132 BIRDS OF GUERNSEY, 



list, but only marks it as occurring in Guernse}^ and 

 Sark. There is an Oystercatcher and also a few of 

 the eggs in the Museum. 



110. Curlew. Numcnius 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 sea-weed 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 the}^ 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 descrip- 

 tion ' La Fauconniere.' The writer of this paper in 

 'Cassel's Magazine ' was evidently no ornithologist, 

 and must, I think, have mistaken a young Oyster- 



