Cecil Smith

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”