HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



167 



written for my perusal by Mr. H. J. Charbonnier, 

 naturalist, of Bristol, dated May 2nd, 1882. " Yours 

 of the 30th April to hand. It was my father, Mr. T. 

 Charbonnier, who was in business in Jersey and who 

 had the bird you mention in his possession. I re- 

 member it quite distinctly, and until six months ago, 

 I had a daguerreotype portrait of the bird (since un- 

 fortunately broken). I am perfectly certain it was a 

 genuine golden eagle {Aqiiila ckrysaefos), and as I 

 have had a good many through my hands, amongst 

 others, a British specimen shot in the Orkneys, there 

 is no room whatever for doubt in the matter." Mr. 

 Sinel saw this bird soon after it had been killed, and 

 he based his observations upon notes taken then. 



The specimen shot about 1849, was killed by Mr. 

 Matthew le Gallais, in Vallee des Vaux ; the remains 

 of this bird Mr. Sinel also saw, it had the tarsi 

 feathered, and it measured eight feet in spread of 

 wing, both of which characteristics are a guarantee 

 of it's identity. This, I venture to think, will dispose 

 of the question as to the occurrence of the golden 

 eagle in Jersey. 



Mr. Smith, however, here adds that " Professor 

 Ansted's list usually sins much more in admitting 

 species without sufficient evidence, than in including 

 (? excluding) those birds which had any claim, how- 

 ever slight, to be included in the Channel Islands' 

 list." This, however, does not seem quite in accord- 

 ance with what is known about the birds of Jersey, at 

 any rate, as I find authentic records of the following 

 fifteen species which are not in Professor Ansted's 

 list, viz. golden eagle ; great bustard ; manx shear- 

 water ; Richardson's skua ; muscovy duck ; black- 

 headed gull ; glaucous gull ; pectoral sandpiper ; 

 purple sandpiper ; red-legged partridge ; great grey 

 shrike ; lesser redpole ; spotted fly-catcher ; willow 

 wren and fire-crested wren. The bee eater has also 

 been killed. And of the birds recorded by Professor 

 Ansted, only eight species, viz. white fronted 

 goose ; eider duck ; king duck ; purple heron ; swal- 

 low-tailed kite ; snowy owl ; ravea, and the common 

 partridge, have not been seen or recorded by those 

 who have of late years studied the local birds. 



We now come to the kite, of which Mr. Smith also 

 confesses himself doubtful as having been "frequently 

 seen." I was fortunate last year in getting a good 

 view of one of these birds when I was in the com- 

 pany of Mr. J. Romeril, of Longueville, to whose 

 gun over one hundred and twenty species of Jersey 

 birds have fallen; he knows the local birds from 

 a practical acquaintance with them of some fifteen 

 years, and he assures me that the kite is "very 

 frequently seen " in Jersey ; this coming from such a 

 keen observer, is conclusive. Mr. Caplin, of St. 

 Heller's, also informs me that he stuffs (on the 

 average) one of these birds every year. The common 

 buzzard is sufficiently well known to prevent the 

 possibility of its being mistaken my me or my friends 

 here for the kite. 



Mr. Cecil Smith next denies that the starling is a 

 winter visitant only, and adduces as evidence, that 

 ' ' a few certainly remain to breed in Guernsey, and 

 / should think also in Jersey " (the italics are mine). 

 Now my notes do not refer to Guernsey, where Mr. 

 Smith is perfectly right in stating that the starling 

 breeds, but to Jersey, and that which will apply to 

 the one island, does not necessarily apply to the 

 other. I therefore repeat my observation that the 

 starling is a winter visitant only in Jersey, with this 

 modification ; that from all the evidence that I have 

 been able to obtain, some fifteen years ago a starling's 

 nest was stated to have been found at Longueville, 

 by one Mr. Payne, but the record is considered 

 doubtful and cannot be substantiated. 



It is dangerous to form conclusions on the fauna 

 of Jersey from data collected in Guernsey, and it is 

 moreover calculated, as in this case, to mislead the 

 student who visits the islands for the purpose of per- 

 sonal observation. The same observations will also 

 dismiss Mr. Smith's remarks on the grebes men- 

 tioned by me, and about which I certainly was not 

 mistaken, as he suggests. 



As regards the merganser, the bird referred to was, 

 of course, the red-breasted merganser, and not IMergiis 

 merganser, for I was writing of them by their popular 

 names. 



The discrepancy alluded to by Mr. Smith, under the 

 subject of gulls, is an obvious typographical error ; 

 it is printed " the gull," it should have been " the 

 common gull." In regard to Mr. Smith's remarks 

 about the two female specimens of the great bustard, 

 shot at Samares, and referred to by me in my paper, 

 a curious error seems to have found its way into the 

 report from which he quotes, giving the contents of 

 their crops as containing, amongst other things, ivy 

 leaves, &c. Now my friend Mr. Sinel, opened and 

 reported upon one of these crops himself (the other 

 was not examined), and he assures me that not only 

 was there no ivy at all, but nothing to give rise to the 

 supposition that there was. 



I can only find the following evidence of the occur- 

 rence of some of the great bustards mentioned by 

 Mr. Smith as having been seen in the neighbour- 

 hood of the Channel Islands about the year 1S70. 

 The late Captain Hammond, who was in the habit of 

 going out almost daily on Gorey common and marsh, 

 on the look-out for birds, assured Mr. Sinel, about 

 that time, that he saw a pair of these rare birds, which 

 no doubt then were looked upon as something very 

 unique. In conclusion, I beg to thank Mr. Smith for 

 the interesting notes embodied, with his criticisms on 

 my paper, and which are a valuable addition to the 

 information on this subject. 



Whenever he is desirous of obtaining any particu- 

 lars as to the occurrence, appearance or habits of 

 any birds of the island of Jersey, Mr. Sinel, of Bagot, 

 to whose courtesy I am so much indebted, will be 

 most happy to furnish him with all the information 

 that he can on this head. — Edward Lovett. 



NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



To Correspondents and Exchangers. — As we now 

 publish Science-Gossip earlier than heretofore, we cannot 

 possibly insert in the following number any communications 

 which reach us later than the 8th of the previous month. 



To Anonymous Querists. — We receive so many queries 

 which do not bear the writers' names that we are forced to 

 adhere to our rule of not noticing them. 



To Dealers and others. — We are always glad to treat 

 dealers in natural history objects on the same fair and general 

 ground as amateurs, in so far as the '"' exchanges " offered are fair 

 exchanges. But it is evident that, when their offers are simply 

 disguised advertisements, for the purpose of evading the cost of 

 advertising, an advantage is taken oi o\xx graUiitous insertion of 

 "exchanges" which cannot be tolerated. 



A. B. — The work in the press already announced on " Our 

 Common British Fossils, and Where to Find Them," is intended 

 to fill the want you express, and to enable a student to recognise 

 and class the various invertebrate fossils. 



H. R. Alexander. — The solution of carbolic acid and ben- 

 zine would do well enough, and clear your herbarium of mites. 

 Afterwards place pieces of camphor in the herbarium. Camphor 

 dissolved in spirits of wine is also a good insecticide. Sowerby's 

 " British Conchology" is a capital book. For flowering plants 

 get Messer's "New and Easy IMethod_ of Studying British 

 Wild Flowers by Natural Analysis," price tos. dd. (London: 

 D. Bogue). Hayward's " Botanist's Pocket-Book" (London : 

 Bell & Daldy), price ^s. dd., is a capital guide. It is bound in 

 limp cloth, so as to go easily into the pocket. 



