BIRI)S OP GUBBNSEY. 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 many 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 return 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. 



