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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:44:37 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:44:37 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/14473-0.txt b/14473-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a6d4529 --- /dev/null +++ b/14473-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5601 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14473 *** + +BIRDS OF GUERNSEY + +AND THE NEIGHBOURING ISLANDS + +ALDERNEY, SARK, JETHOU, HERM; + + +BEING A SMALL CONTRIBUTION TO +The Ornitholony of the Channel Islands + + +BY + +CECIL SMITH, F.Z.S., + +MEMBER OF THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGIST'S UNION. + + +LONDON: +R.H. PORTER, 6, TENTERDEN STREET, +HANOVER SQUARE. +1879. + + + + +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. Gäetke 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, are in my own collection; and others I +have seen either in the flesh or only recently skinned in the +bird-stuffers' shops. For a few, of course, I have been obliged to rely +on the evidence of others; some of these may appear, perhaps, rather +questionable,--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 maybe 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 ornithologist, he was obliged +to rely in a great measure on information received from others, and this +apparently was not always very reliable, and he 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_[1] 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 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 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 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[2] was +separated from the mainland by an arm of the sea, left dry at low water, +extending from St. Samson's to the Vale Church. This was bordered by +salt 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 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 replaced 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 say that +within the last few years miles of glasshouses 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 +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 Rails, 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 hedgerow 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 known as the Forest Road, there is +little or no hedgerow 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 +sufficiently numerous) in their old breeding-stations, 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 exterminate 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 côtes des Isles de cet +Bailliage a considerablement diminué depuis plusieurs années; que les +dits oiseaux sont utiles aux pêcheurs, 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 durée des brouillards la +proximite des rochers," goes on to enact as follows:--"Il est défendu de +prendre, enlever ou détruire les ceufs des oiseaux de mer dans toute +I'entendue de la jurisdiction de cette isle, sur la peine d'une amende +qui ne sera pas moindre de sept livres tournois et n'excédera pas trente +livres tournois."[3] Sec. 2 enacts, "Depuis ce jour[4] au 15 Octobre +prochain, il est défendu de tuer, blesser, prendre ou chasser les +oiseaux de mer dans toute l'entendue de la jurisdiction de cette isle." +Sec. 3, "Ceux qui depuis ce jour au 15 Octobre prochain auront été +trouvés en possession d'un oiseau de mer récemment tué, blessé ou pris, +ou qui auront été trouvés en possession de plumage frais appartenant +d'un oiseau de mer seront censés avoir tué, blessé ou pris tel oiseau de +mer sauf è eux de prouver le contraire. Pareillement ceux qui depuis ce +jour au 15 Octobre prochain auront été trouvés en possession d'un oeuf +de l'annee d'un oiseau de mer seront censés avoir pris et enleve le dit +oeuf sauf à 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 +follows:--Les Mauves Mouettes, Pingouins, Guillemots, Cormorans, +Barbelotes, Hirondelles de mer, Pies-marants, Petrel, Plongeons, Grebes, +Puffins, Dotterells, Alouettes de mer, Toumpierres, Gannets, Courlis et +Martin pêcheur. + +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 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 unable 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 +_Projet de loi_ the Gazette says, "Il 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 nombre de nos chasseurs maladroits et +inexpérimentes se voit réduit 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 Société 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 Zoological Society, for permission to use +which, and for 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 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 Hubback for his notes from +Alderney during the times he was quartered there. + + + + +BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. + + +1. WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. _Haliaeetus albicilla_, Linnsaeus. 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 every one 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 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 convince 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. +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 occurrence, 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, probably 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 halioeetus_, 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 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 competent 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, cannot 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 '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. + + +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 mentioned +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 +carpenter 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 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 fairly conclude, however, 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. Rodd. +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 11th 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 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 11th 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 +interesting to some of my readers to mention that they may distinguish +them easily by colour, the Greenland, _Falco candicans_, being always +the most white, 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 +occasionally 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 +pèlerin."--The Peregrine can now, I think, only be considered an +autumnal visitant to the Islands, though, if not shot or otherwise +destroyed, it would, no doubt, remain throughout 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 _Falconidae_ 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 Fauconnière,' 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 November +11th, 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. + + +6. HOBBY. _Falco subbuteo_, Linnaeus. French, "Le Hobereau." The Hobby +can only be considered as a rather rare occasional visitant, just +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, probably 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 aesalon_,[5] Bris., 1766. French, "Faucon +Emérillon."--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 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, however, 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 +communication dated November 29th, 1874, says--"A Merlin--a female--was +shot in the Marais, which had struck down a Water Rail a minute or two +before it was shot. After striking down the Rail the Merlin flew into a +tree, about ten yards from which the man who shot it found the Rail +dead. He brought me both birds. The skin of the Rail 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 Ring Dotterell, which at that time of year is to +be found in large flocks mixed with Purres and 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 Ring Dotterell, Purres, and Turnstones do not form so +considerable a part of its food as they do of the Merlin. Skylarks, Rock +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, perhaps more, breed on the before-mentioned rock close to Jethou +"La Fauconnière," though a few pairs of Kestrels breeding there would +scarcely have been sufficient to give it its name. + +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 Sparrowhawk, 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 +nesting 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 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. ROUGHLEGGED 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 Rough-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 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 distinguished 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 +Buzzard, in which nearly the whole of the plumage was a uniform dark +chocolate-brown, and consequently 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. + +Professor Ansted includes the Rough-legged Buzzard in his list, but +only marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen at present +in the Museum. + + +12. MARSH HARRIER. _Circus Oeruginosus_, Linnaeus. French, "Busard +des Marais."--This seems to be the least common of the Harriers in the +Channel Islands, though it does occur occasionally, and perhaps 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 preserved, 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 herself, 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."[6]--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 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. + + +[13. Omitted.] + + +14. MONTAGU'S HARRIER. _Circus cineraceus_, Montagu. French, "Busard +Montagu," "Busard cendré."--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 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 consists chiefly of +grasshoppers, reptiles, small mammals, birds and their eggs; these last, +if their size permit, being often swallowed whole, as was the 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 Montagu'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.[7] This distinction is very useful +in 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, "Hibou vulgaire," +"Hibou moyen due."--The Long-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 Long-eared 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 Long-eared Owl; but this may have been the +bird mentioned above, as he sent me no date with it. + +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 Long-eared +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 accipitrinus_, Pallas. French, "Hibou +brachyôte."--Unlike the Long-eared Owl, the Short-eared 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 throughout 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 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. _Aluco flammeus_, 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 Road 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. + + +18. REDBACKED SHRIKE. _Lanius Collurio_, Linnaeus. French, "Pie-grieche +écorcheur."--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 Red-backed 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 about the Vallon or Le Ree. I 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 Red-backed Shrike in his list, and marks +it only as occurring in Guernsey. 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 +Professor 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 +distribution, 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. + +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 themselves 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 something 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 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"[8] +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, 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 Métivier, 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. Métivier'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 interview with Mr. George +Métivier. He is now in his 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 l'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 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. Métivier 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-stuffers' +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 occurred in Guernsey and Sark, but nothing more is said about the +bird. Probably Guernsey was mentioned as a 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, "Aquassière," +"Cincle plongeur."--The Dipper or Water Ouzel, though not very common, +less so, indeed, than the Kingfisher, is nevertheless 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 Kingfisher 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 Guernsey-killed, have been the common form, _Cinclus_ +_aquations_. The dark-breasted form, _Cinclus melanogaster_, 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 protected 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. Métivier 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, in a note to Professor Ansted's list, confirms the scarcity +of the Jay, as he says the Rook and the Jay are rarely seen here, +although they are indigenous 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 considerable numbers of Mistletoe Thrushes are +brought into the Guernsey market, where they may be seen hanging in +bunches with Common Thrushes, Redwings, Blackbirds, Fieldfares, +Starlings, and an occasional Ring Ouzel. Fieldfares and Mistletoe +Thrushes usually sell at fourpence each, the rest at fourpence a couple. + +Professor Ansted mentions it in his list, but confines 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. + + +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, Redwing, 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 shot and +brought into the market departing again in March and April. + + +25. FIELDFARE. _Turdus pilaris_, Linnaeus. French, "Grive litorne," +"Merle litorne."--Like the Redwing, 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 Redwings 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 common and numerous resident in all the Islands in the +Bailiwick of Guernsey. The Guernsey gardeners, 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 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 +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. RING OUZEL. _Turdus torquatus_, Linnaeus. French, "Merle à +plastron."--I do not think the Ring 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 remaining 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 Professor Ansted's list, says +the Ring 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 have I seen the eggs in any Guernsey +collection. I have seen specimens of the Ring Ouzel from Alderney, and +it appears to me about equally common at the same time of year in all +the Islands. Mr. MacCulloch, however, writes to me:--"From what I have +heard the Ring 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, R.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. HBDGESPARROW. _Accentor modularis_, Linnaeus. French, "Mouchet," +"Traîne buisson," "Accenteur mouchet."--The Hedgesparrow is, I think, +quite as common as in England, and resident throughout the year in all +the Islands. According to Mr. Métivier's 'Dictionary' its local name is +"Verdeleu," and he describes it as "Oiseau qui couvre les oeufs de +Coucou." In Guernsey, however, Cuckoos are much too numerous for the +Hedgesparrow to afford accommodation for them all. + +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. ROBIN. _Ericathus rubecula_, Linnaeus. French. "Bec-fin +rouge-gorge," "Rouge gorge." The Robin, 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 Robin is by far the most pugnacious with which I am acquainted, and +deserves the name of "pugnax" much more than the Ruff, 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 Robin 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. REDSTART. _Ruticilla phoenicurus_, Linnaeus. French, "Rouge-queue," +"Bec-fin des murailles."--I should not have included the Redstart in +this 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 Redstart; 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 Redstart. I +suppose, however, from Mr. MacCulloch's note that it occasionally visits +the Islands for a short time on migration, very few, if any, remaining +to breed. + +It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as occurring +in Guernsey. There is, however, no specimen at present in the Museum. + + +31. BLACK REDSTART. _Ruticilla titys_, Scopoli. French, "Rouge queue +Tithys."--The Black, or Tithys Redstart, 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 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 Redstart 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 Rock 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 Redstart. + +The male Black Redstart may be immediately distinguished from the Common +Redstart by the black breast and belly, and by the absence of the white +mark on the forehead. The male Black Redstart 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 Redstart being much duller--a dull +smoke-brown instead of the reddish brown of the Common Redstart. + +Some slight variations of plumage take place in the Black Redstart 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 Redstart 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 pâtre," "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 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 Stonechats 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 uncommon. + +Professor Ansted includes the Stonechat in his list, but marks it as +confined to Guernsey and Sark. There is a specimen in the Museum. + +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 Oenanthe,_ 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 distributed, being common all +round the coast, both on 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 universally distributed +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 perfectly +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. REED WARBLER. _Acrocephalus streperus_, Vieillot. French, +"Rousserolle effarvatte," "Bec-fin des roseaux."--I did not find out the +Reed 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 Reed 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 I went +to the place as soon as I could, and found parts of it a regular +paradise for Reed 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 l'Estrange, 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,[9] 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 the water. Subsequently, on July the +12th, I found another Reed 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 Reed +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 Reed 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 Reed 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 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 Reed 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 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 ornamental shrubs in the gardens, +or in thick bramble bushes in hedgerows and places of that sort. + + +36. SEDGE WARBLER. _Acrocephalus schoenobaenus_, Linnaeus. French, +"Bee-fin phragmite."--The Sedge Warbler is by no means so common as the +Reed Warbler, though, like it, it is a summer visitant, and is quite as +local. I did not see any amongst the reeds which the Reed 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 l'Estrange 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, however, 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 by 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 Reed Warbler in the Museum. + + +37. DARTFORD WARBLER. _Melizophilus undatus,_ Boddaert. French, "Pitchou +Provencal," "Bee-fin Pittechou."--The Dartford Warbler is by no 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 +correctness 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 supposed, 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 Grève 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. _Sylvia rufa_, Boddaert. French, "Fauvette grise," +"Bec-fin Grisette."--The Whitethroat 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 necessary 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 +appearance 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. + + +39. LESSER WHITETHROAT. _Sylvia curruca_, Linnaeus. 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 à tête +noire," "Bec-fin à tête 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. + + +41. WILLOW WREN. _Phylloscopus trochilus_, Linnaeus. 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'mouâiselle," which Mr. +Métivier, 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 certainly 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 +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, "Roitelet +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, apparently 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 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 about 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 Professor 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, +"Roitelet a triple bandeau."--I have a pair of 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 Goldcrest and Fire-crest well, and the distinction +between 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 specimens 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 _confrère_, the +Golden-crested Wren, 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 occasionally 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 Torbay, +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 than the female Gold-crest. In point of fact the colour of the +crest is of no value whatever in distinguishing 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, "Roitelet à triple +bandeau," is much more descriptive, 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. + + +45. WREN. _Troglodytes parvulus_, K.L. Koch. French, "Roitelet," +"Troglodyte mignon," "Troglodyte 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 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 is mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as occurring in +Guernsey and Sark. There is no specimen in the Museum. + + +47. GREAT TIT. _Parus major_, Linnaeus. French, "Mésange +Charbonnière."--The Paridae are by no means well represented in the +Islands, either individually 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 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 caeruleus_, Linnaeus. French, "Mésange +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 +distributed 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. + + +49. LONG-TAILED TIT. _Acredula caudata_, Linnaeus. French, "Másange à +longue queue."[10]--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 at 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 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 Bohême," +"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_, Temminck. French, "Bergeronette +Yarrellii."[11]--The Pied Wagtail has probably been better known to +some of my readers as _Motacilla Yarrellii_, but, according to the +rules of nomenclature before alluded to, _Motacilla lugubris_ 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, "Lavendière," +"Hoche-queue grise," "Bergeronette grise."--The White Wagtail is still +scarcer than the Pied, but I saw one pair evidently breeding between +L'ancresse Road and Grand Havre. The White Wagtail so much resembles +the Pied Wagtail, that it may have been easily overlooked, 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 +beneath; 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 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 +flavéole."--As far as I have been able to judge the Yellow Wagtail is +only an occasional visitant on migration. A few, however, 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 Greyheaded Wagtail, the +true _Motacilla flava_ 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 Wagtail. I have not myself seen the Yellow +Wagtail in either of the Islands during my summer visits in 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. + +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 prés," "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."--Resident 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 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 Bock Pipit is included in Professor Ansted's list, but marked as +only occurring in Guernsey. All the Rock Pipits I have seen in the +Channel Islands have been the common form, _Anthus obscurus_; 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. SKY LARK. _Alauda arvensis_, Linnaeus. French, "Alouette des +champs."--Mr. Métivier, in his 'Dictionary,' gives Houèdre 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 Ronceval; 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 surrounded 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. + + +59. SNOW BUNTING. _Plectrophanes nivalis_, Linnaeus. 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 in 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. _Emberiza 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 Vale. I 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 specimen in the Museum. + + +61. YELLOW HAMMER. _Emberiza citrinella_, Linnaeus. 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 Cirl 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;[12] so it is very probable that it may yet occur. + +The Yellow Hammer is included in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as +occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There are also a pair in the Museum. + + +62. CHAFFINCH. _Fringilla caelebs_, 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_, Linnaeus. French, "Pinson +d'Ardennes." "Grosbec d'Ardennes."--The Brambling can only be considered +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 Road, 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, 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. + + +65. HOUSE SPARROW. _Passer domesticus_, Linnaeus. 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. In Alderney, 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 +accordingly punished by the Sparrows. + +The House Sparrow is mentioned by Professor 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 Métivier'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 Mr. +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 in Alderney 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. 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 chloris_, Linnaeus. 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 bird-catchers 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 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 Alderney; 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 occurrence, 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 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 identifying 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 +Mediterranean 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 Professor 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 Lesser Redpole, +the Mealy Redpole, 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 europaea_, 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 Bullfinch +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. + + +72. COMMON CROSSBILL. _Loxia curvirostra_, Linnaeus. French, +"Bec-croisé," "Bec-croisé commun."--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 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 Crossbills 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 11th of December; there were +four of them in a tree by Haviland Hall. I happened to go into the +person's house who shot it, and his children had it playing with." + +I do not know that there is any 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. + + +73. COMMON STARLING. _Sturnus vulgaris_, Linnaeus. French, "Etourneau +vulgaire."--The Starling is sometimes very numerous in the autumn, but +those remaining throughout the year and breeding in the 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 Starling 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 certainly 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 roosting-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 +certainly there never seemed to be any diminution in their numbers +during the whole time I was there 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, sometimes +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 graculus_, Linnaeus. French, "Crave."--The +Chough is a common resident 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 parts of the Island, sometimes in +considerable flocks, like Rooks. + +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 +Fieldfares and Redwings, 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 +visits, but now for some reason, probably the increase of 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. Métivier, 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. _Corvus 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 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 Raven 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 getting scarcer in Guernsey, as I have not +seen any there since; and the last note I have of Ravens being seen in +the Island is in a letter from Mr. Couch, who wrote me word that two +Ravens had been seen and shot at several times, but not obtained, in +November, 1873. I have not seen a Raven 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. _Corvus 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 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. _Corvus cornix_, Linnaeus. French, "Corbeau mantele," +"Corneille mantelée."--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 l'Estrange, however, informed me that one remained in Sark all +last summer--that of 1877--and paired with a common Crow,[13] but we +could see 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. ROOK. _Corvus frugilegus_, Linnaeus. French, "Freux", "Corbeau +Freux."--I have never seen the Rook in the Islands myself, even as a +stranger, but Mr. Gallienne in his notes to Professor Ansted's list, +says, speaking of Guernsey, "The Rook 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 Rooks occasionally attempt to build here (Guernsey), but they +are invariably disturbed by boys and guns, and driven off. They +sometimes arrive here in large flocks in severe winters." + +The Rook 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 occasional 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 +épeichette."--As may 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, "Respecting 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 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 in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as only occurring +in Guernsey. As above stated, the specimen formerly in the Museum no +longer exists. + + +82. WRYNECK. _Yunx torquilla_, Linnaeus. French, "Torcol +ordinaire."--The Wryneck, or, as it is called in Guernsey-French, +"Parlè"[14] 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 distributed through the Islands, remaining through the summer +to breed, and departing again in early autumn, August, or September. Its +numbers, however, 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 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 Huppé," "Huppé +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 +expected 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 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 Ronseval, 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 would 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 disposition to do so, as, though rather a foul-feeder and of +unsavoury habits in its nest, and having no respect for sanitary +arrangements, the Hoopoe is nevertheless one of the most useful birds in +the garden. + +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 commonest 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 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 unfortunate in not finding eggs, and in not seeing any +of the foster-parents feeding their over-grown _protégés_: 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 favourites, such as +Wagtails, Hedgesparrows, and Robins, 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 collection 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 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 _resumé_ 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 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 appearance 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 produce 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, 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 clergyman, 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. _Alcedo ispida_, 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 on the small +fish left in the clear pools formed amongst the rocks by the receding +tide; it is also by no means uncommon 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 northward 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 pêcheur' 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 enropaeus_, Linnaeus. French, "Engoulevent +ordinaire."--The Nightjar is a regular autumnal visitant, a few perhaps +arriving in the spring and remaining to breed, but 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 aërial rambles. The bird-stuffer in +Alderney had some wings of Nightjars nailed up behind his 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 Coupée, amongst the rocks of which +place and Little Sark they breed in considerable numbers. Mr. MacCulloch +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 Guernsey. 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 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 Cheminant 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. + + +88. SWALLOW, _Hirundo rustica_, Linnaeus. French, "Hirondelle de +Cheminée."--According to Métivier's 'Dictionary,' "Aronde" is the local +Guernsey-French name of the Swallow, which is a common summer visitant +to all the Islands, and very generally 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 +fenêtre."--The House Martin is much more local than the Swallow, but +still a numerous summer visitant, like the Swallow, 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 Road, 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 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 +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;"[15] 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, 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. ROCK DOVE. _Columba livia_, Linnaeus. French, "Colombe biset."--I +have never seen the Rock 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 +Rock 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 Rock 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. + +Professor Ansted includes the Rock 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 aenas_, +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 been 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 Rock 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 Ring 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 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. MacCulloch, writing +to me about 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. + + +94. 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. MacCulloch +writes me word that "Quails certainly visit us occasionally, and I +remember having seen their eggs in my youth"; and Mrs. Jago (late Miss +Cumber), who was herself a bird-stuffer 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 occasionally, too, in Alderney, as the +bird-stuffer 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 Landrail, 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 RAIL. _Rallus aquations_, Linnaeus. French, "Râle d'eau."--The +Water Rail 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 bird-stuffer, told me he +had seen a pair of Water Rails and four young, his dog having started +them from a hedge near the Rousailleries farm; the young could scarcely +fly. I saw one at the bird-stuffer's at Alderney, which had been shot in +that Island; and the bird-stuffer 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 mentioned the incident of the Water Rail being killed by the +Merlin, recorded by Mr. Couch in the 'Zoologist' for 1875. + +The Water Rail 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 Rail has been found here; and one of Mr. +De Putron's labourers described a Rail to me which he had shot in the +Vale Pond in May, 1877, which, from his description, could have been +nothing but a Spotted Rail. + +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. _Crex pratensis_, Bechstein. French, "Râle des prés," +"Râle de terre" ou "de Genet," "Poule d'eau de genet."--The Landrail is +a common summer visitant, breeding certainly in Guernsey, Sark, and +Alderney,[16] 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 chloropus_, Linnaeus. French, "Poule d'eau +ordinaire."--I have not seen 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 occasional and never numerous autumnal +visitant; and its breeding in the Braye Pond that year must have 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 +canepetière," "Poule de Carthage."--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 mentioned 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 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 +intelligence 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. _Oedicnemus scolopax_, S.G. Gmelin. French, "Oedicneme +criard," "Poule d'Aurigny."[17]--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 +neighbourhood 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. + + +102. PEEWIT. _Vanellus vulgaris_, Bechstein. French, "Vanneau +huppé."--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, but only marks it as +occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen in the Museum at present. + + +103. GREY PLOVER. _Squatarola helvetica_, Linnaeus. 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 occasionally 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 unknowing 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 disappointment 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. 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_, Linnaeus. French, "Pluvier +dore."--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. _Eudromias morinellus_, 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, 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 Rev. A. Morrës, 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. RING DOTTEREL. _Ægialitis hiaticula_, Linnaeus. French, "Grand +pluvier à collier," "Pluvier à collier."--The Ring 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 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 Ring 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 Ring Dotterel at all, though at the time Kentish Plover were +common in most of the bays in the low parts of the Island. The Ring +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 Ring 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 l'Estrange nor I found any eggs, though we +searched hard for them both in '76 and '78; neither did we find any eggs +either in Herm or Alderney. + +Professor Ansted includes the Ring Dotterel in his list, but marks it +as only occurring in Guernsey. There is a specimen in the Museum. + + +107. KENTISH PLOVER. _Ægialitis cantianus_, Latham. French, "Pluvier à +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 Ring 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 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 Rocques 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 seaweed. I should not have +found these if it had not been for the tracks of the birds immediately +round them. In L'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 l'Estrange 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 the sand. In no instance in which I saw the eggs +was there the slightest attempt at a nest; but Colonel l'Estrange 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 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. +l'Estrange 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. l'Estrange 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 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.[18] Mr. Rodd, +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 throughout 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 male and female, in breeding plumage, in the +Museum, and also one in winter plumage. + + +109. OYSTERCATCHER, _Haematopus ostralegus_, Linnaeus. French, "Hiûtrier +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 neighbouring 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 separating 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 l'Estrange 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, 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 Oystercatcher 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 protection, 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 list, but only marks +it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There is an Oystercatcher and also +a few of the eggs in the Museum. + + +110. CURLEW. _Numenins arquata_, Linnaeus. French, "Courlis," "Grand +courlis cendré."--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 seaweed 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 description 'La Fauconnière.' The writer +of this paper in 'Cassel's Magazine' was evidently no ornithologist, +and must, I think, have mistaken a young Oystercatcher, 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 everywhere 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. _Numenius phaeopus_, Linnaeus. French, "Courlis +corlieu."--A good many Whimbrel visit all the Islands during the spring +migration, and 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 Museum. + + +112. REDSHANK. _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 Redshank in full breeding +plumage, killed in Guernsey as late as the 23rd of April. + +Professor Ansted includes the Redshank in his list, but only marks it as +occurring in Guernsey. There are two specimens in the Museum. + +113. GREEN SANDPIPER. _Totanus ochropus_, Linnaeus. French, "Chevalier +cul blanc."--The Green Sandpiper is an irregular, very scarce (not so +numerous indeed as the Redshank) 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 Sandpiper, 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 +immediately be distinguished; the axillary plume or long feathers under +the wing, in the Green Sandpiper, 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 +conspicuously. There is one Green Sandpiper at present in the Museum, +which there seems no reason to doubt is Guernsey killed. + + +114. COMMON SANDPIPER. _Totanus hypoleucos_, 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 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. BARTAILED GODWIT. _Limosa lapponica_, Linnaeus. French, "Barge +rousse."--The Bar-tailed 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 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 Bar-tailed 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 Bar-tailed 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. + +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. RUFF. _Machetes pugnax,_ Linnaeus. French, "Combatant," "Combatant +variable."--The Ruff 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 Ruff 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 +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 Ruff in confinement; the change of colour in the +feathers of the body begins before the ruff makes its appearance. + +Professor Ansted includes the Ruff 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, remaining 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 preserved, 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 unfortunate Woodcock as soon as there should be sufficient +daylight. In fact, such a scramble is there for a chance at a Woodcock +that a friend of mine told me he got up long before daylight one morning +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 "roading," 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 bird-stuffers; 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 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, "Bécassine +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 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 breeding-season, 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 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, "Bécassine +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 maubèche."--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 were it at all common a few certainly would +have occasionally found their way there. + +Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but only marks it as occurring +in Guernsey. There is no specimen at present in the Museum. + + +123. CURLEW SANDPIPER. _Tringa subarquata_, Güldenstaedt. French, +"Becasseau cocorli."--The Curlew Sandpiper, or Pigmy Curlew as it is +sometimes called, can only be considered a rare occasional visitant to +the Channel Islands. I have never seen or shot one there myself, but Mr. +Couch records one in the 'Zoologist' for 1874 as having been shot near +the Richmond 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 +Rocque 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. _Tringa alpina_, Linnaeus. French, "Becasseau +brunette," "Becasseau variable."--The Purre is resident in all the +Islands throughout the year in considerable numbers, which 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 seaweed 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 marked as occurring in +Guernsey only. There is no specimen in the Museum. + + +126. SANDERLING. _Calidris arenaria_, Linnaeus. French, "Sanderling +variable."--The Sanderling is 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 November, 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 roussâtre," "Phalarope +phatyrhinque."[19]--The Grey Phalarope is a tolerably regular and +occasionally 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 Ansted'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 cinerea_, Linnaeus. French, "Heron cendré", "Heron +huppé."--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 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 vicinity of the marshes near the Ivy Castle, +formerly thickly wooded with old elms, which bears the name of La +Heronière. 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 +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 purpurea_, 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. Rodd records the capture of one, a female, near the Lizard, +in Cornwall, late in April of the same year.[20] 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 +bird-stuffer, Mr. Grieve, and there I found the bird and the person who +shot it, who told me 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 morning, when he found it dead near the place he had marked it +down the night before. It was in consequence 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 specimen 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 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. _Botaurus 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 bird-stuffer in Alderney (Mr. Grieve) and his friend told me +they 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. _Botaurus lentiginosus_, Montagu. French, "Heron +lentigineux."[21]--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 +'Zoologist' 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 +specimens 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 young birds; but, at +any age or in any state of plumage, the birds may be immediately +distinguished 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 Professor 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 minuta_, Linnaeus. French, "Heron +Blongios."[22]--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 Road; 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 +informed 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 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 leucorodia_, 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 specimen 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 +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 writes 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.[23] 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. +Rodd, 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, observed 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."[24] + +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 mentioned, disappeared. + + +135. WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. _Anser albifrons_, Scopoli. French, "Oie +rieuse, ou à 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. _Bernicla brenta_, Brisson. French, "Oie cravant," +"Bernache cravant."--The Brent Goose is a regular winter visitant to all +the Islands, varying, however, in numbers in different years: sometimes +it is very numerous, and affords good sport during the winter to the +fishermen, 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. + + +137. MUTE SWAN. _Cygnus olor_, Linnaeus. French, "Cygne tuberculé."--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 that had strayed away from the +Swannery at Abbotsbury, on the opposite coast of Dorset, where some +three hundred and fifty pairs still breed annually. I have myself seen +as many six hundred 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 themselves 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 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 musicus_, Bechstein. French, "Cygne sauvage."--The +Wild Swan or Hooper[25] 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 (5 ft. 3 in.) given, however, it would appear that it was the +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 particulars 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, however, 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."[26]--I have very little authority for including Bewick's Swan +in my list of Guernsey birds; Mr. MacCulloch, however, 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 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 distinctions. 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 +distinguish the two, and is almost the only exterior distinction, but on +dissection the anatomical structure, 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 +Guernsey-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, however, 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 occasional 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 +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, "Sarcelle +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 Ring 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. + + +143. EIDER DUCK. _Somateria mollissima,_ Linnaeus. 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 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 immediately 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 _Anatidae_ 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; +and a mistake may easily have been made, however, 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 Red-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, +though I think there used to be one, but I suppose it has got +moth-eaten and been thrown away. + + +146. RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. _Mergus serrator,_ Linnaeus. French, "Harle +Huppé."--Like the Goosander, the Red-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 Red-breasted Merganser. The greater number of +Red-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 Red-breasted Merganser in his list, but +only marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There are two specimens in the +Museum--a male in full plumage and a female or young male. + + +147. SMEW. _Mergus albellus_, Linnaeus. French, "Harle piette," "Harle +étoilé," "Petit harle huppé."--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 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, "Grèbe +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. + +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, "Grèbe +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. _Podiceps auritus,_ Linnaeus. French, "Grèbe +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 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. Mellish'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 distinguished, 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 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. RED-NECKED GREBE. _Podiceps griseigena,_ Boddaert. French, "Grèbe +jou-gris."--I have never seen a Channel Island specimen of the +Red-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 Red-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 Red-necked Grebe is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only +marked as occurring in Guernsey. There is one specimen in the Museum. + + +152. GREAT-CRESTED GREBE. _Podiceps cristatus_, Linnaeus. French. +"Grèbe huppé."--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. _Colymbus glacialis_, 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 considerable 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 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 à gorge noir."--The Black-throated Diver is a much less common +visitor to the Islands than either the Great Northern or Red-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 plumage as the Great Northern has. In the +'Zoologist' for 1875 Mr. Couch records the occurrence 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 Red-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 +Red-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. RED-THROATED DIVER. _Colymbus septentrionalis_, Linnaeus. French, +"Plongeon à gorge rouge," "Plongeon cat-marin."--The Red-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-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_, Linnaeus. French, "Guillemot à 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 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 Razorbill. 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 Rock.'" This very much confirms what Mr. Gallienne +says, in his notes to Professor Ansted's list--"The Razorbill and +Guillemot breed on the Ortack Rock and on the cliffs at Alderney." This +Ortack Rock is to the west of Alderney, between Burhou and the Caskets, +and a considerable number of Guillemots and Razorbills 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 +Ringed Guillemot, _Alca lacrymans_, in the Channel Islands, but, as it +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 backwards 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 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. _Fratercula arctica_, Linnaeus. French, "Macareux."--The +Puffin, or Barbelote[27] 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 considerable 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 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, 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."[28] 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 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, "après la saison des amours." Dr. +Bureau, in a very interesting paper[29] 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 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 same. It is +small sliced off (trongué) 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, however, 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 bird-stuffer's paint, +probably with the view of making it as like the ordinary summer plumage +as possible. + + +159. RAZORBILL. _Alca torda_, Linnaeus. French, "Pingouin +macroptere."--The Razorbill is not by any means numerous in the Channel +Islands, but a few breed about Ortack, and, as has been said 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,[30] +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 Razorbill Auk shot in Guernsey on the 14th February, 1847; +this, of course, is only a young Razorbill of the previous year, which +had not at that time fully developed its bill. + +The Razorbill is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as +occurring in Guernsey. There are two Razorbills 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 anywhere 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 that had been hatched, and probably the young +gone off with its parents. I, however, 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 specimens 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 La +Fauconnière, 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 +Coupée, 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 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 +wandering 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 returning 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 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, 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 appearance. 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 bird-stuffer 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 bird-stuffer 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 marked as occurring +in Guernsey. There are three specimens, an adult and two young, in the +Museum. + + +163. COMMON TERN. _Sterna fluviatilis_, 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 +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 bird-stuffer, 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 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."[31]--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 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. _Hydrochelidon nigra_, Linnaeus. French, "Guifette +noire," "Hirondelle de mer épouvantail."[32]--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 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 Roseate 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 made the statement in the 'Zoologist' +for 1866 that it did breed in the Channel Islands; subsequent +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 departed 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 +argenté," "Goeland à 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 St. Martin's +Point much more sparingly. In Sark it breeds in considerable numbers; on +Little Sark on both sides of the Coupée, 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 Fauconnière; 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 the little island of Burhou, which has been 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 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 experience 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 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 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 Black-backs, thus +distinguishing 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 a very 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 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 extremely 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 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. _Larus fuscus_, Linnaeus. French, +"Goeland à pieds jaunes."--The Lesser Black-backed Gull is common in the +Islands, remaining throughout the year and breeding 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[33] 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 +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 fishermen. 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, +sometimes 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 on the scanty herbage; on the roof of this +cottage several of the Lesser Black-backs perched themselves 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 difference 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 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. + +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 cendré," +"Mouette a pieds bleus,"[34] "La Mouette d'Hiver".[35]--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 Rev. 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. Rodd. 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. Rodd, however, in his 'Notes on the Birds of +Cornwall,' published in the 'Zoologist' for 1870, only says, "Generally +distributed 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. Rodd is going to publish his interesting +notes on the Birds of Cornwall in a 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-backed 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 +which they are the "Mouette à 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 marinus_, Linnaeus. French, +"Goeland à 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 Razorbill 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 +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 'Métivier'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_, Linnaeus. French, "Mouette +rieuse."[36] This pretty little Gull is a common autumn and winter +visitant to all the Islands, remaining on to the 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 colouring-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--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 melanocephalus_, 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. melanocephalus_ 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. melanocephalus_ is black or nearly +so; in this state Mr. Howard Saunders has given plates of the first +three primaries of _L. melanocephalus_ and _L. ridibundus_, both being +from birds of the year shot about March, in his paper on the _Larinae_, +published in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for the year +1878. + + +172. LITTLE GULL. _Larus minutus_, Pallas. French, "Mouette pygmée."--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 bird-stuffer's shop here I saw a Little Gull in the flesh, +which had been shot a few days ago."[37] 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 occasionally 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. _Puffinus major_, Faber. French, "Puffin +majeur."[38]--I think I may fairly 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 bays, 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; but 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 sufficiently 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 Professor Ansted's list, and +there is no specimen in the Museum. + + +174. MANX SHEARWATER. _Puffinus anglorum_, 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 specimen, however, +killed near St. Samson's on the 28th September, 1876.[39] 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 Professor Ansted's list, and +there is no specimen in the Museum. + + +175. FULMAR PETREL. _Fulmarus glacialis_, Linnaeus. 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 pelagica_ Linnaeus. French, +"Thalassidrome tempête."--Mr. Gallienne, in his remarks published with +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 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'Estrange'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 contains 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 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 any of the birds mentioned. I have no doubt, +however, that any one 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. Carey, 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, especially amongst the +smaller Warblers and the Pipits, and perhaps amongst the occasional +Waders. There is one small family--the Skuas--entirely unrepresented 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 bird-stuffers or the fishermen and the +various shooters know anything about them. I have therefore, 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 parasiticus_; 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. + + + + +ENDNOTES. + +[1] _a_ Alderney. + _e_ Guernsey. + _i_ Jersey. + _o_ Sark. + _u_ Jethou and Herm.] + +[2] This was nearly the whole of the Vale, including L'Ancresse Common. + +[3] Fourteen "livres tournois" are about equal to £1. + +[4] This Act is passed annually at the Chief Pleas after Easter. + +[5] _Falco aesalon_, Tunstall, H.S. 1771. _Falco aesalon_, Gmelin, Y., +1788. + +[6] See Temminok. + +[7] See 'Birds of Spain,' by Howard Saunders, Esq., published in the +works of the Société Zoologique de France, where he says:--"_C. +ceruginosus_ et _C. cyaneus_ ont les lisières extérieures des remiges +émarginées, jusqu'à et y comprise la cinquième, et cette forme se trouve +en presque toutes les _Circus_ exotiques. En _C. swainsonii_ (the Pallid +Harrier) et _C. cineraceus_ cette émargination successive se borne a la +quatrieme." We have little to do with this distinction, except as +between _C. cyaneus_ and _C. cineraceus, C. aeruginosus_ being otherwise +sufficiently distinct, and _C. swainsonii_ not coming within our limits. + +[8] "Tereus," I soon found, as I expected, was Mr. MacCulloch. + +[9] 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. + +[10] 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. caudata_ may, however, also occur, as both +forms do occasionally, in the British Islands. + +[11] See Temminck's 'Man. d'Ornith.' + +[12] Dresser's 'Birds of Europe,' _fide_ Degland's Grebe. + +[13] 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 cornix_, on the several grounds that there +is no structural difference between the two; that their habits, food, +cries, and mode of nidification are the same (in considering 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 impossible 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. + +[14] Rim. Gu., p. 35. + +[15] 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? + +[16] 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. + +[17] _Fide_ Mr. MacCulloch. + +[18] See 'Dresser's Birds of Europe.' + +[19] For the last, see Temminck's 'Man, d'Ornithologie.' + +[20] _See_ 'Zoologist' for 1867, p. 829. + +[21] Temminck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[22] _See_ Temminck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[23] The one above mentioned. + +[24] See 'Zoologist' for 1870, p. 2244. + +[25] "Hucard" in Guernsey French (see 'Metevier's Dictionary,') who also +says "Notre Hucard est le Whistling Swan ou Hooper des Anglais." + +[26] See Temminck's 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[27] See also Métivier's Dictionary. + +[28] See note in 'Zoologist' for 1866. + +[29] 'De la Mue du Bec et des Ornements Palpébraux du Macareux Arctique +après la Saison des Amours.' Par le Docteur Louis Bureau; 'Bulletin de +la Société Zoologique de France.' + +[30] 'Zoologist' for 1869. + +[31] _See_ Temininck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[32] Temminck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[33] 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." + +[34] See Temminck's 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[35] Buffon. + +[36] See Temminck's 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[37] _See_ 'Zoologist' for 1869, p. 1560. + +[38] _See_ Temminck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[39] 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. + + + + +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, Rough-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, 173 + 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, Sclavonian, 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 + + Harrier, Hen, 17 + Harrier, Marsh, 16 + Harrier, Montagu's, 18 + Hawfinch, 75 + Hawk, Sparrow, 13 + Hedgesparrow, 87 + 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, Ring, 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, Rock, 67 + Pipit, Tree, 66 + Plover, Golden, 122 + Plover, Grey, 121 + + Plover, Kentish, 125 + Puffin, 179 + Purre, 145 + + Quail, 112 + + Rail, Water, 113 + Raven, 87 + Razorbill, 183 + Redshank, 134 + Redstart, 38 + Redstart, Black, 39 + + Redwing, 33 + Robin, 38 + Rook, 90 + Ruff, 139 + + Sanderling, 147 + Sandpiper, Common, 136 + Sandpiper, Curlew, 145 + Sandpiper, Green, 135 + Scoter, Common, 165 + Shag, 185 + Shearwater, Great, 213 + Shearwater, Manx, 215 + Shrike, Red-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 + 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, Reed, 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 + + Yellowhammer, 71 + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds of Guernsey (1879), by Cecil Smith + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14473 *** diff --git a/14473-h/14473-h.htm b/14473-h/14473-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bfef7f2 --- /dev/null +++ b/14473-h/14473-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,6336 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> + <meta name="generator" content= + "HTML Tidy for Windows (vers 1st August 2004), see www.w3.org" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= + "text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> + + <title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Birds Of Guernsey, by Cecil + Smith, F.Z.S..</title> +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + } + HR { width: 33%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .note {margin-left: 2em; margin-right: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} /* footnote */ + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding-left: 1em; font-size: smaller; float: right; clear: right;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + .poem .caesura {vertical-align: -200%;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ +</style> +</head> + +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14473 ***</div> + + <h1>BIRDS OF GUERNSEY</h1> + + <h3>AND THE NEIGHBOURING ISLANDS<br /> + ALDERNEY, SARK, JETHOU, HERM;</h3> + + <h4>BEING A SMALL CONTRIBUTION TO<br /> + The Ornithology of the Channel Islands</h4> + + <h3>BY</h3> + + <h2>CECIL SMITH, F.Z.S.,</h2> + + <h4>MEMBER OF THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGIST'S UNION.</h4> + + <h5>LONDON:<br /> + R.H. PORTER, 6, TENTERDEN STREET,<br /> + HANOVER SQUARE.<br /> + 1879.</h5><br /> + <hr style='width: 65%;' /> + + <h2>CONTENTS.</h2><br /> + <!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> + <a href='#PREFACE'><b>PREFACE.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#BIRDS_OF_GUERNSEY'><b>BIRDS OF GUERNSEY.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#ENDNOTES'><b>ENDNOTES.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#INDEX'><b>INDEX.</b></a><br /> + <!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + <hr style='width: 65%;' /> + <a name='PREFACE' id="PREFACE"></a> + + <h2>PREFACE.</h2><br /> + + <p>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. Gäetke 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.</p> + + <p>Channel Island specimens of several of the rarer birds + mentioned, as well as of the commoner ones, are in my own + collection; and others I have seen either in the flesh or only + recently skinned in the bird-stuffers' shops. For a few, of + course, I have been obliged to rely on the evidence of others; + some of these may appear, perhaps, rather questionable,—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.</p> + + <p>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 maybe 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 + ornithologist, he was obliged to rely in a great measure on + information received from others, and this apparently was not + always very reliable, and he 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 <i>a, e, i, o, + u</i><a name='FNanchor_1_1' id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_1_1'><sup>[1]</sup></a> 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.</p> + + <p>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 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.</p> + + <p>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 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.</p> + + <p>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 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<a name='FNanchor_2_2' id= + "FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href='#Footnote_2_2'><sup>[2]</sup></a> was + separated from the mainland by an arm of the sea, left dry at low + water, extending from St. Samson's to the Vale Church. This was + bordered by salt 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 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 replaced 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."</p> + + <p>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 say that + within the last few years miles of glasshouses 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 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 Rails, 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 hedgerow 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 + known as the Forest Road, there is little or no hedgerow 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.</p> + + <p>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 sufficiently numerous) in their old + breeding-stations, 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 exterminate 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 + côtes des Isles de cet Bailliage a considerablement + diminué depuis plusieurs années; que les dits + oiseaux sont utiles aux pêcheurs, 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 + durée des brouillards la proximite des rochers," goes on + to enact as follows:—"Il est défendu de prendre, + enlever ou détruire les ceufs des oiseaux de mer dans + toute I'entendue de la jurisdiction de cette isle, sur la peine + d'une amende qui ne sera pas moindre de sept livres tournois et + n'excédera pas trente livres tournois."<a name= + 'FNanchor_3_3' id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_3_3'><sup>[3]</sup></a> Sec. 2 enacts, "Depuis ce + jour<a name='FNanchor_4_4' id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_4_4'><sup>[4]</sup></a> au 15 Octobre prochain, il est + défendu de tuer, blesser, prendre ou chasser les oiseaux + de mer dans toute l'entendue de la jurisdiction de cette isle." + Sec. 3, "Ceux qui depuis ce jour au 15 Octobre prochain auront + été trouvés en possession d'un oiseau de mer + récemment tué, blessé ou pris, ou qui auront + été trouvés en possession de plumage frais + appartenant d'un oiseau de mer seront censés avoir + tué, blessé ou pris tel oiseau de mer sauf è + eux de prouver le contraire. Pareillement ceux qui depuis ce jour + au 15 Octobre prochain auront été trouvés en + possession d'un oeuf de l'annee d'un oiseau de mer seront + censés avoir pris et enleve le dit oeuf sauf à 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 + follows:—Les Mauves Mouettes, Pingouins, Guillemots, + Cormorans, Barbelotes, Hirondelles de mer, Pies-marants, Petrel, + Plongeons, Grebes, Puffins, Dotterells, Alouettes de mer, + Toumpierres, Gannets, Courlis et Martin pêcheur.</p> + + <p>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 certainly decreasing + considerably in numbers in consequence.</p> + + <p>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 unable to join its companions on their migratory + journey, or a few non-breeding stragglers.</p> + + <p>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 <i>Billet + d'Etat</i> 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 <i>Projet de loi</i> the Gazette + says, "Il 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 nombre de nos chasseurs maladroits et + inexpérimentes se voit réduit au grand avantage de + nos fermiers et de nos promeneurs;" and probably also to the + advantage of the chasseurs themselves.</p> + + <p>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 Société + 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 Zoological + Society, for permission to use which, and for other + assistance,—especially in egg-hunting,—I have to give + him my best thanks.</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>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 effect + on the ornithology of the Islands, especially of Guernsey.</p> + + <p>My thanks are also due to Col. L'Estrange for the assistance + he has given me in egg-hunting, and also to Captain Hubback for + his notes from Alderney during the times he was quartered + there.</p> + <hr style='width: 65%;' /> + <a name='BIRDS_OF_GUERNSEY' id="BIRDS_OF_GUERNSEY"></a> + + <h2>BIRDS OF GUERNSEY.</h2><br /> + + <p>1. WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. <i>Haliaeetus albicilla</i>, Linnsaeus. + 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 every one 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 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 + convince 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. 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 occurrence, and that + was reported to me by Mr. Couch as having taken place at Herm on + the 23rd of March, 1877.</p> + + <p>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, probably killed in Guernsey, in the plumage in + which the Channel Island specimens usually occur, but no note is + given as to locality or date.</p><br /> + + <p>2. OSPREY. <i>Pandion halioeetus</i>, 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 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 competent 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, cannot 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 '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.</p> + + <p>The Osprey, however, is mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, + and only marked as occurring in Guernsey.</p><br /> + + <p>3. GREENLAND FALCON. <i>Falco candicans</i>, 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 mentioned 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 carpenter 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 + 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 fairly conclude, however, 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, <i>Falco gyrfalco</i> 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. Rodd. Neither species, however, is recorded as + having occurred in any of the neighbouring parts of + France.</p><br /> + + <p>4. ICELAND FALCON. <i>Falco islandus</i>, Gmelin.—An + Iceland Falcon was killed on the little Island of Herm on the + 11th 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 + 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 11th 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 interesting to some of my + readers to mention that they may distinguish them easily by + colour, the Greenland, <i>Falco candicans</i>, being always the + most white, 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 occasionally 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.</p><br /> + + <p>5. PEREGRINE FALCON. <i>Falco peregrinus</i>, Tunstall. + French, "Faucon pèlerin."—The Peregrine can now, I + think, only be considered an autumnal visitant to the Islands, + though, if not shot or otherwise destroyed, it would, no doubt, + remain throughout 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 <i>Falconidae</i> 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 Fauconnière,' 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 + November 11th, 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>6. HOBBY. <i>Falco subbuteo</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Le + Hobereau." The Hobby can only be considered as a rather rare + occasional visitant, just 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, + probably 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.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and only marked as + occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>7. MERLIN. <i>Falco aesalon</i>,<a name='FNanchor_5_5' id= + "FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href='#Footnote_5_5'><sup>[5]</sup></a> + Bris., 1766. French, "Faucon Emérillon."—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 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, however, 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 communication dated November 29th, 1874, + says—"A Merlin—a female—was shot in the Marais, + which had struck down a Water Rail a minute or two before it was + shot. After striking down the Rail the Merlin flew into a tree, + about ten yards from which the man who shot it found the Rail + dead. He brought me both birds. The skin of the Rail was broken + from the shoulder to the back of the skull."</p> + + <p>The more common prey, however, of the Merlin during the time + it remains in the Islands is the Ring Dotterell, which at that + time of year is to be found in large flocks mixed with Purres and + Turnstones in all the low sandy or muddy bays in the Islands.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>8. KESTREL. <i>Falco tinnunculus</i>, 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 Ring Dotterell, Purres, and Turnstones do not + form so considerable a part of its food as they do of the Merlin. + Skylarks, Rock 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.</p> + + <p>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, perhaps more, breed on the before-mentioned + rock close to Jethou "La Fauconnière," though a few pairs + of Kestrels breeding there would scarcely have been sufficient to + give it its name.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>9. SPARROWHAWK. <i>Accipiter nisus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "L'Epervier," "Tiercelet."—The Sparrowhawk, 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 nesting 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.</p> + + <p>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 from either Island, + nor have I seen the bird about alive in either. There is one + specimen in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>10. COMMON BUZZARD. <i>Buteo vulgaris</i>, 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.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as + occurring in Guernsey, and there is one specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>11. ROUGHLEGGED BUZZARD. <i>Buteo lagopus</i>, Gmelin. French, + "Archibuse pattue" or "Buse pattue."—Though its visits seem + not so absolutely confined to the autumn as the Common Buzzard, + the Rough-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 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 distinguished 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 Buzzard, in which nearly the whole of the plumage + was a uniform dark chocolate-brown, and consequently 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Rough-legged Buzzard in his + list, but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There is no + specimen at present in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>12. MARSH HARRIER. <i>Circus œruginosus</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Busard des Marais."—This seems to be the least + common of the Harriers in the Channel Islands, though it does + occur occasionally, and perhaps more frequently than is generally + supposed.</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>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 + preserved, 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 + herself, so there may easily have been a mistake on this + point.</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted mentions the Marsh Harrier in his list, but + marks it as only found in Guernsey.</p><br /> + + <p>12. HEN HARRIER. <i>Circus cyaneus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Busard St. Martin."<a name='FNanchor_6_6' id= + "FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_6_6'><sup>[6]</sup></a>—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.</p> + + <p>These are the only two Channel Island specimens 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.</p><br /> + + <p>[13. Omitted.]</p><br /> + + <p>14. MONTAGU'S HARRIER. <i>Circus cineraceus</i>, Montagu. + French, "Busard Montagu," "Busard cendré."—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."</p> + + <p>All the Harriers seem to have a special liking for eggs. In + his notice of the Marsh Harrier Professor 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 consists chiefly of grasshoppers, reptiles, small + mammals, birds and their eggs; these last, if their size permit, + being often swallowed whole, as was the 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>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 Montagu'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.<a name='FNanchor_7_7' id= + "FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href='#Footnote_7_7'><sup>[7]</sup></a> + This distinction is very useful in 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.</p> + + <p>Montagu's Harrier is not included by Professor Ansted in his + list, nor is there a specimen in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>15. LONGEARED OWL. <i>Asiootus</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Hibou + vulgaire," "Hibou moyen due."—The Long-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 Long-eared 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 Long-eared Owl; but this may have been + the bird mentioned above, as he sent me no date with it.</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>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 Long-eared 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.</p><br /> + + <p>16. SHORTEARED OWL. <i>Asio accipitrinus</i>, Pallas. French, + "Hibou brachyôte."—Unlike the Long-eared Owl, the + Short-eared 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 throughout 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.</p> + + <p>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 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.</p><br /> + + <p>17. BARN OWL. <i>Aluco flammeus</i>, 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 Road 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>18. REDBACKED SHRIKE. <i>Lanius Collurio</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Pie-grieche écorcheur."—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.</p> + + <p>As the Red-backed 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.</p> + + <p>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 about the Vallon or Le Ree. I + 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Red-backed Shrike in his list, + and marks it only as occurring in Guernsey. I have no evidence of + any other Shrike occurring in the Islands, though I should think + the Great Grey Shrike, <i>Lanius excubitor</i>, 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 + Professor Ansted mention it in his list.</p><br /> + + <p>19. SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. <i>Muscicapa grisola</i>, 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 + distribution, 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.</p> + + <p>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 themselves 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 something + 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>20. GOLDEN ORIOLE. <i>Oriolus galbula</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Le Loriot."—I have never seen the bird 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"<a name='FNanchor_8_8' id= + "FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href='#Footnote_8_8'><sup>[8]</sup></a> + 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, 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 Métivier, 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. + Métivier'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."</p> + + <p>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 + interview with Mr. George Métivier. He is now in his 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 l'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."</p> + + <p>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 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. Métivier 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-stuffers' 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.</p> + + <p>The Golden Oriole is mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, and + marked as having occurred in Guernsey and Sark, but nothing more + is said about the bird. Probably Guernsey was mentioned as a + 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.</p><br /> + + <p>21. DIPPER. <i>Cinclus aquaticus</i>, Bechstein. French, + "Aquassière," "Cincle plongeur."—The Dipper or Water + Ouzel, though not very common, less so, indeed, than the + Kingfisher, is nevertheless 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 Kingfisher 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>All the Guernsey Dippers I have seen, including the two in the + Museum, which are probably Guernsey-killed, have been the common + form, <i>Cinclus</i> <i>aquations</i>. The dark-breasted form, + <i>Cinclus melanogaster</i>, 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 protected 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Dipper in his list, but only + marks it as occurring in Guernsey.</p><br /> + + <p>22. MISTLETOE THRUSH. <i>Turdus viscivorus</i>, 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. Métivier 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, in a note to Professor + Ansted's list, confirms the scarcity of the Jay, as he says the + Rook and the Jay are rarely seen here, although they are + indigenous 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.</p> + + <p>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 + considerable numbers of Mistletoe Thrushes are brought into the + Guernsey market, where they may be seen hanging in bunches with + Common Thrushes, Redwings, Blackbirds, Fieldfares, Starlings, and + an occasional Ring Ouzel. Fieldfares and Mistletoe Thrushes + usually sell at fourpence each, the rest at fourpence a + couple.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted mentions it in his list, but confines 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.</p><br /> + + <p>23. SONG THRUSH. <i>Turdus musicus</i>, 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.</p> + + <p>The local name of the Thrush is "Mauvis." It is, of course, + included in Professor Ansted's list, but with the Fieldfare, + Redwing, 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.</p><br /> + + <p>24. REDWING. <i>Turdus iliacus</i>, 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 shot and brought into the market departing + again in March and April.</p><br /> + + <p>25. FIELDFARE. <i>Turdus pilaris</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Grive + litorne," "Merle litorne."—Like the Redwing, the Fieldfare + is a regular and numerous winter visitant, and arrives and + departs about the same time.</p> + + <p>When in Guernsey in November, 1871, I did not see either + Redwings 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.</p><br /> + + <p>26. BLACKBIRD. <i>Turdus merula</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Merle + noir."—- The Blackbird is a common and numerous resident in + all the Islands in the Bailiwick of Guernsey. The Guernsey + gardeners, 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 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.</p> + + <p>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 + 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.</p><br /> + + <p>27. RING OUZEL. <i>Turdus torquatus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Merle à plastron."—I do not think the Ring 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 remaining 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.</p> + + <p>Mr. Gallienne, in his remarks appended to Professor Ansted's + list, says the Ring 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 have I seen the eggs in any Guernsey collection. I + have seen specimens of the Ring Ouzel from Alderney, and it + appears to me about equally common at the same time of year in + all the Islands. Mr. MacCulloch, however, writes to + me:—"From what I have heard the Ring 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, R.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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>28. HBDGESPARROW. <i>Accentor modularis</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Mouchet," "Traîne buisson," "Accenteur mouchet."—The + Hedgesparrow is, I think, quite as common as in England, and + resident throughout the year in all the Islands. According to Mr. + Métivier's 'Dictionary' its local name is "Verdeleu," and + he describes it as "Oiseau qui couvre les oeufs de Coucou." In + Guernsey, however, Cuckoos are much too numerous for the + Hedgesparrow to afford accommodation for them all.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>29. ROBIN. <i>Ericathus rubecula</i>, Linnaeus. French. + "Bec-fin rouge-gorge," "Rouge gorge." The Robin, 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 Robin is by far the + most pugnacious with which I am acquainted, and deserves the name + of "pugnax" much more than the Ruff, 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Robin 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.</p><br /> + + <p>30. REDSTART. <i>Ruticilla phoenicurus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Rouge-queue," "Bec-fin des murailles."—I should not have + included the Redstart in this 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 Redstart; 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 Redstart. I suppose, however, + from Mr. MacCulloch's note that it occasionally visits the + Islands for a short time on migration, very few, if any, + remaining to breed.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as + occurring in Guernsey. There is, however, no specimen at present + in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>31. BLACK REDSTART. <i>Ruticilla titys</i>, Scopoli. French, + "Rouge queue Tithys."—The Black, or Tithys Redstart, 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 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.</p> + + <p>I have never seen the Black Redstart 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 Rock 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 Redstart.</p> + + <p>The male Black Redstart may be immediately distinguished from + the Common Redstart by the black breast and belly, and by the + absence of the white mark on the forehead. The male Black + Redstart 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 Redstart being much duller—a dull + smoke-brown instead of the reddish brown of the Common + Redstart.</p> + + <p>Some slight variations of plumage take place in the Black + Redstart at different ages and seasons, which have led to some + little difficulties, and to another supposed species, + <i>Ruticilla cairii</i> of Gerbe being suggested, but apparently + quite without reason. I have never seen the Black Redstart in the + Islands at any time of year except the autumn, and do not know of + its occurrence at any other time.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but gives no + locality; and there is no specimen in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>32. STONECHAT. <i>Pratincola rubicola</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Tarier rubicole," "Traquet pâtre," "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 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.</p> + + <p>There were a great many Stonechats 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 uncommon.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Stonechat in his list, but marks + it as confined to Guernsey and Sark. There is a specimen in the + Museum.</p> + + <p>33. WHINCHAT. <i>Pratincola rubetra</i>, 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Whinchat in his list, and marks + it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There is no specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>34. WHEATEAR. <i>Saxicola Oenanthe,</i> 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 distributed, being common + all round the coast, both on 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 universally distributed over the whole Island, in the + cultivated as well as the wild parts.</p> + + <p>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 perfectly immovable; the + stones forming one of the Druids' altars in the Vale, were made + use of to cover a nest when I was there.</p><br /> + + <p>35. REED WARBLER. <i>Acrocephalus streperus</i>, Vieillot. + French, "Rousserolle effarvatte," "Bec-fin des roseaux."—I + did not find out the Reed 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 Reed 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 I went to the + place as soon as I could, and found parts of it a regular + paradise for Reed 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 + l'Estrange, 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,<a name= + 'FNanchor_9_9' id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_9_9'><sup>[9]</sup></a> 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 the water. Subsequently, on July the + 12th, I found another Reed 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.</p> + + <p>These are all the places in which I have been able to find the + Reed 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 Reed 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.</p> + + <p>The Reed 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 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.</p> + + <p>I have never seen the nearly-allied and very similar Marsh + Warbler, <i>Acrocephalus palustris</i>, 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 Reed + Warbler, <i>Acrocephalus streperus</i>, at all ages and in all + states of plumage, being a warmer, redder brown than + <i>Acrocephalus palustris</i>, which is always more or less + tinged with green. The legs in <i>A. streperus</i> are always + darker than in <i>A. palustris</i>; the beak also in <i>A. + palustris</i> seems rather broader at the base and thicker. This + bird also has a whitish streak over the eye, which seems wanting + in <i>A. streperus.</i> 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."</p> + + <p>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 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 <i>A. streperus</i> the second (that + is the first long quill, for the first in both species is merely + rudimentary) is shorter than the fourth, and in <i>A. + palustris</i> it is longer.</p> + + <p>Though I think it not at all improbable that the Marsh + Warbler, <i>Acrocephalus palustris</i>, 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 + ornamental shrubs in the gardens, or in thick bramble bushes in + hedgerows and places of that sort.</p><br /> + + <p>36. SEDGE WARBLER. <i>Acrocephalus schoenobaenus</i>, + Linnaeus. French, "Bee-fin phragmite."—The Sedge Warbler is + by no means so common as the Reed Warbler, though, like it, it is + a summer visitant, and is quite as local. I did not see any + amongst the reeds which the Reed 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 l'Estrange 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, <i>Acrocephalus + aquaticus</i>, I should certainly have tried the effect of a + shot. As it is quite possible, however, 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 by the pale streak passing through the centre of + the dark crown of the head.</p> + + <p>The Sedge Warbler is not mentioned by Professor Ansted in his + list, and there is no specimen of either this or the Reed Warbler + in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>37. DARTFORD WARBLER. <i>Melizophilus undatus,</i> Boddaert. + French, "Pitchou Provencal," "Bee-fin Pittechou."—The + Dartford Warbler is by no 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 + correctness 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 supposed, 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 Grève de Lecq, in Jersey, in January. See 'Zoologist' + for 1869, p. 1561.</p> + + <p>It is not included in Professor Ansted's list, and there is no + specimen in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>38. WHITETHROAT. <i>Sylvia rufa</i>, Boddaert. French, + "Fauvette grise," "Bec-fin Grisette."—The Whitethroat has + hitherto perhaps been better known by the name used in the former + edition of 'Yarrell' and by Messrs. Degland and Gerbe, <i>Curruca + cinerea</i>, but in consequence of the inexorable rule of the + British Association the name "<i>rufa</i>," given by Boddaert in + 1783, has now been accepted for this bird. I have not generally + thought it necessary 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 <i>Sylvia + rufa</i>, and this might possibly have caused some confusion + unless the change had been pointed out.</p> + + <p>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 appearance 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>39. LESSER WHITETHROAT. <i>Sylvia curruca</i>, Linnaeus. + 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>40. BLACKCAP. <i>Sylvia atricapilla</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Fauvette à tête noire," "Bec-fin à + tête 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>41. WILLOW WREN. <i>Phylloscopus trochilus</i>, Linnaeus. + 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted has not included it in his list, although it + seems tolerably well known, and has a local name + "D'mouâiselle," which Mr. Métivier, in his + 'Dictionary,' applies to the Willow Wren of the English. This + name, however, is probably equally applicable to the + Chiffchaff.</p><br /> + + <p>42. CHIFFCHAFF. <i>Phylloscopus collybita</i>, Vieillot. + French, "Bee-fin veloce."—The Chiffchaff is certainly 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.</p> + + <p>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 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.</p><br /> + + <p>43. GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. <i>Regulus cristatus</i>, Koch. + French, "Roitelet 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, apparently 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 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 about 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.</p> + + <p>The Golden-crested Wren is mentioned by Professor Ansted, and + marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There are two—a + male and female—in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>44. FIRE-CRESTED WREN. <i>Regulus ignicapillus</i>, C.L. + Brehm. French, "Roitelet a triple bandeau."—I have a pair + of 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 Goldcrest and Fire-crest well, and the distinction + between 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 specimens I can be certain of.</p> + + <p>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 + <i>confrère</i>, the Golden-crested Wren, 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 occasionally 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 Torbay, which is not very far distant.</p> + + <p>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 than the female + Gold-crest. In point of fact the colour of the crest is of no + value whatever in distinguishing between the birds, and the + "practised eye" would find itself puzzled if it only relied upon + that.</p> + + <p>The French name for the Fire-crest, however, "Roitelet + à triple bandeau," is much more descriptive, 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>The Fire-crest is not mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, + and there is no specimen at present in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>45. WREN. <i>Troglodytes parvulus</i>, K.L. Koch. French, + "Roitelet," "Troglodyte mignon," "Troglodyte + 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 have been clear of the wash of the waves at high + water.</p> + + <p>The Wren is included in Professor Ansted's list, but marked as + only occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>46. TREE-CREEPER. <i>Certhia familiaris</i>, 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.</p> + + <p>It is mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as + occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There is no specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>47. GREAT TIT. <i>Parus major</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Mésange Charbonnière."—The Paridae are by no + means well represented in the Islands, either individually 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 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.</p> + + <p>The Great Tit is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only + marked by him as occurring in Sark.</p><br /> + + <p>48. BLUE TIT. <i>Parus caeruleus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Mésange 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 distributed 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>49. LONG-TAILED TIT. <i>Acredula caudata</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Másange à longue queue."<a name= + 'FNanchor_10_10' id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_10_10'><sup>[10]</sup></a>—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 at 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."</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>I am very doubtful as to whether I ought to include the + Bearded Tit, <i>Panurus biarmicus</i> 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 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.</p><br /> + + <p>50. WAXWING. <i>Ampelis garrulus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Jaseur de Bohême," "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."</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as + occurring in Guernsey; and there is one specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>51. PIED WAGTAIL. <i>Motacilla lugubris</i>, Temminck. French, + "Bergeronette Yarrellii."<a name='FNanchor_11_11' id= + "FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_11_11'><sup>[11]</sup></a>—The Pied Wagtail has + probably been better known to some of my readers as <i>Motacilla + Yarrellii</i>, but, according to the rules of nomenclature before + alluded to, <i>Motacilla lugubris</i> of Temminck seems to have + superseded the probably better-known name of <i>Motacilla + Yarrellii</i>.</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as + occurring in Guernsey and Sark.</p><br /> + + <p>52. WHITE WAGTAIL. <i>Motacilla alba</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Lavendière," "Hoche-queue grise," "Bergeronette + grise."—The White Wagtail is still scarcer than the Pied, + but I saw one pair evidently breeding between L'ancresse Road and + Grand Havre. The White Wagtail so much resembles the Pied + Wagtail, that it may have been easily overlooked, and may be more + common than is generally known.</p> + + <p>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 beneath; 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>53. GREY WAGTAIL. <i>Motacilla melanope</i>, 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 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes it in his list, and marks it as + occurring in Guernsey and Sark.</p><br /> + + <p>54. YELLOW WAGTAIL. <i>Motacilla raii</i>, Bonaparte. French, + "Bergeronnette flavéole."—As far as I have been able + to judge the Yellow Wagtail is only an occasional visitant on + migration. A few, however, 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>i.e.</i>, 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 Greyheaded Wagtail, the true <i>Motacilla + flava</i> 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 Wagtail. I have not + myself seen the Yellow Wagtail in either of the Islands during my + summer visits in 1866, 1876, or 1878; so it certainly cannot be + very common during the breeding-season, or I could scarcely have + missed seeing it.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted has not included it in his list, and there is + no specimen at present in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>55. TREE PIPIT. <i>Anthus trivialis</i>, 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>56. MEADOW PIPIT. <i>Anthus pratensis</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Le cujelier," "Pipit des prés," "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.</p> + + <p>It is included by Professor Ansted in his list, but marked as + occurring only in Guernsey.</p><br /> + + <p>57. ROCK PIPIT. <i>Anthus obscurus</i>, Latham. French, "Pipit + obsur," "Pipit spioncelle."—Resident 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 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.</p> + + <p>The Bock Pipit is included in Professor Ansted's list, but + marked as only occurring in Guernsey. All the Rock Pipits I have + seen in the Channel Islands have been the common form, <i>Anthus + obscurus</i>; 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 + <i>Anthus rupestris</i>.</p><br /> + + <p>58. SKY LARK. <i>Alauda arvensis</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Alouette des champs."—Mr. Métivier, in his + 'Dictionary,' gives Houèdre 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 Ronceval; 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 surrounded 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>59. SNOW BUNTING. <i>Plectrophanes nivalis</i>, Linnaeus. + 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.</p> + + <p>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 in 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>60. BUNTING. <i>Emberiza miliaria</i>, 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 Vale. I + 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.</p> + + <p>It is mentioned in Professor Ansted's list as occurring only + in Guernsey. There is one specimen in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>61. YELLOW HAMMER. <i>Emberiza citrinella</i>, Linnaeus. + 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 Cirl 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;<a name='FNanchor_12_12' id= + "FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_12_12'><sup>[12]</sup></a> so it is very probable that + it may yet occur.</p> + + <p>The Yellow Hammer is included in Professor Ansted's list, and + marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There are also a pair + in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>62. CHAFFINCH. <i>Fringilla caelebs</i>, 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>63. BRAMBLING. <i>Fringilla montifringilla</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Pinson d'Ardennes." "Grosbec d'Ardennes."—The + Brambling can only be considered 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 Road, 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, however, be looked upon as + anything more than a very rare occasional straggler, by no means + occurring every year.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>64. TREE SPARROW. <i>Passer montanus</i>, 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>65. HOUSE SPARROW. <i>Passer domesticus</i>, Linnaeus. 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. In Alderney, 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 accordingly punished by the + Sparrows.</p> + + <p>The House Sparrow is mentioned by Professor 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 + Métivier's 'Dictionary.'</p><br /> + + <p>66. HAWFINCH. <i>Coccothraustes vulgaris</i>, 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 Mr. 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 in Alderney 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. 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.</p><br /> + + <p>67. GREENFINCH. <i>Coccothraustes chloris</i>, Linnaeus. + 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.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as + occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There is no specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>68. GOLDFINCH. <i>Carduelis elegans</i>, 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 bird-catchers 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 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 + Alderney; 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>69. SISKIN. <i>Carduelis spinus</i>, 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 occurrence, 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 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 identifying 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 + Mediterranean and across to the North-western Coast of Africa; + and the Channel Islands would seem to lie directly in its + way.</p> + + <p>The Siskin, however, is not mentioned in Professor Ansted's + list, and there is no specimen at present in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>70. LINNET. <i>Linota cannabina</i>, 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 Lesser Redpole, the Mealy Redpole, or + the Twite, though I can see no reason why each of these birds + should not occasionally occur.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>71. BULLFINCH. <i>Pyrrhula europaea</i>, 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.</p> + + <p>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 Bullfinch 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.</p><br /> + + <p>72. COMMON CROSSBILL. <i>Loxia curvirostra</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Bec-croisé," "Bec-croisé + commun."—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."</p> + + <p>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 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.</p> + + <p>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 Crossbills 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 11th of December; there were four of them in a + tree by Haviland Hall. I happened to go into the person's house + who shot it, and his children had it playing with."</p> + + <p>I do not know that there is any 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."</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>73. COMMON STARLING. <i>Sturnus vulgaris</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Etourneau vulgaire."—The Starling is sometimes + very numerous in the autumn, but those remaining throughout the + year and breeding in the 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 Starling 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 + certainly 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 roosting-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 certainly there never seemed to be any + diminution in their numbers during the whole time I was there + 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, + sometimes 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>74. CHOUGH. <i>Pyrrhocorax graculus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Crave."—The Chough is a common resident 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 parts of the Island, sometimes in considerable flocks, + like Rooks.</p> + + <p>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 + Fieldfares and Redwings, 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 + visits, but now for some reason, probably the increase of + 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. Métivier, 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>75. JACKDAW. <i>Corvus monedula</i>, 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 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>76. RAVEN. <i>Corvus corax</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Corbeau," + "Corbeau noir."—The Raven 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 + getting scarcer in Guernsey, as I have not seen any there since; + and the last note I have of Ravens being seen in the Island is in + a letter from Mr. Couch, who wrote me word that two Ravens had + been seen and shot at several times, but not obtained, in + November, 1873. I have not seen a Raven in any of the other + Islands, and do not know of one having occurred there.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes it in his list, and marks it as only + occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen at present in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>77. CROW. <i>Corvus corone</i>, 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 domain of the + Gulls—at least whilst I was there, which was some time.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>78. HOODED CROW. <i>Corvus cornix</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Corbeau mantele," "Corneille mantelée."—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 l'Estrange, however, + informed me that one remained in Sark all last summer—that + of 1877—and paired with a common Crow,<a name= + 'FNanchor_13_13' id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_13_13'><sup>[13]</sup></a> but we could see 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>79. ROOK. <i>Corvus frugilegus</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Freux", + "Corbeau Freux."—I have never seen the Rook in the Islands + myself, even as a stranger, but Mr. Gallienne in his notes to + Professor Ansted's list, says, speaking of Guernsey, "The Rook + 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 Rooks + occasionally attempt to build here (Guernsey), but they are + invariably disturbed by boys and guns, and driven off. They + sometimes arrive here in large flocks in severe winters."</p> + + <p>The Rook is mentioned in Professor Ansted's list as occurring + in Guernsey only, and there are two specimens in the Museum, both + probably Guernsey killed.</p><br /> + + <p>80. MAGPIE. <i>Pica rustica</i>, 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 occasional visitant to that Island.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but marked as only + occurring in Guernsey; and there are two specimens in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>81. LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER. <i>Picus minor</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Pie épeichette."—As may 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.</p> + + <p>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, + <i>Gecinus viridis</i>, 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, "Respecting 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 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.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as only + occurring in Guernsey. As above stated, the specimen formerly in + the Museum no longer exists.</p><br /> + + <p>82. WRYNECK. <i>Yunx torquilla</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Torcol + ordinaire."—The Wryneck, or, as it is called in + Guernsey-French, "Parlè"<a name='FNanchor_14_14' id= + "FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_14_14'><sup>[14]</sup></a> 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 + distributed through the Islands, remaining through the summer to + breed, and departing again in early autumn, August, or September. + Its numbers, however, 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 <i>Croquet</i>, which + was going on at Fort George, by the noise they made; I can quite + believe 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.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as + occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There are two specimens in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>83. HOOPOE. <i>Upupa Epops</i>, Linnaeus. French, "La + Huppé," "Huppé 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 expected 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 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 Ronseval, 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 would 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 disposition to do so, as, though rather a foul-feeder + and of unsavoury habits in its nest, and having no respect for + sanitary arrangements, the Hoopoe is nevertheless one of the most + useful birds in the garden.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>84. CUCKOO. <i>Cuculus canorus</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Coucou + gris."—The Cuckoo is one of the commonest 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 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 unfortunate in not + finding eggs, and in not seeing any of the foster-parents feeding + their over-grown <i>protégés</i>: 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 favourites, such as Wagtails, Hedgesparrows, and Robins, + 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 collection 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 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 <i>resumé</i> 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.</p> + + <p>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 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 appearance 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 produce 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, 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 clergyman, 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?</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>85. KINGFISHER. <i>Alcedo ispida</i>, 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 on the small fish left in the + clear pools formed amongst the rocks by the receding tide; it is + also by no means uncommon 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 northward 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 pêcheur' + appears as one of the "Oiseaux de Mer."</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>86. NIGHTJAR. <i>Caprimulgus enropaeus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Engoulevent ordinaire."—The Nightjar is a regular autumnal + visitant, a few perhaps arriving in the spring and remaining to + breed, but 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 aërial rambles. The bird-stuffer in + Alderney had some wings of Nightjars nailed up behind his door + which had been shot in that Island by himself.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>87. SWIFT. <i>Cypselus apus</i>, 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 + Coupée, amongst the rocks of which place and Little Sark + they breed in considerable numbers. Mr. MacCulloch 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 Guernsey. 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 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 Cheminant 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>88. SWALLOW, <i>Hirundo rustica</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Hirondelle de Cheminée."—According to + Métivier's 'Dictionary,' "Aronde" is the local + Guernsey-French name of the Swallow, which is a common summer + visitant to all the Islands, and very generally 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>89. MARTIN. <i>Chelidon urbica</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Hirondelle de fenêtre."—The House Martin is much + more local than the Swallow, but still a numerous summer + visitant, like the Swallow, 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 Road, 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but only marks it as + occurring in Guernsey and Sark.</p><br /> + + <p>90. SAND MARTIN. <i>Cotyle riparia</i>, 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 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Sand Martin in his list, and + marks it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark.</p><br /> + + <p>91. WOOD PIGEON. <i>Columba palumbus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Colombe ramier."—The Wood Pigeon is resident and breeds in + several places in Guernsey; but fortunately for the Guernsey + Farmers, who may 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;"<a name='FNanchor_15_15' id= + "FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_15_15'><sup>[15]</sup></a> 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, 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>92. ROCK DOVE. <i>Columba livia</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Colombe biset."—I have never seen the Rock 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 Rock 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 Rock 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Rock 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, <i>Columba + aenas</i>, 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 been 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 Rock 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, <i>Columba palumbus</i>, 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 Ring Dove, as is very frequently the case.</p><br /> + + <p>93. TURTLE DOVE. <i>Turtur vulgaris</i>, Eyton. French, + "Colombe tourterelle."—The Turtle Dove is a regular, but + probably never very numerous summer visitant, arriving and + departing about the 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. MacCulloch, writing to me about 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted mentions it in his list, but only as + occurring in Guernsey, and there is one specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>94. QUAIL. <i>Coturnix communis</i>, 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. MacCulloch + writes me word that "Quails certainly visit us occasionally, and + I remember having seen their eggs in my youth"; and Mrs. Jago + (late Miss Cumber), who was herself a bird-stuffer 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 occasionally, too, in Alderney, as the bird-stuffer 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 Landrail, as there were rather more Landrail's + than Quail's eggs in it.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>95. WATER RAIL. <i>Rallus aquations</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Râle d'eau."—The Water Rail 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 bird-stuffer, told me he had seen a pair + of Water Rails and four young, his dog having started them from a + hedge near the Rousailleries farm; the young could scarcely fly. + I saw one at the bird-stuffer's at Alderney, which had been shot + in that Island; and the bird-stuffer 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 mentioned the + incident of the Water Rail being killed by the Merlin, recorded + by Mr. Couch in the 'Zoologist' for 1875.</p> + + <p>The Water Rail is included in Professor Ansted's list, and + marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There are two specimens + in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>96. SPOTTED CRAKE. <i>Porzana maruetta</i>, 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 Rail has been found here; and one of Mr. De Putron's + labourers described a Rail to me which he had shot in the Vale + Pond in May, 1877, which, from his description, could have been + nothing but a Spotted Rail.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>97. LANDRAIL. <i>Crex pratensis</i>, Bechstein. French, + "Râle des prés," "Râle de terre" ou "de + Genet," "Poule d'eau de genet."—The Landrail is a common + summer visitant, breeding certainly in Guernsey, Sark, and + Alderney,<a name='FNanchor_16_16' id= + "FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href='#Footnote_16_16'><sup>[16]</sup></a> + 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.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as + occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There are two specimens in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>98. MOORHEN. <i>Gallinula chloropus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Poule d'eau ordinaire."—I have not seen 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>99. COMMON COOT. <i>Fulica atra</i>, 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 + occasional and never numerous autumnal visitant; and its breeding + in the Braye Pond that year must have 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Coot in his list, but only marks + it as occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>100. LITTLE BUSTARD. <i>Otis tetrax</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Outarde canepetière," "Poule de Carthage."—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 mentioned 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 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 + intelligence 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>101. THICK-KNEE. <i>Oedicnemus scolopax</i>, S.G. Gmelin. + French, "Oedicneme criard," "Poule d'Aurigny."<a name= + 'FNanchor_17_17' id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_17_17'><sup>[17]</sup></a>—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 neighbourhood 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but only marks it as + occurring in Guernsey. There is one specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>102. PEEWIT. <i>Vanellus vulgaris</i>, Bechstein. French, + "Vanneau huppé."—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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Peewit in his list, but only + marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen in the + Museum at present.</p><br /> + + <p>103. GREY PLOVER. <i>Squatarola helvetica</i>, Linnaeus. + 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 occasionally 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 unknowing 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 disappointment 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.</p> + + <p>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. 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.</p><br /> + + <p>104. GOLDEN PLOVER. <i>Charadrius pluvialis</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Pluvier dore."—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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>105. DOTTEREL. <i>Eudromias morinellus</i>, 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, 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 Rev. A. + Morrës, who kindly gave me this last one, has also a skin of + one killed at the same time; both of these were Guernsey + killed.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>106. RING DOTTEREL. <i>Ægialitis hiaticula</i>, + Linnaeus. French, "Grand pluvier à collier," "Pluvier + à collier."—The Ring 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 + 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 Ring 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 Ring Dotterel at all, though at the time Kentish + Plover were common in most of the bays in the low parts of the + Island. The Ring 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 Ring + 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 l'Estrange nor I found any eggs, though + we searched hard for them both in '76 and '78; neither did we + find any eggs either in Herm or Alderney.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Ring Dotterel in his list, but + marks it as only occurring in Guernsey. There is a specimen in + the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>107. KENTISH PLOVER. <i>Ægialitis cantianus</i>, Latham. + French, "Pluvier à 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 + Ring 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 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 Rocques 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 seaweed. I should not + have found these if it had not been for the tracks of the birds + immediately round them. In L'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 + l'Estrange 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 the sand. In no instance in which I saw + the eggs was there the slightest attempt at a nest; but Colonel + l'Estrange 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."</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>108. TURNSTONE. <i>Strepsilas interpres</i>, 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 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. + l'Estrange 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. l'Estrange 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 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.<a name='FNanchor_18_18' id= + "FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_18_18'><sup>[18]</sup></a> Mr. Rodd, 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 throughout the year." It occurs also in + Alderney in the autumn, but I have not seen it there in the + breeding-season.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but only marks it as + occurring in Guernsey. There are a male and female, in breeding + plumage, in the Museum, and also one in winter plumage.</p><br /> + + <p>109. OYSTERCATCHER, <i>Haematopus ostralegus</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Hiûtrier 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 neighbouring 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 separating 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 l'Estrange 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, 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 Oystercatcher 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 + protection, 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Oystercatcher in his list, but + only marks it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There is an + Oystercatcher and also a few of the eggs in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>110. CURLEW. <i>Numenins arquata</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Courlis," "Grand courlis cendré."—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 seaweed 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 description 'La Fauconnière.' + The writer of this paper in 'Cassel's Magazine' was evidently no + ornithologist, and must, I think, have mistaken a young + Oystercatcher, 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 everywhere 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>111. WHIMBREL. <i>Numenius phaeopus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Courlis corlieu."—A good many Whimbrel visit all the + Islands during the spring migration, and 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Whimbrel in his list, and marks + it only as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There are two + specimens in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>112. REDSHANK. <i>Totanus calidris</i>, 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 Redshank in full breeding plumage, killed in Guernsey + as late as the 23rd of April.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Redshank in his list, but only + marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There are two specimens in the + Museum.</p> + + <p>113. GREEN SANDPIPER. <i>Totanus ochropus</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Chevalier cul blanc."—The Green Sandpiper is an + irregular, very scarce (not so numerous indeed as the Redshank) + 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted does not include the Green Sandpiper in his + list, though he does the Wood Sandpiper, 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 immediately + be distinguished; the axillary plume or long feathers under the + wing, in the Green Sandpiper, 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 conspicuously. There is one Green + Sandpiper at present in the Museum, which there seems no reason + to doubt is Guernsey killed.</p><br /> + + <p>114. COMMON SANDPIPER. <i>Totanus hypoleucos</i>, 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 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>115. BARTAILED GODWIT. <i>Limosa lapponica</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Barge rousse."—The Bar-tailed 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 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 Bar-tailed 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.</p> + + <p>The Bar-tailed 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>116. GREENSHANK. <i>Totanus canescens</i>, 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>117. RUFF. <i>Machetes pugnax,</i> Linnaeus. French, + "Combatant," "Combatant variable."—The Ruff 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 Ruff 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 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 Ruff in confinement; the + change of colour in the feathers of the body begins before the + ruff makes its appearance.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Ruff in his list, and only marks + it as occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen in the Museum + at present.</p><br /> + + <p>118. WOODCOCK. <i>Scolopax rusticola</i>, 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, remaining 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 preserved, 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 unfortunate Woodcock as soon as there + should be sufficient daylight. In fact, such a scramble is there + for a chance at a Woodcock that a friend of mine told me he got + up long before daylight one morning 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 "roading," as it is called—that is, when on + their evening excursion for food; into these nets the Woodcocks + fly and become easy victims.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>119. SOLITARY SNIPE. <i>Scolopax major</i>, 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 bird-stuffers; 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 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>120. SNIPE. <i>Gallinago gallinaria</i>, Gmelin. French, + "Bécassine 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 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 + breeding-season, 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.</p> + + <p>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 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.</p><br /> + + <p>121. JACK SNIPE. <i>Gallinago gallinula</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Bécassine 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>122. KNOT. <i>Tringa canutus</i>, Brisson. French, "Becasseau + canut," "Becasseau maubèche."—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 were it at all + common a few certainly would have occasionally found their way + there.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but only marks it as + occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen at present in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>123. CURLEW SANDPIPER. <i>Tringa subarquata</i>, + Güldenstaedt. French, "Becasseau cocorli."—The Curlew + Sandpiper, or Pigmy Curlew as it is sometimes called, can only be + considered a rare occasional visitant to the Channel Islands. I + have never seen or shot one there myself, but Mr. Couch records + one in the 'Zoologist' for 1874 as having been shot near the + Richmond 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 Rocque 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.</p> + + <p>It is not included in Professor Ansted's list, and there is no + specimen in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>124. PURRE or DUNLIN. <i>Tringa alpina</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Becasseau brunette," "Becasseau variable."—The Purre is + resident in all the Islands throughout the year in considerable + numbers, which 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 seaweed 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted has not mentioned it in his list. There are + two specimens in the Museum, both in breeding plumage.</p><br /> + + <p>125. LITTLE STINT. <i>Tringa minuta</i>, 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.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as + occurring in Guernsey only. There is no specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>126. SANDERLING. <i>Calidris arenaria</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Sanderling variable."—The Sanderling is 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 November, 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.</p> + + <p>The Sanderling is included in Professor Ansted's list, and + marked by him as occurring in Guernsey and Sark.</p><br /> + + <p>127. GREY PHALAROPE. <i>Phalaropus fulicarius</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Phalarope gris," "Phalarope roussâtre," "Phalarope + phatyrhinque."<a name='FNanchor_19_19' id= + "FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_19_19'><sup>[19]</sup></a>—The Grey Phalarope is + a tolerably regular and occasionally 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.</p> + + <p>The Grey Phalarope is included in Professor Ansted'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.</p><br /> + + <p>128. HERON. <i>Ardea cinerea</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Heron + cendré", "Heron huppé."—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 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 + vicinity of the marshes near the Ivy Castle, formerly thickly + wooded with old elms, which bears the name of La + Heronière. 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 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>129. PURPLE HERON. <i>Ardea purpurea</i>, 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. Rodd records + the capture of one, a female, near the Lizard, in Cornwall, late + in April of the same year.<a name='FNanchor_20_20' id= + "FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_20_20'><sup>[20]</sup></a> 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 bird-stuffer, Mr. Grieve, and there I found the + bird and the person who shot it, who told me 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 morning, + when he found it dead near the place he had marked it down the + night before. It was in consequence 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.</p> + + <p>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 + specimen at present in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>130. SQUACCO HERON. <i>Ardeola cornuta</i>, 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 recorded instance of its + occurrence in the Channel Islands.</p> + + <p>It is not mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, and there is + no specimen in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>131. BITTERN. <i>Botaurus stellaris</i>, 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 + bird-stuffer in Alderney (Mr. Grieve) and his friend told me they + had shot Bitterns in that island, but did not remember the + date.</p> + + <p>The Bittern is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only + marked as occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>132. AMERICAN BITTERN. <i>Botaurus lentiginosus</i>, Montagu. + French, "Heron lentigineux."<a name='FNanchor_21_21' id= + "FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_21_21'><sup>[21]</sup></a>—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 'Zoologist' 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 + specimens 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 + young birds; but, at any age or in any state of plumage, the + birds may be immediately distinguished 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.</p> + + <p>The American Bittern is not mentioned in Professor 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.</p><br /> + + <p>133. LITTLE BITTERN. <i>Ardetta minuta</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Heron Blongios."<a name='FNanchor_22_22' id= + "FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_22_22'><sup>[22]</sup></a>—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 Road; 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 informed 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 + 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.</p> + + <p>The Little Bittern is included in Professor Ansted's list, and + marked as occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>134. SPOONBILL. <i>Platalea leucorodia</i>, 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 specimen 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 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 + writes 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.<a name= + 'FNanchor_23_23' id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_23_23'><sup>[23]</sup></a> 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. Rodd, 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, + observed 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."<a name= + 'FNanchor_24_24' id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_24_24'><sup>[24]</sup></a></p> + + <p>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 + mentioned, disappeared.</p><br /> + + <p>135. WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. <i>Anser albifrons</i>, Scopoli. + French, "Oie rieuse, ou à 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>136. BRENT GOOSE. <i>Bernicla brenta</i>, Brisson. French, + "Oie cravant," "Bernache cravant."—The Brent Goose is a + regular winter visitant to all the Islands, varying, however, in + numbers in different years: sometimes it is very numerous, and + affords good sport during the winter to the fishermen, 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>137. MUTE SWAN. <i>Cygnus olor</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Cygne + tuberculé."—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 that had + strayed away from the Swannery at Abbotsbury, on the opposite + coast of Dorset, where some three hundred and fifty pairs still + breed annually. I have myself seen as many six hundred 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 + themselves 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 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.</p><br /> + + <p>138. HOOPER. <i>Cygnus musicus</i>, Bechstein. French, "Cygne + sauvage."—The Wild Swan or Hooper<a name='FNanchor_25_25' + id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_25_25'><sup>[25]</sup></a> 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 (5 ft. 3 in.) given, however, + it would appear that it was the 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 particulars 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, however, 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>139. BEWICK'S SWAN. <i>Cygnus minor</i>, Keys and Blasius. + French, "Cygne de Bewick."<a name='FNanchor_26_26' id= + "FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_26_26'><sup>[26]</sup></a>—I have very little + authority for including Bewick's Swan in my list of Guernsey + birds; Mr. MacCulloch, however, writes me word, "The Common + Hooper has visited us in severe winters, and is certainly not the + <i>only</i> species of <i>wild</i> Swan that has been shot here." + In all probability the other must have been Bewick's 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 distinctions. 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 distinguish the two, and is almost the only + exterior distinction, but on dissection the anatomical structure, + especially of the trachea, shows material difference between the + two.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>140. WILD DUCK. <i>Anas boschas</i>, 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 Guernsey-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, + however, 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>141. PINTAIL. <i>Dafila acuta</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Pilet," + "Canard pilet." The Pintail is an occasional 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 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>142. TEAL. <i>Querquedula crecca</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Sarcelle 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 Ring Dotterel enough for a + pie—and, by-the-bye, a very good pie they made.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>143. EIDER DUCK. <i>Somateria mollissima,</i> Linnaeus. + 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>144. COMMON SCOTER. <i>Oidemia nigra</i>, 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 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 immediately 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 + <i>Anatidae</i> put on from about July to October, and in which + many of them look so like the females.</p> + + <p>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; and a mistake may easily have been made, + however, 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.</p><br /> + + <p>145. GOOSANDER. <i>Mergus merganser</i>, 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 Red-breasted Merganser—at least, I have not + seen them seek shelter so much in the different bays.</p> + + <p>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, though I think there used to be one, but I + suppose it has got moth-eaten and been thrown away.</p><br /> + + <p>146. RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. <i>Mergus serrator,</i> Linnaeus. + French, "Harle Huppé."—Like the Goosander, the + Red-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 Red-breasted Merganser. The + greater number of Red-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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Red-breasted Merganser in his + list, but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There are two + specimens in the Museum—a male in full plumage and a female + or young male.</p><br /> + + <p>147. SMEW. <i>Mergus albellus</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Harle + piette," "Harle étoilé," "Petit harle + huppé."—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 any instance in which a + full-plumaged male has occurred in the Channel Islands.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>148. LITTLE GREBE. <i>Podiceps minor</i>, Gmelin. French, + "Grèbe 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>149. EARED GREBE. <i>Podiceps nigricollis</i>, Sundeval. + French, "Grèbe 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>150. SCALAVONIAN GREBE. <i>Podiceps auritus,</i> Linnaeus. + French, "Grèbe 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 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. Mellish'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 distinguished, 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 full breeding-plumage there can be no + possibility of confounding the two species.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>151. RED-NECKED GREBE. <i>Podiceps griseigena,</i> Boddaert. + French, "Grèbe jou-gris."—I have never seen a + Channel Island specimen of the Red-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 Red-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.</p> + + <p>The Red-necked Grebe is included in Professor Ansted's list, + but only marked as occurring in Guernsey. There is one specimen + in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>152. GREAT-CRESTED GREBE. <i>Podiceps cristatus</i>, Linnaeus. + French. "Grèbe huppé."—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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>153. GREAT NORTHERN DIVER. <i>Colymbus glacialis</i>, + 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 considerable 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 + 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>154. BLACK-THROATED DIVER. <i>Colymbus arcticus</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Plongeon à gorge noir."—The Black-throated + Diver is a much less common visitor to the Islands than either + the Great Northern or Red-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 plumage as the Great Northern has. In the + 'Zoologist' for 1875 Mr. Couch records the occurrence 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 Red-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 Red-throated Diver, and the oval marks on the margins + of the feathers of the same parts in the young birds of the + year.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>155. RED-THROATED DIVER. <i>Colymbus septentrionalis</i>, + Linnaeus. French, "Plongeon à gorge rouge," "Plongeon + cat-marin."—The Red-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-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.</p> + + <p>It is mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, but marked as only + occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen at present in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>156. GUILLEMOT. <i>Alca troile</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Guillemot à 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 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 Razorbill. 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 Rock.'" This very much confirms what Mr. + Gallienne says, in his notes to Professor Ansted's + list—"The Razorbill and Guillemot breed on the Ortack Rock + and on the cliffs at Alderney." This Ortack Rock is to the west + of Alderney, between Burhou and the Caskets, and a considerable + number of Guillemots and Razorbills 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 Ringed Guillemot, <i>Alca lacrymans</i>, in the + Channel Islands, but, as it 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 backwards 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>157. LITTLE AUK. <i>Mergulus alle</i>, 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 + ashore during a gale, and, being too exhausted to rise, had been + taken by hand.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>158. PUFFIN. <i>Fratercula arctica</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Macareux."—The Puffin, or Barbelote<a name= + 'FNanchor_27_27' id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_27_27'><sup>[27]</sup></a> 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 considerable + 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 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, 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."<a name='FNanchor_28_28' id= + "FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_28_28'><sup>[28]</sup></a> 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 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, "après la saison des + amours." Dr. Bureau, in a very interesting paper<a name= + 'FNanchor_29_29' id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_29_29'><sup>[29]</sup></a> 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 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 same. It is small sliced off + (trongué) 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, however, 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.</p> + + <p>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 bird-stuffer's paint, probably with the view of + making it as like the ordinary summer plumage as + possible.</p><br /> + + <p>159. RAZORBILL. <i>Alca torda</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Pingouin + macroptere."—The Razorbill is not by any means numerous in + the Channel Islands, but a few breed about Ortack, and, as has + been said 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,<a name='FNanchor_30_30' id= + "FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_30_30'><sup>[30]</sup></a> 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 + Razorbill Auk shot in Guernsey on the 14th February, 1847; this, + of course, is only a young Razorbill of the previous year, which + had not at that time fully developed its bill.</p> + + <p>The Razorbill is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only + marked as occurring in Guernsey. There are two Razorbills in the + Museum, one in summer and one in winter plumage.</p><br /> + + <p>160. CORMORANT. <i>Phalacrocorax carbo</i>, 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 anywhere + 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 that had been hatched, and probably the young gone off with + its parents. I, however, 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 specimens of the + Cormorant that I have seen.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>161. SHAG. <i>Phalacrocorax graculus</i>, 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 La + Fauconnière, 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 Coupée, 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 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 wandering 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 returning 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 + 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>162. GANNET. <i>Sula bassana</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Fou de + bassan."—The Gannet, or Solan Goose, 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 appearance. 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 bird-stuffer 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 bird-stuffer 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.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as + occurring in Guernsey. There are three specimens, an adult and + two young, in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>163. COMMON TERN. <i>Sterna fluviatilis</i>, 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 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 bird-stuffer, 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 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>164. ARCTIC TERN. <i>Sterna macrura</i>, Naumann. French, + "Hirondelle de mer arctique."<a name='FNanchor_31_31' id= + "FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_31_31'><sup>[31]</sup></a>—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 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.</p> + + <p>The Arctic Tern is not included in Professor Ansted's list, + and there is no specimen at present in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>165. BLACK TERN. <i>Hydrochelidon nigra</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Guifette noire," "Hirondelle de mer épouvantail."<a name= + 'FNanchor_32_32' id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_32_32'><sup>[32]</sup></a>—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 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.</p> + + <p>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 + Roseate 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.</p><br /> + + <p>166. KITTIWAKE. <i>Rissa tridactyla</i>, 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 made + the statement in the 'Zoologist' for 1866 that it did breed in + the Channel Islands; subsequent 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 departed 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.</p><br /> + + <p>167. HERRING GULL. <i>Larus argentatus</i>, Gmelin. French, + "Goeland argenté," "Goeland à 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 St. Martin's Point much more sparingly. In Sark + it breeds in considerable numbers; on Little Sark on both sides + of the Coupée, 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 Fauconnière; 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 the little island of Burhou, which has been 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 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 experience 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 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 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 + Black-backs, thus distinguishing 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 a very 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 + 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 extremely + 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 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>168. LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. <i>Larus fuscus</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Goeland à pieds jaunes."—The Lesser + Black-backed Gull is common in the Islands, remaining throughout + the year and breeding 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<a name= + 'FNanchor_33_33' id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_33_33'><sup>[33]</sup></a> 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 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 fishermen. 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, sometimes 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 on the + scanty herbage; on the roof of this cottage several of the Lesser + Black-backs perched themselves 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 difference 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 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>169. COMMON GULL. <i>Larus canus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Goeland cendré," "Mouette a pieds bleus,"<a name= + 'FNanchor_34_34' id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_34_34'><sup>[34]</sup></a> "La Mouette + d'Hiver".<a name='FNanchor_35_35' id= + "FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href='#Footnote_35_35'><sup>[35]</sup></a>—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,' <i>fide</i> the Rev. 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. Rodd. 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. Rodd, however, in his + 'Notes on the Birds of Cornwall,' published in the 'Zoologist' + for 1870, only says, "Generally distributed 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. Rodd is going to publish his interesting notes on the + Birds of Cornwall in a 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-backed + 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 which they are the "Mouette à pieds bleus" of + Temminck.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>170. GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. <i>Larus marinus</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Goeland à 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 Razorbill 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 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 'Métivier's Dictionary.'</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>171. BROWN-HEADED GULL. <i>Larus ridibundus</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Mouette rieuse."<a name='FNanchor_36_36' id= + "FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_36_36'><sup>[36]</sup></a> This pretty little Gull is + a common autumn and winter visitant to all the Islands, remaining + on to the 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 colouring-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—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.</p> + + <p>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, + <i>Larus melanocephalus</i>, 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 <i>L. melanocephalus</i> in the + breeding-season is black, not brown as in <i>L. ridibundus</i>, + 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 <i>L. ridibundus</i>. In younger + birds, however, the primaries are a little more alike, but the + first primary of <i>L. melanocephalus</i> is black or nearly so; + in this state Mr. Howard Saunders has given plates of the first + three primaries of <i>L. melanocephalus</i> and <i>L. + ridibundus</i>, both being from birds of the year shot about + March, in his paper on the <i>Larinae</i>, published in the + 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for the year + 1878.</p><br /> + + <p>172. LITTLE GULL. <i>Larus minutus</i>, Pallas. French, + "Mouette pygmée."—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 bird-stuffer's shop here I saw a Little Gull in the flesh, + which had been shot a few days ago."<a name='FNanchor_37_37' id= + "FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_37_37'><sup>[37]</sup></a> 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 + occasionally occurs on the south coast of Devon.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted does not include the Little Gull in his list, + and there is no specimen in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>173. GREAT SHEARWATER. <i>Puffinus major</i>, Faber. French, + "Puffin majeur."<a name='FNanchor_38_38' id= + "FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_38_38'><sup>[38]</sup></a>—I think I may fairly + 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 + bays, 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; but + 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 sufficiently 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.</p> + + <p>The Great Shearwater is not mentioned in Professor Ansted's + list, and there is no specimen in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>174. MANX SHEARWATER. <i>Puffinus anglorum</i>, 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 specimen, however, killed near St. Samson's + on the 28th September, 1876.<a name='FNanchor_39_39' id= + "FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_39_39'><sup>[39]</sup></a> 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.</p> + + <p>The Manx Shearwater is not included in Professor Ansted's + list, and there is no specimen in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>175. FULMAR PETREL. <i>Fulmarus glacialis</i>, Linnaeus. + 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.</p> + + <p>It is not included in Professor Ansted's list, and there is no + specimen in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>176. STORM PETREL. <i>Thalassidroma pelagica</i> Linnaeus. + French, "Thalassidrome tempête."—Mr. Gallienne, in + his remarks published with 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 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'Estrange'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.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as + occurring in Alderney, Sark, Jethou, and Herm.</p> + + <p>With this bird ends my list of the Birds of Guernsey and the + neighbouring Islands. It contains 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 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 any of the birds mentioned. I have no doubt, + however, that any one 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. Carey, 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, especially amongst the smaller Warblers and + the Pipits, and perhaps amongst the occasional Waders. There is + one small family—the Skuas—entirely unrepresented 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, <i>Stercorarius pomatorhinus</i>, + and Richardson's Skua, <i>Stercorarius crepidatus</i>, 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 bird-stuffers or the fishermen and the + various shooters know anything about them. I have therefore, + though I think it by no means; unlikely that both birds + occasionally occur, thought it better to omit their names from my + list.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted has only mentioned one of the + family—the Great Skua, <i>Stercorarius + catarrhactes</i>,—in his list, which also may occasionally + occur, as may Buffon's Skua, <i>Stercorarius parasiticus</i>; 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.</p><br /> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>FINIS.</p> + <hr style='width: 65%;' /> + <a name='ENDNOTES' id="ENDNOTES"></a> + + <h2>ENDNOTES</h2><a name='Footnote_1_1' id= + "Footnote_1_1"></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_1'>[1]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p><br /> + <i>a</i> Alderney.<br /> + <i>e</i> Guernsey.<br /> + <i>i</i> Jersey.<br /> + <i>o</i> Sark.<br /> + <i>u</i> Jethou and Herm.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_2_2' id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_2_2'>[2]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>This was nearly the whole of the Vale, including L'Ancresse + Common.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_3_3' id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_3_3'>[3]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>Fourteen "livres tournois" are about equal to £1.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_4_4' id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_4_4'>[4]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>This Act is passed annually at the Chief Pleas after + Easter.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_5_5' id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_5_5'>[5]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p><i>Falco aesalon</i>, Tunstall, H.S. 1771. <i>Falco + aesalon</i>, Gmelin, Y., 1788.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_6_6' id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_6_6'>[6]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>See Temminok.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_7_7' id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_7_7'>[7]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>See 'Birds of Spain,' by Howard Saunders, Esq., published in + the works of the Société Zoologique de France, + where he says:—"<i>C. ceruginosus</i> et <i>C. + cyaneus</i> ont les lisières extérieures des + remiges émarginées, jusqu'à et y comprise + la cinquième, et cette forme se trouve en presque toutes + les <i>Circus</i> exotiques. En <i>C. swainsonii</i> (the + Pallid Harrier) et <i>C. cineraceus</i> cette + émargination successive se borne a la quatrieme." We + have little to do with this distinction, except as between + <i>C. cyaneus</i> and <i>C. cineraceus, C. aeruginosus</i> + being otherwise sufficiently distinct, and <i>C. swainsonii</i> + not coming within our limits.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_8_8' id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_8_8'>[8]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>"Tereus," I soon found, as I expected, was Mr. + MacCulloch.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_9_9' id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_9_9'>[9]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>These reeds are the common reed Spires, Spire-reed, or + Pool-reed. <i>Arundo phragmites</i>. See 'Popular Names of + British Plants,' by Dr. Prior, p. 219.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_10_10' id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_10_10'>[10]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>This name of Temminck is no doubt applied to the Continental + form, <i>Acredula caudata</i>, of Linnaeus, not to the British + form now elevated into a species under the name <i>Acredula + rosea</i>, 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 + <i>A. rosea</i>. <i>A. caudata</i> may, however, also occur, as + both forms do occasionally, in the British Islands.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_11_11' id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_11_11'>[11]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>See Temminck's 'Man. d'Ornith.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_12_12' id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_12_12'>[12]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>Dresser's 'Birds of Europe,' <i>fide</i> Degland's + Grebe.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_13_13' id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_13_13'>[13]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>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, <i>Corvus corone</i> + and <i>Corvus cornix</i>, on the several grounds that there is + no structural difference between the two; that their habits, + food, cries, and mode of nidification are the same (in + considering 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 impossible 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.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_14_14' id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_14_14'>[14]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>Rim. Gu., p. 35.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_15_15' id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_15_15'>[15]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>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?</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_16_16' id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_16_16'>[16]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>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.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_17_17' id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_17_17'>[17]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p><i>Fide</i> Mr. MacCulloch.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_18_18' id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_18_18'>[18]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>See 'Dresser's Birds of Europe.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_19_19' id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_19_19'>[19]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>For the last, see Temminck's 'Man, d'Ornithologie.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_20_20' id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_20_20'>[20]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p><i>See</i> 'Zoologist' for 1867, p. 829.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_21_21' id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_21_21'>[21]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>Temminck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_22_22' id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_22_22'>[22]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p><i>See</i> Temminck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_23_23' id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_23_23'>[23]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>The one above mentioned.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_24_24' id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_24_24'>[24]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>See 'Zoologist' for 1870, p. 2244.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_25_25' id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_25_25'>[25]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>"Hucard" in Guernsey French (see 'Metevier's Dictionary,') + who also says "Notre Hucard est le Whistling Swan ou Hooper des + Anglais."</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_26_26' id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_26_26'>[26]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>See Temminck's 'Man. d'Ornithologie.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_27_27' id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_27_27'>[27]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>See also Métivier's Dictionary.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_28_28' id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_28_28'>[28]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>See note in 'Zoologist' for 1866.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_29_29' id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_29_29'>[29]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>'De la Mue du Bec et des Ornements Palpébraux du + Macareux Arctique après la Saison des Amours.' Par le + Docteur Louis Bureau; 'Bulletin de la Société + Zoologique de France.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_30_30' id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_30_30'>[30]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>'Zoologist' for 1869.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_31_31' id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_31_31'>[31]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p><i>See</i> Temininck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_32_32' id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_32_32'>[32]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>Temminck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_33_33' id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_33_33'>[33]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>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."</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_34_34' id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_34_34'>[34]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>See Temminck's 'Man. d'Ornithologie.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_35_35' id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_35_35'>[35]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>Buffon.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_36_36' id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_36_36'>[36]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>See Temminck's 'Man. d'Ornithologie.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_37_37' id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_37_37'>[37]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p><i>See</i> 'Zoologist' for 1869, p. 1560.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_38_38' id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_38_38'>[38]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p><i>See</i> Temminck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_39_39' id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_39_39'>[39]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>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.</p> + </div> + <hr style='width: 65%;' /> + <a name='INDEX' id="INDEX"></a> + + <h2>INDEX.</h2><span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Auk, Little, + 178</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Bittern, 152</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Bittern, American, + 153</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Bittern, Little, 154</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Blackbird, 34</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Blackcap, 52</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Brambling, 72</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Bullfinch, 79</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Bunting, 70</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Bunting, Snow, 70</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Bunting, Yellow, 71</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Bustard, Little, 117</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Buzzard, Common, 14</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Buzzard, Rough-legged, + 14</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Chaffinch, 72</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Chiffchaff, 53</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Chough, 84</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Coot, Common, 116</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Cormorant, 184</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Crake, Spotted, 114</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Creeper, 59</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Crossbill, Common, + 80</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Crow, 88</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Crow, Hooded, 89</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Cuckoo, 97</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Curlew, 132</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Dipper, 30</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Diver, Black-throated, + 174</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Diver, Great Northern, + 173</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Diver, Red-throated, + 175</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Dotterel, 122</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Dotterel, Ring, 123</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Dove, Rock, 110</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Dove, Turtle, 111</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Duck, Eider, 165</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Duck, Wild, 162</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Dunlin, 145</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Eagle, White-tailed, + 1</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Falcon, Greenland, 5</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Falcon, Iceland, 6</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Falcon, Peregrine, 8</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Fieldfare, 34</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Flycatcher, Spotted, + 24</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Gannet, 188</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Godwit, Bar-tailed, + 137</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Goldfinch, 76</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Goosander, 167</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Goose, Brent, 157</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Goose, White-fronted, + 157</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Grebe, Eared, 170</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Grebe, Great Crested, + 173</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Grebe, Little, 169</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Grebe, Red-necked, + 172</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Grebe, Sclavonian, + 170</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Greenfinch, 76</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Greenshank, 139</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Guillemot, 176</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Gull, Brown-headed, + 210</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Gull, Common, 207</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Gull, Great Black-backed, + 209</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Gull, Herring, 195</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Gull, Lesser Black-backed, + 203</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Gull, Little, 213</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Harrier, Hen, 17</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Harrier, Marsh, 16</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Harrier, Montagu's, + 18</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Hawfinch, 75</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Hawk, Sparrow, 13</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Hedgesparrow, 87</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Heron, 148</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Heron, Purple, 150</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Heron, Squacco, 151</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Hobby, 10</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Hooper, 160</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Hoopoe, 95</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Jackdaw, 86</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Kestrel, 12</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Kingfisher, 101</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Kittiwake, 194</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Knot, 144</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Landrail, 115</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Lark, Sky, 68</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Linnet, 78</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Magpie, 91</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Martin, 106</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Martin, Sand, 107</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Merganser, Red-breasted, + 168</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Merlin, 10</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Moorhen, 115</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Nightjar, 102</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Oriole, Golden, 25</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Osprey, 3</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Ouzel, Ring, 36</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Ouzel, Water, 30</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Owl, Barn, 22</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Owl, Long-eared, 20</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Owl, Short-eared, 21</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Oystercatcher, 130</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Peewit, 120</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Petrel, Fulmar, 216</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Petrel, Storm, 216</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Phalarope, Grey, 147</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Pigeon, Wood, 108</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Pintail, 163</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Pipit, Meadow, 67</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Pipit, Rock, 67</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Pipit, Tree, 66</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Plover, Golden, 122</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Plover, Grey, 121</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Plover, Kentish, 125</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Puffin, 179</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Purre, 145</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Quail, 112</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Rail, Water, 113</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Raven, 87</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Razorbill, 183</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Redshank, 134</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Redstart, 38</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Redstart, Black, 39</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Redwing, 33</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Robin, 38</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Rook, 90</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Ruff, 139</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Sanderling, 147</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Sandpiper, Common, + 136</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Sandpiper, Curlew, + 145</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Sandpiper, Green, + 135</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Scoter, Common, 165</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Shag, 185</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Shearwater, Great, + 213</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Shearwater, Manx, + 215</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Shrike, Red-backed, + 23</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Siskin, 77</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Smew, 169</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Snipe, 142</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Snipe, Jack, 144</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Snipe, Solitary, 141</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Sparrowhawk, 13</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Sparrow, House, 74</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Sparrow, Tree, 73</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Spoonbill, 155</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Starling, Common, 82</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Stint, Little, 146</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Stonechat, 41</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Swallow, 106</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Swan, Bewick's, 161</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Swan, Mute, 158</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Swan, Wild, 160</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Swift, 104</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Teal, 164</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Tern, Arctic, 192</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Tern, Black, 193</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Tern, Common, 190</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Tit, Blue, 60</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Tit, Great, 59</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Tit, Long-tailed, 61</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Thick-knee, 18</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Thrush, Song, 33</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Thrush, Mistletoe, + 31</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Turnstone, 127</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Warbler, Dartford, + 49</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Warbler, Reed, 44</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Warbler, Sedge, 48</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Wagtail, Grey, 64</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Wagtail, Pied, 62</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Wagtail, White, 63</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Wagtail, Yellow, 65</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Waxwing, 62</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Wheatear, 43</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Whimbrel, 133</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Whinchat, 43</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Whitethroat, 50</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Whitethroat, Lesser, + 52</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Woodcock, 140</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Woodpecker, Lesser Spotted, + 91</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Wren, 58</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Wren, Fire-crested, + 55</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Wren, Golden-crested, + 54</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Wren, Willow, 53</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Wryneck, 94</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Yellowhammer, 71</span><br /> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14473 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8d496a5 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #14473 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14473) diff --git a/old/14473-8.txt b/old/14473-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b12f43 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14473-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5989 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds of Guernsey (1879), by Cecil Smith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Birds of Guernsey (1879) + And The Neighbouring Islands: Alderney, Sark, Jethou, Herm; Being + A Small Contribution To The Ornitholony Of The Channel Islands + + +Author: Cecil Smith + +Release Date: December 26, 2004 [EBook #14473] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS OF GUERNSEY (1879) *** + + + + +Produced by Steven Gibbs and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + +BIRDS OF GUERNSEY + +AND THE NEIGHBOURING ISLANDS + +ALDERNEY, SARK, JETHOU, HERM; + + +BEING A SMALL CONTRIBUTION TO +The Ornitholony of the Channel Islands + + +BY + +CECIL SMITH, F.Z.S., + +MEMBER OF THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGIST'S UNION. + + +LONDON: +R.H. PORTER, 6, TENTERDEN STREET, +HANOVER SQUARE. +1879. + + + + +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. Gäetke 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, are in my own collection; and others I +have seen either in the flesh or only recently skinned in the +bird-stuffers' shops. For a few, of course, I have been obliged to rely +on the evidence of others; some of these may appear, perhaps, rather +questionable,--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 maybe 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 ornithologist, he was obliged +to rely in a great measure on information received from others, and this +apparently was not always very reliable, and he 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_[1] 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 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 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 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[2] was +separated from the mainland by an arm of the sea, left dry at low water, +extending from St. Samson's to the Vale Church. This was bordered by +salt 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 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 replaced 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 say that +within the last few years miles of glasshouses 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 +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 Rails, 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 hedgerow 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 known as the Forest Road, there is +little or no hedgerow 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 +sufficiently numerous) in their old breeding-stations, 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 exterminate 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 côtes des Isles de cet +Bailliage a considerablement diminué depuis plusieurs années; que les +dits oiseaux sont utiles aux pêcheurs, 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 durée des brouillards la +proximite des rochers," goes on to enact as follows:--"Il est défendu de +prendre, enlever ou détruire les ceufs des oiseaux de mer dans toute +I'entendue de la jurisdiction de cette isle, sur la peine d'une amende +qui ne sera pas moindre de sept livres tournois et n'excédera pas trente +livres tournois."[3] Sec. 2 enacts, "Depuis ce jour[4] au 15 Octobre +prochain, il est défendu de tuer, blesser, prendre ou chasser les +oiseaux de mer dans toute l'entendue de la jurisdiction de cette isle." +Sec. 3, "Ceux qui depuis ce jour au 15 Octobre prochain auront été +trouvés en possession d'un oiseau de mer récemment tué, blessé ou pris, +ou qui auront été trouvés en possession de plumage frais appartenant +d'un oiseau de mer seront censés avoir tué, blessé ou pris tel oiseau de +mer sauf è eux de prouver le contraire. Pareillement ceux qui depuis ce +jour au 15 Octobre prochain auront été trouvés en possession d'un oeuf +de l'annee d'un oiseau de mer seront censés avoir pris et enleve le dit +oeuf sauf à 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 +follows:--Les Mauves Mouettes, Pingouins, Guillemots, Cormorans, +Barbelotes, Hirondelles de mer, Pies-marants, Petrel, Plongeons, Grebes, +Puffins, Dotterells, Alouettes de mer, Toumpierres, Gannets, Courlis et +Martin pêcheur. + +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 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 unable 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 +_Projet de loi_ the Gazette says, "Il 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 nombre de nos chasseurs maladroits et +inexpérimentes se voit réduit 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 Société 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 Zoological Society, for permission to use +which, and for 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 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 Hubback for his notes from +Alderney during the times he was quartered there. + + + + +BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. + + +1. WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. _Haliaeetus albicilla_, Linnsaeus. 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 every one 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 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 convince 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. +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 occurrence, 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, probably 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 halioeetus_, 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 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 competent 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, cannot 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 '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. + + +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 mentioned +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 +carpenter 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 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 fairly conclude, however, 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. Rodd. +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 11th 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 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 11th 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 +interesting to some of my readers to mention that they may distinguish +them easily by colour, the Greenland, _Falco candicans_, being always +the most white, 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 +occasionally 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 +pèlerin."--The Peregrine can now, I think, only be considered an +autumnal visitant to the Islands, though, if not shot or otherwise +destroyed, it would, no doubt, remain throughout 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 _Falconidae_ 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 Fauconnière,' 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 November +11th, 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. + + +6. HOBBY. _Falco subbuteo_, Linnaeus. French, "Le Hobereau." The Hobby +can only be considered as a rather rare occasional visitant, just +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, probably 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 aesalon_,[5] Bris., 1766. French, "Faucon +Emérillon."--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 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, however, 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 +communication dated November 29th, 1874, says--"A Merlin--a female--was +shot in the Marais, which had struck down a Water Rail a minute or two +before it was shot. After striking down the Rail the Merlin flew into a +tree, about ten yards from which the man who shot it found the Rail +dead. He brought me both birds. The skin of the Rail 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 Ring Dotterell, which at that time of year is to +be found in large flocks mixed with Purres and 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 Ring Dotterell, Purres, and Turnstones do not form so +considerable a part of its food as they do of the Merlin. Skylarks, Rock +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, perhaps more, breed on the before-mentioned rock close to Jethou +"La Fauconnière," though a few pairs of Kestrels breeding there would +scarcely have been sufficient to give it its name. + +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 Sparrowhawk, 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 +nesting 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 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. ROUGHLEGGED 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 Rough-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 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 distinguished 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 +Buzzard, in which nearly the whole of the plumage was a uniform dark +chocolate-brown, and consequently 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. + +Professor Ansted includes the Rough-legged Buzzard in his list, but +only marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen at present +in the Museum. + + +12. MARSH HARRIER. _Circus Oeruginosus_, Linnaeus. French, "Busard +des Marais."--This seems to be the least common of the Harriers in the +Channel Islands, though it does occur occasionally, and perhaps 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 preserved, 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 herself, 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."[6]--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 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. + + +[13. Omitted.] + + +14. MONTAGU'S HARRIER. _Circus cineraceus_, Montagu. French, "Busard +Montagu," "Busard cendré."--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 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 consists chiefly of +grasshoppers, reptiles, small mammals, birds and their eggs; these last, +if their size permit, being often swallowed whole, as was the 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 Montagu'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.[7] This distinction is very useful +in 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, "Hibou vulgaire," +"Hibou moyen due."--The Long-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 Long-eared 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 Long-eared Owl; but this may have been the +bird mentioned above, as he sent me no date with it. + +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 Long-eared +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 accipitrinus_, Pallas. French, "Hibou +brachyôte."--Unlike the Long-eared Owl, the Short-eared 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 throughout 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 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. _Aluco flammeus_, 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 Road 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. + + +18. REDBACKED SHRIKE. _Lanius Collurio_, Linnaeus. French, "Pie-grieche +écorcheur."--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 Red-backed 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 about the Vallon or Le Ree. I 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 Red-backed Shrike in his list, and marks +it only as occurring in Guernsey. 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 +Professor 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 +distribution, 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. + +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 themselves 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 something 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 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"[8] +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, 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 Métivier, 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. Métivier'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 interview with Mr. George +Métivier. He is now in his 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 l'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 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. Métivier 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-stuffers' +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 occurred in Guernsey and Sark, but nothing more is said about the +bird. Probably Guernsey was mentioned as a 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, "Aquassière," +"Cincle plongeur."--The Dipper or Water Ouzel, though not very common, +less so, indeed, than the Kingfisher, is nevertheless 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 Kingfisher 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 Guernsey-killed, have been the common form, _Cinclus_ +_aquations_. The dark-breasted form, _Cinclus melanogaster_, 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 protected 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. Métivier 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, in a note to Professor Ansted's list, confirms the scarcity +of the Jay, as he says the Rook and the Jay are rarely seen here, +although they are indigenous 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 considerable numbers of Mistletoe Thrushes are +brought into the Guernsey market, where they may be seen hanging in +bunches with Common Thrushes, Redwings, Blackbirds, Fieldfares, +Starlings, and an occasional Ring Ouzel. Fieldfares and Mistletoe +Thrushes usually sell at fourpence each, the rest at fourpence a couple. + +Professor Ansted mentions it in his list, but confines 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. + + +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, Redwing, 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 shot and +brought into the market departing again in March and April. + + +25. FIELDFARE. _Turdus pilaris_, Linnaeus. French, "Grive litorne," +"Merle litorne."--Like the Redwing, 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 Redwings 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 common and numerous resident in all the Islands in the +Bailiwick of Guernsey. The Guernsey gardeners, 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 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 +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. RING OUZEL. _Turdus torquatus_, Linnaeus. French, "Merle à +plastron."--I do not think the Ring 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 remaining 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 Professor Ansted's list, says +the Ring 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 have I seen the eggs in any Guernsey +collection. I have seen specimens of the Ring Ouzel from Alderney, and +it appears to me about equally common at the same time of year in all +the Islands. Mr. MacCulloch, however, writes to me:--"From what I have +heard the Ring 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, R.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. HBDGESPARROW. _Accentor modularis_, Linnaeus. French, "Mouchet," +"Traîne buisson," "Accenteur mouchet."--The Hedgesparrow is, I think, +quite as common as in England, and resident throughout the year in all +the Islands. According to Mr. Métivier's 'Dictionary' its local name is +"Verdeleu," and he describes it as "Oiseau qui couvre les oeufs de +Coucou." In Guernsey, however, Cuckoos are much too numerous for the +Hedgesparrow to afford accommodation for them all. + +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. ROBIN. _Ericathus rubecula_, Linnaeus. French. "Bec-fin +rouge-gorge," "Rouge gorge." The Robin, 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 Robin is by far the most pugnacious with which I am acquainted, and +deserves the name of "pugnax" much more than the Ruff, 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 Robin 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. REDSTART. _Ruticilla phoenicurus_, Linnaeus. French, "Rouge-queue," +"Bec-fin des murailles."--I should not have included the Redstart in +this 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 Redstart; 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 Redstart. I +suppose, however, from Mr. MacCulloch's note that it occasionally visits +the Islands for a short time on migration, very few, if any, remaining +to breed. + +It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as occurring +in Guernsey. There is, however, no specimen at present in the Museum. + + +31. BLACK REDSTART. _Ruticilla titys_, Scopoli. French, "Rouge queue +Tithys."--The Black, or Tithys Redstart, 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 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 Redstart 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 Rock 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 Redstart. + +The male Black Redstart may be immediately distinguished from the Common +Redstart by the black breast and belly, and by the absence of the white +mark on the forehead. The male Black Redstart 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 Redstart being much duller--a dull +smoke-brown instead of the reddish brown of the Common Redstart. + +Some slight variations of plumage take place in the Black Redstart 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 Redstart 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 pâtre," "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 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 Stonechats 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 uncommon. + +Professor Ansted includes the Stonechat in his list, but marks it as +confined to Guernsey and Sark. There is a specimen in the Museum. + +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 Oenanthe,_ 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 distributed, being common all +round the coast, both on 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 universally distributed +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 perfectly +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. REED WARBLER. _Acrocephalus streperus_, Vieillot. French, +"Rousserolle effarvatte," "Bec-fin des roseaux."--I did not find out the +Reed 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 Reed 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 I went +to the place as soon as I could, and found parts of it a regular +paradise for Reed 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 l'Estrange, 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,[9] 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 the water. Subsequently, on July the +12th, I found another Reed 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 Reed +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 Reed 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 Reed 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 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 Reed 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 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 ornamental shrubs in the gardens, +or in thick bramble bushes in hedgerows and places of that sort. + + +36. SEDGE WARBLER. _Acrocephalus schoenobaenus_, Linnaeus. French, +"Bee-fin phragmite."--The Sedge Warbler is by no means so common as the +Reed Warbler, though, like it, it is a summer visitant, and is quite as +local. I did not see any amongst the reeds which the Reed 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 l'Estrange 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, however, 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 by 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 Reed Warbler in the Museum. + + +37. DARTFORD WARBLER. _Melizophilus undatus,_ Boddaert. French, "Pitchou +Provencal," "Bee-fin Pittechou."--The Dartford Warbler is by no 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 +correctness 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 supposed, 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 Grève 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. _Sylvia rufa_, Boddaert. French, "Fauvette grise," +"Bec-fin Grisette."--The Whitethroat 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 necessary 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 +appearance 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. + + +39. LESSER WHITETHROAT. _Sylvia curruca_, Linnaeus. 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 à tête +noire," "Bec-fin à tête 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. + + +41. WILLOW WREN. _Phylloscopus trochilus_, Linnaeus. 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'mouâiselle," which Mr. +Métivier, 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 certainly 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 +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, "Roitelet +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, apparently 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 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 about 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 Professor 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, +"Roitelet a triple bandeau."--I have a pair of 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 Goldcrest and Fire-crest well, and the distinction +between 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 specimens 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 _confrère_, the +Golden-crested Wren, 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 occasionally 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 Torbay, +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 than the female Gold-crest. In point of fact the colour of the +crest is of no value whatever in distinguishing 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, "Roitelet à triple +bandeau," is much more descriptive, 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. + + +45. WREN. _Troglodytes parvulus_, K.L. Koch. French, "Roitelet," +"Troglodyte mignon," "Troglodyte 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 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 is mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as occurring in +Guernsey and Sark. There is no specimen in the Museum. + + +47. GREAT TIT. _Parus major_, Linnaeus. French, "Mésange +Charbonnière."--The Paridae are by no means well represented in the +Islands, either individually 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 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 caeruleus_, Linnaeus. French, "Mésange +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 +distributed 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. + + +49. LONG-TAILED TIT. _Acredula caudata_, Linnaeus. French, "Másange à +longue queue."[10]--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 at 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 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 Bohême," +"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_, Temminck. French, "Bergeronette +Yarrellii."[11]--The Pied Wagtail has probably been better known to +some of my readers as _Motacilla Yarrellii_, but, according to the +rules of nomenclature before alluded to, _Motacilla lugubris_ 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, "Lavendière," +"Hoche-queue grise," "Bergeronette grise."--The White Wagtail is still +scarcer than the Pied, but I saw one pair evidently breeding between +L'ancresse Road and Grand Havre. The White Wagtail so much resembles +the Pied Wagtail, that it may have been easily overlooked, 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 +beneath; 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 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 +flavéole."--As far as I have been able to judge the Yellow Wagtail is +only an occasional visitant on migration. A few, however, 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 Greyheaded Wagtail, the +true _Motacilla flava_ 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 Wagtail. I have not myself seen the Yellow +Wagtail in either of the Islands during my summer visits in 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. + +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 prés," "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."--Resident 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 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 Bock Pipit is included in Professor Ansted's list, but marked as +only occurring in Guernsey. All the Rock Pipits I have seen in the +Channel Islands have been the common form, _Anthus obscurus_; 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. SKY LARK. _Alauda arvensis_, Linnaeus. French, "Alouette des +champs."--Mr. Métivier, in his 'Dictionary,' gives Houèdre 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 Ronceval; 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 surrounded 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. + + +59. SNOW BUNTING. _Plectrophanes nivalis_, Linnaeus. 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 in 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. _Emberiza 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 Vale. I 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 specimen in the Museum. + + +61. YELLOW HAMMER. _Emberiza citrinella_, Linnaeus. 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 Cirl 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;[12] so it is very probable that it may yet occur. + +The Yellow Hammer is included in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as +occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There are also a pair in the Museum. + + +62. CHAFFINCH. _Fringilla caelebs_, 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_, Linnaeus. French, "Pinson +d'Ardennes." "Grosbec d'Ardennes."--The Brambling can only be considered +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 Road, 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, 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. + + +65. HOUSE SPARROW. _Passer domesticus_, Linnaeus. 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. In Alderney, 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 +accordingly punished by the Sparrows. + +The House Sparrow is mentioned by Professor 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 Métivier'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 Mr. +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 in Alderney 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. 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 chloris_, Linnaeus. 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 bird-catchers 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 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 Alderney; 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 occurrence, 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 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 identifying 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 +Mediterranean 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 Professor 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 Lesser Redpole, +the Mealy Redpole, 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 europaea_, 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 Bullfinch +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. + + +72. COMMON CROSSBILL. _Loxia curvirostra_, Linnaeus. French, +"Bec-croisé," "Bec-croisé commun."--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 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 Crossbills 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 11th of December; there were +four of them in a tree by Haviland Hall. I happened to go into the +person's house who shot it, and his children had it playing with." + +I do not know that there is any 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. + + +73. COMMON STARLING. _Sturnus vulgaris_, Linnaeus. French, "Etourneau +vulgaire."--The Starling is sometimes very numerous in the autumn, but +those remaining throughout the year and breeding in the 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 Starling 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 certainly 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 roosting-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 +certainly there never seemed to be any diminution in their numbers +during the whole time I was there 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, sometimes +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 graculus_, Linnaeus. French, "Crave."--The +Chough is a common resident 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 parts of the Island, sometimes in +considerable flocks, like Rooks. + +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 +Fieldfares and Redwings, 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 +visits, but now for some reason, probably the increase of 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. Métivier, 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. _Corvus 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 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 Raven 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 getting scarcer in Guernsey, as I have not +seen any there since; and the last note I have of Ravens being seen in +the Island is in a letter from Mr. Couch, who wrote me word that two +Ravens had been seen and shot at several times, but not obtained, in +November, 1873. I have not seen a Raven 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. _Corvus 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 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. _Corvus cornix_, Linnaeus. French, "Corbeau mantele," +"Corneille mantelée."--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 l'Estrange, however, informed me that one remained in Sark all +last summer--that of 1877--and paired with a common Crow,[13] but we +could see 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. ROOK. _Corvus frugilegus_, Linnaeus. French, "Freux", "Corbeau +Freux."--I have never seen the Rook in the Islands myself, even as a +stranger, but Mr. Gallienne in his notes to Professor Ansted's list, +says, speaking of Guernsey, "The Rook 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 Rooks occasionally attempt to build here (Guernsey), but they +are invariably disturbed by boys and guns, and driven off. They +sometimes arrive here in large flocks in severe winters." + +The Rook 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 occasional 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 +épeichette."--As may 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, "Respecting 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 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 in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as only occurring +in Guernsey. As above stated, the specimen formerly in the Museum no +longer exists. + + +82. WRYNECK. _Yunx torquilla_, Linnaeus. French, "Torcol +ordinaire."--The Wryneck, or, as it is called in Guernsey-French, +"Parlè"[14] 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 distributed through the Islands, remaining through the summer +to breed, and departing again in early autumn, August, or September. Its +numbers, however, 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 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 Huppé," "Huppé +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 +expected 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 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 Ronseval, 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 would 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 disposition to do so, as, though rather a foul-feeder and of +unsavoury habits in its nest, and having no respect for sanitary +arrangements, the Hoopoe is nevertheless one of the most useful birds in +the garden. + +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 commonest 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 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 unfortunate in not finding eggs, and in not seeing any +of the foster-parents feeding their over-grown _protégés_: 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 favourites, such as +Wagtails, Hedgesparrows, and Robins, 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 collection 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 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 _resumé_ 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 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 appearance 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 produce 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, 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 clergyman, 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. _Alcedo ispida_, 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 on the small +fish left in the clear pools formed amongst the rocks by the receding +tide; it is also by no means uncommon 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 northward 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 pêcheur' 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 enropaeus_, Linnaeus. French, "Engoulevent +ordinaire."--The Nightjar is a regular autumnal visitant, a few perhaps +arriving in the spring and remaining to breed, but 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 aërial rambles. The bird-stuffer in +Alderney had some wings of Nightjars nailed up behind his 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 Coupée, amongst the rocks of which +place and Little Sark they breed in considerable numbers. Mr. MacCulloch +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 Guernsey. 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 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 Cheminant 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. + + +88. SWALLOW, _Hirundo rustica_, Linnaeus. French, "Hirondelle de +Cheminée."--According to Métivier's 'Dictionary,' "Aronde" is the local +Guernsey-French name of the Swallow, which is a common summer visitant +to all the Islands, and very generally 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 +fenêtre."--The House Martin is much more local than the Swallow, but +still a numerous summer visitant, like the Swallow, 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 Road, 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 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 +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;"[15] 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, 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. ROCK DOVE. _Columba livia_, Linnaeus. French, "Colombe biset."--I +have never seen the Rock 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 +Rock 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 Rock 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. + +Professor Ansted includes the Rock 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 aenas_, +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 been 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 Rock 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 Ring 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 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. MacCulloch, writing +to me about 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. + + +94. 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. MacCulloch +writes me word that "Quails certainly visit us occasionally, and I +remember having seen their eggs in my youth"; and Mrs. Jago (late Miss +Cumber), who was herself a bird-stuffer 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 occasionally, too, in Alderney, as the +bird-stuffer 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 Landrail, 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 RAIL. _Rallus aquations_, Linnaeus. French, "Râle d'eau."--The +Water Rail 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 bird-stuffer, told me he +had seen a pair of Water Rails and four young, his dog having started +them from a hedge near the Rousailleries farm; the young could scarcely +fly. I saw one at the bird-stuffer's at Alderney, which had been shot in +that Island; and the bird-stuffer 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 mentioned the incident of the Water Rail being killed by the +Merlin, recorded by Mr. Couch in the 'Zoologist' for 1875. + +The Water Rail 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 Rail has been found here; and one of Mr. +De Putron's labourers described a Rail to me which he had shot in the +Vale Pond in May, 1877, which, from his description, could have been +nothing but a Spotted Rail. + +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. _Crex pratensis_, Bechstein. French, "Râle des prés," +"Râle de terre" ou "de Genet," "Poule d'eau de genet."--The Landrail is +a common summer visitant, breeding certainly in Guernsey, Sark, and +Alderney,[16] 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 chloropus_, Linnaeus. French, "Poule d'eau +ordinaire."--I have not seen 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 occasional and never numerous autumnal +visitant; and its breeding in the Braye Pond that year must have 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 +canepetière," "Poule de Carthage."--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 mentioned 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 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 +intelligence 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. _Oedicnemus scolopax_, S.G. Gmelin. French, "Oedicneme +criard," "Poule d'Aurigny."[17]--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 +neighbourhood 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. + + +102. PEEWIT. _Vanellus vulgaris_, Bechstein. French, "Vanneau +huppé."--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, but only marks it as +occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen in the Museum at present. + + +103. GREY PLOVER. _Squatarola helvetica_, Linnaeus. 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 occasionally 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 unknowing 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 disappointment 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. 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_, Linnaeus. French, "Pluvier +dore."--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. _Eudromias morinellus_, 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, 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 Rev. A. Morrës, 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. RING DOTTEREL. _Ægialitis hiaticula_, Linnaeus. French, "Grand +pluvier à collier," "Pluvier à collier."--The Ring 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 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 Ring 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 Ring Dotterel at all, though at the time Kentish Plover were +common in most of the bays in the low parts of the Island. The Ring +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 Ring 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 l'Estrange nor I found any eggs, though we +searched hard for them both in '76 and '78; neither did we find any eggs +either in Herm or Alderney. + +Professor Ansted includes the Ring Dotterel in his list, but marks it +as only occurring in Guernsey. There is a specimen in the Museum. + + +107. KENTISH PLOVER. _Ægialitis cantianus_, Latham. French, "Pluvier à +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 Ring 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 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 Rocques 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 seaweed. I should not have +found these if it had not been for the tracks of the birds immediately +round them. In L'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 l'Estrange 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 the sand. In no instance in which I saw the eggs +was there the slightest attempt at a nest; but Colonel l'Estrange 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 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. +l'Estrange 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. l'Estrange 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 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.[18] Mr. Rodd, +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 throughout 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 male and female, in breeding plumage, in the +Museum, and also one in winter plumage. + + +109. OYSTERCATCHER, _Haematopus ostralegus_, Linnaeus. French, "Hiûtrier +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 neighbouring 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 separating 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 l'Estrange 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, 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 Oystercatcher 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 protection, 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 list, but only marks +it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There is an Oystercatcher and also +a few of the eggs in the Museum. + + +110. CURLEW. _Numenins arquata_, Linnaeus. French, "Courlis," "Grand +courlis cendré."--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 seaweed 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 description 'La Fauconnière.' The writer +of this paper in 'Cassel's Magazine' was evidently no ornithologist, +and must, I think, have mistaken a young Oystercatcher, 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 everywhere 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. _Numenius phaeopus_, Linnaeus. French, "Courlis +corlieu."--A good many Whimbrel visit all the Islands during the spring +migration, and 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 Museum. + + +112. REDSHANK. _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 Redshank in full breeding +plumage, killed in Guernsey as late as the 23rd of April. + +Professor Ansted includes the Redshank in his list, but only marks it as +occurring in Guernsey. There are two specimens in the Museum. + +113. GREEN SANDPIPER. _Totanus ochropus_, Linnaeus. French, "Chevalier +cul blanc."--The Green Sandpiper is an irregular, very scarce (not so +numerous indeed as the Redshank) 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 Sandpiper, 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 +immediately be distinguished; the axillary plume or long feathers under +the wing, in the Green Sandpiper, 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 +conspicuously. There is one Green Sandpiper at present in the Museum, +which there seems no reason to doubt is Guernsey killed. + + +114. COMMON SANDPIPER. _Totanus hypoleucos_, 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 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. BARTAILED GODWIT. _Limosa lapponica_, Linnaeus. French, "Barge +rousse."--The Bar-tailed 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 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 Bar-tailed 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 Bar-tailed 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. + +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. RUFF. _Machetes pugnax,_ Linnaeus. French, "Combatant," "Combatant +variable."--The Ruff 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 Ruff 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 +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 Ruff in confinement; the change of colour in the +feathers of the body begins before the ruff makes its appearance. + +Professor Ansted includes the Ruff 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, remaining 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 preserved, 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 unfortunate Woodcock as soon as there should be sufficient +daylight. In fact, such a scramble is there for a chance at a Woodcock +that a friend of mine told me he got up long before daylight one morning +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 "roading," 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 bird-stuffers; 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 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, "Bécassine +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 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 breeding-season, 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 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, "Bécassine +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 maubèche."--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 were it at all common a few certainly would +have occasionally found their way there. + +Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but only marks it as occurring +in Guernsey. There is no specimen at present in the Museum. + + +123. CURLEW SANDPIPER. _Tringa subarquata_, Güldenstaedt. French, +"Becasseau cocorli."--The Curlew Sandpiper, or Pigmy Curlew as it is +sometimes called, can only be considered a rare occasional visitant to +the Channel Islands. I have never seen or shot one there myself, but Mr. +Couch records one in the 'Zoologist' for 1874 as having been shot near +the Richmond 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 +Rocque 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. _Tringa alpina_, Linnaeus. French, "Becasseau +brunette," "Becasseau variable."--The Purre is resident in all the +Islands throughout the year in considerable numbers, which 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 seaweed 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 marked as occurring in +Guernsey only. There is no specimen in the Museum. + + +126. SANDERLING. _Calidris arenaria_, Linnaeus. French, "Sanderling +variable."--The Sanderling is 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 November, 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 roussâtre," "Phalarope +phatyrhinque."[19]--The Grey Phalarope is a tolerably regular and +occasionally 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 Ansted'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 cinerea_, Linnaeus. French, "Heron cendré", "Heron +huppé."--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 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 vicinity of the marshes near the Ivy Castle, +formerly thickly wooded with old elms, which bears the name of La +Heronière. 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 +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 purpurea_, 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. Rodd records the capture of one, a female, near the Lizard, +in Cornwall, late in April of the same year.[20] 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 +bird-stuffer, Mr. Grieve, and there I found the bird and the person who +shot it, who told me 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 morning, when he found it dead near the place he had marked it +down the night before. It was in consequence 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 specimen 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 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. _Botaurus 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 bird-stuffer in Alderney (Mr. Grieve) and his friend told me +they 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. _Botaurus lentiginosus_, Montagu. French, "Heron +lentigineux."[21]--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 +'Zoologist' 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 +specimens 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 young birds; but, at +any age or in any state of plumage, the birds may be immediately +distinguished 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 Professor 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 minuta_, Linnaeus. French, "Heron +Blongios."[22]--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 Road; 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 +informed 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 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 leucorodia_, 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 specimen 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 +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 writes 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.[23] 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. +Rodd, 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, observed 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."[24] + +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 mentioned, disappeared. + + +135. WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. _Anser albifrons_, Scopoli. French, "Oie +rieuse, ou à 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. _Bernicla brenta_, Brisson. French, "Oie cravant," +"Bernache cravant."--The Brent Goose is a regular winter visitant to all +the Islands, varying, however, in numbers in different years: sometimes +it is very numerous, and affords good sport during the winter to the +fishermen, 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. + + +137. MUTE SWAN. _Cygnus olor_, Linnaeus. French, "Cygne tuberculé."--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 that had strayed away from the +Swannery at Abbotsbury, on the opposite coast of Dorset, where some +three hundred and fifty pairs still breed annually. I have myself seen +as many six hundred 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 themselves 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 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 musicus_, Bechstein. French, "Cygne sauvage."--The +Wild Swan or Hooper[25] 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 (5 ft. 3 in.) given, however, it would appear that it was the +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 particulars 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, however, 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."[26]--I have very little authority for including Bewick's Swan +in my list of Guernsey birds; Mr. MacCulloch, however, 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 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 distinctions. 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 +distinguish the two, and is almost the only exterior distinction, but on +dissection the anatomical structure, 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 +Guernsey-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, however, 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 occasional 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 +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, "Sarcelle +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 Ring 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. + + +143. EIDER DUCK. _Somateria mollissima,_ Linnaeus. 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 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 immediately 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 _Anatidae_ 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; +and a mistake may easily have been made, however, 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 Red-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, +though I think there used to be one, but I suppose it has got +moth-eaten and been thrown away. + + +146. RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. _Mergus serrator,_ Linnaeus. French, "Harle +Huppé."--Like the Goosander, the Red-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 Red-breasted Merganser. The greater number of +Red-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 Red-breasted Merganser in his list, but +only marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There are two specimens in the +Museum--a male in full plumage and a female or young male. + + +147. SMEW. _Mergus albellus_, Linnaeus. French, "Harle piette," "Harle +étoilé," "Petit harle huppé."--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 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, "Grèbe +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. + +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, "Grèbe +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. _Podiceps auritus,_ Linnaeus. French, "Grèbe +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 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. Mellish'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 distinguished, 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 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. RED-NECKED GREBE. _Podiceps griseigena,_ Boddaert. French, "Grèbe +jou-gris."--I have never seen a Channel Island specimen of the +Red-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 Red-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 Red-necked Grebe is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only +marked as occurring in Guernsey. There is one specimen in the Museum. + + +152. GREAT-CRESTED GREBE. _Podiceps cristatus_, Linnaeus. French. +"Grèbe huppé."--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. _Colymbus glacialis_, 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 considerable 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 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 à gorge noir."--The Black-throated Diver is a much less common +visitor to the Islands than either the Great Northern or Red-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 plumage as the Great Northern has. In the +'Zoologist' for 1875 Mr. Couch records the occurrence 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 Red-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 +Red-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. RED-THROATED DIVER. _Colymbus septentrionalis_, Linnaeus. French, +"Plongeon à gorge rouge," "Plongeon cat-marin."--The Red-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-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_, Linnaeus. French, "Guillemot à 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 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 Razorbill. 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 Rock.'" This very much confirms what Mr. Gallienne +says, in his notes to Professor Ansted's list--"The Razorbill and +Guillemot breed on the Ortack Rock and on the cliffs at Alderney." This +Ortack Rock is to the west of Alderney, between Burhou and the Caskets, +and a considerable number of Guillemots and Razorbills 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 +Ringed Guillemot, _Alca lacrymans_, in the Channel Islands, but, as it +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 backwards 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 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. _Fratercula arctica_, Linnaeus. French, "Macareux."--The +Puffin, or Barbelote[27] 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 considerable 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 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, 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."[28] 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 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, "après la saison des amours." Dr. +Bureau, in a very interesting paper[29] 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 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 same. It is +small sliced off (trongué) 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, however, 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 bird-stuffer's paint, +probably with the view of making it as like the ordinary summer plumage +as possible. + + +159. RAZORBILL. _Alca torda_, Linnaeus. French, "Pingouin +macroptere."--The Razorbill is not by any means numerous in the Channel +Islands, but a few breed about Ortack, and, as has been said 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,[30] +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 Razorbill Auk shot in Guernsey on the 14th February, 1847; +this, of course, is only a young Razorbill of the previous year, which +had not at that time fully developed its bill. + +The Razorbill is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as +occurring in Guernsey. There are two Razorbills 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 anywhere 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 that had been hatched, and probably the young +gone off with its parents. I, however, 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 specimens 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 La +Fauconnière, 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 +Coupée, 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 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 +wandering 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 returning 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 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, 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 appearance. 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 bird-stuffer 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 bird-stuffer 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 marked as occurring +in Guernsey. There are three specimens, an adult and two young, in the +Museum. + + +163. COMMON TERN. _Sterna fluviatilis_, 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 +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 bird-stuffer, 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 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."[31]--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 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. _Hydrochelidon nigra_, Linnaeus. French, "Guifette +noire," "Hirondelle de mer épouvantail."[32]--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 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 Roseate 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 made the statement in the 'Zoologist' +for 1866 that it did breed in the Channel Islands; subsequent +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 departed 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 +argenté," "Goeland à 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 St. Martin's +Point much more sparingly. In Sark it breeds in considerable numbers; on +Little Sark on both sides of the Coupée, 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 Fauconnière; 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 the little island of Burhou, which has been 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 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 experience 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 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 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 Black-backs, thus +distinguishing 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 a very 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 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 extremely 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 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. _Larus fuscus_, Linnaeus. French, +"Goeland à pieds jaunes."--The Lesser Black-backed Gull is common in the +Islands, remaining throughout the year and breeding 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[33] 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 +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 fishermen. 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, +sometimes 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 on the scanty herbage; on the roof of this +cottage several of the Lesser Black-backs perched themselves 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 difference 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 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. + +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 cendré," +"Mouette a pieds bleus,"[34] "La Mouette d'Hiver".[35]--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 Rev. 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. Rodd. 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. Rodd, however, in his 'Notes on the Birds of +Cornwall,' published in the 'Zoologist' for 1870, only says, "Generally +distributed 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. Rodd is going to publish his interesting +notes on the Birds of Cornwall in a 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-backed 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 +which they are the "Mouette à 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 marinus_, Linnaeus. French, +"Goeland à 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 Razorbill 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 +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 'Métivier'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_, Linnaeus. French, "Mouette +rieuse."[36] This pretty little Gull is a common autumn and winter +visitant to all the Islands, remaining on to the 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 colouring-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--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 melanocephalus_, 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. melanocephalus_ 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. melanocephalus_ is black or nearly +so; in this state Mr. Howard Saunders has given plates of the first +three primaries of _L. melanocephalus_ and _L. ridibundus_, both being +from birds of the year shot about March, in his paper on the _Larinae_, +published in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for the year +1878. + + +172. LITTLE GULL. _Larus minutus_, Pallas. French, "Mouette pygmée."--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 bird-stuffer's shop here I saw a Little Gull in the flesh, +which had been shot a few days ago."[37] 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 occasionally 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. _Puffinus major_, Faber. French, "Puffin +majeur."[38]--I think I may fairly 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 bays, 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; but 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 sufficiently 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 Professor Ansted's list, and +there is no specimen in the Museum. + + +174. MANX SHEARWATER. _Puffinus anglorum_, 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 specimen, however, +killed near St. Samson's on the 28th September, 1876.[39] 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 Professor Ansted's list, and +there is no specimen in the Museum. + + +175. FULMAR PETREL. _Fulmarus glacialis_, Linnaeus. 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 pelagica_ Linnaeus. French, +"Thalassidrome tempête."--Mr. Gallienne, in his remarks published with +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 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'Estrange'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 contains 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 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 any of the birds mentioned. I have no doubt, +however, that any one 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. Carey, 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, especially amongst the +smaller Warblers and the Pipits, and perhaps amongst the occasional +Waders. There is one small family--the Skuas--entirely unrepresented 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 bird-stuffers or the fishermen and the +various shooters know anything about them. I have therefore, 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 parasiticus_; 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. + + + + +ENDNOTES. + +[1] _a_ Alderney. + _e_ Guernsey. + _i_ Jersey. + _o_ Sark. + _u_ Jethou and Herm.] + +[2] This was nearly the whole of the Vale, including L'Ancresse Common. + +[3] Fourteen "livres tournois" are about equal to £1. + +[4] This Act is passed annually at the Chief Pleas after Easter. + +[5] _Falco aesalon_, Tunstall, H.S. 1771. _Falco aesalon_, Gmelin, Y., +1788. + +[6] See Temminok. + +[7] See 'Birds of Spain,' by Howard Saunders, Esq., published in the +works of the Société Zoologique de France, where he says:--"_C. +ceruginosus_ et _C. cyaneus_ ont les lisières extérieures des remiges +émarginées, jusqu'à et y comprise la cinquième, et cette forme se trouve +en presque toutes les _Circus_ exotiques. En _C. swainsonii_ (the Pallid +Harrier) et _C. cineraceus_ cette émargination successive se borne a la +quatrieme." We have little to do with this distinction, except as +between _C. cyaneus_ and _C. cineraceus, C. aeruginosus_ being otherwise +sufficiently distinct, and _C. swainsonii_ not coming within our limits. + +[8] "Tereus," I soon found, as I expected, was Mr. MacCulloch. + +[9] 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. + +[10] 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. caudata_ may, however, also occur, as both +forms do occasionally, in the British Islands. + +[11] See Temminck's 'Man. d'Ornith.' + +[12] Dresser's 'Birds of Europe,' _fide_ Degland's Grebe. + +[13] 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 cornix_, on the several grounds that there +is no structural difference between the two; that their habits, food, +cries, and mode of nidification are the same (in considering 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 impossible 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. + +[14] Rim. Gu., p. 35. + +[15] 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? + +[16] 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. + +[17] _Fide_ Mr. MacCulloch. + +[18] See 'Dresser's Birds of Europe.' + +[19] For the last, see Temminck's 'Man, d'Ornithologie.' + +[20] _See_ 'Zoologist' for 1867, p. 829. + +[21] Temminck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[22] _See_ Temminck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[23] The one above mentioned. + +[24] See 'Zoologist' for 1870, p. 2244. + +[25] "Hucard" in Guernsey French (see 'Metevier's Dictionary,') who also +says "Notre Hucard est le Whistling Swan ou Hooper des Anglais." + +[26] See Temminck's 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[27] See also Métivier's Dictionary. + +[28] See note in 'Zoologist' for 1866. + +[29] 'De la Mue du Bec et des Ornements Palpébraux du Macareux Arctique +après la Saison des Amours.' Par le Docteur Louis Bureau; 'Bulletin de +la Société Zoologique de France.' + +[30] 'Zoologist' for 1869. + +[31] _See_ Temininck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[32] Temminck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[33] 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." + +[34] See Temminck's 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[35] Buffon. + +[36] See Temminck's 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[37] _See_ 'Zoologist' for 1869, p. 1560. + +[38] _See_ Temminck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[39] 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. + + + + +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, Rough-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, 173 + 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, Sclavonian, 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 + + Harrier, Hen, 17 + Harrier, Marsh, 16 + Harrier, Montagu's, 18 + Hawfinch, 75 + Hawk, Sparrow, 13 + Hedgesparrow, 87 + 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, Ring, 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, Rock, 67 + Pipit, Tree, 66 + Plover, Golden, 122 + Plover, Grey, 121 + + Plover, Kentish, 125 + Puffin, 179 + Purre, 145 + + Quail, 112 + + Rail, Water, 113 + Raven, 87 + Razorbill, 183 + Redshank, 134 + Redstart, 38 + Redstart, Black, 39 + + Redwing, 33 + Robin, 38 + Rook, 90 + Ruff, 139 + + Sanderling, 147 + Sandpiper, Common, 136 + Sandpiper, Curlew, 145 + Sandpiper, Green, 135 + Scoter, Common, 165 + Shag, 185 + Shearwater, Great, 213 + Shearwater, Manx, 215 + Shrike, Red-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 + 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, Reed, 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 + + Yellowhammer, 71 + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds of Guernsey (1879), by Cecil Smith + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS OF GUERNSEY (1879) *** + +***** This file should be named 14473-8.txt or 14473-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/4/7/14473/ + +Produced by Steven Gibbs and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Birds of Guernsey (1879) + And The Neighbouring Islands: Alderney, Sark, Jethou, Herm; Being + A Small Contribution To The Ornitholony Of The Channel Islands + + +Author: Cecil Smith + +Release Date: December 26, 2004 [EBook #14473] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS OF GUERNSEY (1879) *** + + + + +Produced by Steven Gibbs and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + +</pre> + + <h1>BIRDS OF GUERNSEY</h1> + + <h3>AND THE NEIGHBOURING ISLANDS<br /> + ALDERNEY, SARK, JETHOU, HERM;</h3> + + <h4>BEING A SMALL CONTRIBUTION TO<br /> + The Ornithology of the Channel Islands</h4> + + <h3>BY</h3> + + <h2>CECIL SMITH, F.Z.S.,</h2> + + <h4>MEMBER OF THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGIST'S UNION.</h4> + + <h5>LONDON:<br /> + R.H. PORTER, 6, TENTERDEN STREET,<br /> + HANOVER SQUARE.<br /> + 1879.</h5><br /> + <hr style='width: 65%;' /> + + <h2>CONTENTS.</h2><br /> + <!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> + <a href='#PREFACE'><b>PREFACE.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#BIRDS_OF_GUERNSEY'><b>BIRDS OF GUERNSEY.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#ENDNOTES'><b>ENDNOTES.</b></a><br /> + <a href='#INDEX'><b>INDEX.</b></a><br /> + <!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + <hr style='width: 65%;' /> + <a name='PREFACE' id="PREFACE"></a> + + <h2>PREFACE.</h2><br /> + + <p>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. Gäetke 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.</p> + + <p>Channel Island specimens of several of the rarer birds + mentioned, as well as of the commoner ones, are in my own + collection; and others I have seen either in the flesh or only + recently skinned in the bird-stuffers' shops. For a few, of + course, I have been obliged to rely on the evidence of others; + some of these may appear, perhaps, rather questionable,—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.</p> + + <p>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 maybe 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 + ornithologist, he was obliged to rely in a great measure on + information received from others, and this apparently was not + always very reliable, and he 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 <i>a, e, i, o, + u</i><a name='FNanchor_1_1' id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_1_1'><sup>[1]</sup></a> 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.</p> + + <p>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 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.</p> + + <p>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 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.</p> + + <p>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 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<a name='FNanchor_2_2' id= + "FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href='#Footnote_2_2'><sup>[2]</sup></a> was + separated from the mainland by an arm of the sea, left dry at low + water, extending from St. Samson's to the Vale Church. This was + bordered by salt 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 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 replaced 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."</p> + + <p>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 say that + within the last few years miles of glasshouses 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 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 Rails, 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 hedgerow 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 + known as the Forest Road, there is little or no hedgerow 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.</p> + + <p>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 sufficiently numerous) in their old + breeding-stations, 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 exterminate 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 + côtes des Isles de cet Bailliage a considerablement + diminué depuis plusieurs années; que les dits + oiseaux sont utiles aux pêcheurs, 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 + durée des brouillards la proximite des rochers," goes on + to enact as follows:—"Il est défendu de prendre, + enlever ou détruire les ceufs des oiseaux de mer dans + toute I'entendue de la jurisdiction de cette isle, sur la peine + d'une amende qui ne sera pas moindre de sept livres tournois et + n'excédera pas trente livres tournois."<a name= + 'FNanchor_3_3' id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_3_3'><sup>[3]</sup></a> Sec. 2 enacts, "Depuis ce + jour<a name='FNanchor_4_4' id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_4_4'><sup>[4]</sup></a> au 15 Octobre prochain, il est + défendu de tuer, blesser, prendre ou chasser les oiseaux + de mer dans toute l'entendue de la jurisdiction de cette isle." + Sec. 3, "Ceux qui depuis ce jour au 15 Octobre prochain auront + été trouvés en possession d'un oiseau de mer + récemment tué, blessé ou pris, ou qui auront + été trouvés en possession de plumage frais + appartenant d'un oiseau de mer seront censés avoir + tué, blessé ou pris tel oiseau de mer sauf è + eux de prouver le contraire. Pareillement ceux qui depuis ce jour + au 15 Octobre prochain auront été trouvés en + possession d'un oeuf de l'annee d'un oiseau de mer seront + censés avoir pris et enleve le dit oeuf sauf à 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 + follows:—Les Mauves Mouettes, Pingouins, Guillemots, + Cormorans, Barbelotes, Hirondelles de mer, Pies-marants, Petrel, + Plongeons, Grebes, Puffins, Dotterells, Alouettes de mer, + Toumpierres, Gannets, Courlis et Martin pêcheur.</p> + + <p>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 certainly decreasing + considerably in numbers in consequence.</p> + + <p>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 unable to join its companions on their migratory + journey, or a few non-breeding stragglers.</p> + + <p>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 <i>Billet + d'Etat</i> 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 <i>Projet de loi</i> the Gazette + says, "Il 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 nombre de nos chasseurs maladroits et + inexpérimentes se voit réduit au grand avantage de + nos fermiers et de nos promeneurs;" and probably also to the + advantage of the chasseurs themselves.</p> + + <p>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 Société + 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 Zoological + Society, for permission to use which, and for other + assistance,—especially in egg-hunting,—I have to give + him my best thanks.</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>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 effect + on the ornithology of the Islands, especially of Guernsey.</p> + + <p>My thanks are also due to Col. L'Estrange for the assistance + he has given me in egg-hunting, and also to Captain Hubback for + his notes from Alderney during the times he was quartered + there.</p> + <hr style='width: 65%;' /> + <a name='BIRDS_OF_GUERNSEY' id="BIRDS_OF_GUERNSEY"></a> + + <h2>BIRDS OF GUERNSEY.</h2><br /> + + <p>1. WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. <i>Haliaeetus albicilla</i>, Linnsaeus. + 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 every one 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 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 + convince 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. 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 occurrence, and that + was reported to me by Mr. Couch as having taken place at Herm on + the 23rd of March, 1877.</p> + + <p>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, probably killed in Guernsey, in the plumage in + which the Channel Island specimens usually occur, but no note is + given as to locality or date.</p><br /> + + <p>2. OSPREY. <i>Pandion halioeetus</i>, 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 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 competent 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, cannot 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 '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.</p> + + <p>The Osprey, however, is mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, + and only marked as occurring in Guernsey.</p><br /> + + <p>3. GREENLAND FALCON. <i>Falco candicans</i>, 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 mentioned 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 carpenter 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 + 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 fairly conclude, however, 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, <i>Falco gyrfalco</i> 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. Rodd. Neither species, however, is recorded as + having occurred in any of the neighbouring parts of + France.</p><br /> + + <p>4. ICELAND FALCON. <i>Falco islandus</i>, Gmelin.—An + Iceland Falcon was killed on the little Island of Herm on the + 11th 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 + 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 11th 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 interesting to some of my + readers to mention that they may distinguish them easily by + colour, the Greenland, <i>Falco candicans</i>, being always the + most white, 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 occasionally 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.</p><br /> + + <p>5. PEREGRINE FALCON. <i>Falco peregrinus</i>, Tunstall. + French, "Faucon pèlerin."—The Peregrine can now, I + think, only be considered an autumnal visitant to the Islands, + though, if not shot or otherwise destroyed, it would, no doubt, + remain throughout 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 <i>Falconidae</i> 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 Fauconnière,' 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 + November 11th, 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>6. HOBBY. <i>Falco subbuteo</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Le + Hobereau." The Hobby can only be considered as a rather rare + occasional visitant, just 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, + probably 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.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and only marked as + occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>7. MERLIN. <i>Falco aesalon</i>,<a name='FNanchor_5_5' id= + "FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href='#Footnote_5_5'><sup>[5]</sup></a> + Bris., 1766. French, "Faucon Emérillon."—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 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, however, 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 communication dated November 29th, 1874, + says—"A Merlin—a female—was shot in the Marais, + which had struck down a Water Rail a minute or two before it was + shot. After striking down the Rail the Merlin flew into a tree, + about ten yards from which the man who shot it found the Rail + dead. He brought me both birds. The skin of the Rail was broken + from the shoulder to the back of the skull."</p> + + <p>The more common prey, however, of the Merlin during the time + it remains in the Islands is the Ring Dotterell, which at that + time of year is to be found in large flocks mixed with Purres and + Turnstones in all the low sandy or muddy bays in the Islands.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>8. KESTREL. <i>Falco tinnunculus</i>, 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 Ring Dotterell, Purres, and Turnstones do not + form so considerable a part of its food as they do of the Merlin. + Skylarks, Rock 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.</p> + + <p>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, perhaps more, breed on the before-mentioned + rock close to Jethou "La Fauconnière," though a few pairs + of Kestrels breeding there would scarcely have been sufficient to + give it its name.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>9. SPARROWHAWK. <i>Accipiter nisus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "L'Epervier," "Tiercelet."—The Sparrowhawk, 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 nesting 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.</p> + + <p>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 from either Island, + nor have I seen the bird about alive in either. There is one + specimen in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>10. COMMON BUZZARD. <i>Buteo vulgaris</i>, 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.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as + occurring in Guernsey, and there is one specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>11. ROUGHLEGGED BUZZARD. <i>Buteo lagopus</i>, Gmelin. French, + "Archibuse pattue" or "Buse pattue."—Though its visits seem + not so absolutely confined to the autumn as the Common Buzzard, + the Rough-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 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 distinguished 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 Buzzard, in which nearly the whole of the plumage + was a uniform dark chocolate-brown, and consequently 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Rough-legged Buzzard in his + list, but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There is no + specimen at present in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>12. MARSH HARRIER. <i>Circus œruginosus</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Busard des Marais."—This seems to be the least + common of the Harriers in the Channel Islands, though it does + occur occasionally, and perhaps more frequently than is generally + supposed.</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>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 + preserved, 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 + herself, so there may easily have been a mistake on this + point.</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted mentions the Marsh Harrier in his list, but + marks it as only found in Guernsey.</p><br /> + + <p>12. HEN HARRIER. <i>Circus cyaneus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Busard St. Martin."<a name='FNanchor_6_6' id= + "FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_6_6'><sup>[6]</sup></a>—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.</p> + + <p>These are the only two Channel Island specimens 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.</p><br /> + + <p>[13. Omitted.]</p><br /> + + <p>14. MONTAGU'S HARRIER. <i>Circus cineraceus</i>, Montagu. + French, "Busard Montagu," "Busard cendré."—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."</p> + + <p>All the Harriers seem to have a special liking for eggs. In + his notice of the Marsh Harrier Professor 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 consists chiefly of grasshoppers, reptiles, small + mammals, birds and their eggs; these last, if their size permit, + being often swallowed whole, as was the 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>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 Montagu'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.<a name='FNanchor_7_7' id= + "FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href='#Footnote_7_7'><sup>[7]</sup></a> + This distinction is very useful in 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.</p> + + <p>Montagu's Harrier is not included by Professor Ansted in his + list, nor is there a specimen in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>15. LONGEARED OWL. <i>Asiootus</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Hibou + vulgaire," "Hibou moyen due."—The Long-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 Long-eared 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 Long-eared Owl; but this may have been + the bird mentioned above, as he sent me no date with it.</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>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 Long-eared 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.</p><br /> + + <p>16. SHORTEARED OWL. <i>Asio accipitrinus</i>, Pallas. French, + "Hibou brachyôte."—Unlike the Long-eared Owl, the + Short-eared 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 throughout 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.</p> + + <p>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 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.</p><br /> + + <p>17. BARN OWL. <i>Aluco flammeus</i>, 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 Road 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>18. REDBACKED SHRIKE. <i>Lanius Collurio</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Pie-grieche écorcheur."—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.</p> + + <p>As the Red-backed 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.</p> + + <p>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 about the Vallon or Le Ree. I + 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Red-backed Shrike in his list, + and marks it only as occurring in Guernsey. I have no evidence of + any other Shrike occurring in the Islands, though I should think + the Great Grey Shrike, <i>Lanius excubitor</i>, 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 + Professor Ansted mention it in his list.</p><br /> + + <p>19. SPOTTED FLYCATCHER. <i>Muscicapa grisola</i>, 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 + distribution, 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.</p> + + <p>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 themselves 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 something + 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>20. GOLDEN ORIOLE. <i>Oriolus galbula</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Le Loriot."—I have never seen the bird 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"<a name='FNanchor_8_8' id= + "FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href='#Footnote_8_8'><sup>[8]</sup></a> + 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, 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 Métivier, 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. + Métivier'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."</p> + + <p>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 + interview with Mr. George Métivier. He is now in his 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 l'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."</p> + + <p>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 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. Métivier 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-stuffers' 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.</p> + + <p>The Golden Oriole is mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, and + marked as having occurred in Guernsey and Sark, but nothing more + is said about the bird. Probably Guernsey was mentioned as a + 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.</p><br /> + + <p>21. DIPPER. <i>Cinclus aquaticus</i>, Bechstein. French, + "Aquassière," "Cincle plongeur."—The Dipper or Water + Ouzel, though not very common, less so, indeed, than the + Kingfisher, is nevertheless 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 Kingfisher 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>All the Guernsey Dippers I have seen, including the two in the + Museum, which are probably Guernsey-killed, have been the common + form, <i>Cinclus</i> <i>aquations</i>. The dark-breasted form, + <i>Cinclus melanogaster</i>, 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 protected 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Dipper in his list, but only + marks it as occurring in Guernsey.</p><br /> + + <p>22. MISTLETOE THRUSH. <i>Turdus viscivorus</i>, 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. Métivier 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, in a note to Professor + Ansted's list, confirms the scarcity of the Jay, as he says the + Rook and the Jay are rarely seen here, although they are + indigenous 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.</p> + + <p>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 + considerable numbers of Mistletoe Thrushes are brought into the + Guernsey market, where they may be seen hanging in bunches with + Common Thrushes, Redwings, Blackbirds, Fieldfares, Starlings, and + an occasional Ring Ouzel. Fieldfares and Mistletoe Thrushes + usually sell at fourpence each, the rest at fourpence a + couple.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted mentions it in his list, but confines 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.</p><br /> + + <p>23. SONG THRUSH. <i>Turdus musicus</i>, 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.</p> + + <p>The local name of the Thrush is "Mauvis." It is, of course, + included in Professor Ansted's list, but with the Fieldfare, + Redwing, 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.</p><br /> + + <p>24. REDWING. <i>Turdus iliacus</i>, 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 shot and brought into the market departing + again in March and April.</p><br /> + + <p>25. FIELDFARE. <i>Turdus pilaris</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Grive + litorne," "Merle litorne."—Like the Redwing, the Fieldfare + is a regular and numerous winter visitant, and arrives and + departs about the same time.</p> + + <p>When in Guernsey in November, 1871, I did not see either + Redwings 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.</p><br /> + + <p>26. BLACKBIRD. <i>Turdus merula</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Merle + noir."—- The Blackbird is a common and numerous resident in + all the Islands in the Bailiwick of Guernsey. The Guernsey + gardeners, 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 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.</p> + + <p>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 + 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.</p><br /> + + <p>27. RING OUZEL. <i>Turdus torquatus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Merle à plastron."—I do not think the Ring 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 remaining 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.</p> + + <p>Mr. Gallienne, in his remarks appended to Professor Ansted's + list, says the Ring 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 have I seen the eggs in any Guernsey collection. I + have seen specimens of the Ring Ouzel from Alderney, and it + appears to me about equally common at the same time of year in + all the Islands. Mr. MacCulloch, however, writes to + me:—"From what I have heard the Ring 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, R.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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>28. HBDGESPARROW. <i>Accentor modularis</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Mouchet," "Traîne buisson," "Accenteur mouchet."—The + Hedgesparrow is, I think, quite as common as in England, and + resident throughout the year in all the Islands. According to Mr. + Métivier's 'Dictionary' its local name is "Verdeleu," and + he describes it as "Oiseau qui couvre les oeufs de Coucou." In + Guernsey, however, Cuckoos are much too numerous for the + Hedgesparrow to afford accommodation for them all.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>29. ROBIN. <i>Ericathus rubecula</i>, Linnaeus. French. + "Bec-fin rouge-gorge," "Rouge gorge." The Robin, 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 Robin is by far the + most pugnacious with which I am acquainted, and deserves the name + of "pugnax" much more than the Ruff, 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Robin 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.</p><br /> + + <p>30. REDSTART. <i>Ruticilla phoenicurus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Rouge-queue," "Bec-fin des murailles."—I should not have + included the Redstart in this 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 Redstart; 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 Redstart. I suppose, however, + from Mr. MacCulloch's note that it occasionally visits the + Islands for a short time on migration, very few, if any, + remaining to breed.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as + occurring in Guernsey. There is, however, no specimen at present + in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>31. BLACK REDSTART. <i>Ruticilla titys</i>, Scopoli. French, + "Rouge queue Tithys."—The Black, or Tithys Redstart, 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 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.</p> + + <p>I have never seen the Black Redstart 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 Rock 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 Redstart.</p> + + <p>The male Black Redstart may be immediately distinguished from + the Common Redstart by the black breast and belly, and by the + absence of the white mark on the forehead. The male Black + Redstart 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 Redstart being much duller—a dull + smoke-brown instead of the reddish brown of the Common + Redstart.</p> + + <p>Some slight variations of plumage take place in the Black + Redstart at different ages and seasons, which have led to some + little difficulties, and to another supposed species, + <i>Ruticilla cairii</i> of Gerbe being suggested, but apparently + quite without reason. I have never seen the Black Redstart in the + Islands at any time of year except the autumn, and do not know of + its occurrence at any other time.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but gives no + locality; and there is no specimen in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>32. STONECHAT. <i>Pratincola rubicola</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Tarier rubicole," "Traquet pâtre," "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 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.</p> + + <p>There were a great many Stonechats 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 uncommon.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Stonechat in his list, but marks + it as confined to Guernsey and Sark. There is a specimen in the + Museum.</p> + + <p>33. WHINCHAT. <i>Pratincola rubetra</i>, 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Whinchat in his list, and marks + it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There is no specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>34. WHEATEAR. <i>Saxicola Oenanthe,</i> 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 distributed, being common + all round the coast, both on 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 universally distributed over the whole Island, in the + cultivated as well as the wild parts.</p> + + <p>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 perfectly immovable; the + stones forming one of the Druids' altars in the Vale, were made + use of to cover a nest when I was there.</p><br /> + + <p>35. REED WARBLER. <i>Acrocephalus streperus</i>, Vieillot. + French, "Rousserolle effarvatte," "Bec-fin des roseaux."—I + did not find out the Reed 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 Reed 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 I went to the + place as soon as I could, and found parts of it a regular + paradise for Reed 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 + l'Estrange, 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,<a name= + 'FNanchor_9_9' id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_9_9'><sup>[9]</sup></a> 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 the water. Subsequently, on July the + 12th, I found another Reed 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.</p> + + <p>These are all the places in which I have been able to find the + Reed 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 Reed 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.</p> + + <p>The Reed 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 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.</p> + + <p>I have never seen the nearly-allied and very similar Marsh + Warbler, <i>Acrocephalus palustris</i>, 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 Reed + Warbler, <i>Acrocephalus streperus</i>, at all ages and in all + states of plumage, being a warmer, redder brown than + <i>Acrocephalus palustris</i>, which is always more or less + tinged with green. The legs in <i>A. streperus</i> are always + darker than in <i>A. palustris</i>; the beak also in <i>A. + palustris</i> seems rather broader at the base and thicker. This + bird also has a whitish streak over the eye, which seems wanting + in <i>A. streperus.</i> 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."</p> + + <p>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 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 <i>A. streperus</i> the second (that + is the first long quill, for the first in both species is merely + rudimentary) is shorter than the fourth, and in <i>A. + palustris</i> it is longer.</p> + + <p>Though I think it not at all improbable that the Marsh + Warbler, <i>Acrocephalus palustris</i>, 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 + ornamental shrubs in the gardens, or in thick bramble bushes in + hedgerows and places of that sort.</p><br /> + + <p>36. SEDGE WARBLER. <i>Acrocephalus schoenobaenus</i>, + Linnaeus. French, "Bee-fin phragmite."—The Sedge Warbler is + by no means so common as the Reed Warbler, though, like it, it is + a summer visitant, and is quite as local. I did not see any + amongst the reeds which the Reed 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 l'Estrange 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, <i>Acrocephalus + aquaticus</i>, I should certainly have tried the effect of a + shot. As it is quite possible, however, 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 by the pale streak passing through the centre of + the dark crown of the head.</p> + + <p>The Sedge Warbler is not mentioned by Professor Ansted in his + list, and there is no specimen of either this or the Reed Warbler + in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>37. DARTFORD WARBLER. <i>Melizophilus undatus,</i> Boddaert. + French, "Pitchou Provencal," "Bee-fin Pittechou."—The + Dartford Warbler is by no 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 + correctness 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 supposed, 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 Grève de Lecq, in Jersey, in January. See 'Zoologist' + for 1869, p. 1561.</p> + + <p>It is not included in Professor Ansted's list, and there is no + specimen in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>38. WHITETHROAT. <i>Sylvia rufa</i>, Boddaert. French, + "Fauvette grise," "Bec-fin Grisette."—The Whitethroat has + hitherto perhaps been better known by the name used in the former + edition of 'Yarrell' and by Messrs. Degland and Gerbe, <i>Curruca + cinerea</i>, but in consequence of the inexorable rule of the + British Association the name "<i>rufa</i>," given by Boddaert in + 1783, has now been accepted for this bird. I have not generally + thought it necessary 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 <i>Sylvia + rufa</i>, and this might possibly have caused some confusion + unless the change had been pointed out.</p> + + <p>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 appearance 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>39. LESSER WHITETHROAT. <i>Sylvia curruca</i>, Linnaeus. + 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>40. BLACKCAP. <i>Sylvia atricapilla</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Fauvette à tête noire," "Bec-fin à + tête 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>41. WILLOW WREN. <i>Phylloscopus trochilus</i>, Linnaeus. + 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted has not included it in his list, although it + seems tolerably well known, and has a local name + "D'mouâiselle," which Mr. Métivier, in his + 'Dictionary,' applies to the Willow Wren of the English. This + name, however, is probably equally applicable to the + Chiffchaff.</p><br /> + + <p>42. CHIFFCHAFF. <i>Phylloscopus collybita</i>, Vieillot. + French, "Bee-fin veloce."—The Chiffchaff is certainly 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.</p> + + <p>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 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.</p><br /> + + <p>43. GOLDEN-CRESTED WREN. <i>Regulus cristatus</i>, Koch. + French, "Roitelet 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, apparently 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 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 about 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.</p> + + <p>The Golden-crested Wren is mentioned by Professor Ansted, and + marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There are two—a + male and female—in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>44. FIRE-CRESTED WREN. <i>Regulus ignicapillus</i>, C.L. + Brehm. French, "Roitelet a triple bandeau."—I have a pair + of 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 Goldcrest and Fire-crest well, and the distinction + between 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 specimens I can be certain of.</p> + + <p>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 + <i>confrère</i>, the Golden-crested Wren, 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 occasionally 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 Torbay, which is not very far distant.</p> + + <p>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 than the female + Gold-crest. In point of fact the colour of the crest is of no + value whatever in distinguishing between the birds, and the + "practised eye" would find itself puzzled if it only relied upon + that.</p> + + <p>The French name for the Fire-crest, however, "Roitelet + à triple bandeau," is much more descriptive, 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>The Fire-crest is not mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, + and there is no specimen at present in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>45. WREN. <i>Troglodytes parvulus</i>, K.L. Koch. French, + "Roitelet," "Troglodyte mignon," "Troglodyte + 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 have been clear of the wash of the waves at high + water.</p> + + <p>The Wren is included in Professor Ansted's list, but marked as + only occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>46. TREE-CREEPER. <i>Certhia familiaris</i>, 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.</p> + + <p>It is mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as + occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There is no specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>47. GREAT TIT. <i>Parus major</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Mésange Charbonnière."—The Paridae are by no + means well represented in the Islands, either individually 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 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.</p> + + <p>The Great Tit is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only + marked by him as occurring in Sark.</p><br /> + + <p>48. BLUE TIT. <i>Parus caeruleus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Mésange 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 distributed 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>49. LONG-TAILED TIT. <i>Acredula caudata</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Másange à longue queue."<a name= + 'FNanchor_10_10' id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_10_10'><sup>[10]</sup></a>—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 at 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."</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>I am very doubtful as to whether I ought to include the + Bearded Tit, <i>Panurus biarmicus</i> 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 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.</p><br /> + + <p>50. WAXWING. <i>Ampelis garrulus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Jaseur de Bohême," "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."</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as + occurring in Guernsey; and there is one specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>51. PIED WAGTAIL. <i>Motacilla lugubris</i>, Temminck. French, + "Bergeronette Yarrellii."<a name='FNanchor_11_11' id= + "FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_11_11'><sup>[11]</sup></a>—The Pied Wagtail has + probably been better known to some of my readers as <i>Motacilla + Yarrellii</i>, but, according to the rules of nomenclature before + alluded to, <i>Motacilla lugubris</i> of Temminck seems to have + superseded the probably better-known name of <i>Motacilla + Yarrellii</i>.</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as + occurring in Guernsey and Sark.</p><br /> + + <p>52. WHITE WAGTAIL. <i>Motacilla alba</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Lavendière," "Hoche-queue grise," "Bergeronette + grise."—The White Wagtail is still scarcer than the Pied, + but I saw one pair evidently breeding between L'ancresse Road and + Grand Havre. The White Wagtail so much resembles the Pied + Wagtail, that it may have been easily overlooked, and may be more + common than is generally known.</p> + + <p>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 beneath; 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>53. GREY WAGTAIL. <i>Motacilla melanope</i>, 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 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes it in his list, and marks it as + occurring in Guernsey and Sark.</p><br /> + + <p>54. YELLOW WAGTAIL. <i>Motacilla raii</i>, Bonaparte. French, + "Bergeronnette flavéole."—As far as I have been able + to judge the Yellow Wagtail is only an occasional visitant on + migration. A few, however, 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>i.e.</i>, 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 Greyheaded Wagtail, the true <i>Motacilla + flava</i> 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 Wagtail. I have not + myself seen the Yellow Wagtail in either of the Islands during my + summer visits in 1866, 1876, or 1878; so it certainly cannot be + very common during the breeding-season, or I could scarcely have + missed seeing it.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted has not included it in his list, and there is + no specimen at present in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>55. TREE PIPIT. <i>Anthus trivialis</i>, 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>56. MEADOW PIPIT. <i>Anthus pratensis</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Le cujelier," "Pipit des prés," "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.</p> + + <p>It is included by Professor Ansted in his list, but marked as + occurring only in Guernsey.</p><br /> + + <p>57. ROCK PIPIT. <i>Anthus obscurus</i>, Latham. French, "Pipit + obsur," "Pipit spioncelle."—Resident 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 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.</p> + + <p>The Bock Pipit is included in Professor Ansted's list, but + marked as only occurring in Guernsey. All the Rock Pipits I have + seen in the Channel Islands have been the common form, <i>Anthus + obscurus</i>; 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 + <i>Anthus rupestris</i>.</p><br /> + + <p>58. SKY LARK. <i>Alauda arvensis</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Alouette des champs."—Mr. Métivier, in his + 'Dictionary,' gives Houèdre 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 Ronceval; 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 surrounded 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>59. SNOW BUNTING. <i>Plectrophanes nivalis</i>, Linnaeus. + 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.</p> + + <p>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 in 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>60. BUNTING. <i>Emberiza miliaria</i>, 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 Vale. I + 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.</p> + + <p>It is mentioned in Professor Ansted's list as occurring only + in Guernsey. There is one specimen in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>61. YELLOW HAMMER. <i>Emberiza citrinella</i>, Linnaeus. + 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 Cirl 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;<a name='FNanchor_12_12' id= + "FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_12_12'><sup>[12]</sup></a> so it is very probable that + it may yet occur.</p> + + <p>The Yellow Hammer is included in Professor Ansted's list, and + marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There are also a pair + in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>62. CHAFFINCH. <i>Fringilla caelebs</i>, 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>63. BRAMBLING. <i>Fringilla montifringilla</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Pinson d'Ardennes." "Grosbec d'Ardennes."—The + Brambling can only be considered 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 Road, 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, however, be looked upon as + anything more than a very rare occasional straggler, by no means + occurring every year.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>64. TREE SPARROW. <i>Passer montanus</i>, 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>65. HOUSE SPARROW. <i>Passer domesticus</i>, Linnaeus. 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. In Alderney, 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 accordingly punished by the + Sparrows.</p> + + <p>The House Sparrow is mentioned by Professor 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 + Métivier's 'Dictionary.'</p><br /> + + <p>66. HAWFINCH. <i>Coccothraustes vulgaris</i>, 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 Mr. 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 in Alderney 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. 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.</p><br /> + + <p>67. GREENFINCH. <i>Coccothraustes chloris</i>, Linnaeus. + 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.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as + occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There is no specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>68. GOLDFINCH. <i>Carduelis elegans</i>, 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 bird-catchers 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 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 + Alderney; 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>69. SISKIN. <i>Carduelis spinus</i>, 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 occurrence, 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 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 identifying 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 + Mediterranean and across to the North-western Coast of Africa; + and the Channel Islands would seem to lie directly in its + way.</p> + + <p>The Siskin, however, is not mentioned in Professor Ansted's + list, and there is no specimen at present in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>70. LINNET. <i>Linota cannabina</i>, 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 Lesser Redpole, the Mealy Redpole, or + the Twite, though I can see no reason why each of these birds + should not occasionally occur.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>71. BULLFINCH. <i>Pyrrhula europaea</i>, 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.</p> + + <p>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 Bullfinch 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.</p><br /> + + <p>72. COMMON CROSSBILL. <i>Loxia curvirostra</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Bec-croisé," "Bec-croisé + commun."—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."</p> + + <p>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 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.</p> + + <p>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 Crossbills 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 11th of December; there were four of them in a + tree by Haviland Hall. I happened to go into the person's house + who shot it, and his children had it playing with."</p> + + <p>I do not know that there is any 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."</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>73. COMMON STARLING. <i>Sturnus vulgaris</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Etourneau vulgaire."—The Starling is sometimes + very numerous in the autumn, but those remaining throughout the + year and breeding in the 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 Starling 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 + certainly 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 roosting-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 certainly there never seemed to be any + diminution in their numbers during the whole time I was there + 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, + sometimes 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>74. CHOUGH. <i>Pyrrhocorax graculus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Crave."—The Chough is a common resident 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 parts of the Island, sometimes in considerable flocks, + like Rooks.</p> + + <p>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 + Fieldfares and Redwings, 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 + visits, but now for some reason, probably the increase of + 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. Métivier, 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>75. JACKDAW. <i>Corvus monedula</i>, 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 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>76. RAVEN. <i>Corvus corax</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Corbeau," + "Corbeau noir."—The Raven 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 + getting scarcer in Guernsey, as I have not seen any there since; + and the last note I have of Ravens being seen in the Island is in + a letter from Mr. Couch, who wrote me word that two Ravens had + been seen and shot at several times, but not obtained, in + November, 1873. I have not seen a Raven in any of the other + Islands, and do not know of one having occurred there.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes it in his list, and marks it as only + occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen at present in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>77. CROW. <i>Corvus corone</i>, 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 domain of the + Gulls—at least whilst I was there, which was some time.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>78. HOODED CROW. <i>Corvus cornix</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Corbeau mantele," "Corneille mantelée."—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 l'Estrange, however, + informed me that one remained in Sark all last summer—that + of 1877—and paired with a common Crow,<a name= + 'FNanchor_13_13' id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_13_13'><sup>[13]</sup></a> but we could see 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>79. ROOK. <i>Corvus frugilegus</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Freux", + "Corbeau Freux."—I have never seen the Rook in the Islands + myself, even as a stranger, but Mr. Gallienne in his notes to + Professor Ansted's list, says, speaking of Guernsey, "The Rook + 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 Rooks + occasionally attempt to build here (Guernsey), but they are + invariably disturbed by boys and guns, and driven off. They + sometimes arrive here in large flocks in severe winters."</p> + + <p>The Rook is mentioned in Professor Ansted's list as occurring + in Guernsey only, and there are two specimens in the Museum, both + probably Guernsey killed.</p><br /> + + <p>80. MAGPIE. <i>Pica rustica</i>, 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 occasional visitant to that Island.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but marked as only + occurring in Guernsey; and there are two specimens in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>81. LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER. <i>Picus minor</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Pie épeichette."—As may 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.</p> + + <p>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, + <i>Gecinus viridis</i>, 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, "Respecting 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 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.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as only + occurring in Guernsey. As above stated, the specimen formerly in + the Museum no longer exists.</p><br /> + + <p>82. WRYNECK. <i>Yunx torquilla</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Torcol + ordinaire."—The Wryneck, or, as it is called in + Guernsey-French, "Parlè"<a name='FNanchor_14_14' id= + "FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_14_14'><sup>[14]</sup></a> 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 + distributed through the Islands, remaining through the summer to + breed, and departing again in early autumn, August, or September. + Its numbers, however, 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 <i>Croquet</i>, which + was going on at Fort George, by the noise they made; I can quite + believe 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.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as + occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There are two specimens in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>83. HOOPOE. <i>Upupa Epops</i>, Linnaeus. French, "La + Huppé," "Huppé 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 expected 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 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 Ronseval, 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 would 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 disposition to do so, as, though rather a foul-feeder + and of unsavoury habits in its nest, and having no respect for + sanitary arrangements, the Hoopoe is nevertheless one of the most + useful birds in the garden.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>84. CUCKOO. <i>Cuculus canorus</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Coucou + gris."—The Cuckoo is one of the commonest 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 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 unfortunate in not + finding eggs, and in not seeing any of the foster-parents feeding + their over-grown <i>protégés</i>: 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 favourites, such as Wagtails, Hedgesparrows, and Robins, + 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 collection 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 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 <i>resumé</i> 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.</p> + + <p>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 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 appearance 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 produce 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, 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 clergyman, 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?</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>85. KINGFISHER. <i>Alcedo ispida</i>, 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 on the small fish left in the + clear pools formed amongst the rocks by the receding tide; it is + also by no means uncommon 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 northward 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 pêcheur' + appears as one of the "Oiseaux de Mer."</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>86. NIGHTJAR. <i>Caprimulgus enropaeus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Engoulevent ordinaire."—The Nightjar is a regular autumnal + visitant, a few perhaps arriving in the spring and remaining to + breed, but 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 aërial rambles. The bird-stuffer in + Alderney had some wings of Nightjars nailed up behind his door + which had been shot in that Island by himself.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>87. SWIFT. <i>Cypselus apus</i>, 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 + Coupée, amongst the rocks of which place and Little Sark + they breed in considerable numbers. Mr. MacCulloch 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 Guernsey. 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 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 Cheminant 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>88. SWALLOW, <i>Hirundo rustica</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Hirondelle de Cheminée."—According to + Métivier's 'Dictionary,' "Aronde" is the local + Guernsey-French name of the Swallow, which is a common summer + visitant to all the Islands, and very generally 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>89. MARTIN. <i>Chelidon urbica</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Hirondelle de fenêtre."—The House Martin is much + more local than the Swallow, but still a numerous summer + visitant, like the Swallow, 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 Road, 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but only marks it as + occurring in Guernsey and Sark.</p><br /> + + <p>90. SAND MARTIN. <i>Cotyle riparia</i>, 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 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Sand Martin in his list, and + marks it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark.</p><br /> + + <p>91. WOOD PIGEON. <i>Columba palumbus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Colombe ramier."—The Wood Pigeon is resident and breeds in + several places in Guernsey; but fortunately for the Guernsey + Farmers, who may 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;"<a name='FNanchor_15_15' id= + "FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_15_15'><sup>[15]</sup></a> 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, 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>92. ROCK DOVE. <i>Columba livia</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Colombe biset."—I have never seen the Rock 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 Rock 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 Rock 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Rock 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, <i>Columba + aenas</i>, 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 been 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 Rock 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, <i>Columba palumbus</i>, 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 Ring Dove, as is very frequently the case.</p><br /> + + <p>93. TURTLE DOVE. <i>Turtur vulgaris</i>, Eyton. French, + "Colombe tourterelle."—The Turtle Dove is a regular, but + probably never very numerous summer visitant, arriving and + departing about the 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. MacCulloch, writing to me about 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted mentions it in his list, but only as + occurring in Guernsey, and there is one specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>94. QUAIL. <i>Coturnix communis</i>, 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. MacCulloch + writes me word that "Quails certainly visit us occasionally, and + I remember having seen their eggs in my youth"; and Mrs. Jago + (late Miss Cumber), who was herself a bird-stuffer 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 occasionally, too, in Alderney, as the bird-stuffer 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 Landrail, as there were rather more Landrail's + than Quail's eggs in it.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>95. WATER RAIL. <i>Rallus aquations</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Râle d'eau."—The Water Rail 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 bird-stuffer, told me he had seen a pair + of Water Rails and four young, his dog having started them from a + hedge near the Rousailleries farm; the young could scarcely fly. + I saw one at the bird-stuffer's at Alderney, which had been shot + in that Island; and the bird-stuffer 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 mentioned the + incident of the Water Rail being killed by the Merlin, recorded + by Mr. Couch in the 'Zoologist' for 1875.</p> + + <p>The Water Rail is included in Professor Ansted's list, and + marked as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There are two specimens + in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>96. SPOTTED CRAKE. <i>Porzana maruetta</i>, 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 Rail has been found here; and one of Mr. De Putron's + labourers described a Rail to me which he had shot in the Vale + Pond in May, 1877, which, from his description, could have been + nothing but a Spotted Rail.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>97. LANDRAIL. <i>Crex pratensis</i>, Bechstein. French, + "Râle des prés," "Râle de terre" ou "de + Genet," "Poule d'eau de genet."—The Landrail is a common + summer visitant, breeding certainly in Guernsey, Sark, and + Alderney,<a name='FNanchor_16_16' id= + "FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href='#Footnote_16_16'><sup>[16]</sup></a> + 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.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as + occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There are two specimens in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>98. MOORHEN. <i>Gallinula chloropus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Poule d'eau ordinaire."—I have not seen 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>99. COMMON COOT. <i>Fulica atra</i>, 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 + occasional and never numerous autumnal visitant; and its breeding + in the Braye Pond that year must have 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Coot in his list, but only marks + it as occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>100. LITTLE BUSTARD. <i>Otis tetrax</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Outarde canepetière," "Poule de Carthage."—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 mentioned 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 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 + intelligence 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>101. THICK-KNEE. <i>Oedicnemus scolopax</i>, S.G. Gmelin. + French, "Oedicneme criard," "Poule d'Aurigny."<a name= + 'FNanchor_17_17' id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_17_17'><sup>[17]</sup></a>—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 neighbourhood 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but only marks it as + occurring in Guernsey. There is one specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>102. PEEWIT. <i>Vanellus vulgaris</i>, Bechstein. French, + "Vanneau huppé."—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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Peewit in his list, but only + marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen in the + Museum at present.</p><br /> + + <p>103. GREY PLOVER. <i>Squatarola helvetica</i>, Linnaeus. + 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 occasionally 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 unknowing 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 disappointment 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.</p> + + <p>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. 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.</p><br /> + + <p>104. GOLDEN PLOVER. <i>Charadrius pluvialis</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Pluvier dore."—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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>105. DOTTEREL. <i>Eudromias morinellus</i>, 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, 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 Rev. A. + Morrës, who kindly gave me this last one, has also a skin of + one killed at the same time; both of these were Guernsey + killed.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>106. RING DOTTEREL. <i>Ægialitis hiaticula</i>, + Linnaeus. French, "Grand pluvier à collier," "Pluvier + à collier."—The Ring 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 + 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 Ring 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 Ring Dotterel at all, though at the time Kentish + Plover were common in most of the bays in the low parts of the + Island. The Ring 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 Ring + 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 l'Estrange nor I found any eggs, though + we searched hard for them both in '76 and '78; neither did we + find any eggs either in Herm or Alderney.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Ring Dotterel in his list, but + marks it as only occurring in Guernsey. There is a specimen in + the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>107. KENTISH PLOVER. <i>Ægialitis cantianus</i>, Latham. + French, "Pluvier à 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 + Ring 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 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 Rocques 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 seaweed. I should not + have found these if it had not been for the tracks of the birds + immediately round them. In L'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 + l'Estrange 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 the sand. In no instance in which I saw + the eggs was there the slightest attempt at a nest; but Colonel + l'Estrange 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."</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>108. TURNSTONE. <i>Strepsilas interpres</i>, 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 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. + l'Estrange 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. l'Estrange 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 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.<a name='FNanchor_18_18' id= + "FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_18_18'><sup>[18]</sup></a> Mr. Rodd, 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 throughout the year." It occurs also in + Alderney in the autumn, but I have not seen it there in the + breeding-season.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but only marks it as + occurring in Guernsey. There are a male and female, in breeding + plumage, in the Museum, and also one in winter plumage.</p><br /> + + <p>109. OYSTERCATCHER, <i>Haematopus ostralegus</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Hiûtrier 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 neighbouring 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 separating 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 l'Estrange 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, 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 Oystercatcher 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 + protection, 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Oystercatcher in his list, but + only marks it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There is an + Oystercatcher and also a few of the eggs in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>110. CURLEW. <i>Numenins arquata</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Courlis," "Grand courlis cendré."—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 seaweed 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 description 'La Fauconnière.' + The writer of this paper in 'Cassel's Magazine' was evidently no + ornithologist, and must, I think, have mistaken a young + Oystercatcher, 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 everywhere 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>111. WHIMBREL. <i>Numenius phaeopus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Courlis corlieu."—A good many Whimbrel visit all the + Islands during the spring migration, and 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Whimbrel in his list, and marks + it only as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There are two + specimens in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>112. REDSHANK. <i>Totanus calidris</i>, 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 Redshank in full breeding plumage, killed in Guernsey + as late as the 23rd of April.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Redshank in his list, but only + marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There are two specimens in the + Museum.</p> + + <p>113. GREEN SANDPIPER. <i>Totanus ochropus</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Chevalier cul blanc."—The Green Sandpiper is an + irregular, very scarce (not so numerous indeed as the Redshank) + 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted does not include the Green Sandpiper in his + list, though he does the Wood Sandpiper, 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 immediately + be distinguished; the axillary plume or long feathers under the + wing, in the Green Sandpiper, 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 conspicuously. There is one Green + Sandpiper at present in the Museum, which there seems no reason + to doubt is Guernsey killed.</p><br /> + + <p>114. COMMON SANDPIPER. <i>Totanus hypoleucos</i>, 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 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>115. BARTAILED GODWIT. <i>Limosa lapponica</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Barge rousse."—The Bar-tailed 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 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 Bar-tailed 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.</p> + + <p>The Bar-tailed 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p> + + <p>116. GREENSHANK. <i>Totanus canescens</i>, 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>117. RUFF. <i>Machetes pugnax,</i> Linnaeus. French, + "Combatant," "Combatant variable."—The Ruff 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 Ruff 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 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 Ruff in confinement; the + change of colour in the feathers of the body begins before the + ruff makes its appearance.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Ruff in his list, and only marks + it as occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen in the Museum + at present.</p><br /> + + <p>118. WOODCOCK. <i>Scolopax rusticola</i>, 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, remaining 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 preserved, 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 unfortunate Woodcock as soon as there + should be sufficient daylight. In fact, such a scramble is there + for a chance at a Woodcock that a friend of mine told me he got + up long before daylight one morning 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 "roading," as it is called—that is, when on + their evening excursion for food; into these nets the Woodcocks + fly and become easy victims.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>119. SOLITARY SNIPE. <i>Scolopax major</i>, 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 bird-stuffers; 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 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>120. SNIPE. <i>Gallinago gallinaria</i>, Gmelin. French, + "Bécassine 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 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 + breeding-season, 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.</p> + + <p>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 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.</p><br /> + + <p>121. JACK SNIPE. <i>Gallinago gallinula</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Bécassine 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>122. KNOT. <i>Tringa canutus</i>, Brisson. French, "Becasseau + canut," "Becasseau maubèche."—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 were it at all + common a few certainly would have occasionally found their way + there.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but only marks it as + occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen at present in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>123. CURLEW SANDPIPER. <i>Tringa subarquata</i>, + Güldenstaedt. French, "Becasseau cocorli."—The Curlew + Sandpiper, or Pigmy Curlew as it is sometimes called, can only be + considered a rare occasional visitant to the Channel Islands. I + have never seen or shot one there myself, but Mr. Couch records + one in the 'Zoologist' for 1874 as having been shot near the + Richmond 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 Rocque 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.</p> + + <p>It is not included in Professor Ansted's list, and there is no + specimen in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>124. PURRE or DUNLIN. <i>Tringa alpina</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Becasseau brunette," "Becasseau variable."—The Purre is + resident in all the Islands throughout the year in considerable + numbers, which 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 seaweed 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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted has not mentioned it in his list. There are + two specimens in the Museum, both in breeding plumage.</p><br /> + + <p>125. LITTLE STINT. <i>Tringa minuta</i>, 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.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as + occurring in Guernsey only. There is no specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>126. SANDERLING. <i>Calidris arenaria</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Sanderling variable."—The Sanderling is 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 November, 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.</p> + + <p>The Sanderling is included in Professor Ansted's list, and + marked by him as occurring in Guernsey and Sark.</p><br /> + + <p>127. GREY PHALAROPE. <i>Phalaropus fulicarius</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Phalarope gris," "Phalarope roussâtre," "Phalarope + phatyrhinque."<a name='FNanchor_19_19' id= + "FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_19_19'><sup>[19]</sup></a>—The Grey Phalarope is + a tolerably regular and occasionally 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.</p> + + <p>The Grey Phalarope is included in Professor Ansted'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.</p><br /> + + <p>128. HERON. <i>Ardea cinerea</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Heron + cendré", "Heron huppé."—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 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 + vicinity of the marshes near the Ivy Castle, formerly thickly + wooded with old elms, which bears the name of La + Heronière. 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 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>129. PURPLE HERON. <i>Ardea purpurea</i>, 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. Rodd records + the capture of one, a female, near the Lizard, in Cornwall, late + in April of the same year.<a name='FNanchor_20_20' id= + "FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_20_20'><sup>[20]</sup></a> 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 bird-stuffer, Mr. Grieve, and there I found the + bird and the person who shot it, who told me 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 morning, + when he found it dead near the place he had marked it down the + night before. It was in consequence 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.</p> + + <p>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 + specimen at present in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>130. SQUACCO HERON. <i>Ardeola cornuta</i>, 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 recorded instance of its + occurrence in the Channel Islands.</p> + + <p>It is not mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, and there is + no specimen in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>131. BITTERN. <i>Botaurus stellaris</i>, 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 + bird-stuffer in Alderney (Mr. Grieve) and his friend told me they + had shot Bitterns in that island, but did not remember the + date.</p> + + <p>The Bittern is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only + marked as occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>132. AMERICAN BITTERN. <i>Botaurus lentiginosus</i>, Montagu. + French, "Heron lentigineux."<a name='FNanchor_21_21' id= + "FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_21_21'><sup>[21]</sup></a>—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 'Zoologist' 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 + specimens 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 + young birds; but, at any age or in any state of plumage, the + birds may be immediately distinguished 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.</p> + + <p>The American Bittern is not mentioned in Professor 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.</p><br /> + + <p>133. LITTLE BITTERN. <i>Ardetta minuta</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Heron Blongios."<a name='FNanchor_22_22' id= + "FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_22_22'><sup>[22]</sup></a>—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 Road; 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 informed 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 + 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.</p> + + <p>The Little Bittern is included in Professor Ansted's list, and + marked as occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>134. SPOONBILL. <i>Platalea leucorodia</i>, 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 specimen 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 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 + writes 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.<a name= + 'FNanchor_23_23' id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_23_23'><sup>[23]</sup></a> 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. Rodd, 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, + observed 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."<a name= + 'FNanchor_24_24' id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_24_24'><sup>[24]</sup></a></p> + + <p>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 + mentioned, disappeared.</p><br /> + + <p>135. WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE. <i>Anser albifrons</i>, Scopoli. + French, "Oie rieuse, ou à 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>136. BRENT GOOSE. <i>Bernicla brenta</i>, Brisson. French, + "Oie cravant," "Bernache cravant."—The Brent Goose is a + regular winter visitant to all the Islands, varying, however, in + numbers in different years: sometimes it is very numerous, and + affords good sport during the winter to the fishermen, 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>137. MUTE SWAN. <i>Cygnus olor</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Cygne + tuberculé."—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 that had + strayed away from the Swannery at Abbotsbury, on the opposite + coast of Dorset, where some three hundred and fifty pairs still + breed annually. I have myself seen as many six hundred 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 + themselves 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 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.</p><br /> + + <p>138. HOOPER. <i>Cygnus musicus</i>, Bechstein. French, "Cygne + sauvage."—The Wild Swan or Hooper<a name='FNanchor_25_25' + id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_25_25'><sup>[25]</sup></a> 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 (5 ft. 3 in.) given, however, + it would appear that it was the 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 particulars 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, however, 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>139. BEWICK'S SWAN. <i>Cygnus minor</i>, Keys and Blasius. + French, "Cygne de Bewick."<a name='FNanchor_26_26' id= + "FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_26_26'><sup>[26]</sup></a>—I have very little + authority for including Bewick's Swan in my list of Guernsey + birds; Mr. MacCulloch, however, writes me word, "The Common + Hooper has visited us in severe winters, and is certainly not the + <i>only</i> species of <i>wild</i> Swan that has been shot here." + In all probability the other must have been Bewick's 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 distinctions. 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 distinguish the two, and is almost the only + exterior distinction, but on dissection the anatomical structure, + especially of the trachea, shows material difference between the + two.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>140. WILD DUCK. <i>Anas boschas</i>, 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 Guernsey-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, + however, 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>141. PINTAIL. <i>Dafila acuta</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Pilet," + "Canard pilet." The Pintail is an occasional 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 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>142. TEAL. <i>Querquedula crecca</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Sarcelle 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 Ring Dotterel enough for a + pie—and, by-the-bye, a very good pie they made.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>143. EIDER DUCK. <i>Somateria mollissima,</i> Linnaeus. + 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>144. COMMON SCOTER. <i>Oidemia nigra</i>, 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 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 immediately 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 + <i>Anatidae</i> put on from about July to October, and in which + many of them look so like the females.</p> + + <p>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; and a mistake may easily have been made, + however, 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.</p><br /> + + <p>145. GOOSANDER. <i>Mergus merganser</i>, 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 Red-breasted Merganser—at least, I have not + seen them seek shelter so much in the different bays.</p> + + <p>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, though I think there used to be one, but I + suppose it has got moth-eaten and been thrown away.</p><br /> + + <p>146. RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. <i>Mergus serrator,</i> Linnaeus. + French, "Harle Huppé."—Like the Goosander, the + Red-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 Red-breasted Merganser. The + greater number of Red-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.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted includes the Red-breasted Merganser in his + list, but only marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There are two + specimens in the Museum—a male in full plumage and a female + or young male.</p><br /> + + <p>147. SMEW. <i>Mergus albellus</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Harle + piette," "Harle étoilé," "Petit harle + huppé."—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 any instance in which a + full-plumaged male has occurred in the Channel Islands.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>148. LITTLE GREBE. <i>Podiceps minor</i>, Gmelin. French, + "Grèbe 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>149. EARED GREBE. <i>Podiceps nigricollis</i>, Sundeval. + French, "Grèbe 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>150. SCALAVONIAN GREBE. <i>Podiceps auritus,</i> Linnaeus. + French, "Grèbe 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 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. Mellish'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 distinguished, 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 full breeding-plumage there can be no + possibility of confounding the two species.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>151. RED-NECKED GREBE. <i>Podiceps griseigena,</i> Boddaert. + French, "Grèbe jou-gris."—I have never seen a + Channel Island specimen of the Red-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 Red-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.</p> + + <p>The Red-necked Grebe is included in Professor Ansted's list, + but only marked as occurring in Guernsey. There is one specimen + in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>152. GREAT-CRESTED GREBE. <i>Podiceps cristatus</i>, Linnaeus. + French. "Grèbe huppé."—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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>153. GREAT NORTHERN DIVER. <i>Colymbus glacialis</i>, + 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 considerable 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 + 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>154. BLACK-THROATED DIVER. <i>Colymbus arcticus</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Plongeon à gorge noir."—The Black-throated + Diver is a much less common visitor to the Islands than either + the Great Northern or Red-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 plumage as the Great Northern has. In the + 'Zoologist' for 1875 Mr. Couch records the occurrence 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 Red-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 Red-throated Diver, and the oval marks on the margins + of the feathers of the same parts in the young birds of the + year.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>155. RED-THROATED DIVER. <i>Colymbus septentrionalis</i>, + Linnaeus. French, "Plongeon à gorge rouge," "Plongeon + cat-marin."—The Red-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-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.</p> + + <p>It is mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, but marked as only + occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen at present in the + Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>156. GUILLEMOT. <i>Alca troile</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Guillemot à 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 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 Razorbill. 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 Rock.'" This very much confirms what Mr. + Gallienne says, in his notes to Professor Ansted's + list—"The Razorbill and Guillemot breed on the Ortack Rock + and on the cliffs at Alderney." This Ortack Rock is to the west + of Alderney, between Burhou and the Caskets, and a considerable + number of Guillemots and Razorbills 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 Ringed Guillemot, <i>Alca lacrymans</i>, in the + Channel Islands, but, as it 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 backwards 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>157. LITTLE AUK. <i>Mergulus alle</i>, 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 + ashore during a gale, and, being too exhausted to rise, had been + taken by hand.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>158. PUFFIN. <i>Fratercula arctica</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Macareux."—The Puffin, or Barbelote<a name= + 'FNanchor_27_27' id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_27_27'><sup>[27]</sup></a> 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 considerable + 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 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, 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."<a name='FNanchor_28_28' id= + "FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_28_28'><sup>[28]</sup></a> 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 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, "après la saison des + amours." Dr. Bureau, in a very interesting paper<a name= + 'FNanchor_29_29' id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_29_29'><sup>[29]</sup></a> 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 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 same. It is small sliced off + (trongué) 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, however, 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.</p> + + <p>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 bird-stuffer's paint, probably with the view of + making it as like the ordinary summer plumage as + possible.</p><br /> + + <p>159. RAZORBILL. <i>Alca torda</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Pingouin + macroptere."—The Razorbill is not by any means numerous in + the Channel Islands, but a few breed about Ortack, and, as has + been said 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,<a name='FNanchor_30_30' id= + "FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_30_30'><sup>[30]</sup></a> 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 + Razorbill Auk shot in Guernsey on the 14th February, 1847; this, + of course, is only a young Razorbill of the previous year, which + had not at that time fully developed its bill.</p> + + <p>The Razorbill is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only + marked as occurring in Guernsey. There are two Razorbills in the + Museum, one in summer and one in winter plumage.</p><br /> + + <p>160. CORMORANT. <i>Phalacrocorax carbo</i>, 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 anywhere + 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 that had been hatched, and probably the young gone off with + its parents. I, however, 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 specimens of the + Cormorant that I have seen.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>161. SHAG. <i>Phalacrocorax graculus</i>, 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 La + Fauconnière, 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 Coupée, 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 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 wandering 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 returning 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 + 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>162. GANNET. <i>Sula bassana</i>, Linnaeus. French, "Fou de + bassan."—The Gannet, or Solan Goose, 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 appearance. 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 bird-stuffer 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 bird-stuffer 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.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as + occurring in Guernsey. There are three specimens, an adult and + two young, in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>163. COMMON TERN. <i>Sterna fluviatilis</i>, 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 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 bird-stuffer, 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 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>164. ARCTIC TERN. <i>Sterna macrura</i>, Naumann. French, + "Hirondelle de mer arctique."<a name='FNanchor_31_31' id= + "FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_31_31'><sup>[31]</sup></a>—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 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.</p> + + <p>The Arctic Tern is not included in Professor Ansted's list, + and there is no specimen at present in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>165. BLACK TERN. <i>Hydrochelidon nigra</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Guifette noire," "Hirondelle de mer épouvantail."<a name= + 'FNanchor_32_32' id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_32_32'><sup>[32]</sup></a>—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 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.</p> + + <p>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 + Roseate 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.</p><br /> + + <p>166. KITTIWAKE. <i>Rissa tridactyla</i>, 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 made + the statement in the 'Zoologist' for 1866 that it did breed in + the Channel Islands; subsequent 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 departed 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.</p><br /> + + <p>167. HERRING GULL. <i>Larus argentatus</i>, Gmelin. French, + "Goeland argenté," "Goeland à 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 St. Martin's Point much more sparingly. In Sark + it breeds in considerable numbers; on Little Sark on both sides + of the Coupée, 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 Fauconnière; 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 the little island of Burhou, which has been 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 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 experience 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 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 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 + Black-backs, thus distinguishing 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 a very 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 + 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 extremely + 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 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>168. LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULL. <i>Larus fuscus</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Goeland à pieds jaunes."—The Lesser + Black-backed Gull is common in the Islands, remaining throughout + the year and breeding 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<a name= + 'FNanchor_33_33' id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_33_33'><sup>[33]</sup></a> 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 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 fishermen. 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, sometimes 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 on the + scanty herbage; on the roof of this cottage several of the Lesser + Black-backs perched themselves 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 difference 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 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.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>169. COMMON GULL. <i>Larus canus</i>, Linnaeus. French, + "Goeland cendré," "Mouette a pieds bleus,"<a name= + 'FNanchor_34_34' id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_34_34'><sup>[34]</sup></a> "La Mouette + d'Hiver".<a name='FNanchor_35_35' id= + "FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href='#Footnote_35_35'><sup>[35]</sup></a>—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,' <i>fide</i> the Rev. 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. Rodd. 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. Rodd, however, in his + 'Notes on the Birds of Cornwall,' published in the 'Zoologist' + for 1870, only says, "Generally distributed 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. Rodd is going to publish his interesting notes on the + Birds of Cornwall in a 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-backed + 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 which they are the "Mouette à pieds bleus" of + Temminck.</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>170. GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULL. <i>Larus marinus</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Goeland à 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 Razorbill 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 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 'Métivier's Dictionary.'</p> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>171. BROWN-HEADED GULL. <i>Larus ridibundus</i>, Linnaeus. + French, "Mouette rieuse."<a name='FNanchor_36_36' id= + "FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_36_36'><sup>[36]</sup></a> This pretty little Gull is + a common autumn and winter visitant to all the Islands, remaining + on to the 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 colouring-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—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.</p> + + <p>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, + <i>Larus melanocephalus</i>, 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 <i>L. melanocephalus</i> in the + breeding-season is black, not brown as in <i>L. ridibundus</i>, + 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 <i>L. ridibundus</i>. In younger + birds, however, the primaries are a little more alike, but the + first primary of <i>L. melanocephalus</i> is black or nearly so; + in this state Mr. Howard Saunders has given plates of the first + three primaries of <i>L. melanocephalus</i> and <i>L. + ridibundus</i>, both being from birds of the year shot about + March, in his paper on the <i>Larinae</i>, published in the + 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for the year + 1878.</p><br /> + + <p>172. LITTLE GULL. <i>Larus minutus</i>, Pallas. French, + "Mouette pygmée."—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 bird-stuffer's shop here I saw a Little Gull in the flesh, + which had been shot a few days ago."<a name='FNanchor_37_37' id= + "FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_37_37'><sup>[37]</sup></a> 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 + occasionally occurs on the south coast of Devon.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted does not include the Little Gull in his list, + and there is no specimen in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>173. GREAT SHEARWATER. <i>Puffinus major</i>, Faber. French, + "Puffin majeur."<a name='FNanchor_38_38' id= + "FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_38_38'><sup>[38]</sup></a>—I think I may fairly + 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 + bays, 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; but + 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 sufficiently 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.</p> + + <p>The Great Shearwater is not mentioned in Professor Ansted's + list, and there is no specimen in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>174. MANX SHEARWATER. <i>Puffinus anglorum</i>, 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 specimen, however, killed near St. Samson's + on the 28th September, 1876.<a name='FNanchor_39_39' id= + "FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href= + '#Footnote_39_39'><sup>[39]</sup></a> 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.</p> + + <p>The Manx Shearwater is not included in Professor Ansted's + list, and there is no specimen in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>175. FULMAR PETREL. <i>Fulmarus glacialis</i>, Linnaeus. + 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.</p> + + <p>It is not included in Professor Ansted's list, and there is no + specimen in the Museum.</p><br /> + + <p>176. STORM PETREL. <i>Thalassidroma pelagica</i> Linnaeus. + French, "Thalassidrome tempête."—Mr. Gallienne, in + his remarks published with 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 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'Estrange'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.</p> + + <p>It is included in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as + occurring in Alderney, Sark, Jethou, and Herm.</p> + + <p>With this bird ends my list of the Birds of Guernsey and the + neighbouring Islands. It contains 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 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 any of the birds mentioned. I have no doubt, + however, that any one 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. Carey, 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, especially amongst the smaller Warblers and + the Pipits, and perhaps amongst the occasional Waders. There is + one small family—the Skuas—entirely unrepresented 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, <i>Stercorarius pomatorhinus</i>, + and Richardson's Skua, <i>Stercorarius crepidatus</i>, 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 bird-stuffers or the fishermen and the + various shooters know anything about them. I have therefore, + though I think it by no means; unlikely that both birds + occasionally occur, thought it better to omit their names from my + list.</p> + + <p>Professor Ansted has only mentioned one of the + family—the Great Skua, <i>Stercorarius + catarrhactes</i>,—in his list, which also may occasionally + occur, as may Buffon's Skua, <i>Stercorarius parasiticus</i>; 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.</p><br /> + + <p>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.</p><br /> + + <p>FINIS.</p> + <hr style='width: 65%;' /> + <a name='ENDNOTES' id="ENDNOTES"></a> + + <h2>ENDNOTES</h2><a name='Footnote_1_1' id= + "Footnote_1_1"></a><a href='#FNanchor_1_1'>[1]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p><br /> + <i>a</i> Alderney.<br /> + <i>e</i> Guernsey.<br /> + <i>i</i> Jersey.<br /> + <i>o</i> Sark.<br /> + <i>u</i> Jethou and Herm.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_2_2' id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_2_2'>[2]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>This was nearly the whole of the Vale, including L'Ancresse + Common.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_3_3' id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_3_3'>[3]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>Fourteen "livres tournois" are about equal to £1.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_4_4' id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_4_4'>[4]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>This Act is passed annually at the Chief Pleas after + Easter.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_5_5' id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_5_5'>[5]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p><i>Falco aesalon</i>, Tunstall, H.S. 1771. <i>Falco + aesalon</i>, Gmelin, Y., 1788.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_6_6' id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_6_6'>[6]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>See Temminok.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_7_7' id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_7_7'>[7]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>See 'Birds of Spain,' by Howard Saunders, Esq., published in + the works of the Société Zoologique de France, + where he says:—"<i>C. ceruginosus</i> et <i>C. + cyaneus</i> ont les lisières extérieures des + remiges émarginées, jusqu'à et y comprise + la cinquième, et cette forme se trouve en presque toutes + les <i>Circus</i> exotiques. En <i>C. swainsonii</i> (the + Pallid Harrier) et <i>C. cineraceus</i> cette + émargination successive se borne a la quatrieme." We + have little to do with this distinction, except as between + <i>C. cyaneus</i> and <i>C. cineraceus, C. aeruginosus</i> + being otherwise sufficiently distinct, and <i>C. swainsonii</i> + not coming within our limits.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_8_8' id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_8_8'>[8]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>"Tereus," I soon found, as I expected, was Mr. + MacCulloch.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_9_9' id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_9_9'>[9]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>These reeds are the common reed Spires, Spire-reed, or + Pool-reed. <i>Arundo phragmites</i>. See 'Popular Names of + British Plants,' by Dr. Prior, p. 219.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_10_10' id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_10_10'>[10]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>This name of Temminck is no doubt applied to the Continental + form, <i>Acredula caudata</i>, of Linnaeus, not to the British + form now elevated into a species under the name <i>Acredula + rosea</i>, 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 + <i>A. rosea</i>. <i>A. caudata</i> may, however, also occur, as + both forms do occasionally, in the British Islands.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_11_11' id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_11_11'>[11]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>See Temminck's 'Man. d'Ornith.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_12_12' id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_12_12'>[12]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>Dresser's 'Birds of Europe,' <i>fide</i> Degland's + Grebe.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_13_13' id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_13_13'>[13]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>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, <i>Corvus corone</i> + and <i>Corvus cornix</i>, on the several grounds that there is + no structural difference between the two; that their habits, + food, cries, and mode of nidification are the same (in + considering 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 impossible 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.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_14_14' id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_14_14'>[14]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>Rim. Gu., p. 35.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_15_15' id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_15_15'>[15]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>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?</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_16_16' id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_16_16'>[16]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>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.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_17_17' id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_17_17'>[17]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p><i>Fide</i> Mr. MacCulloch.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_18_18' id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_18_18'>[18]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>See 'Dresser's Birds of Europe.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_19_19' id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_19_19'>[19]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>For the last, see Temminck's 'Man, d'Ornithologie.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_20_20' id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_20_20'>[20]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p><i>See</i> 'Zoologist' for 1867, p. 829.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_21_21' id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_21_21'>[21]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>Temminck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_22_22' id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_22_22'>[22]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p><i>See</i> Temminck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_23_23' id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_23_23'>[23]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>The one above mentioned.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_24_24' id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_24_24'>[24]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>See 'Zoologist' for 1870, p. 2244.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_25_25' id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_25_25'>[25]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>"Hucard" in Guernsey French (see 'Metevier's Dictionary,') + who also says "Notre Hucard est le Whistling Swan ou Hooper des + Anglais."</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_26_26' id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_26_26'>[26]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>See Temminck's 'Man. d'Ornithologie.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_27_27' id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_27_27'>[27]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>See also Métivier's Dictionary.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_28_28' id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_28_28'>[28]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>See note in 'Zoologist' for 1866.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_29_29' id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_29_29'>[29]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>'De la Mue du Bec et des Ornements Palpébraux du + Macareux Arctique après la Saison des Amours.' Par le + Docteur Louis Bureau; 'Bulletin de la Société + Zoologique de France.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_30_30' id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_30_30'>[30]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>'Zoologist' for 1869.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_31_31' id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_31_31'>[31]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p><i>See</i> Temininck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_32_32' id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_32_32'>[32]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>Temminck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_33_33' id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_33_33'>[33]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>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."</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_34_34' id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_34_34'>[34]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>See Temminck's 'Man. d'Ornithologie.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_35_35' id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_35_35'>[35]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>Buffon.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_36_36' id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_36_36'>[36]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>See Temminck's 'Man. d'Ornithologie.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_37_37' id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_37_37'>[37]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p><i>See</i> 'Zoologist' for 1869, p. 1560.</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_38_38' id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_38_38'>[38]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p><i>See</i> Temminck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.'</p> + </div><a name='Footnote_39_39' id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href= + '#FNanchor_39_39'>[39]</a> + + <div class='note'> + <p>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.</p> + </div> + <hr style='width: 65%;' /> + <a name='INDEX' id="INDEX"></a> + + <h2>INDEX.</h2><span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Auk, Little, + 178</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Bittern, 152</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Bittern, American, + 153</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Bittern, Little, 154</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Blackbird, 34</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Blackcap, 52</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Brambling, 72</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Bullfinch, 79</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Bunting, 70</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Bunting, Snow, 70</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Bunting, Yellow, 71</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Bustard, Little, 117</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Buzzard, Common, 14</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Buzzard, Rough-legged, + 14</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Chaffinch, 72</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Chiffchaff, 53</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Chough, 84</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Coot, Common, 116</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Cormorant, 184</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Crake, Spotted, 114</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Creeper, 59</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Crossbill, Common, + 80</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Crow, 88</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Crow, Hooded, 89</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Cuckoo, 97</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Curlew, 132</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Dipper, 30</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Diver, Black-throated, + 174</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Diver, Great Northern, + 173</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Diver, Red-throated, + 175</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Dotterel, 122</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Dotterel, Ring, 123</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Dove, Rock, 110</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Dove, Turtle, 111</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Duck, Eider, 165</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Duck, Wild, 162</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Dunlin, 145</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Eagle, White-tailed, + 1</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Falcon, Greenland, 5</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Falcon, Iceland, 6</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Falcon, Peregrine, 8</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Fieldfare, 34</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Flycatcher, Spotted, + 24</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Gannet, 188</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Godwit, Bar-tailed, + 137</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Goldfinch, 76</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Goosander, 167</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Goose, Brent, 157</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Goose, White-fronted, + 157</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Grebe, Eared, 170</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Grebe, Great Crested, + 173</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Grebe, Little, 169</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Grebe, Red-necked, + 172</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Grebe, Sclavonian, + 170</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Greenfinch, 76</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Greenshank, 139</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Guillemot, 176</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Gull, Brown-headed, + 210</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Gull, Common, 207</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Gull, Great Black-backed, + 209</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Gull, Herring, 195</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Gull, Lesser Black-backed, + 203</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Gull, Little, 213</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Harrier, Hen, 17</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Harrier, Marsh, 16</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Harrier, Montagu's, + 18</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Hawfinch, 75</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Hawk, Sparrow, 13</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Hedgesparrow, 87</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Heron, 148</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Heron, Purple, 150</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Heron, Squacco, 151</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Hobby, 10</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Hooper, 160</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Hoopoe, 95</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Jackdaw, 86</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Kestrel, 12</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Kingfisher, 101</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Kittiwake, 194</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Knot, 144</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Landrail, 115</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Lark, Sky, 68</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Linnet, 78</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Magpie, 91</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Martin, 106</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Martin, Sand, 107</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Merganser, Red-breasted, + 168</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Merlin, 10</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Moorhen, 115</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Nightjar, 102</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Oriole, Golden, 25</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Osprey, 3</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Ouzel, Ring, 36</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Ouzel, Water, 30</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Owl, Barn, 22</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Owl, Long-eared, 20</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Owl, Short-eared, 21</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Oystercatcher, 130</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Peewit, 120</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Petrel, Fulmar, 216</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Petrel, Storm, 216</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Phalarope, Grey, 147</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Pigeon, Wood, 108</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Pintail, 163</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Pipit, Meadow, 67</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Pipit, Rock, 67</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Pipit, Tree, 66</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Plover, Golden, 122</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Plover, Grey, 121</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Plover, Kentish, 125</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Puffin, 179</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Purre, 145</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Quail, 112</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Rail, Water, 113</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Raven, 87</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Razorbill, 183</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Redshank, 134</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Redstart, 38</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Redstart, Black, 39</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Redwing, 33</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Robin, 38</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Rook, 90</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Ruff, 139</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Sanderling, 147</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Sandpiper, Common, + 136</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Sandpiper, Curlew, + 145</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Sandpiper, Green, + 135</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Scoter, Common, 165</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Shag, 185</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Shearwater, Great, + 213</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Shearwater, Manx, + 215</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Shrike, Red-backed, + 23</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Siskin, 77</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Smew, 169</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Snipe, 142</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Snipe, Jack, 144</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Snipe, Solitary, 141</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Sparrowhawk, 13</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Sparrow, House, 74</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Sparrow, Tree, 73</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Spoonbill, 155</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Starling, Common, 82</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Stint, Little, 146</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Stonechat, 41</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Swallow, 106</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Swan, Bewick's, 161</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Swan, Mute, 158</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Swan, Wild, 160</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Swift, 104</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Teal, 164</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Tern, Arctic, 192</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Tern, Black, 193</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Tern, Common, 190</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Tit, Blue, 60</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Tit, Great, 59</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Tit, Long-tailed, 61</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Thick-knee, 18</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Thrush, Song, 33</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Thrush, Mistletoe, + 31</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Turnstone, 127</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Warbler, Dartford, + 49</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Warbler, Reed, 44</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Warbler, Sedge, 48</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Wagtail, Grey, 64</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Wagtail, Pied, 62</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Wagtail, White, 63</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Wagtail, Yellow, 65</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Waxwing, 62</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Wheatear, 43</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Whimbrel, 133</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Whinchat, 43</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Whitethroat, 50</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Whitethroat, Lesser, + 52</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Woodcock, 140</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Woodpecker, Lesser Spotted, + 91</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Wren, 58</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Wren, Fire-crested, + 55</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Wren, Golden-crested, + 54</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Wren, Willow, 53</span><br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Wryneck, 94</span><br /> + <br /> + <span style='margin-left: 2em;'>Yellowhammer, 71</span><br /> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds of Guernsey (1879), by Cecil Smith + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS OF GUERNSEY (1879) *** + +***** This file should be named 14473-h.htm or 14473-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/4/7/14473/ + +Produced by Steven Gibbs and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Birds of Guernsey (1879) + And The Neighbouring Islands: Alderney, Sark, Jethou, Herm; Being + A Small Contribution To The Ornitholony Of The Channel Islands + + +Author: Cecil Smith + +Release Date: December 26, 2004 [EBook #14473] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS OF GUERNSEY (1879) *** + + + + +Produced by Steven Gibbs and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + +BIRDS OF GUERNSEY + +AND THE NEIGHBOURING ISLANDS + +ALDERNEY, SARK, JETHOU, HERM; + + +BEING A SMALL CONTRIBUTION TO +The Ornitholony of the Channel Islands + + +BY + +CECIL SMITH, F.Z.S., + +MEMBER OF THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGIST'S UNION. + + +LONDON: +R.H. PORTER, 6, TENTERDEN STREET, +HANOVER SQUARE. +1879. + + + + +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. Gaeetke 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, are in my own collection; and others I +have seen either in the flesh or only recently skinned in the +bird-stuffers' shops. For a few, of course, I have been obliged to rely +on the evidence of others; some of these may appear, perhaps, rather +questionable,--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 maybe 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 ornithologist, he was obliged +to rely in a great measure on information received from others, and this +apparently was not always very reliable, and he 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_[1] 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 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 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 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[2] was +separated from the mainland by an arm of the sea, left dry at low water, +extending from St. Samson's to the Vale Church. This was bordered by +salt 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 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 replaced 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 say that +within the last few years miles of glasshouses 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 +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 Rails, 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 hedgerow 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 known as the Forest Road, there is +little or no hedgerow 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 +sufficiently numerous) in their old breeding-stations, 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 exterminate 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 considerablement 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:--"Il est defendu de +prendre, enlever ou detruire les ceufs des oiseaux de mer dans toute +I'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."[3] Sec. 2 enacts, "Depuis ce jour[4] au 15 Octobre +prochain, il est defendu de tuer, blesser, prendre ou chasser les +oiseaux de mer dans toute l'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 e eux de prouver le contraire. Pareillement ceux qui depuis ce +jour au 15 Octobre prochain auront ete trouves en possession d'un oeuf +de l'annee d'un oiseau de mer seront censes avoir pris et enleve le dit +oeuf 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 +follows:--Les Mauves Mouettes, Pingouins, Guillemots, Cormorans, +Barbelotes, Hirondelles de mer, Pies-marants, Petrel, Plongeons, Grebes, +Puffins, Dotterells, Alouettes de mer, Toumpierres, Gannets, Courlis 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 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 unable 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 +_Projet de loi_ the Gazette says, "Il 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 nombre 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 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 Zoological Society, for permission to use +which, and for 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 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 Hubback for his notes from +Alderney during the times he was quartered there. + + + + +BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. + + +1. WHITE-TAILED EAGLE. _Haliaeetus albicilla_, Linnsaeus. 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 every one 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 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 convince 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. +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 occurrence, 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, probably 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 halioeetus_, 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 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 competent 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, cannot 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 '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. + + +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 mentioned +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 +carpenter 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 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 fairly conclude, however, 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. Rodd. +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 11th 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 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 11th 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 +interesting to some of my readers to mention that they may distinguish +them easily by colour, the Greenland, _Falco candicans_, being always +the most white, 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 +occasionally 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 otherwise +destroyed, it would, no doubt, remain throughout 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 _Falconidae_ 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 November +11th, 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. + + +6. HOBBY. _Falco subbuteo_, Linnaeus. French, "Le Hobereau." The Hobby +can only be considered as a rather rare occasional visitant, just +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, probably 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 aesalon_,[5] 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 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, however, 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 +communication dated November 29th, 1874, says--"A Merlin--a female--was +shot in the Marais, which had struck down a Water Rail a minute or two +before it was shot. After striking down the Rail the Merlin flew into a +tree, about ten yards from which the man who shot it found the Rail +dead. He brought me both birds. The skin of the Rail 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 Ring Dotterell, which at that time of year is to +be found in large flocks mixed with Purres and 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 Ring Dotterell, Purres, and Turnstones do not form so +considerable a part of its food as they do of the Merlin. Skylarks, Rock +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, perhaps 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. + +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 Sparrowhawk, 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 +nesting 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 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. ROUGHLEGGED 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 Rough-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 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 distinguished 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 +Buzzard, in which nearly the whole of the plumage was a uniform dark +chocolate-brown, and consequently 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. + +Professor Ansted includes the Rough-legged Buzzard in his list, but +only marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen at present +in the Museum. + + +12. MARSH HARRIER. _Circus Oeruginosus_, Linnaeus. French, "Busard +des Marais."--This seems to be the least common of the Harriers in the +Channel Islands, though it does occur occasionally, and perhaps 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 preserved, 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 herself, 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."[6]--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 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. + + +[13. Omitted.] + + +14. MONTAGU'S HARRIER. _Circus cineraceus_, Montagu. 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 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 consists chiefly of +grasshoppers, reptiles, small mammals, birds and their eggs; these last, +if their size permit, being often swallowed whole, as was the 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 Montagu'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.[7] This distinction is very useful +in 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, "Hibou vulgaire," +"Hibou moyen due."--The Long-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 Long-eared 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 Long-eared Owl; but this may have been the +bird mentioned above, as he sent me no date with it. + +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 Long-eared +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 accipitrinus_, Pallas. French, "Hibou +brachyote."--Unlike the Long-eared Owl, the Short-eared 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 throughout 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 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. _Aluco flammeus_, 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 Road 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. + + +18. REDBACKED SHRIKE. _Lanius Collurio_, 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 Red-backed 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 about the Vallon or Le Ree. I 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 Red-backed Shrike in his list, and marks +it only as occurring in Guernsey. 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 +Professor 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 +distribution, 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. + +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 themselves 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 something 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 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"[8] +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, 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 interview with Mr. George +Metivier. He is now in his 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 l'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 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-stuffers' +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 occurred in Guernsey and Sark, but nothing more is said about the +bird. Probably Guernsey was mentioned as a 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 nevertheless 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 Kingfisher 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 Guernsey-killed, have been the common form, _Cinclus_ +_aquations_. The dark-breasted form, _Cinclus melanogaster_, 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 protected 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, in a note to Professor Ansted's list, confirms the scarcity +of the Jay, as he says the Rook and the Jay are rarely seen here, +although they are indigenous 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 considerable numbers of Mistletoe Thrushes are +brought into the Guernsey market, where they may be seen hanging in +bunches with Common Thrushes, Redwings, Blackbirds, Fieldfares, +Starlings, and an occasional Ring Ouzel. Fieldfares and Mistletoe +Thrushes usually sell at fourpence each, the rest at fourpence a couple. + +Professor Ansted mentions it in his list, but confines 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. + + +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, Redwing, 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 shot and +brought into the market departing again in March and April. + + +25. FIELDFARE. _Turdus pilaris_, Linnaeus. French, "Grive litorne," +"Merle litorne."--Like the Redwing, 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 Redwings 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 common and numerous resident in all the Islands in the +Bailiwick of Guernsey. The Guernsey gardeners, 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 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 +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. RING OUZEL. _Turdus torquatus_, Linnaeus. French, "Merle a +plastron."--I do not think the Ring 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 remaining 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 Professor Ansted's list, says +the Ring 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 have I seen the eggs in any Guernsey +collection. I have seen specimens of the Ring Ouzel from Alderney, and +it appears to me about equally common at the same time of year in all +the Islands. Mr. MacCulloch, however, writes to me:--"From what I have +heard the Ring 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, R.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. HBDGESPARROW. _Accentor modularis_, Linnaeus. French, "Mouchet," +"Traine buisson," "Accenteur mouchet."--The Hedgesparrow is, I think, +quite as common as in England, and resident throughout the year in all +the Islands. According to Mr. Metivier's 'Dictionary' its local name is +"Verdeleu," and he describes it as "Oiseau qui couvre les oeufs de +Coucou." In Guernsey, however, Cuckoos are much too numerous for the +Hedgesparrow to afford accommodation for them all. + +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. ROBIN. _Ericathus rubecula_, Linnaeus. French. "Bec-fin +rouge-gorge," "Rouge gorge." The Robin, 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 Robin is by far the most pugnacious with which I am acquainted, and +deserves the name of "pugnax" much more than the Ruff, 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 Robin 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. REDSTART. _Ruticilla phoenicurus_, Linnaeus. French, "Rouge-queue," +"Bec-fin des murailles."--I should not have included the Redstart in +this 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 Redstart; 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 Redstart. I +suppose, however, from Mr. MacCulloch's note that it occasionally visits +the Islands for a short time on migration, very few, if any, remaining +to breed. + +It is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as occurring +in Guernsey. There is, however, no specimen at present in the Museum. + + +31. BLACK REDSTART. _Ruticilla titys_, Scopoli. French, "Rouge queue +Tithys."--The Black, or Tithys Redstart, 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 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 Redstart 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 Rock 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 Redstart. + +The male Black Redstart may be immediately distinguished from the Common +Redstart by the black breast and belly, and by the absence of the white +mark on the forehead. The male Black Redstart 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 Redstart being much duller--a dull +smoke-brown instead of the reddish brown of the Common Redstart. + +Some slight variations of plumage take place in the Black Redstart 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 Redstart 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 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 Stonechats 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 uncommon. + +Professor Ansted includes the Stonechat in his list, but marks it as +confined to Guernsey and Sark. There is a specimen in the Museum. + +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 Oenanthe,_ 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 distributed, being common all +round the coast, both on 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 universally distributed +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 perfectly +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. REED WARBLER. _Acrocephalus streperus_, Vieillot. French, +"Rousserolle effarvatte," "Bec-fin des roseaux."--I did not find out the +Reed 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 Reed 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 I went +to the place as soon as I could, and found parts of it a regular +paradise for Reed 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 l'Estrange, 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,[9] 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 the water. Subsequently, on July the +12th, I found another Reed 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 Reed +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 Reed 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 Reed 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 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 Reed 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 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 ornamental shrubs in the gardens, +or in thick bramble bushes in hedgerows and places of that sort. + + +36. SEDGE WARBLER. _Acrocephalus schoenobaenus_, Linnaeus. French, +"Bee-fin phragmite."--The Sedge Warbler is by no means so common as the +Reed Warbler, though, like it, it is a summer visitant, and is quite as +local. I did not see any amongst the reeds which the Reed 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 l'Estrange 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, however, 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 by 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 Reed Warbler in the Museum. + + +37. DARTFORD WARBLER. _Melizophilus undatus,_ Boddaert. French, "Pitchou +Provencal," "Bee-fin Pittechou."--The Dartford Warbler is by no 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 +correctness 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 supposed, 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. _Sylvia rufa_, Boddaert. French, "Fauvette grise," +"Bec-fin Grisette."--The Whitethroat 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 necessary 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 +appearance 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. + + +39. LESSER WHITETHROAT. _Sylvia curruca_, Linnaeus. 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," "Bec-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. + + +41. WILLOW WREN. _Phylloscopus trochilus_, Linnaeus. 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 certainly 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 +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, "Roitelet +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, apparently 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 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 about 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 Professor 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, +"Roitelet a triple bandeau."--I have a pair of 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 Goldcrest and Fire-crest well, and the distinction +between 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 specimens 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 Wren, 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 occasionally 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 Torbay, +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 than the female Gold-crest. In point of fact the colour of the +crest is of no value whatever in distinguishing 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, "Roitelet a triple +bandeau," is much more descriptive, 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. + + +45. WREN. _Troglodytes parvulus_, K.L. Koch. French, "Roitelet," +"Troglodyte mignon," "Troglodyte 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 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 is mentioned in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as occurring in +Guernsey and Sark. There is no specimen in the Museum. + + +47. GREAT TIT. _Parus major_, Linnaeus. French, "Mesange +Charbonniere."--The Paridae are by no means well represented in the +Islands, either individually 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 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 caeruleus_, 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 +distributed 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. + + +49. LONG-TAILED TIT. _Acredula caudata_, Linnaeus. French, "Masange a +longue queue."[10]--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 at 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 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_, Temminck. French, "Bergeronette +Yarrellii."[11]--The Pied Wagtail has probably been better known to +some of my readers as _Motacilla Yarrellii_, but, according to the +rules of nomenclature before alluded to, _Motacilla lugubris_ 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 Road and Grand Havre. The White Wagtail so much resembles +the Pied Wagtail, that it may have been easily overlooked, 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 +beneath; 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 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, however, 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 Greyheaded Wagtail, the +true _Motacilla flava_ 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 Wagtail. I have not myself seen the Yellow +Wagtail in either of the Islands during my summer visits in 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. + +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."--Resident 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 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 Bock Pipit is included in Professor Ansted's list, but marked as +only occurring in Guernsey. All the Rock Pipits I have seen in the +Channel Islands have been the common form, _Anthus obscurus_; 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. SKY LARK. _Alauda arvensis_, Linnaeus. French, "Alouette des +champs."--Mr. Metivier, in his '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 Ronceval; 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 surrounded 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. + + +59. SNOW BUNTING. _Plectrophanes nivalis_, Linnaeus. 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 in 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. _Emberiza 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 Vale. I 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 specimen in the Museum. + + +61. YELLOW HAMMER. _Emberiza citrinella_, Linnaeus. 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 Cirl 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;[12] so it is very probable that it may yet occur. + +The Yellow Hammer is included in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as +occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There are also a pair in the Museum. + + +62. CHAFFINCH. _Fringilla caelebs_, 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_, Linnaeus. French, "Pinson +d'Ardennes." "Grosbec d'Ardennes."--The Brambling can only be considered +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 Road, 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, 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. + + +65. HOUSE SPARROW. _Passer domesticus_, Linnaeus. 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. In Alderney, 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 +accordingly punished by the Sparrows. + +The House Sparrow is mentioned by Professor 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 Mr. +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 in Alderney 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. 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 chloris_, Linnaeus. 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 bird-catchers 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 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 Alderney; 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 occurrence, 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 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 identifying 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 +Mediterranean 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 Professor 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 Lesser Redpole, +the Mealy Redpole, 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 europaea_, 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 Bullfinch +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. + + +72. COMMON CROSSBILL. _Loxia curvirostra_, Linnaeus. French, +"Bec-croise," "Bec-croise commun."--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 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 Crossbills 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 11th of December; there were +four of them in a tree by Haviland Hall. I happened to go into the +person's house who shot it, and his children had it playing with." + +I do not know that there is any 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. + + +73. COMMON STARLING. _Sturnus vulgaris_, Linnaeus. French, "Etourneau +vulgaire."--The Starling is sometimes very numerous in the autumn, but +those remaining throughout the year and breeding in the 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 Starling 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 certainly 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 roosting-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 +certainly there never seemed to be any diminution in their numbers +during the whole time I was there 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, sometimes +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 graculus_, Linnaeus. French, "Crave."--The +Chough is a common resident 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 parts of the Island, sometimes in +considerable flocks, like Rooks. + +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 +Fieldfares and Redwings, 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 +visits, but now for some reason, probably the increase of 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. _Corvus 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 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 Raven 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 getting scarcer in Guernsey, as I have not +seen any there since; and the last note I have of Ravens being seen in +the Island is in a letter from Mr. Couch, who wrote me word that two +Ravens had been seen and shot at several times, but not obtained, in +November, 1873. I have not seen a Raven 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. _Corvus 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 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. _Corvus cornix_, 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 l'Estrange, however, informed me that one remained in Sark all +last summer--that of 1877--and paired with a common Crow,[13] but we +could see 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. ROOK. _Corvus frugilegus_, Linnaeus. French, "Freux", "Corbeau +Freux."--I have never seen the Rook in the Islands myself, even as a +stranger, but Mr. Gallienne in his notes to Professor Ansted's list, +says, speaking of Guernsey, "The Rook 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 Rooks occasionally attempt to build here (Guernsey), but they +are invariably disturbed by boys and guns, and driven off. They +sometimes arrive here in large flocks in severe winters." + +The Rook 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 occasional 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 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, "Respecting 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 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 in Professor Ansted's list, and marked as only occurring +in Guernsey. As above stated, the specimen formerly in the Museum no +longer exists. + + +82. WRYNECK. _Yunx torquilla_, Linnaeus. French, "Torcol +ordinaire."--The Wryneck, or, as it is called in Guernsey-French, +"Parle"[14] 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 distributed through the Islands, remaining through the summer +to breed, and departing again in early autumn, August, or September. Its +numbers, however, 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 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 +expected 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 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 Ronseval, 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 would 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 disposition to do so, as, though rather a foul-feeder and of +unsavoury habits in its nest, and having no respect for sanitary +arrangements, the Hoopoe is nevertheless one of the most useful birds in +the garden. + +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 commonest 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 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 unfortunate 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 favourites, such as +Wagtails, Hedgesparrows, and Robins, 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 collection 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 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 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 appearance 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 produce 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, 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 clergyman, 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. _Alcedo ispida_, 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 on the small +fish left in the clear pools formed amongst the rocks by the receding +tide; it is also by no means uncommon 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 northward 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 enropaeus_, Linnaeus. French, "Engoulevent +ordinaire."--The Nightjar is a regular autumnal visitant, a few perhaps +arriving in the spring and remaining to breed, but 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-stuffer in +Alderney had some wings of Nightjars nailed up behind his 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. MacCulloch +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 Guernsey. 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 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 Cheminant 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. + + +88. SWALLOW, _Hirundo rustica_, 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 generally 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, 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 Road, 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 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 +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;"[15] 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, 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. ROCK DOVE. _Columba livia_, Linnaeus. French, "Colombe biset."--I +have never seen the Rock 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 +Rock 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 Rock 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. + +Professor Ansted includes the Rock 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 aenas_, +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 been 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 Rock 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 Ring 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 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. MacCulloch, writing +to me about 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. + + +94. 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. MacCulloch +writes me word that "Quails certainly visit us occasionally, and I +remember having seen their eggs in my youth"; and Mrs. Jago (late Miss +Cumber), who was herself a bird-stuffer 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 occasionally, too, in Alderney, as the +bird-stuffer 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 Landrail, 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 RAIL. _Rallus aquations_, Linnaeus. French, "Rale d'eau."--The +Water Rail 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 bird-stuffer, told me he +had seen a pair of Water Rails and four young, his dog having started +them from a hedge near the Rousailleries farm; the young could scarcely +fly. I saw one at the bird-stuffer's at Alderney, which had been shot in +that Island; and the bird-stuffer 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 mentioned the incident of the Water Rail being killed by the +Merlin, recorded by Mr. Couch in the 'Zoologist' for 1875. + +The Water Rail 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 Rail has been found here; and one of Mr. +De Putron's labourers described a Rail to me which he had shot in the +Vale Pond in May, 1877, which, from his description, could have been +nothing but a Spotted Rail. + +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. _Crex pratensis_, 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,[16] 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 chloropus_, Linnaeus. French, "Poule d'eau +ordinaire."--I have not seen 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 occasional and never numerous autumnal +visitant; and its breeding in the Braye Pond that year must have 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 Carthage."--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 mentioned 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 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 +intelligence 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. _Oedicnemus scolopax_, S.G. Gmelin. French, "Oedicneme +criard," "Poule d'Aurigny."[17]--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 +neighbourhood 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. + + +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, but only marks it as +occurring in Guernsey. There is no specimen in the Museum at present. + + +103. GREY PLOVER. _Squatarola helvetica_, Linnaeus. 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 occasionally 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 unknowing 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 disappointment 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. 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_, Linnaeus. French, "Pluvier +dore."--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. _Eudromias morinellus_, 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, 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 Rev. A. Morres, 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. RING DOTTEREL. _AEgialitis hiaticula_, Linnaeus. French, "Grand +pluvier a collier," "Pluvier a collier."--The Ring 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 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 Ring 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 Ring Dotterel at all, though at the time Kentish Plover were +common in most of the bays in the low parts of the Island. The Ring +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 Ring 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 l'Estrange nor I found any eggs, though we +searched hard for them both in '76 and '78; neither did we find any eggs +either in Herm or Alderney. + +Professor Ansted includes the Ring Dotterel in his list, but marks it +as only occurring in Guernsey. There is a specimen in the Museum. + + +107. KENTISH PLOVER. _AEgialitis 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 Ring 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 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 Rocques 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 seaweed. I should not have +found these if it had not been for the tracks of the birds immediately +round them. In L'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 l'Estrange 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 the sand. In no instance in which I saw the eggs +was there the slightest attempt at a nest; but Colonel l'Estrange 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 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. +l'Estrange 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. l'Estrange 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 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.[18] Mr. Rodd, +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 throughout 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 male and female, in breeding plumage, in the +Museum, and also one in winter plumage. + + +109. OYSTERCATCHER, _Haematopus ostralegus_, Linnaeus. 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 neighbouring 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 separating 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 l'Estrange 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, 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 Oystercatcher 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 protection, 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 list, but only marks +it as occurring in Guernsey and Sark. There is an Oystercatcher and also +a few of the eggs in the Museum. + + +110. CURLEW. _Numenins 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 seaweed 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 description 'La Fauconniere.' The writer +of this paper in 'Cassel's Magazine' was evidently no ornithologist, +and must, I think, have mistaken a young Oystercatcher, 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 everywhere 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. _Numenius phaeopus_, Linnaeus. French, "Courlis +corlieu."--A good many Whimbrel visit all the Islands during the spring +migration, and 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 Museum. + + +112. REDSHANK. _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 Redshank in full breeding +plumage, killed in Guernsey as late as the 23rd of April. + +Professor Ansted includes the Redshank in his list, but only marks it as +occurring in Guernsey. There are two specimens in the Museum. + +113. GREEN SANDPIPER. _Totanus ochropus_, Linnaeus. French, "Chevalier +cul blanc."--The Green Sandpiper is an irregular, very scarce (not so +numerous indeed as the Redshank) 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 Sandpiper, 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 +immediately be distinguished; the axillary plume or long feathers under +the wing, in the Green Sandpiper, 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 +conspicuously. There is one Green Sandpiper at present in the Museum, +which there seems no reason to doubt is Guernsey killed. + + +114. COMMON SANDPIPER. _Totanus hypoleucos_, 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 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. BARTAILED GODWIT. _Limosa lapponica_, Linnaeus. French, "Barge +rousse."--The Bar-tailed 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 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 Bar-tailed 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 Bar-tailed 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. + +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. RUFF. _Machetes pugnax,_ Linnaeus. French, "Combatant," "Combatant +variable."--The Ruff 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 Ruff 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 +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 Ruff in confinement; the change of colour in the +feathers of the body begins before the ruff makes its appearance. + +Professor Ansted includes the Ruff 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, remaining 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 preserved, 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 unfortunate Woodcock as soon as there should be sufficient +daylight. In fact, such a scramble is there for a chance at a Woodcock +that a friend of mine told me he got up long before daylight one morning +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 "roading," 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 bird-stuffers; 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 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 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 breeding-season, 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 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 were it at all common a few certainly would +have occasionally found their way there. + +Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but only marks it as occurring +in Guernsey. There is no specimen at present in the Museum. + + +123. CURLEW SANDPIPER. _Tringa subarquata_, Gueldenstaedt. French, +"Becasseau cocorli."--The Curlew Sandpiper, or Pigmy Curlew as it is +sometimes called, can only be considered a rare occasional visitant to +the Channel Islands. I have never seen or shot one there myself, but Mr. +Couch records one in the 'Zoologist' for 1874 as having been shot near +the Richmond 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 +Rocque 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. _Tringa alpina_, Linnaeus. French, "Becasseau +brunette," "Becasseau variable."--The Purre is resident in all the +Islands throughout the year in considerable numbers, which 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 seaweed 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 marked as occurring in +Guernsey only. There is no specimen in the Museum. + + +126. SANDERLING. _Calidris arenaria_, Linnaeus. French, "Sanderling +variable."--The Sanderling is 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 November, 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."[19]--The Grey Phalarope is a tolerably regular and +occasionally 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 Ansted'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 cinerea_, 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 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 vicinity 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 +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 purpurea_, 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. Rodd records the capture of one, a female, near the Lizard, +in Cornwall, late in April of the same year.[20] 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 +bird-stuffer, Mr. Grieve, and there I found the bird and the person who +shot it, who told me 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 morning, when he found it dead near the place he had marked it +down the night before. It was in consequence 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 specimen 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 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. _Botaurus 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 bird-stuffer in Alderney (Mr. Grieve) and his friend told me +they 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. _Botaurus lentiginosus_, Montagu. French, "Heron +lentigineux."[21]--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 +'Zoologist' 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 +specimens 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 young birds; but, at +any age or in any state of plumage, the birds may be immediately +distinguished 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 Professor 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 minuta_, Linnaeus. French, "Heron +Blongios."[22]--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 Road; 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 +informed 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 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 leucorodia_, 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 specimen 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 +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 writes 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.[23] 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. +Rodd, 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, observed 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."[24] + +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 mentioned, disappeared. + + +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. _Bernicla brenta_, Brisson. French, "Oie cravant," +"Bernache cravant."--The Brent Goose is a regular winter visitant to all +the Islands, varying, however, in numbers in different years: sometimes +it is very numerous, and affords good sport during the winter to the +fishermen, 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. + + +137. 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 that had strayed away from the +Swannery at Abbotsbury, on the opposite coast of Dorset, where some +three hundred and fifty pairs still breed annually. I have myself seen +as many six hundred 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 themselves 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 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 musicus_, Bechstein. French, "Cygne sauvage."--The +Wild Swan or Hooper[25] 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 (5 ft. 3 in.) given, however, it would appear that it was the +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 particulars 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, however, 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."[26]--I have very little authority for including Bewick's Swan +in my list of Guernsey birds; Mr. MacCulloch, however, 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 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 distinctions. 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 +distinguish the two, and is almost the only exterior distinction, but on +dissection the anatomical structure, 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 +Guernsey-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, however, 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 occasional 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 +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, "Sarcelle +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 Ring 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. + + +143. EIDER DUCK. _Somateria mollissima,_ Linnaeus. 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 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 immediately 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 _Anatidae_ 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; +and a mistake may easily have been made, however, 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 Red-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, +though I think there used to be one, but I suppose it has got +moth-eaten and been thrown away. + + +146. RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. _Mergus serrator,_ Linnaeus. French, "Harle +Huppe."--Like the Goosander, the Red-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 Red-breasted Merganser. The greater number of +Red-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 Red-breasted Merganser in his list, but +only marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There are two specimens in the +Museum--a male in full plumage and a female or young male. + + +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 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. + +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. _Podiceps auritus,_ 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 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. Mellish'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 distinguished, 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 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. RED-NECKED GREBE. _Podiceps griseigena,_ Boddaert. French, "Grebe +jou-gris."--I have never seen a Channel Island specimen of the +Red-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 Red-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 Red-necked Grebe is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only +marked as occurring in Guernsey. There is one specimen in the Museum. + + +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. _Colymbus glacialis_, 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 considerable 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 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 Red-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 plumage as the Great Northern has. In the +'Zoologist' for 1875 Mr. Couch records the occurrence 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 Red-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 +Red-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. RED-THROATED DIVER. _Colymbus septentrionalis_, Linnaeus. French, +"Plongeon a gorge rouge," "Plongeon cat-marin."--The Red-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-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_, Linnaeus. 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 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 Razorbill. 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 Rock.'" This very much confirms what Mr. Gallienne +says, in his notes to Professor Ansted's list--"The Razorbill and +Guillemot breed on the Ortack Rock and on the cliffs at Alderney." This +Ortack Rock is to the west of Alderney, between Burhou and the Caskets, +and a considerable number of Guillemots and Razorbills 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 +Ringed Guillemot, _Alca lacrymans_, in the Channel Islands, but, as it +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 backwards 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 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. _Fratercula arctica_, Linnaeus. French, "Macareux."--The +Puffin, or Barbelote[27] 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 considerable 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 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, 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."[28] 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 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[29] 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 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 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, however, 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 bird-stuffer's paint, +probably with the view of making it as like the ordinary summer plumage +as possible. + + +159. RAZORBILL. _Alca torda_, Linnaeus. French, "Pingouin +macroptere."--The Razorbill is not by any means numerous in the Channel +Islands, but a few breed about Ortack, and, as has been said 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,[30] +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 Razorbill Auk shot in Guernsey on the 14th February, 1847; +this, of course, is only a young Razorbill of the previous year, which +had not at that time fully developed its bill. + +The Razorbill is included in Professor Ansted's list, but only marked as +occurring in Guernsey. There are two Razorbills 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 anywhere 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 that had been hatched, and probably the young +gone off with its parents. I, however, 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 specimens 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 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 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 +wandering 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 returning 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 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, 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 appearance. 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 bird-stuffer 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 bird-stuffer 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 marked as occurring +in Guernsey. There are three specimens, an adult and two young, in the +Museum. + + +163. COMMON TERN. _Sterna fluviatilis_, 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 +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 bird-stuffer, 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 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."[31]--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 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. _Hydrochelidon nigra_, Linnaeus. French, "Guifette +noire," "Hirondelle de mer epouvantail."[32]--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 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 Roseate 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 made the statement in the 'Zoologist' +for 1866 that it did breed in the Channel Islands; subsequent +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 departed 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 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 the little island of Burhou, which has been 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 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 experience 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 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 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 Black-backs, thus +distinguishing 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 a very 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 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 extremely 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 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. _Larus fuscus_, Linnaeus. French, +"Goeland a pieds jaunes."--The Lesser Black-backed Gull is common in the +Islands, remaining throughout the year and breeding 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[33] 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 +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 fishermen. 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, +sometimes 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 on the scanty herbage; on the roof of this +cottage several of the Lesser Black-backs perched themselves 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 difference 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 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. + +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,"[34] "La Mouette d'Hiver".[35]--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 Rev. 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. Rodd. 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. Rodd, however, in his 'Notes on the Birds of +Cornwall,' published in the 'Zoologist' for 1870, only says, "Generally +distributed 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. Rodd is going to publish his interesting +notes on the Birds of Cornwall in a 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-backed 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 +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 marinus_, 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 Razorbill 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 +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_, Linnaeus. French, "Mouette +rieuse."[36] This pretty little Gull is a common autumn and winter +visitant to all the Islands, remaining on to the 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 colouring-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--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 melanocephalus_, 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. melanocephalus_ 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. melanocephalus_ is black or nearly +so; in this state Mr. Howard Saunders has given plates of the first +three primaries of _L. melanocephalus_ and _L. ridibundus_, both being +from birds of the year shot about March, in his paper on the _Larinae_, +published in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society' for the year +1878. + + +172. LITTLE GULL. _Larus minutus_, 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 bird-stuffer's shop here I saw a Little Gull in the flesh, +which had been shot a few days ago."[37] 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 occasionally 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. _Puffinus major_, Faber. French, "Puffin +majeur."[38]--I think I may fairly 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 bays, 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; but 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 sufficiently 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 Professor Ansted's list, and +there is no specimen in the Museum. + + +174. MANX SHEARWATER. _Puffinus anglorum_, 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 specimen, however, +killed near St. Samson's on the 28th September, 1876.[39] 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 Professor Ansted's list, and +there is no specimen in the Museum. + + +175. FULMAR PETREL. _Fulmarus glacialis_, Linnaeus. 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 pelagica_ Linnaeus. French, +"Thalassidrome tempete."--Mr. Gallienne, in his remarks published with +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 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'Estrange'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 contains 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 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 any of the birds mentioned. I have no doubt, +however, that any one 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. Carey, 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, especially amongst the +smaller Warblers and the Pipits, and perhaps amongst the occasional +Waders. There is one small family--the Skuas--entirely unrepresented 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 bird-stuffers or the fishermen and the +various shooters know anything about them. I have therefore, 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 parasiticus_; 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. + + + + +ENDNOTES. + +[1] _a_ Alderney. + _e_ Guernsey. + _i_ Jersey. + _o_ Sark. + _u_ Jethou and Herm.] + +[2] This was nearly the whole of the Vale, including L'Ancresse Common. + +[3] Fourteen "livres tournois" are about equal to L1. + +[4] This Act is passed annually at the Chief Pleas after Easter. + +[5] _Falco aesalon_, Tunstall, H.S. 1771. _Falco aesalon_, Gmelin, Y., +1788. + +[6] See Temminok. + +[7] See 'Birds of Spain,' by Howard Saunders, Esq., published in the +works of the Societe Zoologique de France, where he says:--"_C. +ceruginosus_ et _C. cyaneus_ ont les lisieres exterieures des remiges +emarginees, jusqu'a et y comprise la cinquieme, et cette forme se trouve +en presque toutes 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. aeruginosus_ being otherwise +sufficiently distinct, and _C. swainsonii_ not coming within our limits. + +[8] "Tereus," I soon found, as I expected, was Mr. MacCulloch. + +[9] 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. + +[10] 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. caudata_ may, however, also occur, as both +forms do occasionally, in the British Islands. + +[11] See Temminck's 'Man. d'Ornith.' + +[12] Dresser's 'Birds of Europe,' _fide_ Degland's Grebe. + +[13] 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 cornix_, on the several grounds that there +is no structural difference between the two; that their habits, food, +cries, and mode of nidification are the same (in considering 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 impossible 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. + +[14] Rim. Gu., p. 35. + +[15] 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? + +[16] 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. + +[17] _Fide_ Mr. MacCulloch. + +[18] See 'Dresser's Birds of Europe.' + +[19] For the last, see Temminck's 'Man, d'Ornithologie.' + +[20] _See_ 'Zoologist' for 1867, p. 829. + +[21] Temminck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[22] _See_ Temminck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[23] The one above mentioned. + +[24] See 'Zoologist' for 1870, p. 2244. + +[25] "Hucard" in Guernsey French (see 'Metevier's Dictionary,') who also +says "Notre Hucard est le Whistling Swan ou Hooper des Anglais." + +[26] See Temminck's 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[27] See also Metivier's Dictionary. + +[28] See note in 'Zoologist' for 1866. + +[29] 'De la Mue du Bec et des Ornements Palpebraux du Macareux Arctique +apres la Saison des Amours.' Par le Docteur Louis Bureau; 'Bulletin de +la Societe Zoologique de France.' + +[30] 'Zoologist' for 1869. + +[31] _See_ Temininck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[32] Temminck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[33] 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." + +[34] See Temminck's 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[35] Buffon. + +[36] See Temminck's 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[37] _See_ 'Zoologist' for 1869, p. 1560. + +[38] _See_ Temminck, 'Man. d'Ornithologie.' + +[39] 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. + + + + +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, Rough-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, 173 + 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, Sclavonian, 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 + + Harrier, Hen, 17 + Harrier, Marsh, 16 + Harrier, Montagu's, 18 + Hawfinch, 75 + Hawk, Sparrow, 13 + Hedgesparrow, 87 + 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, Ring, 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, Rock, 67 + Pipit, Tree, 66 + Plover, Golden, 122 + Plover, Grey, 121 + + Plover, Kentish, 125 + Puffin, 179 + Purre, 145 + + Quail, 112 + + Rail, Water, 113 + Raven, 87 + Razorbill, 183 + Redshank, 134 + Redstart, 38 + Redstart, Black, 39 + + Redwing, 33 + Robin, 38 + Rook, 90 + Ruff, 139 + + Sanderling, 147 + Sandpiper, Common, 136 + Sandpiper, Curlew, 145 + Sandpiper, Green, 135 + Scoter, Common, 165 + Shag, 185 + Shearwater, Great, 213 + Shearwater, Manx, 215 + Shrike, Red-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 + 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, Reed, 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 + + Yellowhammer, 71 + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds of Guernsey (1879), by Cecil Smith + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS OF GUERNSEY (1879) *** + +***** This file should be named 14473.txt or 14473.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/4/7/14473/ + +Produced by Steven Gibbs and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without 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