BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 163 



ever, writes me word " The Wild Duck formerly 

 bred here;" and Mr. Gallienne, in his 'Notes' to 

 Professor Ansted's list, says " The Wild Duck 

 formerly bred in Guernsey rather abundantly, but 

 it seldom does so now. Last year a nest was 

 found on one of the rocks near Herm." This 

 would be about 1861. The rocks to the northward 

 of Herm do not seem to me a likely place for the 

 Wild Duck to breed ; however, there are one or two 

 places where they might possibly do so. A much 

 more likely place would be in some of the reed 

 beds in the Grande Mare, or even amongst the 

 heather and gorse above the high cliffs on the 

 south and east side of the Island, a sort of place 

 they are fond of selecting in this county, Somerset, 

 where they frequently nest amongst the heather 

 high up in the hills, and quite away from any 

 water. 



The Wild Duck is included in Professor Ansted's 

 list, and marked as occurring in Guernsey and 

 Sark. There is no specimen at present in the 

 Museum. 



141. PINTAIL. Dafila acuta, Linnaeus. French, 

 " Pilet," " Canard pilet." The Pintail is an occa- 

 sional autumn and Winter visitant, but never very 

 common. I have one specimen, a female, killed in 

 Guernsey in November, 1871, and this Mr. Couch 

 told me was the only one he had had through his 



