BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 83 



Island are certainly very few in number, as I have 

 never seen the Starling in any of my summer 

 visits ; and Mr. MacCulloch tells me " the Star- 

 ling may possibly still breed here, but it certainly 

 is not common in summer. A century ago it used 

 to nest in the garrets in the heart of the town." As 

 to its not being common in summer, that quite 

 agrees with my own experience, but a few certainly 

 do breed in the Island still, or did so within a very 

 few years, as Miss C. B. Carey had eggs in her 

 collection taken in the Island in 1873 or 1874, and 

 I have seen eggs in other Guernsey collections, 

 besides those in the Museum. When I was in 

 Guernsey in November, 1871, Starlings were cer- 

 tainly unusually plentiful, even for the autumn, 

 very large flocks making their appearance in all 

 parts of the Island, and in the evening very large 

 flocks might be seen flying and wheeling about in 

 all directions before going to roost. Many of these 

 flocks I saw fly off in the direction of Jersey and 

 the French coast, and they certainly continued 

 their flight in that direction as long as I could 

 follow them with my glass, but whether they were 

 only going to seek a roostiiig-place and to return in 

 the morning, or whether they continued their 

 migration and their place was supplied by other 

 flocks during the night, I could not tell, but cer- 

 tainly there never seemed to be any diminution in 

 their numbers during the whole time I was there 



