BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 181 



and do not apparently wander more than a few 



hundred yards from them even in search of food ; 



so that, unless you actually visit the islands on 



which they breed, you can form no idea of the 



number of Puffins actually breeding in the Channel 



Islands. The number of Puffins, however, at 



Burhou seem to me to have considerably diminished 



of late years, for in the summer of 1866, when 



going through the Swinge, we passed a great flock 



of these birds ; "in fact, for more than a mile both 



air and water were swarming with them."* This 



certainly was not the case in either 1876 or 1878, 



though there were still a great «nany Puffins there ; 



probably the continued egg-stealing has had some 



effect in reducing their numbers. After the 



breeding-season the Puffins seem to leave the 



Channel Islands for the winter, as they do at 



Lundy Island and in the British Channel; they 



may retm-n occasionally, as they do in the Bristol 



Channel, for a short time in foggy weather ; but I 



have never seen a Puffin in any of my passages in 



October and November, or in any boating expedition 



at that time of year, and I have never heard any 



of the boatmen talk about Barbelotes being seen 



about in the winter. An unsigned paper, however, 



in the ' Star' for April 27th, 1878, mentions Puffins 



amongst other winter birds ; but I very much doubt 



their making their appearance in the winter except 



* See note in ' Zoologist' for 1866. 



