BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 129 



found him skinning a splendid pair of Turnstones 

 which had been shot in Herm a few days before our 

 visit on the 17th or 18th of June ; the female had 

 eggs ready for extrusion ; I need not say I did not 

 exactly bless the person who, in defiance of the 

 Guernsey Sea Birds Act, had shot this pair of 

 Turnstones, as had they been left I have no doubt 

 we should have seen them, and probably found the 

 eggs, and quite settled the question of the Turnstone's 

 breeding there. I have long been very sceptical on 

 this subject, but now I have very little doubt, as I 

 think, seeing the birds about, paired, in Guernsey in 

 June and the pair shot in Herm, the female w^ith 

 eggs in June, pretty well removes any doubt as to 

 the Turnstone breeding in the Islands, and I do not 

 see why it should not, as it breeds quite as far south 

 in the Azores, and almost certainly in the Canaries.* 

 Mr. Eodd, however, tells me he does not believe in 

 its breeding in the Scilly Islands, though it is seen 

 about there throughout the year, as it is in the 

 Channel Islands. Mr. Gallienne, in his remarks on 

 Professor Ansted's list, merely says, " The Turnstone 

 is found about the neighbourhood of Herm through- 

 out the year." It occurs also in Alderney in the 

 autumn, but I have not seen it there in the 

 breeding-season. 



Professor Ansted includes it in his list, but only 

 marks it as occui-ring in Guernsey. There are a 



■'' See ' Dresser's Birds of Europe.' 



