURLEW SANDPIPER. Trincfa subarquata, 
 Giildenstaedt. French, " Becasseau cocorli." 
 The Curlew Sandpiper, or Pigmy Curlew as it is 
 sometimes called, can only he considered a rare 
 occasional visitant to the Channel Islands. I have 
 never seen or shot one there myself, hut Mr. Couch 
 records one in the ' Zoologist ' for 1874 as having 
 heen shot near the Kichmond Barracks on the 5th 
 of October of that year. Colonel L 'Estrange told 
 me also that some were seen in a small bay near 
 Grand Eocque in the autumn of 1877. It may, 
 however, have occurred at other times and been 
 passed over or looked upon as only a Purre, 
 from which bird, however, it may immediately be 
 distinguished by its longer legs and taller form 
 when on the ground, and by the white rump. 
 
 It is not included in Professor Ansted's list, and 
 there is no specimen in the Museum. 
 
 124. PURRE or DUNLIN. T-ri-nr/a (ilpina, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Becasseau brunette," " Becasseau 
 variable." The Purre is resident in all the Islands 
 throughout the year in considerable numbers, which 
 
 L 
 
146 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 however are immensely increased in the autumn 
 by migratory arrivals, most of which remain 
 throughout the winter, departing in the spring 
 for their breeding stations. Though resident 
 throughout the year, and assuming full breeding 
 plumage, I am very doubtful as to the Purre 
 breeding in the Islands ; I have never been able to 
 find eggs, nor, as a rule, have I found the bird 
 anywhere but on its ordinary winter feeding-ground, 
 amongst the mud and sea-weed between high and 
 low water mark. The most likely parts to find 
 them breeding seem to be some of the high land 
 and heather in Guernsey and the sandy common on 
 the northern part of Herm, near which place I saw a 
 few this summer (1878) in perfect breeding plumage, 
 and showing more signs of being paired than they 
 generally do, and in parts of Alderney. 
 
 Professor Ansted has not mentioned it in his list. 
 There are two specimens in the Museum, both in 
 breeding plumage. 
 
 125. LITTLE STINT. Tringa minuta, Leishler. 
 French, " Becasseau echasses, " " Becasseau 
 minute." The Little Stint is only an occasional 
 and never numerous autumnal visitant. I have 
 seen one or two in the flesh at Mr. Couch's, killed 
 towards the end of October, but I have never seen 
 one alive or shot one myself. 
 
 It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 147 
 
 marked as occurring in Guernsey only. There is 
 no specimen in the Museum. 
 
 126. SANDERLING. Calidris arenaria, Linnaeus. 
 French, "Sanderling variable." The Sanderlingis 
 a regular and rather early autumn visitant to all 
 the Islands, as I have shot one as early as the end 
 of August in Cobo Bay in Guernsey ; this is about 
 the time the Sanderling makes its first appearance 
 on the opposite side of the Channel at Torbay. I 
 have not met with it later on in October and No- 
 vember, but no doubt a few remain throughout the 
 winter as they do in Torbay, where I have shot 
 Sanderlings as late as the 27th of December ; 
 a few also probably visit the Islands on their return 
 migration in the spring. The two in the Museum 
 seem to bear out this, as one is nearly in winter 
 plumage, and the other is assuming the red plumage 
 of the breeding season, and could not have been 
 killed before April or May. 
 
 The Sanderling is included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, and marked by him as occurring in Guernsey 
 and Sark. 
 
 127. GREY PHALAROPE. Phalaropus fulicarius, 
 Linnaeus. French, " Phalarope gris," " Phalarope 
 roussatre," " Phalarope phatyrhinque." *-- The 
 Grey Phalarope is a tolerably regular and occa- 
 
 * For. the last, see Temmiuck's ' Man. d'Ornithologie.' 
 
148 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 T 
 
 sionally numerous autumnal visitant to all the 
 Islands, not, however, arriving before the end of 
 October or beginning of November. At this time of 
 year the greater numbers of birds are in the varied 
 autumnal plumage so common in British-killed 
 specimens, showing partial remains of the summer 
 plumage ; but one I have, killed in November, 1875, 
 was in most complete winter plumage, there not 
 being a single dark or margined feather on the 
 bird. This perfect state of winter plumage is by no 
 means common either in British or Channel Island 
 specimens, so much so that I do not think I have 
 seen one in such perfect winter plumage before. 
 
 The Grey Phalarope is included in Professor 
 Aiisted's list, but no letters marking its distribution 
 through the Islands are added, perhaps because it 
 was considered to be generally distributed through 
 all of them. There is no specimen at present in 
 the Museum. 
 
 128. HERON. Ardea drier ea, Linnaeus. French, 
 "Heron cendre, "Heron huppe." A good many 
 Herons may be seen about the Islands at all times 
 of the year ; those that remain through the summer, 
 though scattered over all the Islands, are probably 
 all non-breeding birds. I have seen them fishing 
 along the shore in Guernsey, Herm, Alderney, and 
 the rocky islands north of Herm, but I have never 
 seen or heard of an egg being found in either of the 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 149 
 
 Islands, nor have I ever seen anything that bore 
 
 the most remote resemblance to the nest of a Heron. 
 
 Mr. MacCulloch, however, writes to me as follows : 
 
 " The Heron is said to breed occasionally on the 
 
 Amfrocques and others of those small islets north 
 
 of Herm." Mr. Howard Saunders, Col. L 'Estrange, 
 
 and myself, however, visited all these islets this last 
 
 breeding season (1878), and though we saw Herons 
 
 about fishing in the shallow pools left by the tide, 
 
 we could see nothing that would lead us to suppose 
 
 that Herons ever bred there, in fact, though Herons 
 
 have been known to breed on cliffs by the sea ; the 
 
 Amfroques and all the other little wild rocky islets 
 
 are apparently the most unlikely places for Herons 
 
 to breed on. In Guernsey itself, however, it is 
 
 more likely that a few Herons formerly bred, and 
 
 that there was once a small Heronry in the Vale. 
 
 As Mr. MacCulloch writes to me, " There is a 
 
 locality in the parish of St. Samson, at the foot of 
 
 Delancy Hill, in the vicinnry of the marshes near 
 
 the Ivy Castle, formerly thickly wooded with old 
 
 elms, which bears the name of La Heroniere. It 
 
 may have been a resort of Herons, but I am bound 
 
 to say the name may have been derived from a 
 
 family called 'Heron,' now extinct." It seems to 
 
 me also possible that the family derived their 
 
 name from being the proprietors of the only 
 
 Heronry in Guernsey. In the place mentioned by 
 
 Mr. MacCulloch there are still a great many elm 
 
150 BIBDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 trees quite big enough for Herons to build in, 
 supposing they were allowed to do so, which would 
 not be likely at the present time. The number of 
 Herons in the Channel Islands seems to me to be 
 considerably increased in the autumn, probably by 
 wanderers from the Heronries on the south coast 
 of Devon and Dorset ; on the Dart and the Exe, 
 and near Poole. 
 
 The Heron is included in Professor Ansted's list, 
 but only marked as occurring in Guernsey. There 
 is no specimen at present in the Museum. 
 
 129. PURPLE HERON. Ardea purpiirea, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Heron pourpre." The Purple Heron 
 is an occasional accidental wanderer to all the 
 Islands. Mr. MacCulloch writes me word, " I have 
 notes of that beautiful bird, the Purple Heron, being 
 killed here (Guernsey) in May, 1845, and in 1849 ; 
 also in Alderney on the 8th May, 1867." Curiously 
 enough Mr. Kodd records the capture of one, a 
 female, near the Lizard, in Cornwall, late in April 
 of the same year.* When at Alderney this summer 
 (1878) I was told that a Heron of some sort, but 
 certainly not a Common Heron, had been shot in 
 that Island about six weeks before my visit on the 
 27th of June. Accordingly I went the next morning 
 to the birdstuffer, Mr. Grieve, and there I found 
 the bird and the person who shot it, who told me 
 
 * See Zoologist' for 1867, p. 829. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 151 
 
 that it rose from some rather boggy ground at the 
 back of the town that he shot at it and wounded 
 it, but it flew on towards the sea ; and as it was 
 getting rather late he did not find it till next morn- 
 ing, when he found it dead near the place he had 
 marked it down the night before. It was in conse- 
 quence of going to look up this bird that I found 
 the Greenland Falcon before mentioned, which 
 had been shot by the same person. These are 
 all the instances I have been able to collect of the 
 occurrence of the Purple Heron in the Channel 
 Islands. 
 
 It is, however, included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, and marked as occurring in Guernsey, probably 
 on the authority of one of the earlier specimens 
 mentioned by Mr. MacCulloch. There is no speci- 
 men at present in the Museum. 
 
 130. SQUACCO HERON. Ardeola cornuta, Pallas. 
 French, "Heron crabier." I have in my collection 
 a Guernsey-killed specimen of the Squacco Heron, 
 which Mr. Couch informed me was shot in that 
 island in the summer of 1867, and from inquiries 
 I have made I have no doubt this information is 
 correct. Mr. MacCulloch also writes to me to say, 
 "A Squacco Heron was shot in the Vale Parish 
 on the 14th of May, 1867, no doubt the one Couch 
 sent to you." This was duly recorded by me in 
 the ' Zoologist ' for 1872, and is, I believe, the first 
 
152 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 recorded instance of its occurrence in the Channel 
 Islands. 
 
 It is not mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, 
 and there is no specimen in the Museum. 
 
 131. BITTERN. Bot&urus stellaris, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Heron grand butor," " Le grand butor." 
 Bitterns were probably at one time more common 
 in Guernsey than they are at present, drainage 
 and better cultivation having contributed to thin 
 their numbers, as it has done in England ; and 
 Mr. MacCulloch tells me that in his youth they were 
 by no means uncommon. Of late years, however, 
 they have become much more uncommon, though, 
 as he adds, specimens have been shot within the 
 last three or four years. They seem now, however, 
 to be confined to occasional autumnal and winter 
 visitants. Mr. Couch says (' Zoologist' for 1871) : 
 " On the 30th December, 1874, after a heavy fall 
 of snow, I had a female Bittern brought to me to be 
 stuffed, shot in the morning in the Marais ; and on 
 the 2nd of January following another was shot on 
 the beach near the Vale Church. I had also part 
 of some of the quill-feathers of a Bittern sent to 
 me for identification by Mrs. Jago, which had been 
 killed in the Islands the last week in January, 1879." 
 These are the most recent specimens I have been 
 able to get any account of. The birdstuffer in 
 Alderney (Mr. Grieve) and his friend told me they 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 153 
 
 had shot Bitterns in that island, but did not 
 remember the date. 
 
 The Bittern is included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, but only marked as occurring in Guernsey. 
 There is no specimen in the Museum. 
 
 132. AMERICAN BITTERN. Botauriis lentiginosus, 
 Montagu. French, " Heron lentigineux." * This 
 occasional straggler from the New World has once, 
 in its wanderings, reached the Channel Islands, 
 and was shot in Guernsey on the 27th October, 
 1870, and was duly recorded by me in the ' Zoolo- 
 gist ' for 1871 ; it is now in my collection. This is 
 the only occurrence of this bird in the Channel 
 Islands yet recorded ; but as the bird occasionally 
 crosses to this side of the Atlantic several speci- 
 mens having occurred in the British Islands it 
 may possibly occur in Guernsey or some of the 
 Channel Islands again. It may, therefore, be as 
 well to point out the principal distinctions between 
 this bird and the Common Bittern last mentioned. 
 Between the adult birds there can be no mistake : 
 the longer and looser feathers on the fore part of 
 the neck, which are slightly streaked and freckled 
 with dark brown, may be immediately distinguished 
 from the much shorter and more regularly marked 
 feathers on the neck of the adult American Bittern. 
 This distinction, however, is not perfectly clear in 
 
 : '" Temminck, ' Man. d'Ornithologic.' 
 
154 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 young birds ; but, at any age or in any state of 
 plumage, the birds may be immediately distin- 
 guished by the primary quill-feathers, which in the 
 American Bittern are a uniform dark chocolate- 
 brown without any marks whatever, while in the 
 Common Bittern they are much marked and 
 streaked with pale yellowish brown ; this may be 
 always relied on at any age or in any plumage. 
 
 The American Bittern is not mentioned in Pro- 
 fessor Ansted's list, no specimen having been found 
 in the Channel Islands till after the publication of 
 his list, and of course there is no specimen in the 
 Museum. 
 
 133. LITTLE BITTERN. Ardetta rninuta, Linnaeus. 
 French, "Heron Blongios."* I only know of one 
 occurrence of the Little Bittern in the Channel 
 Islands, and that was towards the end of November, 
 1876 ; and Mr. Couch writes to me as follows on 
 the 3rd of December : "A very good Little Bittern 
 was caught alive in the Vale Koad; after being 
 shot at and missed by two men, a young man in 
 the road threw his pocket-handkerchief at it and 
 brought it in to me alive." Mr. Couch also in- 
 formed me, when he forwarded me the specimen, 
 that it was a male by dissection. It is now in my 
 collection, and is a young bird of the year. I am 
 rather sorry that as Mr. Couch got it alive he did 
 
 * See Teinmiuck, ' Man. d'Ornitliologie.' 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 155 
 
 not forward it to me in that state, as, unless it had 
 been wounded by the two shots, I have no doubt I 
 should have been able to keep it alive and observe 
 its habits and changes of plumage as it advanced 
 towards maturity. 
 
 The Little Bittern is included in Professor 
 Ansted's list, and marked as occurring in Guernsey. 
 There is no specimen in the Museum. 
 
 134. SPOONBILL. Platalea le-ucorodia, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Spatule blanche." An occasional but 
 by no means common visitant to the Channel 
 Islands. I have been able to hear of but very few 
 instances of its occurrence or capture of late years ; 
 Mr. Couch, however, writes me, in a letter dated 
 November, 1873, that a Spoonbill was brought to 
 him to stuff. In all probability this is the same 
 bird recorded by Mr. Broughton in the ' Field ' for 
 October 25th, 1873, and in the ' Zoologist ' for 
 January, 1874. This is the only very recent speci- 
 men I have been able to trace ; but Mr. Broughton 
 in his note mentions the occurrence of one about 
 twenty years before ; and Mrs. Jago, who, when 
 she was Miss Cumber, did a good deal of bird- 
 stuffing in Guernsey, told me she had stuffed a 
 Spoonbill for the Museum about twenty years ago. 
 This is probably the other one mentioned by Mr. 
 Broughton, and he may have seen it in the Museum; 
 it is not there, however, now either having become 
 
156 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 moth-eaten, and consequently thrown away, or lost 
 when the Museum changed its quarters across the 
 market-place. Mr. MacCulloch does not seem to 
 consider the Spoonbill such a very rare visitant to 
 the Channel Islands, as he writer to me, "The 
 Spoonbill is not near so rare a visitor as you seem 
 to think ; specimens were killed here in 1844, and 
 in previous years, and again in 1849, and in 
 October, 1873.* They are seldom solitary, but 
 generally appear in small flocks. I forget whether 
 it was in 1844 or 1849 that flocks were reported to 
 have been seen in various parts of England, even 
 as far west as Penzance. I think that in one of 
 these years as many as a dozen were seen here 
 in a flock." Mr. Eodd, in his ' List of the Birds of 
 Cornwall,' does not mention either of these years 
 as great years for Spoonbills, only saying, 
 " Occasionally, and especially of late years, ob- 
 served in various parts of the county ; a flock of 
 several was seen and captured at Gwithian ; others 
 have been obtained from the neighbourhood of 
 Penzance, and also from Scilly." t 
 
 The Spoonbill is included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, and marked as occurring in Guernsey. There 
 is no specimen at present in the Museum, the one 
 stuffed by Miss Cumber having, as above men- 
 tioned, disappeared. 
 
 * The one above mentioned. 
 
 f See ' Zoologist' for 1870, p. 2244. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 15? 
 
 135. WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. Anser albifrons, 
 Scopoli. French, " Oie rieuse, ou a front blanc." 
 None of the Grey Geese seem common in 
 Guernsey ; neither the Greylag, the Bean, nor the 
 Pink-footed Goose have, as far as I am aware, been 
 obtained about the Islands, nor have I ever seen 
 any either alive or in the market, where they would 
 be almost sure to be brought had they been shot by 
 any of the fishermen, or gunners about the Islands. 
 There is one specimen, however, of the White- 
 fronted Goose in the Museum, which I have reason 
 to believe was killed in or near Guernsey ; and this 
 is the only specimen of this Goose which, as far as 
 I am aware, has been taken in the Islands. 
 
 The White-fronted Goose is included in Professor 
 Ansted's list, and marked as occurring in Guernsey. 
 The Greylag and the Bean Goose are also included 
 in the list, the Greylag marked as occurring in 
 Guernsey and Sark, and the Bean as only in 
 Guernsey ; but no information beyond the letter 
 marking the locality is given as to either ; and the 
 only specimen in the Museum is the White-fronted 
 Goose above mentioned, neither of the others being 
 represented there now, nor do I remember ever 
 having seen a specimen of either there. 
 
 136. BRENT GOOSE. Bcrnida brenta, Brisson. 
 French, " Oie cravant," Bernache cravaiit."- 
 The Brent Goose is a regular winter visitant to all 
 
158 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 the Islands, vaiying, however, in numhers in 
 different years : sometimes it is very numerous, and 
 affords good sport during the winter to the fisher- 
 men, who generally take a gun in the boat with 
 them as soon as the close season is over, sometimes 
 before. The flocks generally consist mostly of 
 young birds of the year ; the fully adult birds, 
 however, though fewer in number, are in sufficient 
 numbers to make a very fair show. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but only 
 marks it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark ; 
 it is, however, quite as common about Herm and 
 Alderney. There is no specimen at present in the 
 Museum. 
 
 187. MUTE SWAN. Cygnus olor, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Cygne tubercule." I do not believe this 
 bird has ever visited the Channel Islands in a 
 thoroughly wild state, though it is pretty widely 
 spread over Europe ; its range, however, being 
 generally more to the east than the Channel 
 Islands. Mr. Couch, however, at page 4939 of the 
 ' Zoologist ' for 1874, records the occurrence of two 
 Mute Swans on the 7th of September at the Braye 
 Pond, where they were shot. He also says that 
 " five others passed over the Island the same day ; 
 they were flying low, and, judging from their colour, 
 were young birds." As no one in the Islands keeps 
 Swans, these were most probably a family party 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 159 
 
 that had strayed away from the Swannery at 
 Ahbotsbury, on the opposite coast of Dorset, where 
 some three hundred and fifty pairs still breed 
 annually. I have myself seen as many six hun- 
 dred and thirty birds there, the hens sitting and 
 the old males each resting quietly by the nest, 
 keeping guard over the female and the eggs. 
 The distance from the Abbotsbury Swannery, which 
 is at the extreme end of the Chesil Beach, in 
 Dorsetshire, to Guernsey is nothing great for 
 Swans to wander ; and they often, both old and 
 young (after the young are able to fly), wander away 
 from their home as far as Exmouth on one side 
 and Weymouth Bay or the Needles on the other ; 
 and an expedition to Guernsey would be little 
 more than to one of these places, and by September 
 the young, which are generally hatched tolerably 
 early in June (I have seen a brood out with their 
 parents on the water as early as the 27th of May), 
 would be perfectly able to wander, either by them- 
 selves or with their parents, as far as the Channel 
 Islands, and, as at this time they rove about outside 
 the Chesil Beach a good deal, going sometimes a 
 long way out to sea, there is no reason they should 
 not do so. It seems a great pity that these fine 
 birds should be shot when they wander across 
 channel to Guernsey, especially when it must be 
 apparent to every one that they are really private 
 property. If the present long close season is to be 
 
lf)0 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 continued, the Mute Swan might well be added to 
 the somewhat unreasonable list of birds in the 
 Guernsey Sea-birds Act ; at all events, Swans would 
 be better worth preserving than Plongeons or 
 Cormorants. 
 
 138. HOOPER. Cygnus musieus, Bechstein. 
 French, " Cygne sauvage." The Wild Swan or 
 Hooper* is an occasional visitor to the Channel 
 Islands in hard winters, sometimes probably in 
 considerable numbers, as Mrs. Jago (late Miss 
 Cumber) told me she had had several to stuff in a 
 very hard winter about thirty years ago ; some of 
 these were young birds, as she told me some were 
 not so white as others. Mr. MacCulloch also says 
 that the Hooper visits the Channel Islands in severe 
 winters ; and the capture of one is recorded by a 
 correspondent of the ' Guernsey Mail and Telegraph' 
 for 4th January, 1879, as having been shot in that 
 Island a few days before ; it is said to have been a 
 young bird, grey in colour. The writer of the 
 notice, while distinguishing this bird from the Mute 
 Swan, does not, however, make it so clear whether 
 it was really the present species or Bewick's Swan; 
 from the measurement of the full length (5ft. Sin.) 
 given, however, it would appear that it was the 
 
 * "HucarcT'in Guernsey French (see * Metevier's Dic- 
 tionary,' who also says " Notre Hucard est le Whistling 
 Swan ou Hooper des Anglais." 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 161 
 
 present species, as that would be full length for 
 it, while Bewick's Swan would be about one-third 
 less ; some description of the bill, however, would 
 have been more satisfactory. It would certainly 
 have been interesting to have had some more par- 
 ticulars about this Swan, as this last severe winter 
 (1878 and 1879) has been very productive of Swans 
 in the south-west of England, the greater number 
 of those occurring in this county of Somerset, how- 
 ever, curiously enough, having been Bewick's Swan, 
 which is generally considered the rarer species. 
 Though Swans have been so exceptionally numerous 
 in various parts of England this winter, the above- 
 mentioned is the only occurrence I have heard of 
 in the Channel Islands. 
 
 The Hooper is included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, but marked as only occurring in Guernsey. 
 There are two specimens in the Museum, one adult 
 and one young bird. 
 
 139. BEWICK'S SWAN. Cygnus minor, Keys and 
 Blasius. French, " Cygne de Bewick."* I have 
 very little authority for including Bewick's Swan in 
 my list of Guernsey birds ; Mr. MacCulloch, how- 
 ever, writes me word, " The Common Hooper has 
 visited us in severe winters, and is certainly not the 
 only species of wild Swan that has been shot here." 
 In all probability the other must have been Bewick's 
 
 * See Temminck's ' Man. d'Ornithologie.' 
 
 M 
 
162 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 Swan, which no doubt has occasionally occurred, 
 perhaps more frequently than is supposed, though 
 not so frequently as the Hooper. Probably the 
 difference between the two is not sufficiently known ; 
 it may, therefore, be as well to point out the dis- 
 tinctions. Bewick's Swan is much smaller than 
 the Hooper, but the great outward distinction is, 
 that in the Hooper the yellow at the base of the 
 bill extends to and includes the nostrils, whereas in 
 Bewick's Swan the yellow occupies a very small 
 portion of the base of the bill, not extending so far 
 as the nostrils : this is always sufficient to distin- 
 guish the two, and is almost the only exterior 
 distinction, but on dissection the anatomical struc- 
 ture, especially of the trachea, shows material 
 difference between the two. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes Bewick's Swan in 
 his list, and marks it as occurring in Guernsey. 
 There is, however, no specimen at present in the 
 Museum. 
 
 140. WILD DUCK. Anas boschas, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Canard sauvage." The Wild Duck is 
 an occasional autumn and winter visitant. I have 
 never shot one myself in the Islands, but I have 
 several times seen Gnernsey-killed ones in the 
 market. Though a visitant to all the Islands, I 
 do not believe the Wild Duck breeds, at all events 
 at present, in any of them ; Mr. MacCulloch, how- 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 163 
 
 ever, writes me word " The Wild Duck formerly 
 bred here;" and Mr. Gallienne, in his 'Notes' to 
 Professor Ansted's list, says " The Wild Duck 
 formerly bred in Guernsey rather abundantly, but 
 it seldom does so now. Last year a nest was 
 found on one of the rocks near Herm." This 
 would be about 1861. The rocks to the northward 
 of Herm do not seem to me a likely place for the 
 Wild Duck to breed ; however, there are one or two 
 places where they might possibly do so. A much 
 more likely place would be in some of the reed 
 beds in the Grande Mare, or even amongst the 
 heather and gorse above the high cliffs on the 
 south and east side of the Island, a sort of place 
 they are fond of selecting in this county, Somerset, 
 where they frequently nest amongst the heather 
 high up in the hills, and quite away from any 
 water. 
 
 The Wild Duck is included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, and marked as occurring in Guernsey and 
 Sark. There is no specimen at present in the 
 Museum. 
 
 141. PINTAIL. Dafila acuta, Linnaeus. French, 
 " Pilet," " Canard pilet." The Pintail is an occa- 
 sional autumn and Winter visitant, but never very 
 common. I have one specimen, a female, killed in 
 Guernsey in November, 1871, and this Mr. Couch 
 told me was the only one he had had through his 
 
164 BIEDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 hands whilst in Guernsey ; and Captain Hubbach 
 writes me word that he shot one in Alderney in 
 January, 1863. I have never seen it in the 
 Guernsey market, like the Wild Duck and Teal. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but 
 only marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There is 
 one specimen, a male in full plumage, in the 
 Museum. 
 
 142. TEAL. Querquedula crecca, Linnaeus. French, 
 " SarceUe d'hiver." Like the Wild Duck, the Teal 
 is a regular but never numerous visitant to all the 
 Islands. A few make their appearance in the 
 Guernsey market in October and November, and 
 occasionally through the winter ; but Teal do not, 
 as a rule, add much to the Guernsey sportsman's 
 bag. In November, 1871, a friend of mine told me 
 that, after a long day's shooting from daylight till 
 dark, he succeeded in bagging one Teal and one 
 Woodcock. I was rather glad I was not with him 
 on this occasion, but chose the wild shooting on 
 the shore, where I got one or two Golden Plovers, 
 and Turnstone and Eing Dotterel enough for 
 a pie and, by-the-bye, a very good pie they 
 made. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Teal in his list, 
 and marks it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. 
 There is no specimen in the Museum at present. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 165 
 
 143. EIDER DUCK. Sonwteria mottissinui, 
 French, " Canard eider," " Morillon eider." The 
 Eider Duck occasionally straggles to the Channel 
 Islands in the autumn, but very seldom, and the 
 majority of those that do occur are in immature 
 plumage. I have one immature bird, killed in 
 Guernsey in the winter of 1876 ; and that is the 
 only Channel Island specimen that has come under 
 my notice, and I think almost the only one 
 Mr. Couch had had through his hands. 
 
 The Eider Duck is included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, and marked as occurring in Guernsey. The 
 King Eider is also included in the list, but no letter 
 marking the distribution through the Islands is 
 given, and no information beyond the mere name, 
 so I should think in all probability this must have 
 been a mistake, especially as I can find no other 
 evidence whatever of its occurrence. There is no 
 specimen of either bird in the Museum. 
 
 144. COMMON SCOTER. Oidemia nigra, Linnaeus. 
 French, "Macreuse," " Canard macreuse." The 
 Scoter is a common autumn and winter visitant to 
 all the Islands, generally making its appearance in 
 considerable flocks ; sometimes, however, the flocks 
 get broken up, and single birds may then be seen 
 scattered about in the more sheltered bays. Some 
 apparently remain till tolerably late in the spring 
 as Mr. MacCulloch wrote me word that a pair of 
 
166 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 Scoters were killed in the last week in April, 1878, 
 off the Esplanade; he continues, "I had only a 
 cursory glance of them as I was passing through 
 the market in a hurry, and I am not sure they were 
 not Velvet Scoters. The male had a great deal of 
 bright yellow about the nostrils." Mr. MacCulloch, 
 however, told me afterwards, when I asked him 
 more about them, and especially whether he had 
 seen any white about the wing, that he had not 
 seen any white whatever about them, so I have but 
 little doubt that they were Common Scoters, and 
 he could hardly have failed to be struck by the 
 conspicuous white bar on the wing, by which the 
 Velvet Scoter, both male and female, may imme- 
 diately be distinguished from the Common Scoter. 
 As on the South Coast of Devon or Dorset, a few 
 scattered Scoters non-breeding birds, of course 
 remain throughout the summer. I have one, a 
 male, killed off Guernsey on July 19th : this bird 
 is in that peculiar state of plumage which all the 
 males of the Anatidce put on from about July to 
 October, and in which many of them look so like 
 the females. 
 
 The Common Scoter is included in Professor 
 Ansted's list, and marked only as occurring in 
 Guernsey. The Velvet Scoter is also included in 
 Professor Ansted's list, and marked as occurring 
 in Guernsey ; but there seems to be no other 
 evidence of its having occurred in the Islands ; 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 167 
 
 and a mistake may easily have been made, how- 
 ever, as the Velvet Scoter occurs tolerably frequently 
 on the south coast of Devon, though never in 
 such numbers as the Common Scoter ; it may, of 
 course, occur in the Channel Islands occasionally. 
 There is no specimen of either bird in the 
 Museum. 
 
 145. GOOSANDER. Mergus merganser, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Grand Harle." The Goosander is a 
 regular and tolerably numerous visitant to all the 
 Islands, arriving in the autumn and remaining 
 throughout the winter. The heavy-breaking seas 
 of the Channel Islands do not appear to disturb 
 the composure of these birds in the least, for once, 
 on my voyage home on the 16th November, 1871, 
 I saw a small flock of Goosanders off Herm, close 
 to the steamer ; they were swimming perfectly 
 unconcerned in a heavy-breaking sea, which made 
 the steamer very lively, dipping first one and then 
 the other paddle-box into the water ; as we got 
 close up to them they rose, but only flew a short 
 distance and pitched again in the white water. 
 They seem to me to keep the sea better than the 
 Eed-breasted Merganser at least, I have not seen 
 them seek shelter so much in the different bays. 
 
 The Goosander is included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, but only marked as occurring in Guernsey. 
 There is no specimen in the Museum at present, 
 
168 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 though I think there used to be one, but I suppose 
 it has got moth-eaten and been thrown away. 
 
 146. KED-BREASTED MERGANSER. Mergns ser- 
 rator, Linnaeus. French, " Harle Huppe." Like 
 the Goosander, the Eed-breasted Merganser is 
 a regular and by no means uncommon autumn and 
 winter visitant to the Channel Islands. It seems 
 to me, as I said before, that these birds seek the 
 more sheltered bays during wild squally weather 
 more than the Goosanders do ; not but what they 
 can keep the sea well even in bad weather, but I 
 have never seen or shot the Goosander close to the 
 shore seeking smooth water, as I have done the 
 Eed-breasted Merganser. The greater number of 
 Eed-breasted Mergansers killed in the Channel 
 Islands which I have seen have been either females 
 or males that had not assumed the full adult 
 plumage in fact, in that state of plumage in 
 which they are the " Dun Diver " of Bewick ; full- 
 plumaged adult males do, however, occur as well as 
 females and young males, or males in a state of 
 change. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Eed-breasted 
 Merganser in his list, but only marks it as occur- 
 ring in Guernsey. There are two specimens in the 
 Museum a male in full plumage and a female or 
 young male. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 169 
 
 147. SMEW. Mergus albellus, Linnaeus. French, 
 " Harle piette," "Harle etoile," " Petit harle huppe." 
 The Smew can only be considered an occasional 
 accidental autumnal visitant, and the few that do 
 occur are generally either females, young males, 
 or males still in a state of change. I do not know 
 of t any instance in which a full-plumaged male has 
 occurred in the Channel Islands. 
 
 It is mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, and 
 marked as occurring in Guernsey only. There are 
 two specimens in the Museum, both females or 
 immature males, or, at all events, males which 
 have not begun to assume their proper plumage 
 after the summer change. 
 
 148. LITTLE GREBE. Podiceps minor, Gmelin. 
 French, " Grebe castagneux." The Little Grebe, 
 or Dabchick, occurs occasionally in the Islands, 
 mostly as an autumnal or winter visitant. I have 
 occasionally seen freshly-killed ones hanging up in 
 the market in November ; I have, however, never 
 seen it alive or shot it in the Islands. Mr. Couch, 
 writing to me in December, 1876, told me that 
 Mr. De Putron had told him that Little Grebes had 
 bred in his pond in the Vale the summer before, 
 and Mr. De Putron afterwards confirmed this ; 
 they can only breed there occasionally, however, 
 as there were certainly none breeding there in 1878, 
 when I was there. 
 
170 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 The Little Grebe is included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, and marked by him as occurring in Guernsey 
 only. There are two specimens in the Museum 
 and some eggs, which were said to be Guernsey, 
 and probably were so, perhaps from the Vale Pond. 
 
 149. EARED GREBE. Podiceps nigricollis, Sundeval. 
 French, " Grebe oreillard." The Eared Grebe is 
 an occasional autumnal visitant to the Islands, 
 remaining on till the winter ; it is never very 
 numerous ; in some years, however, it appears to visit 
 the Islands in greater numbers than in others, as 
 Mr. Couch mentions, at p. 4380 of the ' Zoologist' 
 for 1875, that, amongst other grebes, four Eared 
 Grebes were brought to him between the 4th and 
 13th of January. I do not know, however, that 
 it ever occurs at any time of year except the winter 
 and autumn ; and I have never seen a Channel 
 Island specimen in breeding plumage, or even in a 
 state of change. 
 
 The Eared Grebe is included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, but only marked as occurring in Guernsey. 
 There is now no specimen in the Museum. 
 
 150. SCALAVONIAN GREBE. PodlCCpS 
 
 Linnaeus. French, " Grebe cornu ou Esclavon." 
 The Sclavonian Grebe is a regular and rather 
 numerous autumn and winter visitor to all the 
 Islands. In rough weather it may be seen fishing 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 171 
 
 about the harbour at Guernsey when it can find 
 any protection from the rough seas that so often 
 rage all round the Island, and which drive it to 
 seek shelter either about the harbour or some of 
 the more protected bays. I do not know that it 
 has ever bred in the Islands, but there was a very 
 fine specimen in full breeding-plumage at the late 
 Mr. Hellish 's, which I often saw there ; and, on 
 subsequent inquiry from his son, Mr. William 
 Mellish, he wrote in 1878 to me to say, " The 
 Sclavonian Grebe was killed by my brother Alfred 
 at Arnold's Pond, just the other side of the Vale 
 Church to the one on which you were." This 
 Arnold's Pond is the one I have so often mentioned 
 before as Mr. De Putron's. I have not been able 
 to ascertain the exact date at which this bird was 
 killed, but it must have been some time in the 
 spring, as it was in full breeding-plumage. There 
 is also one in full breeding-plumage in the Museum, 
 so it must occasionally stay on some time into the 
 spring. The young birds and adults in winter 
 plumage, when it is the Dusky Grebe of Bewick, 
 are very much like the Eared Grebe in the same 
 state of plumage ; but they may always be dis- 
 tinguished, the Sclavonian Grebe always being 
 rather the larger and having the bill straighter, 
 and making a more regular cone than that of the 
 Eared Grebe, which is slightly turned up. In the 
 
172 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 full breeding-plumage there can be no possibility 
 of confounding the two species. 
 
 The Sclavonian Grebe is included in Professor 
 Ansted's list, but only marked as occurring 
 in Guernsey. There are two specimens in the 
 Museum, one in full breeding-plumage and one in 
 winter plumage. 
 
 151. KED-NECKED GREBE. Podiceps griseigena, 
 Boddaert. French, "Grebe jou-gris." I have 
 never seen a Channel Island specimen of the Eed- 
 necked Grebe in full breeding-plumage as I have 
 the Sclavonian, but it is a tolerably regular autumn 
 and winter visitant, and in some years appears to 
 be the more numerous of the two. Certainly in 
 November, 1875, this was the case, and the Eed- 
 necked Grebe was commoner than either the Great- 
 crested or the Sclavonian Grebe, especially about 
 the Guernsey coast between St. Peter's Port and 
 St. Samson's, where I saw several ; and a good 
 many were also brought into Mr. Couch's about the 
 same time more than usual. One which I obtained 
 had slight traces of the red about the throat 
 remaining, otherwise this one was like the others 
 which I saw in complete winter plumage. 
 
 The Ked-necked Grebe is included in Professor 
 Ansted's list, but only marked as occurring in 
 Guernsey. There is one specimen in the Museum. 
 
BIBDS OF GUERNSEY. 173 
 
 152. GREAT-CRESTED GREBE. Podiceps cristatus, 
 Linnaeus. French. "Grebe huppe." The Great- 
 crested Grebe is a regular autumn and winter 
 visitant to the Channel Islands, but not, I think, 
 in quite such numbers as at Teignmouth and 
 Exmouth and along the south coast of Devon. I 
 have not shot this bird in the Channel Islands 
 myself, nor have I seen it alive : but I have seen 
 several Guernsey-killed specimens. These were all 
 young birds or adults in winter plumage ; and I 
 have one, a young bird of the year, killed in the 
 Guernsey harbour late in November, 1876. 
 
 It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only 
 marked as occurring in Guernsey. There is one 
 specimen, a young bird of the year, in the Museum. 
 
 153. GREAT NORTHERN DIVER. Colymbusglacialis, 
 Linnaeus. French, " Plongeon imbrim."- - The 
 Great Northern Diver is a common autumn and 
 winter visitant to all the Islands, arriving early in 
 November, perhaps even about the last week in 
 October. The earliest date at which I have seen 
 it myself was on the 9th November. A con- 
 siderable majority of these autumnal visitants are 
 young birds of the year, the rest being adults in 
 winter plumage ; but, as is the case on the south 
 coast of Devon, a few occasionally remain so late 
 on in the spring as to have fully attained the 
 breeding-plumage. There is one Guernsey-killed 
 
174 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 specimen in perfect, or nearly perfect, breeding- 
 plumage in the Museum, which I think was killed 
 some time in May by Mr. Peter Le Newry, a well- 
 known fisherman and gunner living in Guernsey, 
 who procured a good many specimens for that 
 establishment, but, unluckily, no note as to date 
 or locality has been preserved ; he told me he had 
 killed this bird late in the spring, but could not 
 when I saw him remember the exact date. It must 
 not be supposed that because this bird occasionally 
 remains in the Islands late into the spring, and 
 assumes its full breeding-plumage before leaving, 
 that it ever remains to breed or avails itself of the 
 protection so kindly afforded to it and its congeners, 
 as well as their eggs, by the Guernsey Bird Act. 
 
 The Great Northern Diver is included in Professor 
 Ansted's list, but only marked as occurring in 
 Guernsey. There are four specimens in the 
 Museum in full breeding plumage and change. 
 
 154. BLACK-THROATED DIVER. Colymbus arcticus, 
 Linnaeus. French, " Plongeon a gorge noir." 
 The Black-throated Diver is a much less common 
 visitor to the Islands than either the Great Northern 
 or Ked-throated Diver ; it does, however, occasionally 
 occur in the autumn and winter ; all the specimens 
 that have been obtained are either immature or in 
 winter plumage, and I do not know of a single 
 instance in which it has been procured in full 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 175 
 
 plumage as the Great Northern has. In the 
 ' Zoologist ' for 1875 Mr. Couch records the oc- 
 currence of a Black-throated Diver on the 19th of 
 January of that year, and of another on the 30th 
 of the same month ; these are the most recent 
 occurrences of which I am aware. No doubt the 
 young Black-throated Diver may be occasionally 
 mistaken for and passed over as the young Northern 
 Diver ; but it may always be known by its much 
 smaller size, being intermediate between that bird 
 and the Eed-throated Diver, from which, however, 
 it may always be distinguished by wanting the 
 white spots on the back and wing-coverts which 
 are always present in the winter plumage of the 
 adult Eed-throated Diver, and the oval marks on 
 the margins of the feathers of the same parts in 
 the young birds of the year. 
 
 The Black-throated Diver is included in Professor 
 Ansted's list, and marked as only occurring in 
 Guernsey. There is one specimen, an immature 
 bird, in the Museum. 
 
 155. KED-THROATED DIVER. Colymbus septentriona- 
 lis, Linnaeus. French, " Plongeon a gorge rouge," 
 " Plongeon cat-marin." The Eed-throated Diver 
 is a regular autumn and winter visitant to the 
 Islands, and rather the most common of the three 
 Divers. As with the Northern Diver, it occasionally 
 remains until it has nearly assumed its full breeding- 
 
176 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 plumage, but it does not occur so frequently in that 
 plumage as it does on the south coast of Devon and 
 Dorset ; indeed I have never found either this bird 
 or the Great Northern Diver so common in the 
 Channel Islands as they are about Exmouth and 
 Teignmouth, even in the ordinary winter plumage ; 
 probably the mouths of rivers were more attractive 
 to them as producing more food than the wild open 
 seas of the Channel Islands. Owing to its various 
 changes of plumage, from age or time of year, the 
 Red-throated Diver has been made to do duty as 
 more than one species, and is the Speckled Diver 
 of Pennant, Montagu and Bewick. 
 
 It is mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, but 
 marked as only occurring in Guernsey. There is 
 no specimen at present in the Museum. 
 
 156. GUILLEMOT. Alca troile, Linnasus. French, 
 " Guillemot a capuchon," " Guillemot troile." 
 The Guillemot is very common about the Channel 
 Islands in Autumn and winter, but is seldom seen 
 during the summer season except near its breeding 
 stations, which, as far as my district is concerned, 
 are very few. It does not breed in Guernsey, Sark, 
 or Herm, or even on the rocky islands to the north 
 of Herm. In Alderney, I am told, it has one small 
 station on the mainland on the side nearest the 
 French coast. I was told of this by the person 
 who shot the Greenland Falcon, and by one or two 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 177 
 
 of the fishermen on my last visit to that Island. 
 I had not time then to visit the place, and on former 
 visits I must quite have overlooked it. Captain 
 Hubbach, however, kindly promised that he would 
 visit the spot, and soon after I left, about the 
 middle of June, 1878, he did so, and his account to 
 me was as follows : " I have been twice along the 
 cliffs with my glass, but have not seen either a 
 Guillemot or Eazorbill. An old boatman here tells 
 me that he took their eggs off the rocks at the 
 French side of Alderney last year (1877), and that 
 they bred there every year. He describes the eggs 
 as ' the same blue and green and white ones with 
 black spots that are on the Ortack Kock.' ' This 
 very much confirms what Mr. Gallienne says, in 
 his notes to Professor Ansted's list " The Kazorbill 
 and Guillemot breed on the Ortack Eock and on the 
 cliffs at Alderney." This Ortack Eock is to the 
 west of Alderney, between Burhou and the Caskets, 
 and a considerable number of Guillemots and 
 Eazorbills breed there, but it is not to be compared 
 as a breeding station for these birds with those at 
 Lundy Island and South Wales. During the 
 summer a few Guillemots, probably non-breeding 
 birds, may be seen at sea round Guernsey, and 
 one or two stragglers may generally be seen when 
 crossing from Guernsey to Sark or Herm. I have 
 never seen the variety called the Einged Guillemot, 
 Alca lacrymans, in the Channel Islands, but, as it 
 
 N 
 
178 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 may occasionally occur, it is as well to mention it, 
 although it is now rightly considered only a variety 
 of the Common Guillemot, from which it differs 
 only in summer plumage, when it has a white ring 
 round the eye, and a white streak passing back- 
 wards from the eye down the side of the neck : 
 this distinction is not apparent in the winter 
 plumage, nor is there any distinction between the 
 eggs. 
 
 The Guillemot is included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, but is only marked as occurring in Guernsey 
 and Sark. There are two specimens in summer 
 plumage in the Museum, and one in winter 
 plumage. 
 
 157. LITTLE AUK. Mergulus alle, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Guillemot nain." The Little Auk can 
 only be considered a rare occasional wanderer to 
 the Channel Islands, generally driven before the 
 heavy autumnal and winter gales. I only know of 
 the occurrence of two specimens : one of these was 
 recorded by Mr. Couch in the ' Zoologist ' for 1875, 
 as having been killed on the 30th January in that 
 year ; and I had a letter from Mr. Couch, dated 
 the 20th December, 1872, in which he informed 
 me that a Little Auk had been taken alive in 
 Guernsey on the 17th of that month : this one 
 had probably, as is often the case, been driven 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 179 
 
 ashore during a gale, and, being too exhausted to 
 rise, had been taken by hand. 
 
 The Little Auk is included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, and marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. 
 There is no specimen at present in the Museum. 
 
 158. PUFFIN. Fratercnla arctica, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Macareux." The Puffin, or Barbelote* 
 as it is called by the Guernsey sailors and in the 
 Guernsey Bird Act, is a regular and numerous 
 summer visitant to the Islands, breeding in con- 
 siderable numbers in many places. None breed, 
 however, in Guernsey itself, or in any of the little 
 rocky islands immediately surrounding it. Some 
 breed on Sark and the islands about it, and a few 
 also on Herm ; but their great breeding quarters 
 about these parts are from the Amfrocques to the 
 north end of Herm. On every one of the little 
 rocky islands between these places, and including 
 the Amfrocques, considerable numbers of Puffins 
 breed, either in holes in the soft soil which has 
 accumulated on some of these islands, or amongst 
 the loose rocks and stones ; these latter, however, 
 are the safest places for the Puffin, as, in spite of 
 the Guernsey Bird Act, which protects the eggs as 
 well as the birds, the Guernsey fishermen are fond 
 of visiting these islands whenever they can for the 
 
 * See also Metivier's Dictionary. 
 
180 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 purpose of what they call "Barbeloting;" and they 
 soon lift up the loose earth with their hands and 
 get at the eggs ; but the Puffins, who have laid in 
 holes in the rocks and amongst loose stones, are 
 much better off, as a good big stone of two or 
 three tons is not so easily moved. I visited all 
 these little islands in the summer of 1878 with 
 Mr. Howard Saunders, and we found all the Puffins 
 who had had eggs in holes in the earth had been 
 robbed almost without an exception ; the others, 
 however, were pretty safe. Besides these islands 
 the Puffins breed in Alderney itself, and on Burhou, 
 where, however, their eggs are robbed nearly as much 
 as in the islands north of Herm, especially the eggs 
 of those who choose holes in the soft earth. The 
 Puffins do not seem to be very regular in their time 
 of nesting ; at least, when I was at Burhou on the 
 14th of June, 1876, I found quite fresh eggs, 
 eggs just ready to hatch, young birds in the down, 
 and young birds just beginning to get a few feathers 
 and almost able to take to the water ; it was fun 
 to see one of these when he had been unearthed 
 waddle off to the nearest hole as fast as his legs 
 could carry him generally, however, coming down 
 every second or third step. The reason for the 
 irregularity in hatching was probably owing to the 
 first brood having been lost, the eggs probably 
 having been robbed. During the breeding season 
 the Puffins keep very close to their breeding-stations, 
 
BIRI)S OP GUBBNSEY. 181 
 
 and do not apparently wander more than a few 
 hundred yards from them even in search of food ; 
 so that, unless you actually visit the islands on 
 which they breed, you can form no idea of the 
 number of Puffins actually breeding in the Channel 
 Islands. The number of Puffins, however, at 
 Burhou seem to me to have considerably diminished 
 of late years, for in the summer of 1866, when 
 going through the Swinge, we passed a great flock 
 of these birds ; " in fact, for more than a mile both 
 air and water were swarming with them."* This 
 certainly was not the case in either 1876 or 1878, 
 though there were still a great many Puffins there ; 
 probably the continued egg-stealing has had some 
 effect in reducing their numbers. After the 
 breeding-season the Puffins seem to leave the 
 Channel Islands for the winter, as they do at 
 Lundy Island and in the British Channel; they 
 may return occasionally, as they do in the Bristol 
 Channel, for a short time in foggy weather ; but I 
 have never seen a Puffin in any of my passages in 
 October and November, or in any boating expedition 
 at that time of year, and I have never heard any 
 of the boatmen talk about Barbelotes being seen 
 about in the winter. An unsigned paper, however, 
 in the ' Star' for April 27th, 1878, mentions Puffins 
 amongst other winter birds ; but I very much doubt 
 their making their appearance in the winter except 
 
 * See note in ' Zoologist' for 1866. 
 
182 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 as accidental visitants ; there is one specimen, 
 however, in the Museum, which, judging by the 
 bill, must have been killed in the winter, or, at all 
 events, to quote Dr. Bureau, " apres la saison des 
 amours." Dr. Bureau, in a very interesting paper* 
 on this curious change, or rather moult, which 
 takes place in the bill of the Puffin, and which has 
 been translated into the ' Zoologist ' for 1878, where 
 a plate showing the changes is given, says that 
 Puffins are cast ashore on the coast of Brittany 
 during the winter, for he says they leave the coast, as 
 I believe they do that of the Channel Islands, and 
 the only indication of their continuing there is that 
 dead birds are rolled on the shore after severe gales 
 in the autumn and winter ; and " these birds are 
 clad in a plumage different to that worn by those 
 we get in the breeding-season. In the orbital 
 region, for instance, they have a spot, more or less 
 large, of a dusky brown ; they have not the red 
 eyelids, nor the horny plates above and below the 
 eye, nor have they they the puckered yellow skin 
 at the base of the bill, and, what is still more 
 remarkable, the bill is differently formed ; it is 
 neither of the same size, shape, nor colour, and 
 the pieces of which it is composed are not even the 
 
 * ' De la Mue du Bee et des Oruements Palpebraux du 
 Macareux Arctique apres la Saison des Amours.' Par le 
 Docteur Louis Bureau ; ' Bulletin de la Societe Zoologique 
 de France.' 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 183 
 
 same. It is small sliced off (trongue) in front, 
 especially at the lower mandible, wanting the pleat 
 (ourlet) at the base, and flattened laterally on a 
 level with the nostrils, where a solid horny skin 
 of a bright lead-colour is replaced by a short 
 membrane." The whole paper by Dr. Bureau on 
 this subject is most interesting, but is much too 
 long for me to insert here ; the nature, how- 
 ever, of the change which takes place must be so 
 interesting to many of my readers who are familiar 
 with the Puffin in its breeding plumage, and who, 
 in spite of the Bird Act, perhaps occasionally enjoy 
 a day's " Barbeloting," that I could not help 
 quoting as much of the paper as would be sufficient 
 to point out the general nature of the change. 
 
 The Puffin is included in Professor Ansted's list, 
 but marked as occurring only in Guernsey and 
 Sark. There are two specimens in the Museum ; 
 one in the ordinary summer plumage, and one 
 apparently in the winter plumage above described ; 
 but it is difficult to be quite certain on the subject, 
 as it has been smeared over with birdstuffer's 
 paint, probably with the view of making it as like 
 the ordinary summer plumage as possible. 
 
 159. EAZORBILL. Alca torda, Linnaeus. French, 
 " Pingouin macroptere." The Kazorbill is not by 
 any means numerous in the Channel Islands, but 
 a few breed about Ortack, and, as has been said 
 
184 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 before, in Alderney, but nowhere else ; and they are 
 by no means so numerous as the Guillemot. It is 
 resident throughout the year, though perhaps more 
 common in the autumn than at any other time. 
 Mr. Harvey Brown,* however, mentions seeing a 
 small flock swim by with the tide, at the north-end 
 of Herm, in January. Mr. MacCulloch writes me 
 word he has a note of a Eazorbill Auk shot in 
 Guernsey on the 14th February, 1847 ; this, of 
 course, is only a young Eazorbill of the previous 
 year, which had not at that time fully developed 
 its bill. 
 
 The Eazorbill is included in Professor Ansted's 
 list, but only marked as occurring in Guernsey. 
 There are two Eazorbills in the Museum, one in 
 summer and one in winter plumage. 
 
 160. CORMORANT. Phalacrocorax carbo, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Grand cormoran." The Cormorant is 
 by no means common in the Islands ; I have never 
 seen it about Guernsey, though I have seen one or 
 two near Herm ; I do not know that it breeds any- 
 where in the Islands, except at Burhou, and there 
 only one or two pairs breed. I was shown the 
 nesting-place just at the opening of a small sort of 
 cavern ; there was, however, only the remains of 
 one egg f that had been hatched, and probably the 
 young gone off with its parents. I, however, 
 
 * 'Zoologist 'for 1869. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 185 
 
 received an adult bird and a young bird of the year, 
 shot in the harbour at Alderney in August of that 
 year, and those are the only Channel Island speci- 
 mens of the Cormorant that I have seen. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Cormorant in his 
 list, and marks it as occurring only in Guernsey 
 and Sark. There is no specimen at present in the 
 Museum. 
 
 161. SHAG. Phalacrocorax graculus, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Cormoran largup." The Shag almost 
 entirely takes the place, as well as usurps the name, 
 of its big brother, as in the Islands it is invariably 
 called the Cormorant. The local Guernsey-French 
 name " Cormoran" is applicable probably to either 
 the Shag or the Cormorant. The Shag is the most 
 numerous of the sea birds which frequent the 
 Islands, the Herring Gull not even excepted, every 
 nook and corner of the high cliffs in all the Islands 
 being occupied by scores of Shags during the 
 breeding-season. They take care, however, to 
 place their nests in tolerably inaccessible places 
 that cannot well be reached without a rope. The 
 principal breeding-places are in Guernsey, about 
 the Gull Cliffs, and from there to Petit Bo, and a 
 few, but not so many, on the rocks between there 
 and Fermain, wherever they can find a place ; none 
 breed on the north or west side of the Island; 
 in Jethou and Herm, and on the rock called 
 
186 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 La Fauconniere, a few also breed, but not so 
 many as in Guernsey, and we did not find any 
 breeding on the Amfrocques or the other rocks to 
 the north of Herm. On Sark they breed in great 
 numbers, mostly on the west side nearest to 
 Guernsey, and on the Isle de Marchant or Brechou, 
 especially on the grand cliffs on both sides the 
 narrow passage which divides that Island from the 
 mainland of Sark, and from there to the Coupee, 
 and from there round Little Sark to the Creux 
 Harbour on the south-east. On the east side, that 
 towards the French coast, there are few or none 
 breeding, the cliffs not being so well suited to 
 them .; a great number breed also on Alderney, on 
 the high cliffs on the south and east, but none on 
 Burhou. The Shags appear to breed rather earlier 
 than the Herring Gulls ; when I was in the Islands 
 in June, 1876, almost all the Shags had hatched, 
 and the young were standing by their parents on 
 the rocks close to their nests. When I visited some 
 of the breeding-places of the Shags on the 27th of 
 May, 1878, neither Gulls nor Shags had hatched, 
 but when I went to the Gull Cliff on the 20th of 
 June I found nearly all the Shags had hatched, 
 though none or very few of the Herring Gulls had 
 done so ; some of the young Shags had left the 
 nests and were about on the water ; others were 
 nearly ready to leave, and several were little things 
 quite in the down. Though it is generally easy to 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 187 
 
 look down upon the Shags on their nests, and to get 
 a good view at a short distance of the eggs and the 
 young, it is, as a rule, by no means easy to get at 
 them without a rope ; in a few places, however, 
 their nests are more accessible, and a hard climb 
 on the rocks, perhaps with a burning sun making 
 them almost too hot to hold, will bring you within 
 reach of a Shag's nest ; but I would not advise any 
 one who tries it to put on his " go-to-meeting 
 clothes," as the deposit of guano on the rocks will 
 spoil anything ; and only let him smell his hands 
 after his exploit they do smell so nice ! One of 
 the parents generally stands by the young after they 
 are hatched, I suppose to prevent them from wan- 
 dering about and falling off the rocks, as the 
 positions of some of them seem very critical, there 
 being only just room for the family to stand ; the 
 other parent is generally away fishing, only return- 
 ing at intervals to feed his family and dry his 
 feathers before making a fresh start ; sometimes 
 one parent takes a turn to stay by the young, and 
 sometimes the other. The usual number of young 
 appeared to be three, sometimes only one or two ; 
 but in these cases it is probable that a young one 
 or two may have waddled off the rock, or got into a 
 crevice from which the parents could not extricate it, 
 accidents which I should think frequently happen ; 
 or an egg or two may have been blown from the 
 nest, or egg or young fallen a victim to some 
 
188 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 marauding Herring Gull during the absence of the 
 parents. The Shag assumes its full breeding- 
 plumage and crest very early ; I have one in perfect 
 breeding-plumage, killed in February ; and Miss 
 C. B. Carey mentions in the 'Zoologist' having 
 seen one in Mr. Couch's shop with its full crest in 
 January. I do not quite know at what time the 
 young bird assumes adult plumage, but I have one 
 just changing from the brown plumage of the young 
 to adult plumage. Many of the green feathers of 
 the adult are making their appearance amongst 
 the brown ones ; this one I shot on the 26th June, 
 1866, near the harbour Goslin, at Sark, near a large 
 breeding- station of Shags and Herring Gulls : if it 
 is, as I suppose, a young bird of the year, it would 
 show a very early change to adult plumage, but of 
 course it might have been a young bird of the 
 previous year ; but, as a rule, young birds of the 
 previous year are not allowed about the breeding- 
 stations, any more than they are by the Herring 
 Gulls. 
 
 The Shag is included in Professor Ansted's list, 
 but curiously enough only marked as occurring in 
 Guernsey. There are two adult specimens and one 
 young bird and one young in down in the Museum. 
 
 162. GANNET. Sula bassana, Linnaeus. French, 
 " Fou de bassan." The Gannet, or Solan Goose, 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 189 
 
 as it is sometimes called, is a regular autumn and 
 winter visitant to all the Islands, but never so 
 numerous, I think, as on the south coast of Devon ; 
 birds, however, in all states of plumage, young birds 
 as well as adults, and in the various intermediate 
 or spotted states of plumage, make their appear- 
 ance. It stays on through the winter, but never 
 remains to breed as it does regularly at Lundy 
 Island. I have seen both adults and young birds 
 fishing round Guernsey, and Mrs. Jago (late Miss 
 Cumber) told me she had had several through her 
 hands when she was the birdstuffer there ; she 
 also wrote to me on the 16th March, 1879, to say 
 a fully adult Gannet had been shot in Fermain Bay 
 on the 15th ; and Mr. Grieve, the carpenter and 
 birdstuffer at Alderney, had the legs and wings of 
 an adult bird, shot by him near that Island, nailed 
 up behind the door of his shop. I do not think, 
 however, that the strong tides, rough seas, and 
 sunken rocks of the Channel Islands suit the fishing 
 operations of the Gannet as well as the smoother 
 seas of the south coast of Devon ; not but what the 
 Gannet can stand any amount of rough sea ; and 
 I have seen it dash after fish into seas that one 
 would have thought must have rolled it over and 
 drowned it, especially as it rose to the surface 
 gulping down its prey. 
 
 It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only 
 
190 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 marked as occurring in Guernsey. There are 
 three specimens, an adult and two young, in the 
 Museum. 
 
 163. COMMON TERN. Sterna fluriatilis, Naumann. 
 French, " Hirondelle de mer," " Pierre garin." 
 The Common Tern is a regular but not numerous 
 spring and autumn visitant to the Islands, some 
 remaining to breed. I do not know that it breeds 
 anywhere in Guernsey itself, but it may do so, for 
 in the Vale in the summer of 1878 I saw more 
 than one pair about the two bays, Grand Havre 
 and L'Ancresse, all through the summer ; some of 
 them certainly seemed paired, but I never could 
 find where their nests were ; some of the others 
 apparently were non-breeding birds, as they did 
 not appear to be paired. These bays and along 
 the coast near St. Samson were the only places in 
 Guernsey itself that I saw the Terns ; there were 
 some also about Herm, but we could not find any 
 nests there ; but Mr. Howard Saunders and myself 
 found a few pairs breeding on one of the rocky 
 islands to the north of Herm ; when we visited 
 them on the 27th June, 1878, we only found four 
 nests, two with two eggs each and two with only 
 one egg each. Probably these were a second laying, 
 the nests having been robbed, as had everything 
 else on these Islands ; there must have been more 
 than four nests there really, as there were several 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 191 
 
 pairs of birds about, but we could not find any other 
 nests ; these four were on the hard rocks, with little 
 or no attempt at a real nest. This was the only 
 one of the small rocky islands on which we found 
 Terns breeding, though we searched every one of 
 them that had any land above water at high tide ; 
 the others, of course, were useless. I had expected 
 for some time that Common Terns did breed on 
 some of these rocks, as I have an adult female in 
 full breeding-plumage, which had been shot on the 
 29th June, 1877, near St. Samson's, which is only 
 about three miles from these Islands, and which 
 certainly showed signs of having been sitting ; and 
 Mr. Jago, the birdstuffer, had one in full breeding- 
 plumage, killed at Herm early in June, 1878 ; but 
 several of the sailors about, and some friends of 
 mine who were in the habit of visiting these islands 
 occasionally, seemed very sceptical on the subject ; 
 but Mr. Howard Saunders and I quite settled 
 the question by finding the eggs, and we also 
 thoroughly identified the birds. The Common Tern 
 seemed to be the only species of Tern breeding on 
 the rocks ; we certainly saw nothing else, and no 
 Common Terns even, except on the one island on 
 which we found the eggs. The autumnal visitants 
 are mostly young birds of the year, some of them, of 
 course, having been bred on the Islands and others 
 merely wanderers from more distant breeding- 
 stations. No young Terns appeared to have flown 
 
192 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 when I left the Islands at the end of July ; at least, 
 I saw none about, though there were several adults 
 about both Grand Havre and L'Ancresse Bay. The 
 same remark applies to Herm, where my last visit 
 to the shell-beach was on the 22nd of July, when I 
 saw several adult Common Terns about, but no 
 young ones with them ; all these were probably 
 birds which had been robbed of one or more 
 clutches of eggs. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Common Tern in 
 his list, but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey. 
 There is one specimen in the Museum, a young 
 bird of the year. 
 
 164. ARCTIC TERN. Sterna macrura, Naumann. 
 French, " Hirondelle de mer arctique."* The 
 Arctic Tern is by no means so common in the 
 Islands as the Common Tern, and is, as far as I 
 can make out, only an occasional autumnal visitant, 
 and then young birds of the year most frequently 
 occur, as I have never seen a Guernsey specimen of 
 an adult bird. I do not think it ever visits the 
 Islands during the spring migration ; I did not see 
 one about the Vale in the summer of 1878, nor did 
 Mr. Howard Saunders and myself recognise one 
 when we visited the rocks to the north of Herm. 
 It may, however, have occurred more frequently 
 than is supposed, and been mistaken for the 
 
 * See Temmiuck, ' Man. d'Ornitliologie.' 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 193 
 
 Common Tern, so it may be as well to point out the 
 chief distinctions : these are the short tarsus of the 
 Arctic Tern, which only measures 0*55 of an inch, 
 whilst that of the Common Tern measures 0*7 of an 
 inch ; and the dark grey next to the shaft on the 
 inner web of the primary quills of the Arctic Tern, 
 which is much narrower than in those of the Common 
 Tern. These two distinctions hold good at all ages 
 and in all states of plumage ; as to fully adult birds 
 in breeding plumage there are other distinctions, 
 the tail of the Arctic Tern being much longer in 
 proportion to the wing than in the Common Tern, 
 and the bill being nearly all red instead of tipped 
 with horn-colour. 
 
 The Arctic Tern is not included in Professor 
 Ansted's list, and there is no specimen at present 
 in the Museum. 
 
 165. BLACK TERN. Hydroclielidon nigra, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Guifette noire," " Hirondelle de mer 
 epouvantail."* The Black Tern is by no means a 
 common visitant to the Islands, and only makes its 
 appearance in the autumn, and then the generality 
 of those that occur are young birds of the year. 
 I have one specimen of a young bird killed at the 
 Vrangue on the 1st October, 1876. It does not 
 seem to occur at all on the spring migration; 
 at least I have never heard of or seen a Channel 
 
 * Temminck, ' Man. d'Ornitliologie.' 
 
 
 
194 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 Island specimen killed at that time of year. 
 As this is a marsh-breeding Tern, it is not at all 
 to be wondered at that it does not, at all events 
 at present, remain to breed in the Islands, there 
 being so few places suited to it, though it is possible 
 that before the Braye du Valle was drained, and 
 large salt marshes were in existence in that part of 
 the Island, the Black Tern may have bred there. 
 I can, however, find no direct evidence of its having 
 done so, and therefore can look upon it as nothing 
 but an occasional autumnal straggler. 
 
 The Black Tern is not included in Professor 
 Ansted's list, and there is no specimen in the 
 Museum. These are all the Terns I have been able 
 to prove as having occurred in the Channel Islands, 
 though it seems to me highly probable that others 
 occur as the Sandwich Tern, the Lesser Tern, and 
 the Koseate Tern (especially if, as I have heard 
 stated, it breeds in small numbers off the coast of 
 Brittany). Professor Ansted includes the Lesser 
 Tern in his list, but that may have been a mistake, 
 as my skin of a young Black Tern was sent to me 
 for a Lesser Tern. 
 
 166. KITTIWAKE. Rissa tridactyla, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Mouette tridactyle." The Kittiwake 
 is a regular and numerous autumn and winter 
 visitant to all the Islands, sometimes remaining 
 till late in the spring, which misled me when I 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 195 
 
 made the statement in the ' Zoologist ' for 1866 
 that it did breed in the Channel Islands ; sub- 
 sequent experience, however, has convinced me 
 that the Kittiwake does not breed in any of the 
 Islands. Captain Hubback, however, informed me 
 that a few were breeding on the rocks to the south 
 of Alderney in 1878, but when Mr. Howard Saunders 
 and I went with him to the spot on the 25th June, 
 we found no Kittiwakes there, all those Captain 
 Hubback had previously seen having probably de- 
 parted to their breeding-stations before our visit, and 
 after they had been seen by him some time in May. 
 Professor Ansted includes the Kittiwake in his 
 list, but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey 
 and Sark. There are two specimens in the Museum, 
 an adult bird and a young one in that state of 
 plumage in which it is the Tarrock of Bewick and 
 some of the older authors. 
 
 167. HERRING GULL. Larus argentatus, Gmelin. 
 French, " Goeland argente," " Goeland a manteau 
 bleu." The Herring Gull is very common, indeed 
 the commonest Gull, and is resident in all the 
 Islands throughout the year, breeding in nearly all 
 of them in such places -as are suited to it. In 
 Guernsey it breeds on the high cliffs, from the 
 so-called Gull Cliff, near Pleinmont, to the Corbiere, 
 the Gouffre, the Moye Point to Petit Bo in 
 considerable numbers ; from Petit Bo Bay to 
 
196 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 St. Martin's Point much more sparingly. In Sark 
 it breeds in considerable numbers ; on Little Sark 
 on both sides of the Coupee, and on nearly all the 
 west side ; that towards Guernsey, especially about 
 Harbour Goslin, a place called the Moye de Moutton 
 near there, which is a most excellent place for 
 watching the breeding operations of this Gull as 
 well as of the Shags, as with a moderate climb on 
 the rocks one can easily look into several nests 
 and see what both old and young are about. On 
 the island close to Sark, called Isle de Merchant, 
 or Brechou, especially on the steep rocky side 
 nearest to Sark ; a great many also breed on and 
 about the Autelets : in fact, almost all the grandest 
 and wildest scenery in Sark has been appropriated 
 by the Herring Gulls for their breeding-places, who, 
 except for the Shags, hold almost undisputed 
 possession of the grandest part of the Island. On 
 the east side, or that towards France, few or no 
 Herring Gulls breed ; the cliffs being more sloping, 
 and covered with grass and gorse, and heather, are 
 not at all suited for breeding purposes for the 
 Herring Gull. A few pairs have lately set up a 
 small breeding- station on the rock before mentioned 
 near Jethou, as La Fauconniere ; a very few also 
 breed on Herm on the south part nearest to Jethou, 
 but none that we could see on the rocks to the 
 north of Herm. A great many breed also in 
 Alderney on the south and east sides, but none on 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 197 
 
 the little island of Burhou, which has heen entirely 
 appropriated by the Lesser Black-backs ; in all 
 these places the Herring Gulls and Shags take almost 
 entire possession of the rocks, the Lesser Black- 
 backs apparently never mixing with them ; indeed, 
 except a chance straggler or two passing by, a Lesser 
 Black-back is scarcely to be seen at any of these 
 stations. The Herring Gull and the Lesser Black- 
 back, though very distinct in their adult plumage, 
 and even before they fully arrive at maturity, as 
 soon as they begin to show the different colour of 
 the mantle, which they do in their second autumn, 
 when a few of either the dark or the pale grey 
 feathers appear amongst the brownish ones of the 
 young bird, are before this change begins very 
 much alike. In the down I think they are almost, 
 if not quite, indistinguishable after that in their 
 first feathers, and up to their first winter they 
 appear to me distinguishable. As far as the 
 primary quills go I do not see much difference ; the 
 shafts, perhaps, of the quills of the Lesser Black- 
 back are darker than those of the Herring, but the 
 difference if anything is very slight ; but the head 
 and neck and the centres of the feathers of the 
 back of the Lesser Black-back are darker, more 
 of a dark smoky brown than those of the Herring 
 Gull : this difference of colour is even more apparent 
 on the under surface, including the breast, belly, 
 and flanks. The shoulder of the wing and the 
 
198 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 under wing-coverts of the Lesser Black-back are 
 much darker, nearly dull sooty black, and much 
 less margined and marked with pale whitey brown 
 than those of the Herring Gull. The dark bands 
 on the end of the tail-feathers of the Lesser Black- 
 back are broader and darker than in the Herring 
 Gull : this seems especially apparent on the two 
 outer tail-feathers on each side ; besides this, there 
 is a slight difference in the colour of the legs, those 
 of the Lesser Black-back showing a slight indication 
 of the yellow of maturity. I have noted these 
 distinctions both from living specimens of both 
 species which I have kept, and noted their various 
 changes from time to time, and from skins of both : 
 unfortunately the two skins of the youngest birds I 
 have are not quite of the same age, one being that of 
 a young Herring Gull, killed at the Needles in August, 
 the other a young Lesser Black-back, killed in 
 Guernsey in December ; but I do not think that this 
 difference of time from August to December, the birds 
 being of the same year, makes much difference in 
 the colour of the feathers ; at least this is my ex- 
 perience of live birds : it is not till the next moult 
 that more material distinctions begin to appear ; 
 after that there can be no doubt as to the species. 
 Two young Herring Gulls which I have, and which 
 I saw in the flesh at Couch's shop just after they 
 had been shot, seem to me worthy of some notice 
 as showing the gradual change of plumage in the 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 199 
 
 Herring Gull ; they were shot on the same day, 
 and appear to me to be one exactly a year older 
 than the other ; they were killed in November, 
 when both had clean moulted, and show examples of 
 the second and third moult. No. 1, the oldest, has 
 the back nearly uniform grey, and the rump and 
 upper tail-coverts white, as in the adult. In No. 2, 
 the younger one, the grey feathers on the back were 
 much mixed with the brownish feathers of the 
 young bird, and there are no absolutely white 
 feathers on the rump and tail-coverts, all of them 
 being more or less marked with brown. The 
 tail in No. 2 has the brown on it collected in large 
 and nearly confluent blotches, whilst that of No. 1 
 is merely freckled with brown. But perhaps the 
 greatest difference is in the primary quills; the 
 first four primaries, however, are much alike, those 
 of No. 1, being a little darker and more distinctly 
 coloured; in both they are nearly of a uniform 
 colour, only being slightly mottled on the inner 
 web towards the base ; there is no white tip to 
 either. In No. 1 the fifth primary has a distinct 
 white tip ; the sixth also has a decided white tip, 
 and is much whiter towards the base, the difference 
 being quite as perceptible on the outer as on the 
 inner web. The seventh has a small spot of brown 
 towards the tip on the outer web, the rest of the 
 feather being almost uniform pale grey, with a 
 slightly darker shade on the outer web, and white 
 
200 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 at the tip ; the eighth grey, with a broad white 
 tip. In No. 2 the fifth primary has no white tip ; 
 the sixth also has no white tip, and not so much 
 white towards the base ; the seventh is all brown, 
 slightly mottled towards the base, and only a very 
 slight indication of a white tip ; and the eighth is 
 mottled throughout. I think it worth while to 
 mention these two birds, as I have their exact 
 dates, and the difference of a year between them 
 agrees exactly with young birds which I have taken 
 in their first feathers and brought up tame. I may 
 also add, with regard to change of plumage owing 
 to age, that very old birds do not appear to get 
 their heads so much streaked with brown in the 
 winter as younger though still adult birds, as a 
 pair which I caught in Sark when only flappers, and 
 brought home in July, 1866, had few or no brown 
 streaks about their heads in the winter of 1877 8, 
 and in the winter of 1878 9 their heads are almost 
 as white as in the breeding-season. These birds 
 had their first brood in 1873, and have bred 
 regularly every year since that time, and certainly 
 have considerably more white on their primary 
 quills than when they first assumed adult plumage 
 and began to breed. Probably this increase of 
 white on the primaries as age increases, even after 
 the full-breeding-plumage is assumed, is always the 
 case in the Herring Gull, and also in both the 
 Lesser and Greater B]ack-backs, thus distinguishing 
 
BIRT>S OF G\TERNSFA T . 201 
 
 very old birds from those which, though adult, have 
 only recently assumed the breeding-plumage. I 
 know Mr. Howard Saunders is of this opinion, 
 certainly as far as Herring Gulls are concerned. 
 Besides the live ones, two skins I have, both of 
 adult birds, as far as breeding-plumage only is 
 concerned, are evidently considerably older than 
 the other. No. 1, the youngest of these, shot in 
 Guernsey in August, when just assuming winter 
 plumage, the head being much streaked, even then, 
 with brown, showing that though adult it was not 
 avery old bird, has the usual white tip on the first 
 primary, below which the whole feather is black on 
 both webs, and below that a white spot on both 
 webs, for an inch ; the white, however, much 
 encroached upon on the outer part of the outer 
 web by a margin of black. In No. 2, probably the 
 older bird, the first primary has the white tip and 
 the white spot running into each other, thus making 
 the tip of the feather for nearly two inches white, 
 with only a slight patch of black on the outer web. 
 On the second primary of No. 1 the white tip is 
 present, but no white spot ; but on the same feather 
 of No. 2 there is a white spot on the inner web, 
 about an inch from the white tip ; this would, 
 probably, in a still older bird, become confluent 
 with the white tip, as in the first primary. I have 
 not, however, a sufficiently old bird to follow out 
 this for certain. In No. 1, the older bird, the pale 
 
'202 BIKDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 grey on the lower part of the feathers also extends 
 farther towards the tip, thus encroaching on the 
 black of the primaries from below as well as from 
 above. I think these examples are sufficient to 
 show that the white does encroach on the black 
 of the primaries as the bird grows older, till at last, 
 in very old birds, there would not be much more 
 than a bar of black between the white tip and the 
 rest of the feather ; and this is very much the case 
 with the tame ones I caught in Sark in 1866, and 
 which are therefore, now in the winter of 1879, 
 twelve and a half years old ; but I do not believe 
 that at any age the black wholly disappears from 
 the primaries, leaving them white as in the Iceland 
 and Glaucous Gulls. The Herring Gull is an ex- 
 tremely voracious bird, eating nearly everything 
 that comes in its way, and rejecting the indigestible 
 parts as Hawks do. Mr. Couch, in the ' Zoologist ' 
 for 1874, mentions having taken a Misseltoe Thrush 
 from the throat of one ; and I can quite believe it, 
 supposing it found the Thrush dead or floating half 
 drowned on the water. I have seen my tame ones 
 catch and kill a nearly full-grown rat, and bolt it 
 whole ; and young ducks, I am sorry to say, 
 disappear down their throats in no time, down and 
 all. They are also great robbers of eggs, no sort 
 of egg coming amiss to them ; Guillemots' eggs, 
 especially, they are very fond of ; this may 
 probably account for there being no Guillemots 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 203 
 
 breeding in Guernsey or Sark, and only a very few 
 at Alderney ; in fact, Ortack being the only place 
 in the Channel Islands in which they do breed in 
 anything like numbers. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Herring Gull in 
 his list, but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey 
 and Sark. There are two, an old and a young bird, 
 in the Museum. 
 
 168. LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. Lams fuscus. 
 Linnaeus. French, " Goeland a pieds jaunes."- 
 The Lesser Black-backed Gull is common in the 
 Islands, remaining throughout the year and breed- 
 ing in certain places. None of these birds breed 
 in Guernsey itself, or on the mainland of Sark, 
 and very few, if any, on Alderney. A few may be 
 seen, from time to time, wandering about all the 
 Islands during the breeding- season ; but these are 
 either immature birds or wanderers from their own 
 breeding- stations. About Sark a few pairs breed 
 on Le Tas* and one or two other outlying islets ; 
 their principal breeding-stations, however, appear 
 to be on the small rocky islands to the north of 
 Herm, on all of which, as far out as the Amfrocques, 
 we found considerable numbers breeding, or rather 
 attempting to do so ; for this summer, 1878, having 
 
 * Le Tas is often written L'Etat, but, as Professor Ansted 
 says, " There can be no doubt it alludes to the form of the 
 rock, viz., ' Tas,' a heap such as is made with hay or corn," 
 
204 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 been generally fine, all these rocks were tolerably 
 easily landed on, and the fishermen had robbed the 
 Lesser Black-backs to an extent which "threatens 
 some day to exterminate them, in spite of the 
 Guernsey Bird Act, which professes to protect the 
 eggs as well as the birds ; but a far better protection 
 for these poor Black-backs is a roughish summer, 
 when landing on these islands is by no means safe 
 or pleasant, and frequently impossible. On Burhou, 
 near Alderney, there are also a considerable number 
 of Lesser Black-backs breeding, though they fare 
 quite as badly from the Alderney and French 
 fishermen as those on the Amfrocques and other 
 islands north of them do from the Guernsey fisher- 
 men. On all these islands the nests of the Lesser 
 Black-backs were placed amongst the bracken, sea 
 stock, thrift, &c., which grew amongst the rocks, 
 and on the shallow soil which had collected in 
 places. When I was at Burhou in 1876 I found 
 Lesser Black-backs breeding all over the Island, 
 some of the nests being placed on the low rocks, 
 some amongst the bracken and thrift ; so thickly 
 scattered amongst the bracken were the nests, that 
 one had to be very careful in walking for fear of 
 treading on the nests and breaking the eggs. On 
 this Island there is an old deserted cottage, some- 
 times used as a shelter by the lessees of the Island, 
 who go over there to shoot a few wretched rabbits 
 which pick up a precarious subsistence by feeding 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. '205 
 
 on the scanty herbage ; on the roof of this cottage 
 several of the Lesser Black-backs perched them- 
 selves in a row whilst I was looking about at the 
 eggs, and kept up a most dismal screaming at the 
 top of their voices. The eggs, as is generally the 
 case with gulls, varied considerably both in ground 
 colour and marking ; some were freckled all over 
 with small spots dark brown, purple, or black ; 
 others had larger markings, principally collected at 
 the larger end ; the ground colour was generally 
 blue, green, or dull olive-green. None of the Gulls 
 had hatched when I was there on the 14th of June, 
 though some of the eggs were very hard set ; and 
 on the 29th of July I received two young birds 
 which had been taken on Burhou ; these still had 
 down on them when I got them, and were then 
 difficult to tell from young Herring Gulls. The 
 distinctions I have mentioned in my note of that 
 bird were, however, apparent, and the slight differ- 
 ence in the colour of the legs is perhaps more easily 
 seen in the live birds than in skins which have 
 been kept and faded into " Museum colour." It is 
 some time, however, before either bird assumes the 
 proper colour, either of the legs or bill, the change 
 being very gradual. After the autumnal moult of 
 1878, however, the dark feathers of the mantle 
 almost entirely took the place of the brownish 
 feathers of the young birds ; the quills, however, 
 have still (February, 1879) no white tips, and the 
 
206 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 tail-feathers are still much mottled with brown. 
 One Lesser Black-back, which I shot near the Vale 
 Church on the 17th of July, 1866, is perhaps 
 worthy of note as being in transition, and perhaps 
 a rather abnormal state of change considering the 
 time of year at which it was shot; it was in a full 
 state of moult ; the new feathers on the head, neck, 
 tail-coverts, and under parts are white ; the tail 
 also is white, except four old feathers, two on each 
 side not yet moulted, which are much mottled 
 with brown. The primary quills had not been 
 moulted, and are quite those of the immature 
 bird, with no white tip whatever. All the new 
 feathers of the back and wing-coverts are the 
 dark slate-grey of the adult, but the old worn 
 feathers are the brownish feathers of the young 
 bird; these feathers are much worn and faded, 
 being a paler brown than is usual in young birds. 
 The legs and bill are also quite as much in a state 
 of change as the rest of the bird. Before finishing 
 this notice of the Lesser Black-back I think it is 
 worth while to notice that it selects quite a different 
 sort of breeding-place to the Herring Gull ; the 
 nests are never placed on ledges on the steep 
 precipitous face of the cliffs, but amongst the 
 bracken and the flat rocks, as at Burhou, the only 
 rather steep rock I have seen any nests on was at 
 the Amfrocques, but there they were on the flattish 
 top of the rock, and not on ledges on the side. 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 207 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Lesser Black- 
 backed Gull in his list, but only marks it as 
 occurring in Guernsey. There is one specimen in 
 the Museum. 
 
 169. COMMON GULL. Larus canus, Linnaeus. 
 French, " Goeland cendre," " Mouette a pieds 
 bleus,"* " La Mouette d'Hiver."t The Common 
 Gull, though by no means uncommon in the 
 Channel Islands during the winter, never remains 
 to breed there, nor does it do so, I believe, any 
 where in the West of England, certainly not in 
 Somerset or Devon, as stated by Mr. Dresser in 
 the * Birds of Europe, 'fide the Eev. M. A. Mathew 
 and Mr. W. D. Crotch, who must have made some 
 mistake as to its breeding in those two counties ; 
 in Cornwall it is said to breed, by Mr. Dresser, on 
 the authority of Mr. Kodd. Mr. Dresser, however, 
 does not seem to have had his authority direct from 
 either of these gentlemen, and only quotes it from 
 Mr. A. G. More. Mr. Kodd, however, in his 
 ' Notes on the Birds of Cornwall,' published in the 
 ' Zoologist ' for 1870, only says, " Generally dis- 
 tributed in larger or smaller numbers along or near 
 our coasts," which would be equally true of the 
 Channel Islands, although it does not breed there ; 
 however, as Mr. Eodd is going to publish his 
 interesting notes on the Birds of Cornwall in a 
 
 * See Temminck's ' Man. d'Ornithologie.' 
 f Buffon. 
 
208 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 separate form, it is much to be hoped that he will 
 clear that matter up as far as regards that county 
 and the Scilly Islands. Like the Herring and 
 Lesser Black-hacked Gull, the Common Gull goes 
 through several changes of plumage before it arrives 
 at maturity ; like them it begins with the mottled 
 brownish stage, and gradually assumes the blue- 
 grey mantle of maturity ; in the earlier stages the 
 primaries have no white spots at the tips. The 
 legs and bill, which appear to go through more 
 changes than in other Gulls, are in an intermediate 
 state bluish grey (which accounts for Temminck's 
 name mentioned above) before they assume the 
 pale yellow of maturity : although at this time 
 they have the mantle quite as in the adult, there is 
 a material difference in the pattern of the primary 
 quills, and they do not appear to breed till their 
 bills have become quite yellow and their legs a pale 
 greenish yellow. I cannot quite tell at what age 
 the Common Gull begins to breed, for, although I 
 have a pair which have laid regularly for the last 
 two years (they have not, however, hatched any 
 young, which perhaps is the fault of the Herring 
 Gulls, whom I have several times caught sucking 
 their eggs), I do not know what their age was when 
 I first had them as I did the Herring Gulls from 
 Sark and the Lesser Black-backs from Burhou ; 
 I can only say when I first had them they had the 
 bills and legs blue ; in fact they were in the state in 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 209 
 
 which they are the "Mouette a pieds bleus" of 
 Temminck. 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Common Gull in 
 his list, and marks it as occurring in Guernsey 
 and Sark. There is no specimen in the Museum. 
 
 170. GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. Larus inarinus, 
 Linnaeus. French, " Goeland a manteau noir." 
 The Great Black-backed Gull is by no means so 
 numerous in the Channel Islands as the Herring 
 Gull and the Lesser Black-back, and is here as 
 elsewhere a rather solitary and roaming bird. A 
 few, however, remain about the Channel Islands, 
 and breed in places which suit them, such as 
 Ortack, which I have before mentioned, as the 
 breeding-place of the Eazorbill and Guillemot ; and 
 we found one nest on one of the rocks to the north 
 of Herm, but it had been robbed, as had all the 
 other Gulls' nests about there ; we saw, however, 
 the old birds about, and Mr. Howard Saunders 
 found one nest on the little Island of Le Tas, close 
 to Sark; it was quite on the top of the Island, 
 and there were young in it. I have one splendid 
 adult bird, shot near the harbour in Guernsey, in 
 March : I should think this is rather an old 
 bird, as, although there are slight indications of 
 winter plumage on the head, the white tips of the 
 primaries are very large, that of the first extending 
 
210 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 fully two inches and a half, which is considerably 
 more than that of a fully adult bird I have from 
 Lundy Island. The Great Black-backed Gull is 
 sufficiently common and well known to have a local 
 name in Guernsey-French (Hublot or Ublat), for 
 which see ' Metivier's Dictionary.' 
 
 Professor Ansted includes the Great Black- 
 backed Gull in his list, and marks it as only 
 occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There are three 
 specimens in the Museum an adult bird, a young 
 one, and a young one in down, with the feathers 
 just beginning to show. In the young bird the 
 head and neck were mottled and much like those 
 of a young Herring Gull in the same state ; the 
 back, thighs, and under parts do not appear so 
 much spotted as in the young Herring Gull ; the 
 feathers on the scapulars and wing-coverts were 
 just beginning to show two shades of brown, as in 
 the more mature state ; the same may be said of 
 the primary quills, which were also just beginning 
 to make their appearance ; the tail, which was only 
 just beginning to show, was nearly black, margined 
 with white. 
 
 171. BROWN-HEADED GULL. Larus ridibundus, 
 
 Linnseus. French, " Mouette rieuse."* This 
 
 pretty little Gull is a common autumn and winter 
 
 visitant to all the Islands, remaining on to the 
 
 * See Temminck's ' Man. d'Ornitliologie.' 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 spring, but never breeding in any of them, though 
 a few young and non-breeding birds may be seen 
 about at all times of the summer, especially about 
 the harbour. Being a marsh-breeding Gull, and 
 selecting low marshy islands situated for the most 
 part in inland fresh-water lakes and large pieces of 
 water, it is not to be wondered at that it does not 
 breed in the Channel Islands, where there are no 
 places either suited to its requirements or where 
 it could find a sufficient supply of its customary 
 food during the breeding-season. Very soon after 
 they have left their breeding-stations, however, 
 both old and young birds may be seen about the 
 harbours and bays of Guernsey and the other 
 islands seeking for food, in which matter they are 
 not very particular, picking up any floating rubbish 
 or nastiness they may find in the harbour. The 
 generality of specimens occurring in the Channel 
 Islands are in either winter or immature plumage, 
 very few having assumed the dark-coloured head 
 which marks the breeding plumage. This dark 
 colour of the head, which is sometimes assumed as 
 early as the end of February, comes on very rapidly, 
 not being the effect of moult, but of a change of 
 colour in the feathers themselves, the dark colour- 
 ing-matter gradually spreading over each feather 
 and supplanting the white of the winter plumage ; 
 a few new feathers are also grown at this time to 
 replace any that have been accidentally shed 
 
212 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 these come in the dark colour. The young birds 
 in their first feathers are nearly brown, but the 
 grey feathers make their appearance amongst the 
 brown ones at an earlier stage than in most other 
 gulls. The primary quills, which are white in the 
 centre with a margin of black, vary also a good deal 
 with age, the black margins growing narrower and 
 the white in places extending through the black 
 margin to the edge, so that in adult birds the black 
 margins are not so complete as in younger 
 examples. 
 
 Professor Ansted mentions the Laughing Gull in 
 his list, by which I presume he means the present 
 species, and marks it as only occurring in Guernsey. 
 There is no specimen in the Museum. As it is just 
 possible that the Mediterranean Black-headed Gull, 
 Larus uielanocepJialus, may occur in the Islands, 
 as it does so in France as far as Bordeaux, and has 
 once certainly extended its wanderings as far as the 
 British Islands, it may be worth while to point out 
 the principal distinctions. In the adult bird the 
 head of L. melanoceplialus in the breeding-season is 
 black, not brown as in L. ridibundus, and the first 
 three primaries are white with the exception of a 
 narrow streak of black on the outer web of the 
 first, and not white with a black margin as in 
 L. ridibundus. In younger birds, however, the 
 primaries are a little more alike, but the first 
 primary of L. melanoceplialus is black or nearly so ; 
 in this state Mr. Howard Saunders has given plates 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 213 
 
 of the first three primaries of />. melanocephalus and 
 L. ridibnndtis, both being from birds of the year 
 shot about March, in his paper on the Larince, 
 published in the ' Proceedings of the Zoological 
 Society' for the year 1878. 
 
 172. LITTLE GULL. Larus mimttus, Pallas. 
 French, " Mouette pygmee." I have never met 
 with this bird myself in the Channel Islands, nor 
 have I seen a Channel Island specimen, but 
 Mr. Harvie Brown, writing to the ' Zoologist' from 
 St. Peter's Port, Guernsey, under date January 
 25th, says, " In the birdstuffer's shop here I saw 
 a Little Gull in the flesh, which had been shot a 
 few days ago."* Mr. Harvie Brown does not give 
 us any more information on the subject, and does 
 not even say whether the bird was a young bird or 
 an adult in winter plumage ; but probably it was 
 a young bird of the year in that sort of young 
 Kittiwake or Tarrock plumage in which it occa- 
 sionally occurs on the south coast of Devon. 
 
 Professor Ansted does not include the Little 
 Gull in his list, and there is no specimen in the 
 Museum. 
 
 173. GREAT SHEARWATER. Pujfinus major, Faber. 
 French, " Puffin majeur."t I think I may fairly 
 
 * See ' Zoologist' for 1869, p. 1560. 
 
 f See Temminck, ' Man. cl'Ornitliologie,' 
 
214 . BIRDS OF GUETCNRFA*. 
 
 include the Great Shearwater in my list as an 
 occasional wanderer to the Islands, as, although 
 I have not a Channel Island specimen, nor have I 
 seen it near the shore or in any of the hays, 
 I did see a small flock of four or five of these birds 
 in July, 1866, when crossing from Guernsey to 
 Torquay. We were certainly more than the 
 Admiralty three miles from the land; hut had 
 scarcely lost sight of Guernsey, and were well 
 within sight of the Caskets, when we fell in with 
 the Shearwaters. They accompanied the steamer 
 for some little way, at times flying close up, and 
 I had an excellent opportunity of watching them 
 both with and without my glass, and have therefore 
 no doubt of the species. There was a heavyish 
 sea at the time, and the Shearwaters were generally 
 flying under the lee of the waves, just rising suffi- 
 ciently to avoid the crest of the wave when it 
 broke. They flew with the greatest possible ease, 
 and seemed as if no sea or gale of wind would hurt 
 them ; they never got touched by the breaking sea, 
 but just as it appeared curling over them they rose 
 out of danger and skimmed over the crest ; they 
 never whilst I was watching them actually settled 
 on the water, though now and then they dropped 
 their legs just touching the water with their 
 feet. 
 
 The Great Shearwater is not mentioned in 
 
TURDS OF GUERNSEY. "21 T) 
 
 Professor Ansted's list, and there is no specimen 
 in the Museum. 
 
 174. MANX SHEARWATER. Paffimis anglortun, 
 Temminck. French, " Petrel Manks." The Manx 
 Shearwater can only be considered as an occasional 
 wanderer to the Channel Islands, and never by 
 any means so common as it is sometimes on the 
 opposite side of the Channel about Torbay, especially 
 in the early autumn. I have one Guernsey speci- 
 men, however, killed near St. Samson's on the 
 28th September, 1876.* As far as I can make out 
 the Manx Shearwater does not breed in any part 
 of the Channel Islands, but being rather of nocturnal 
 habits at its breeding-stations, and remaining in 
 the holes and under the rocks where its eggs are 
 during the day, it may not have been seen during 
 the breeding- season ; but did it breed anywhere in 
 the Islands more birds, both old and young, would 
 be seen about in the early autumn when the young 
 first begin to leave their nests ; and the Barbelotters 
 would occasionally come across eggs and young 
 birds when digging for Puffins' eggs. 
 
 The Manx Shearwater is not included in Pro- 
 fessor Ansted's list, and there is no specimen in 
 the Museum. 
 
 * This is since my note to Mr. Dresser, published in his 
 ' Birds of Europe,' when I said I had never seen it in the 
 Channel Islands, although it probably occasionally occurred 
 there. 
 
216 BIEDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 175. FULMAR PETREL. Falmarus glacialis, Lin- 
 naeus. French, " Petrel fulmar." The Fulmar 
 Petrel, wandering bird as it is, especially during 
 the autumn, at which time of year it has occurred 
 in all the western counties of England, very seldom 
 finds its way to the Channel Islands, as the only 
 occurrence of which I am aware is one which I 
 picked up dead on the shore in Cobo Bay on the 
 14th of November, 1875, after a very heavy gale. 
 In very bad weather, and after long-continued gales, 
 this bird seems to be occasionally driven ashore, 
 either owing to starvation or from getting caught in 
 the crest of a wave when trying to hover close over 
 it, after the manner of a Shearwater, as this is 
 the second I have picked up under nearly the same 
 circumstances, the first being in November, 1866, 
 when I found one not quite dead on the shore near 
 Dawlish, in South Devon. It must be very seldom, 
 however, that the Fulmar visits the Channel Islands, 
 as neither Mr. Couch nor Mrs. Jago had ever had 
 one through their hands, and Mr. MacCulloch 
 has never heard of a Channel Island specimen 
 occurring. 
 
 It is not included in Professor Ansted's list, and 
 there is no specimen in the Museum. 
 
 176. STORM PETREL. Thalassidroma pclagica, 
 Linnaeus. French, " Thalassidrome tempete." 
 Mr. Gallienne, in his remarks published with 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 217 
 
 Professor Ansted's list, says, " The Storm Petrel 
 breeds in large numbers in Burhou, a few on the 
 other rocks near Alderney, and occasionally on the 
 rocks near Herm ; these are the only places where 
 they breed, although seen and occasionally killed 
 in all the Islands." I can add to these places 
 mentioned by Mr. Gallienne the little island, 
 frequently mentioned before, near Sark, Le Tas, 
 where Mr. Howard Saunders found several breeding 
 on the 24th June, 1878. I could not accompany 
 him on this expedition, so he alone has the honour 
 of adding Le Tas to the breeding-places of the 
 Storm Petrel in the Channel Islands, and he very 
 kindly gave me the two eggs which he took on that 
 occasion. When I visited Burhou in June, 1876, 
 I was unsuccessful in finding more than part of a 
 broken egg and a wing of a dead bird. But 
 Colonel L 'Estrange, who had been there about a 
 fortnight before, found two addled eggs, but saw no 
 birds. I thought at the time that I had been too 
 late and the birds had departed, but this does not 
 seem to have been the case, as Captain Hubback 
 wrote to me in July of this year (1878), and said, 
 " Do you not think that perhaps you were early 
 on the 14th of June ? Of the six eggs I took on the 
 2nd of July this year, two were quite fresh, three hard- 
 sat, and one deserted." I have no doubt he was 
 right, as the wing of the dead bird I found was, no 
 doubt, that of one that had come to grief the year 
 
218 BIRDS OP GUERNSEY. 
 
 before, and the egg was one which had been sat 
 on and hatched, and might therefore have been one 
 of the previous year; and the same, possibly, 
 might have been the case with Col. L'Estraiige's 
 two addled eggs. It appears, however, to be rather 
 irregular in its breeding habits, nesting from the 
 end of May to July or August. In Burhou the 
 Storm Petrel bred mostly in holes in the soft black 
 mould, which was also partly occupied by Puffins 
 and Babbits, but occasionally under large stones 
 and rocks. We did not find any breeding on the 
 islands to the north of Herm, but they may do so 
 occasionally, in which case their eggs would 
 probably be mostly placed under large rocks and 
 stones, where the Puffins find safety from the 
 attacks of the various egg-stealers. At other times 
 of year than the breeding-season, the Storm Petrel 
 can only be considered an occasional storm-driven 
 visitant to the Islands. 
 
 It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and 
 marked as occurring in Alderney, Sark, Jethou, 
 and Herm. 
 
 With this bird ends my list of the Birds of 
 Guernsey and the neighbouring Islands. It con- 
 tains notices of only 176 birds, 21 less than 
 Professor Ansted's list, which contains 197 ; but it 
 seems to me very doubtful whether many of these 
 21 species have occurred in the Islands. I can 
 find no other evidence of their having done so 
 
BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 219 
 
 than the mere mention of the names in that list, 
 as, except the few mentioned in Mr. Gallienne's 
 notes, no evidence whatever is given of the when 
 and where of their occurrence ; and we are not 
 even told who was responsible for the identification 
 of airy of the birds mentioned. I have no doubt, 
 however, that anyone resident in the Islands for some 
 years, and taking an interest in the ornithology of the 
 district, would be able to add considerably to my 
 list, as Miss C. B. Care}', had she lived, would no 
 doubt have enabled me to do. I think it very 
 probable, mine having been only flying visits, 
 though extending over several years and at various 
 times of year, I may have omitted some birds, espe- 
 cially amongst the smaller Warblers and the Pipits, 
 and perhaps amongst the occasional Waders. There 
 is one small family the Skuas entirely unre- 
 presented in my list ; I am rather surprised at this 
 as some of them, especially the Pomatorhine or, 
 as it is perhaps better known, the Pomerine Skua, 
 Stercorarius pomatorhinus, and Richardson's Skua, 
 Stercorarius crepidatus, are by no means uncommon 
 on the other side of the Channel, about Torbay, 
 during the autumnal migration ; but I have never 
 seen either species in the Island, nor have I seen 
 a Channel Island skin, nor can I find that either 
 the birdstuffers or the fishermen and the various 
 shooters know anything about them. I have there- 
 
220 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 
 
 fore, though I think it by no means unlikely that 
 both birds occasionally occur, thought it better to 
 omit their names from my list. 
 
 Professor Ansted has only mentioned one of the 
 family the Great Skua, Stercorarius catarrhactes, 
 in his list, which also may occasionally occur, as 
 may Buffon's Skua, Stercorarius parasitic us ; but 
 neither of these seem to me so likely to occur as 
 the two first-mentioned, not being by any means so 
 common on the English side of the Channel. 
 
 In bringing my labours to a conclusion I must 
 again thank Mr. MacCulloch and others, who have 
 assisted me in my work either by notes or by helping 
 in out -door work. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Auk, Little, 178 
 
 Bittern, 152 
 Bittern, American, 153 
 Bittern, Little, 154 
 Blackbird, 34 
 Blackcap, 52 
 Brambling, 72 
 Bullfinch, 79 
 Bunting, 70 
 Bunting, Snow, 70 
 Bunting, Yellow, 71 
 Bustard, Little, 117 
 Buzzard, Common, 14 
 Buzzard, Eougli-legged, 14 
 
 Chaffinch, 72 
 Chiffchaff, 53 
 Chough, 84 
 Coot, Common, 116 
 Cormorant, 184 
 Crake, Spotted, 114 
 Creeper, 59 
 Crossbill, Common, 80 
 Crow, 88 
 Crow, Hooded, 89 
 Cuckoo, 97 
 Curlew, 132 
 
 Dipper, 30 
 
 Diver, Black-throated, 174 
 
 Diver, Great Northern, 17o 
 
 Diver, Red-throated, 175 
 
 Dotterel, 122 
 
 Dotterel, Ring, 123 
 
 Dove, Rock, 110 
 Dove, Turtle, 111 
 Duck, Eider, 165 
 Duck, Wild, 162 
 Dunlin, 145 
 
 Eagle, White-tailed, 1 
 
 Falcon, Greenland, 5 
 Falcon, Iceland, 6 
 Falcon, Peregrine, 8 
 Fieldfare, 34 
 Flycatcher, Spotted, 24 
 
 Gannet, 188 
 
 Godwit, Bar-tailed, 137 
 
 Goldfinch, 76 
 
 Goosander, 167 
 
 Goose, Brent, 157 
 
 Goose, White-fronted, 157 
 
 Grebe, Eared, 170 
 
 Grebe, Great Crested, 173 
 
 Grebe, Little, 169 
 
 Grebe, Red-necked, 172 
 
 Grebe, Sclavoniaii, 170 
 
 Greenfinch, 76 
 
 Greenshank, 139 
 
 Guillemot, 176 
 
 Gull, Brown-headed, 210 
 
 Gull, Common, 207 
 
 Gull, Great Black-backed, 209 
 
 Gull, Herring, 195 
 
 Gull, Lesser Black - backed, 
 
 203 
 Gull, Little, 213 
 
222 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Harrier, Hen, 17 
 Harrier, Marsh, 16 
 Harrier, Montagu's, 18 
 Hawfinch, 75 
 Hawk, Sparrow, 13 
 Hedgesparrow, 37 
 Heron, 148 
 Heron, Purple, 150 
 Heron, Squacco, 151 
 Hobby, 10 
 Hooper, 160 
 Hoopoe, 95 
 
 Jackdaw, 86 
 
 Kestrel, 12 
 Kingfisher, 101 
 Kittiwake, 194 
 Knot, 144 
 
 Landrail, 115 
 Lark, Sky, 68 
 Linnet, 78 
 
 Magpie, 91 
 Martin, 106 
 Martin, Sand, 107 
 Merganser, Red-breasted, 168 
 Merlin, 10 
 Moorhen, 115 
 
 Nightjar, 102 
 
 Oriole, Golden, 25 
 Osprey, 3 
 Ouzel, Eing, 36 
 Ouzel, Water, 30 
 Owl, Barn, 22 
 Owl, Long-eared, 20 
 Owl, Short-eared, 21 
 Oystercatcher, 130 
 
 Peewit, 120 
 Petrel, Fulmar, 216 
 Petrel, Storm, 216 
 Phalarope, Grey, 147 
 
 Pigeon, Wood, 108 
 Pintail, 163 
 Pipit, Meadow, 67 
 Pipit, Eock, 67 
 Pipit, Tree, 66 
 Plover, Golden, 122 
 Plover, Grey, 121 
 Plover, Kentish, 125 
 Puffin, 179 
 Purre, 145 
 
 Quail, 112 
 
 Eail, Water, 113 
 Eaven, 87 
 Eazorbill, 183 
 Redshank, 134 
 Eedstart, 38 
 Redstart, Black, 39 
 Eedwing, 33 
 Eobin, 38 
 Eook, 90 
 Euff, 139 
 
 Sanderling, 147 
 Sandpiper, Common, 136 
 Sandpiper, Curlew, 145 
 Sandpiper, Green, 135 
 Scoter, Common, 165 
 Shag, 185 
 
 Shearwater, Great, 213 
 Shearwater, Manx, 215 
 Shrike, Eed-backed, 23 
 Siskin, 77 
 Smew, 169 
 Snipe, 142 
 Snipe, Jack, 144 
 Snipe, Solitary, 141 
 Sparrowhawk, 13 
 Sparrow, House, 74 
 Sparrow, Tree, 73 
 Spoonbill, 155 
 Starling, Common, 82 
 Stint, Little, 146 
 Stonechat, 41 
 Swallow, 106 
 
INDEX. 
 
 228 
 
 Swan, Bewick's, 161 
 Swan, Mute, 158 
 Swan, Wild, 160 
 Swift, 104 
 
 Teal, 164 
 
 Tern, Arctic, 192 
 
 Tern, Black, 193 
 
 Tern, Common, 190 
 
 Tit, Blue, 60 
 
 Tit, Great, 59 
 
 Tit, Long-tailed, 61 
 
 Thick-knee, 18 
 
 Thrush, Song, 33 
 
 Thrush, Mistletoe, 31 
 
 Turnstone, 127 
 
 Warbler, Dartford, 49 
 Warbler, Keed, 44 
 Warbler, Sedge, 48 
 
 Wagtail, Grey, 64 
 Wagtail, Pied, 62 
 Wagtail, White, 63 
 Wagtail, Yellow, 65 
 Waxwing, 62 
 Wheatear, 43 
 Whimbrel, 133 
 Whinchat, 43 
 Whitethroat, 50 
 Whitethroat, Lesser, 52 
 Woodcock, 140 
 Woodpecker, Lesser Spotted, 
 
 91 
 
 Wren, 58 
 
 Wren, Fire-crested, 55 
 Wren, Golden-crested, 54 
 Wren, Willow, 53 
 , Wryneck, 94 
 
 i Yellowhammer, 71 
 
 WEST, NEWMAN ANU CO., FBINTEBS, 54 HATTON UAHDEN.