BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 119 



d'Aurigny."* — The Thick-knee, Stone Curlew, or 

 Norfolk Plover, as it is called, though only an 

 occasional visitant, is much more common than the 

 Little Bustard ; indeed, Mr. MacCulloch says that 

 "it is by no means uncommon in winter. The 

 French call it ' Poule d'Aurigny,' from which one 

 might suppose it was more common in this neigh- 

 bourhood than elsewhere." Miss C. B. Carey records 

 one in the 'Zoologist' as killed in November, and 

 Mr. Couch another as having been shot on the 31st 

 December. I have also seen one or two hanging 

 up in the market, and others at Mr. Couch's, late in 

 November ; and one is recorded in the ' Guernsey 

 Mail and Telegraph ' as having been shot by Mr. 

 De Putron, of the Catel, on the 3rd January, 1879. 

 From these dates, as well as from Mr. MacCuUoch's 

 remark that it is not uncommon in the winter, 

 it would appear that — as in the Land's End district 

 in Cornwall — the Thick-knee reverses the usual 

 time of its visits to the British Islands, being a 

 winter instead of a summer visitant ; and probably 

 for the same reason, namely, that the latitude of 

 the Channel Islands, like that of Cornwall, is about 

 the same as that of its most northern winter range 

 on the Continent. 



Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but only 

 marks it as occurring in Guernsey. There is one 

 specimen in the Museum. 



■'■' Fide Mr. MacCullocli. 



